How fat does a fat horse have to be for RSPCA involvement?

[hidden_user]

Hello, sorry I am a very regular user hiding under this username.

There is a very fat horse that is on livery on my yard, owner/rider has had a warning from the vet about how overweight it is. She rides it every other day and after walking about 100m it is blowing/weezing. It is stabled by night and coughs like nothing I have ever heard but it does not appear to be contagious (been going on a year or so), vet has told her it has COPD and needs antibiotics which she hasn't got, but I have a medical backround and I'm concerned the coughing is to do with its weight.

I am contemplating RSPCA involvement as the horse is obviously uncomfortable, but I do not know if it is overweight enough for them to be interested?

 

[TinselRider]

Id call if the horse was a 5 on the body condition score if the owner hasn't taken action after warnings from the vet.

Do remember though it can take very overweight horses up to 3 years to come down to a normal weight.

 

[_daisy_]

tbh i would contact them anyway - better safe than sorry. if they have been warned already by warned by a vet then something isnt right.
id contact WHW as they seem to take notice unlike the RSPCA

 

[Ranyhyn]

If you are that concerned there is no question, but maybe WHW too?

 

[AmyMay]

What is your YO doing about the situation?

 

[hidden_user]

She was warned a good few months ago, and said after vet went "Oh but she likes her food so much", she is doing nothing to correct it.

 

[hidden_user]

Nothing. They are buddies and she is the only one from the yard that goes into the big house regularly for "cups of tea". It's a very cliquey yard, and it isn't sour grapes/bitchyness at all on my part, it is a genuine concern.

 

[AmyMay]

Give the WHW a buzz then.

 

[lavroski]

I can see you are very concerned about this mare.I guess the question is - is she dieting the horse?How much is she feeding her and what type fodder does she get?As for copd,thats an alergy created by dust and mould spores.In that case the vet would normaly treat it with ventapulmin or something like that,and then a management structure be put in place to try and reduce the problem.If she has an infection - then antibiotics could be necessary.As for the rspca,if neglect can be proven there may be a case but it is very hard to proove - look at Jamie Gray.Dead horses everywhere and hes on bail pending the appeal.

 

[competitiondiva]

[ QUOTE ]
tbh i would contact them anyway - better safe than sorry. if they have been warned already by warned by a vet then something isnt right.
id contact WHW as they seem to take notice unlike the RSPCA

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, but also agree that a case is very hard to prove. Unlike the above comment about the rspca taking notice, it's more likely that a call like this may sit a while with the rspca as it would probably be quite low on the suffering scale compared to the thousands of others they have, but the WHW don't have the same amount of calls so would probably be able to get there sooner, if nothing else they can give advise and hopefully because they are an outsider they maybe listened to more???? (one would hope!)

 

[wildpoppywild]

well this person needs a slap, i've just posted about poppy's weight issues on my piccies post, so i speak from experience

it makes me sooooo mad tht people like me work so hard to keep "get fat on fresh air" ponies from becoming ill or lami prone, but yet there is still people out there who allow their ponies to get into such obese states

grrrr gets my blood boiling!!!

anyhooooo u would need to be able to prove she's not restricting the ponies feed etc, why not try giving her some advice about ponies losing weight? muzzles etc?? does she soak the ponies hay for 24 hrs??

here a body scoring chart http://www.bluecross.org.uk/upload/FHSTemplate_files/score_large.jpg

poppys still a 3/4 (closer to a 4) managed to get her to ideal but she was then off work for a year and well back to obese

i've had her 6 yrs and it's a constant battle

 

[ivenoidea]

... sneaks off to change user name ...

 

[the watcher]

If the horse has COPD it would not normally need antibiotics, but may need medication for breathing or to clear airways. It is off the grass overnight and ridden regularly so something is being done to maintain some kind of fitness, clearly it is not up to faster work because of the breathing so the other alternative is to reduce intake. that would be a slow process as we all know that to starve them is just as harmful.

Are you certain this horse is not on any kind of diet?

 

[PeterNatt]

A couple from Clevelys Lancashire have just been prosecuted by WHW and the RSPCA for allowing a pony to become groslsly overweight. They where ordered to pay costs. A quote was 'This is likely to be a tip of the iceberg as many similar cases could reach the courts in the future'.
Please see Page 7 Horse and Hounds 22 October 2009.
www.worldhorsewelfare.org