How much do you worry about your horse/ponies weight

I've never worried and never had an issue with my natives. However now got two skinnies although I don't really worry about it, it is at the back of my mind that they can't afford to lose any weight. One has been kept lean from lack of feed. He has a good appetite and will come right in time, I just wish I could speed the process up. The other is 18 and always been difficult to keep however has gained weight since we got him so seems we are doing the right things!
 
Too much. I decided last year I need to stop getting so anxious about them because otherwise it takes over my whole life! Its always about whether they are too fat, laminitis, getting colic, injuring themselves in the field etc etc. I suppose at the end of the day you just have to accept that these things might happen and get on with it. A lot easier said than done!
 
All the time with CM, it doesn't take much stress to put her off eating and cause her to pace about. She's been pretty good so far this winter and is eating up her feeds and spending a fair bit of time at the hay feeder, but the hunt is in the area today so she'll probably stress some weight off and refuse to eat later. Hopefully she'll be eating again tomorrow.
 
A lot...! I have a nearly 2 yo Shetland mare who resembles a pompom at the moment, so impossible to even guess what might be going on under all that fluff. And an ex-racer who is in very light work atm, so unclipped, fully rugged, but the rugs squish his fur into odd patterns so it's hard to get an idea of what he looks like. Some days he looks thin & others fat, depending on the light, how he's standing etc. Girth seems to be on the same hole as it was in the summer... I think that he's a 3 on condition scoring... Ribs & hip bones are well covered, so I guess he's okay...

So the above dialogue is running through my head a lot of the time, along with losing my hand wrist deep in Shetland fuzz trying to feel ribs etc... And I'm feeding Thunderbrooks this year (both are barefoot) so a lot less volume of feed which is making me paranoid...

T x
 
I worry a bit, but I do a body condition mini assessment everyday pretty much, and at the moment my mare looks like she could drop a foal! But she is the big rangey type and has only gotten like this with not being in work because of a SDFT injury. She's what I'd call a 'normal' doer. Doesnt need much in the way of hardfeed if she's not in work, but as soon as she's in proper work then she needs feed. And she's also the 'cold' type, which is okay because I love buying rugs hehe.
 
I worry more about his lack of topline than anything else. He has a solid neck but the back muscles are not good enough. More hill work for him this year.

I used to worry about his weight a lot when I got him as he was skinny. Once he got bigger I started worrying that he might lose it but he hasn't really. Maybe a tiny bit over winter but not as much as I feared.
 
I have two very good doers, a 7/8 Tb (registered ISH) who is built like a tank- when vet came out last week to see him, despite him only being 16.1hh, she couldn't get over how huge his overall frame is. His neck and shoulders are huge. Trouble is, as well as a big frame, he's got a rather large belly!

My cob mare is constantly overweight and it's a battle to get it off as she has PSSM so I have trouble being able to exercise her enough. She's on a permanent diet.
 
I have just changed my tb diet to a mire natural one. He looked fabulous on his old diet and I really hope he doesn't loose any weight on the new one. He will be constantly monitored!!
 
Nope I don't worry. He's currently fat and hairy, and living out. He only has a 100g on so he can keep himself warm. He doesn't eat constantly, he grazes on/off and eats only till he's full. He's really only fat because he's not in work except for hacking!

I expect a foal from him any day now :P

When he's in work he looses weight easily, and is a big horse. He's starting back into work now so will loose a bit of the belly. So why worry? :D
 
Last edited:
I had a full on breakdown about my thoroughbreds weight just before Christmas. We only brought him back in August when he looked like a broodmare he was so fat! I got him down to the perfect weight then December hit and he lost so much weight, his ribs were showing way too much. I thought it was all my fault, had a cry about then got in contact with his old owner and she told me he lost weight every winter without a doubt. Never had experience with skinny breeds, always looked after or ridden natives! He's put the weight back on now (thank god!) and I'm know prepared for next winter. :D
 
I never used to worry about horse weight unless they were too skinny. I used to like them to look 'well' and at the time that was around a 3.5 on the 5 point scale. Now I prefer them to be around 2.5 - 3 and worry if they start to go over 3. I have never had a problem with any horse being underweight in my care. I've had a few arrive skinny but once they have reached their appropriate weight, I have never had a problem keeping it on (other than the expense of the forage). I do sometimes wish we humans took more care of our own weight though.
 
