Food for thought

[scruffyponies]

Watching my herd out on their water meadow a couple of days ago. Currently 9 out on 12 acres of lush but unimproved grass.
What struck me is that although they are all natives, good doers and will eat anything, none of them were eating. They were happily standing around, scratching each other or just having a doze.

I know that if I strip grazed or muzzled these guys they would spend every waking moment trying to eat and gobble anything they could reach, even if it made them sick. However it's summer, they're surrounded by food, and expect it to be there for some time, so they're chilled.

It made me wonder how much of our epidemic of obesity in horses is not just what we feed, but how. Behavioural factors like boredom, company, stress have a big effect.
There are no fat horses in the wild.

 

[stangs]

There are no fat horses in the wild.

Tbf feral horses are mostly found on exceptionally poor quality terrain, so there's not much for them to get fat on. They also have to travel greater distances for water. And there's the threat of predation - mountain lions in some mustang populations, wolves in Spain, etc. - that means they can't keep their heads down all day; they have to keep moving.

Excluding this, I agree with you that the obesity epidemic is possibly due to management practices encouraging disordered eating in domestic horses. Stress definitely plays a role, as does restricted opportunities to graze, a lack of enrichment, etc.

I even wonder - perhaps this is anthropomorphising too much - but, when foals are abruptly weaned and given feed to help settle them, would this mean they develop an unhealthy emotional relation to food just as humans do?

 

[palo1]

Our hill ponies are tremendously fat in the summer though they are not truly 'wild'. But they are fat enough that if they were at home on pasture I would be doing something about it!! However we know that come winter they will need that fat and we have never had a laminitic hill grazer. We feed up the one ridden hill pony (my daughter's) all through summer; she has absolutely as much food as she likes though she is worked. In winter she sheds that fat. I think the cycle of weight gain and weight loss that happens naturally is really important but not sure how it works. Our herd are mob grazed in the summer; a small patch of fresh grass that is moved almost daily. They do stop eating and sleep/wander/play etc even in quite a small area. Again, I think there is something about longer, fresh pasture that is possibly not as damaging as the daily grazed grass that is more usual management on livery yards etc. My native has to still have controlled grazing and is worked but I feel happy enough for her to graze longer, older stuff. It is fascinating!!

 

[SEL]

Oh I've seen fat feral ponies in Wales in spring - some with feet that made me shudder

I know 2 of mine will take themselves off for a snooze (but both get fat) but a 3rd eats until she drops.

 

[scruffyponies]

I should say that ours will definiely be 'looking well' by autumn; some more so than others. Slightly skinny again by March. No comparison to show ponies though.

 

[Leandy]

Not sure I agree there are no fat horses on the wild (or rather that there wouldn't be if the land were truly wild). Just look at what happens in Africa on the savannahs. When there is a glut of grazing after the rains there are definitely fat zebras and other grazing animals. They eat as much as they can so they can survive the leaner dry season when the grazing is sparse and water harder to come by. So I'd say it is perfectly natural to eat until they are fat. The difference is that in the wild there are leaner times too, to balance it out. In domestication there are only leaner times if we manage it that way and don't just keep supplying excess food.

 

[Wishfilly]

I do agree that sometimes being deprived of food can lead to horses not self regulating properly. However, I think we know that some dogs (especially labradors) don't have that natural off switch, and I do wonder if some horses might be the same?

I'd also agree with the other posts- it's not that wild ponies never put on fat (and certainly some ferals in the UK get fed a lot of inappropriate food by tourists in the summers as well), it's that they lose it again later. That's the lifestyle that horses (and most animals, and probably humans too) have evolved for, and it does provide them with a sort of metabolic reset.

But most people a) want to work their horses year round and b) don't want their horses to look poor or drop weight, so they keep them at a healthy weight during the winter, and inevitably when the lush spring grass comes through, their weight will increase.

 

[stangs]

Perhaps a better comparison would be that the vast majority of ferals never become obese, rather than just fat?

 

[scats]

I never think comparing wild horses, who roam for miles and mostly graze wasteland, with horses kept on livery yards in small fertilised or well managed fields is particularly helpful.
Horses are designed to fluctuate- weight gain in spring and summer, then weight loss in winter. It is this yearly cycle in wild horses that keeps their metabolism healthy. Unfortunately we don’t let horses lose the weight they need to in winter. A few kilos isn’t enough. The reality is that they need to lose a substantial amount, like they would in the wild. They would naturally go into spring looking poor.
The trouble is, if people see a ‘poor’ looking horse on a livery yard, it starts tongues wagging.
It’s also difficult to replicate the conditions needed to reduce weight significantly when horses are standing in stables for long periods. No-one wants their horse to be without forage, after all.

 

[Wishfilly]

I never think comparing wild horses, who roam for miles and mostly graze wasteland, with horses kept on livery yards in small fertilised or well managed fields is particularly helpful.
Horses are designed to fluctuate- weight gain in spring and summer, then weight loss in winter. It is this yearly cycle in wild horses that keeps their metabolism healthy. Unfortunately we don’t let horses lose the weight they need to in winter. A few kilos isn’t enough. The reality is that they need to lose a substantial amount, like they would in the wild. They would naturally go into spring looking poor.
The trouble is, if people see a ‘poor’ looking horse on a livery yard, it starts tongues wagging.
It’s also difficult to replicate the conditions needed to reduce weight significantly when horses are standing in stables for long periods. No-one wants their horse to be without forage, after all.

Yes, there's absolutely judgement on a lot of livery yards if you allow your horse/pony to become even slightly under their optimum weight- definitely compared to them being slightly over it.

But equally, if people want to ride their horses in e.g. February, they can't really have them looking as poor as a feral horse might at that time of year.

 

[maya2008]

I only muzzle the retired one as lami risk. Our cob won’t muzzle (it only stays on for 5mins at most) so he just has to do a ton of work every summer. Without the work he just does not stop eating and eating…he was so fat at 3yo when we bought him that it was physically uncomfortable to sit on him bareback!

 

[little_critter]

I do generally find it easier to manage my good doers on a larger, grazed down / sparce field than it is to keep them on a strip grazed / smaller paddock.
In a small paddock or a strip grazing set up they seem to feel restricted and will scheme to break out.
In the large but sparce paddock they are happy to mooch around picking at the grass. They don’t seem to have the desire to break into the tempting paddock next door. They also move around more as they look for the best pickings.

 

[honetpot]

Watching mine whose grazing is around my house, having somewhere to, go to, seems to be a part of the cycle of the day. There is a track that joins one area to another, overnight they stand there against the hedge, and love to run up and down it in the day time. There is an open shed for snoozing, where you can find them in the morning. They put on weight over the summer, but I think keeping them in a small square is counterproductive, as they just stand around.
We have just had some rain, and I can see the flush of new grass from it on the short grass, so I have moved them on to longer grass.

 

[scruffyponies]

having somewhere to, go to, seems to be a part of the cycle of the day.

Definitely this. It's almot like they decide as a herd that they have had enough of x (say, paddling in the river eating the marginals) and now it's time to y (say, hang out in the shade or nibble thorn bushes).