Fighting against peoples misconceptions!

J

Jingleballs

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I feel like I'm doing this a lot lately with regards to my cobs weight.

I keep hearing things such as "cobs like yours should never weight under 500kg", "your cob is so skinny", "your cob is the only one I've met where you can see his ribs!"

These comments are not made in spite but just highlight the general concensus that all cobs should be chunky/fat.

My horse was fat - he weight taped at 575kg when I got him in October - he was very unfit and would be out of puff after 10 minutes schooling.

He now weights 468kg and is fit and healthy albeit still a little under muscled.

Does anyone else come up against this kind of problem - I'm sure it not only applies to cobs but other breeds too!

Just for info here are Caspers before and after pictures!

Before
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After (a side on shot that really shows the weight loss!)
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Firstly - what an amazing job you've done. He is an absolute credit to you.

And as for the other rubbish. They are obviously speaking from ignorance. So ignore with good grace and a smile!
 
looks perfectly alright to me in the second pic. tell them you're worried he might get laminitis. end of. it's your business, no-one else's, unless he starts looking like a hatrack!
or perhaps i'd just say sweetly "maybe you haven't ever seen a cob as fit as this?"
wink.gif
 
Casper looks great!

I wish I could get my horsey to look like that.

There is a misconception about horse's condition. 5-10 years ago or more, it was considered desireable to have a lot of 'condition'. It is now recognised that there is a difference.

The ILPH states it is easier to feed up a malnorished horse about 3 months then it is to get a fatty to loose weight 1 year or more.

I say well done you, you are doing what is best for him, he will be at less risk from the L word, arthritis, cushings and EMD.

x
 
At my old yard I was told my horse was fat as they believed you should see a TBs ribs.... at my new yard she has gained 30kgs and they still think she's skinny as they all have cobs.... she looks like this:

Photo-0272.jpg


ETA caspar looks excellent now and spot on weight wise IMO
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It's probably because all of the cobs they have seen where overweight, a lot put on weight with fresh air.
When I was young my friend had a TBX, she was 13.2hh but built like a TB so you can imagine not a round pony, someone called the RSPCA to say she was thin!! We were all so angry that some ignorant person had done this!

When my Fell Pony was ill I got lots of comments about her weight from people who knew she was ill and knew why she was thin! They made me angry and hurt me as her illness was terminal.
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If you know your pony is healthy then that's all that matters.
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bu**er them!
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's had this!!

It can be hard especially as a novice horse owner when these comments are made even just in passing - I start to wonder if perhaps I've gone to far with his weight loss but when I take a step back I can see that he's fine. I am concerned about lami - he has a very thick, cresty neck - I did express this concern to Y/O who used her horse for comparision - he's a very overweight cob who has never had lami - I had to explain to her that just because she's been fortunate with her horse does not mean I'll be fortunate with mine and I'd rather not take the chance thanks!!
 
YES!! I had mine fit and muscled - you could JUST make out his ribs, but not through skininess - through the muscle. BUt people kept saying how he was skinny, and even where we are now he is in a field with the other fatties, and he has put on weight as I cannot ride him as much as I used to, and having to wear a muzzle makes him so depressed I am not doing it again (having to try and coax him out of a corner with his nose in the air every time was not fun for him or me). But it seems that folk assume that he is meant to be that big because he is a cob!

I think people think of cobs as big ponies, and thelwell types - meant to be fat and gentle. Just like how fat humans are seen as happy and jolly. In fact, I would say that most horses I have see recently are over weight. But folk just see it as 'condition'
 
good for you, stick to your guns. you are definitely doing the right thing. the ignorance and arrogance of some horsey people will never fail to astound me.
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fwiw, i think the most reliable way of telling how fat they really are is from behind, the shape of their rump going up (or down) to their spine either side. if it's m shape they're overweight, if it's more-or-less straight across or just rises slightly to spine they're fine, if spine is very clearly the apex and quarters slope very steeply away from it, horse is underweight. it's easy to be fooled by a grass belly, but not by this system, i believe.
 
my friend has a cob, when she bought he weighed over 680kg
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and consequently did develop laminitis, after 3 years of battling he has lost over 100kg and is now looking perfect.
Some cobs suit being thinner and some cobs suit being more...errr....chunky i guess.
Chunky and fat are different things though. I am now rambling
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anyway your cob looks amazing.
hes a Credit to you.
 
My cobs were always FIT - one was primarily a hunter so she was almost as lean as a racehorse which did count against us in workers but made her great to ride!

I kept the baby cob fit to help his balance and make him easier to ride - he was a slob when he came to us. We kept them all on restricted grazing cos they would balloon on 24/7 turnout and simply gave them a few extra hours in the paddock if we were showing.

yours looks great!
 
If I had a £1 for everytime someone has said to me about my dieting coblet "But he's meant to be fat!" I would be VERY rich!!! I know exactly how you feel about this - it annoys me too...no horse is meant to be fat, it's just not healthy!

You've done a fab job getting the weight off him, well done.
 
It really frustrates me when people talk about horse's being too skinny!

Any welfare officer would tell you they can rehabilitate an underweight horse in a fifth of the time it take to fix and overweight horse.

He is by no means too skinny, he looks great and like a proper fit horse, not like these fatties that stand in the field all day and break a sweat at the sight of a saddle!

You should ask these people what ailments they can name that come from a horse being slightly under weight...I'll bet they can't name any! However if the horse is slightly over weight there's a whole variety of potentially fatal illness's they can get! Grrr it makes me so mad...

Ok rant over, I'm going to visit my 'underweight' mare and see if any of the other liveries comment on how thin she looks, yet again!
 
my cob is fit and well and muscled but peole tell me she's thin, far from it, she's a jumping cob not a carthorse is all, no ribs in sight and a great topline. Sod the lot of them.
 
Casper looks so much better now, well done. I think people are too used to seeing overweight horses and think that is how they should be. We are now realising the harm that being overweight does to them. Some have yet to realise this.
 
Maybe you should leave some of the ILPH's fat horse leaflets around and see if they get the message that they are killing their horses... Obesity is as cruel as starvation in my minds eye, but many people don't see it that way.

I think he looks great and it is lovely to see a beautifully conditioned cob rather than some unfit fatty. Good for you, tell them to bog off and mind their own business.
 
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