I wouldn't say I worry but I do keep a close eye on them. My two natives are overweight so it's a balancing act of giving them enough to keep them happy without the weight increasing. My other pony has Cushings and is just right. If she starts to drop off I give more hay and that seems to do the trick.
 
Wagtail said:
I never used to worry about horse weight unless they were too skinny. I used to like them to look 'well' and at the time that was around a 3.5 on the 5 point scale. Now I prefer them to be around 2.5 - 3 and worry if they start to go over 3. I have never had a problem with any horse being underweight in my care. I've had a few arrive skinny but once they have reached their appropriate weight, I have never had a problem keeping it on (other than the expense of the forage). I do sometimes wish we humans took more care of our own weight though.
Click to expand...

Thanks a good point. I try to keep the weight off mine. It's been a very mild winter so far so they are a bit heavier than I'd like. My weight however is probably half a stone more than I'd like which I do intend to do something about.
If we all worried about our own weight and diets as much as we do our horses we would all be much healthier!
 
Not at all tbh. I keep an eye on it, but I'm quite lucky with my two as they do quite well. I have to be careful about restricting them in the summer but otherwise they tend to do very well. I'm lucky with my share horse too, she's the sort who stays a fairly good weight even when not in heavy work. She could be a bit leaner and fitter, but that's about it. Most of the other horses on her yard give me a nervous breakdown though - apparently a lot of people can't spot an overweight horse even when it's verging in chronically obese!
 
It's a constant worry :o

When my mare was diagnosed with PSSM she had been on a diet for almost 6 months and had lost about 75kg. When I was told I had to add a whole bunch of fat to her diet I nearly cried, thinking the worst. however she is maintaining weight nicely, despite her calorific intake being significantly higher than it was before - strange muscle metabolism...

I taped her on the 31st and she is 445kg, which is still a little too much, but as she is been out of work for a month, it's all on her belly, and I can actually feel her ribs for the first time ever - which is what prompted me to tape her. I thought she was going to be under 400kg, nope... that is still a work in progress!

B is getting enough work to keep him maintaining and looking fairly trim despite him eating mountains of hay (though that is all he gets).

They both get taped regularly - T every week when I'm actively watching her weight, but normally once a month or so.
 
I dont worry but I do keep a very close eye on the laminitic one not because he gets fat but because I use the winter to drop him off and he can get too thin and ropey if it is cold and wet and he has a huge coat so it is hard to tell he always looks fat as he has four inches of fur but he could be a skeleton on legs as far as body condition is concerned. I do weigh tape him though weekly
 
Worry no. Measure no. Monitor by feeling for bones, yes, every few days. All good so far. I love my new timothy low carb haylage! Two minis and one fattie on ad lib haylage, one more normal horse on haylage and about a kilo of added oats. All losing their summer fat stores nice and slowly. Should arrive at spring well placed for the new grass :)
 
Almost constantly! Horse has EMS and has teetered on the brink of laminitis for years. This year, for the first time, he's living out, unrugged so far, and on the vets advise, we are attempting to get him very slim in an effort to reset his metabolism. It's going amazingly well so far, he's on ad lib hay for the first time, which frightened the life out of me at first, but he seems to be regulating himself just fine now, after a couple of scary weeks when he just gorged!
He's lighter than he's ever been now, I can feel ribs easily and his fat pads have melted away, wish I'd tried this years ago. Keeping everything crossed that by springtime, his insulin resistance will have lessoned considerably, and he may be able to live a more natural life.
 
