Massively overweight horse............

laura7981

laura7981

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Yes, i should probably mind my own business but the guy who keeps his horses in the field next to mine has two in foal mares who are ready to drop and a gelding who is fatter than both of them and has been for a long time! My beef is that i knew this horse before he bought it and its not a naturally heavy type of horse, but to look at it now, its disgustingly overweight, has a crest any stallion would be envious of and to top it off the poor thing struggles to breath in warmer weather...i mean it pants! Ive kept quiet about this for a long time but when i went to the stables tonight, hes put the horse in his summer field which is knee high in fertilised lush grass:eek:! You might not all agree with me but i believe that keeping a horse that is this much overweight and then feeding it more is just plain cruel! How he hasnt developed laminitis is a miricle! If i were to contact WHW about his state, do you guys think they might come out and advise the guy on how this horse should really be on a strict diet? To me too fat is just a cruel as keeping a horse too thin.
 
they will go out as a grosely overweight horse is as bad as a thin horse so they will pay a visit if it is as bad as you say it is
 
I'd definatly contact them. You've nothing to loose by doing so, and the horse has everything to gain.
 
It is now a punishable offence to keep a horse that is morbidly overweight and the RSPCA do have the right to enforce a diet plan or even confiscate the horse!
So if he is as fat as you say then the owner can be punished and a diet enforced.
 
Thanks guys, ill contact them tomorrow. Honestly on hot days he sounds as if hes might just drop down dead a any minute. Its such a shame because he was a good honest hard working horse before this guy got him and now he just stands in the field day and night and does nothing but eat!
 
They may come out to him to advise him, but it sounds more like he can't be bothered to keep the horse in or mess around with fencing him off a section of the field, especially if he has two mares he's busy with, and that probably need the grass right now. Assuming he is relatively experienced (which I would hope, if he is breeding horses??)
I would feel just as aggravated as yourself, I hate seeing fat horses. Or worse still, those people who make a big deal out of every tiny weight fluctuation in a horse, at any time of year, and change their horses' feed radically every couple of months rather than just give the horse a chance to settle on one type of feed and see if it works! Do you know if the horse is young/old? If it's any consolation, I believe grass over 6 inches or so high starts to rapidly lose its quality, and is much more fiberous as opposed to sugary and nutritious (that is to say, the top half of a blade of grass over 6 inches lacks nutrition, the stuff on the bottom of the stem is still rich! )
But what to do about it, if the horse is in otherwise good health, would be a tricky decision indeed :/
 
Ahh but thats the thing, hes not busy with his mares, he never touches them. They were sent away to be put in foal by someone else then brought back to him and put in the field. They get fed and watered and that is it. no handling, brushing no feet picking no nothing. He has got a piece of field that he could keep the fat one in as its bare but he just chucks it out with the mares! The horse is about 15. The sad thing is, is that i think he thinks hes being kind to them by just leaving them to eat and eat...

gemboo said:
They may come out to him to advise him, but it sounds more like he can't be bothered to keep the horse in or mess around with fencing him off a section of the field, especially if he has two mares he's busy with, and that probably need the grass right now. Assuming he is relatively experienced (which I would hope, if he is breeding horses??)
I would feel just as aggravated as yourself, I hate seeing fat horses. Or worse still, those people who make a big deal out of every tiny weight fluctuation in a horse, at any time of year, and change their horses' feed radically every couple of months rather than just give the horse a chance to settle on one type of feed and see if it works! Do you know if the horse is young/old? If it's any consolation, I believe grass over 6 inches or so high starts to rapidly lose its quality, and is much more fiberous as opposed to sugary and nutritious (that is to say, the top half of a blade of grass over 6 inches lacks nutrition, the stuff on the bottom of the stem is still rich! )
But what to do about it, if the horse is in otherwise good health, would be a tricky decision indeed :/
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laura7981 said:
The horse in question is fatter than this shetland!
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:eek::eek::eek:



Under the animal welfare act it is an offence to cause suffering and allowing a horse to become so obese means that it will be suffering and its health will be at risk, so they will be able to take action.
 
LollyDolly said:
It is now a punishable offence to keep a horse that is morbidly overweight and the RSPCA do have the right to enforce a diet plan or even confiscate the horse!
So if he is as fat as you say then the owner can be punished and a diet enforced.
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How on earth do you think a diet can be enforced ,
If an offence has been committed then it could the owner could be charged if the RSPCA thought they had a realistic chance of winning but you the law can't enforce a diet fines bans imprisonment yes but you can cajole threaten and bully to change an owners behaviour.
OP I would call WHW or the BHS both excellent and working hard to change owners behaviour.
 
Cripes that poor Shetland has an epic crest its like a second neck! Hopefully whw will have a word with this guy and wake him up, it does sound like he is killing them with kindness :-/
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
Can you post a link to this new enforcable offence please?
And the penalties?
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In all fairness, LollyDolly is correct if the excessive weight is a welfare issue...