Always! I have a very good doer of a mare who just needs to look at food and expands!
Over summer I micro managed her with strip grazing, muzzling, exercising and plenty of soaked hay (half a bale per day plus buckets of plain straw chaff) She looked cracking and weighed 436kg on the weighbridge at the vets in November.
But she has ulcers. So now she is on the winter grazing with the other horses with hay (we still have lots of grass too) and 2 bucket feeds a day. She looks like she needs a pin stuck in her side to stop her going pop and being so bloated!
So I'm between a rock and a hard place and dreading spring.
I'd far rather have a poor doer (last one was a poor doer so not just a case of thinking the grass is greener, I know how stressful they can be but at least you're not worrying about giving them ulcers or them getting laminitis every 2 minutes!)
 
It's on my mind ALOT at the moment. My TB has always been quite a good doer but this winter for the first time he's still out at night and he's really dropped off. I thought I'd done everything I could; warm rugs, big haynet to eat in the field (which he eats most of overnight but still usually leaves some by morning); Ive upped his bucket feeds to three (bigger) feeds a day with extra linseed in; another big haynet and a treatball with grass nuts in for when he is stabled. I'm so not used to seeing him this 'slim'; I definately don't want him losing much more!
 
Feeling pretty fortunate....Both mine are pretty much OK without much thought! Pip is out of work and now the years are creeping up his top line isn't what it will be in the season and his belly is there. It's not a worry though, he'll be in work soon enough!
 
Mine are getting ad lib barley straw. They all get a bucket feed, the three good doers get half a mug of balancer and the skinny gets a mug and a half along with sugar beet. So far it is working withe cresty necks melting away and miss ribby holding her own.
 
A lot, I have 3 very good doer natives, biggest boy has EMS & he is a battle just on his own, he is looking slim right now and should come out in spring a bit lighter still if I keep at it BUT this winter for the first time ever he is feeling the cold, he has always been a very hot pony and even fully clipped in the snow would just be in a 100g warm enough but he had only has his batman clip so has all his back on and is already in 200g and is too cold in the mornings for my liking.

My mare is fat and has been all yr (daughter lost interest) but as she has arthritis on vets advice I have to keep her on the warm side of toasty all the time, she has lost quite a bit recently so going the right way.

My littlest boy looks ready to drop his foal, his is simply lack of work as before my daughter outgrew him he was always slim.

The biggest difference this winter is that the 2 big ones have remained in constant work all through the week whereas before they pretty much only got ridden at w.ends during winter, determination on my part to get them exercised all wk through is paying off for both them and surprisingly enough me as well as I have lost over a stone in 3 months!

I don't go as far as weighing hay or soaking (reserved for summer) as they live out 24/7 and when it is frosty I cannot risk the big boy coming down with Lami again or them standing for hours with nothing so they have enough to keep them going for a little while each end of the day but certainly not ad lib as the EMS boy doesn't know when to stop as he never feels full.
 
My mare needs to lose weight before she can have steroid injections in her hocks so I do monitor her. Doesn't help that she gets ulcers if she's stressed over food & has PSSM so really needs rugging. Having her in a big field of winter grass is brilliant.

The Ardennes looks like he's due to give birth and has a neck the size of a Shetland on him. Last year he didn't winter at all well so I worry about him despite the blubber!
 
A lot. I have a fussy, stressy, poor doer, who is hunting fit. She can go from looking fit to looking like a hat rack in a day, she has never looked fat. In the past she has looked like a welfare case despite eating enough for two horses her size. She weighs less than my friends 13.2hh despite being nearly 16hh!

However we seem to have just about got it right this year and on NYE I couldn't see her ribs and could see her starting to get more cover over her quarters. She dropped a bit after a cold days hunting but I am so much less worried than previous years. I haven't once resorted to hand feeding and begging her to eat!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top