The Animal Welfare Act 2006

Sec 4 - Unnecessary suffering
Sec 9 - Duty of person responsible for animal to ensure welfare
Sec 10 - Improvement notices in respect of Sec 9
Sec 18 - Seizure
Sec 32 - 36 = Post Conviction Powers

In the absence of a vet treating for a disease that causes gross weight gain, being excessively overweight could cause unnecessary suffering and the need for a suitable diet (9.2.b) isn't being met...

It doesn't have to be the RSPCA... Any 'inspector' appointed by the local authority can do the same thing... Sec 51... If an inspector deems the person responsible for the horse is not meeting Sec 9 they can issue an improvement notice or use Sec 4 or 9 and start judicial proceedings or use Sec 18 and seize the animal... Plenty of options to 'pursuade' the owner to get organised or lose the horse...

The chances of it being fully utilised is a whole different ball game... :)
 
Yes Ladydragon but if it not had laminitis it might be very difficult to get magistrates to take the view that a horribly fat horse was being caused unnecessary suffering.
IMO BHS or WHW officers would be the best people to try to nudge this owner in the right direction they are very experianced at this.
Good luck with this OP.
 
I find it odd that we would try to prosecute an owner of over weight horse- yet nothing is said when theres the 60 stone teenager that couldnt leave her bedroom for months and had to have wall removed to get her to hospital. Surely this is far greater neglect?
 
cornbrodolly said:
I find it odd that we would try to prosecute an owner of over weight horse- yet nothing is said when theres the 60 stone teenager that couldnt leave her bedroom for months and had to have wall removed to get her to hospital. Surely this is far greater neglect?
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It is, but at 19 years old she is technically an adult and so responsible for her own health, although she must have been overweight for a long time. A teenager can also say that they want to lose weight/not eat certain things, an animal doesn't have that ability and relies on its owner to do the right thing.

I would imagine it is far easier to remove an animal than a child from that sort of situation.

If this animal is as overweight as said then any vet will say it is causing suffering, simply carrying the additional weight on joints will be damaging.
 
touchstone said:
If this animal is as overweight as said then any vet will say it is causing suffering, simply carrying the additional weight on joints will be damaging.
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There is a whole catalogue of diseases related to obesity. Obsessive eating is also recognised as a disease and, apparently, it is genetic.

That is why I think it is scandalous that show judges still put up obese animals and so give the false impression that that's how these animals should look. The problem is not restricted to horses, either, but to many species of domestic animals.
 
Dry Rot said:
There is a whole catalogue of diseases related to obesity. Obsessive eating is also recognised as a disease and, apparently, it is genetic.

That is why I think it is scandalous that show judges still put up obese animals and so give the false impression that that's how these animals should look. The problem is not restricted to horses, either, but to many species of domestic animals.
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Exactly, which is why I spit bricks every week when I open H&H magazine and see pages and pages of showing reports with grossly fat horses being ridden by people who are perched on top because they can't get their legs around them :mad:

Compare them to the horses in the other competition reports, who are lean and fit and muscled, and you will see a vast difference :(

I'm interested in those comments which suggest that WHW is worried about obesity - in last week's H&H report on taking on "cheap or free" rescue horses, I was staggered to see a shetland being offered by WHW, who apparently came to WHW as a "very serious welfare case", being underweight among other things, and his picture now shows him as being grossly fat - but a welfare case no longer??:confused::rolleyes:

Back to the OP (sorry for getting sidetracked) if the horse is as obese as you say, I think you have no choice but to report it.
 
Definitely report it OP. I personally think fat horses are more of a welfare issue than thin (unless we're talking a condition score of 1 or below). WHW or BHS would be my first choices I think as they will hopefully come out and advise and then the problem will all be sorted (hopefully)

Is the horse visible from the road or is the owner going to know it's an inside job? I don't think it should change your actions, would just say be a bit careful if he's going to know it's you!
 
I would also report, I too think that keeping an overweight horse is just as bad as keeping an underweight one. I personally wouldn't try the RSPCA (experienced and heard of too many bad cases where they leave it til its too late), but would contact WHW (http://www.worldhorsewelfare.org) or BHS Welfare (http://www.bhs.org.uk/Horse_Care/BHS_Welfare/Reporting_a_concern.aspx) - both are much more likely to actually do something! They may hopefully be able to knock some sense into the owner - keep us updated x
 
Dry Rot said:
There is a whole catalogue of diseases related to obesity. Obsessive eating is also recognised as a disease and, apparently, it is genetic.

That is why I think it is scandalous that show judges still put up obese animals and so give the false impression that that's how these animals should look. The problem is not restricted to horses, either, but to many species of domestic animals.
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I agree, metabolic issues, heart and lung issues, joint/arthritis issues,laminitis risk and overweight is far more dangerous to a horse than being underweight. :(


Rowreach;10761048 I'm interested in those comments which suggest that WHW is worried about obesity - in last week's H&H report on taking on "cheap or free" rescue horses said:
That is a real shame, because WHW are running the 'right weight' campaign to highlight the dangers of obesity and the importance of controlling weight and condition scoring. :(
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