My horse isn't fat...

Thankyou all. Sorry if I've hijacked the post a bit, just wanted to show how we can be blind to our own horses faults, and that draughts don't have to be huge.
 
Dreamer515 said:
i have the oppisite problem! i have a TB which i think looks a bit on the chubby side but everyone tells me he is fine and could afford to put on a few more pounds! again it is mainly owners of Cob type horses that tell me he needs to put on weight but as a TB he is a bit porky.
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Same! I'm constantly fretting over my lads weight, his ribs are well and truly hiding, but I still get the one person telling me I'm mean keeping him on a diet and should let him get a bit fatter. I don't get it.having said that, if several people told me he looked a bit poor I'd have to step back and ask them to explain why, and what it was I wasn't seeing.
 
TheresaW said:
My Mac is a Suffolk punch cross, and my YO often commented to me about his weight. I thought he was fine, chunky breed, could feel his ribs (at a push). He was diagnosed with arthritis a few years ago, and one of the things the vet said to me was to try and get some weight off to help him.

Seeing before and after pics, draught type horses can look slim and healthy.
Before
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After
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This was a couple of weeks ago. Not a great photo, but we'd been on restricted turnout as the fields were so wet, and needed to gently stretch his legs as he was feeling quite stiff.
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Wow inspiring - how,did you do it?
 
For the same reason people think it is ok to tell me I'm too thin or really tall. But they would never say to someone - your fat or your short. Just saying.
 
Switchthehorse said:
She is part Draught, she's never going to be skinny.
BUT SHE ISN'T FAT!!!!
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Errr.... being a particular breed has nothing whatsoever to do with whether a horse is carrying excess weight or not. There is no reason on earth why a part bred draught should not be fit and lean.

My FULL ID is fit and has a visible end rib.

I have had an old fashioned warmblood that evented to 3star many years ago.....that was lean and fit and properly muscled too.

To AmieeT....Seeing the end rib is an indication that she is a correct weight.....there is NO reason on earth for a part draught to be heavy, as in overweight. Heavy as in 10 inches plus of bone, yes.....but what is on top of that is totally a different matter.
 
You see I used to have people making comments on my horses weight, supremely fit endurance horses shouldn't be thin which apparently mine were. I spoke to my vet, who pretty much said that their horses were all too fat!!
I think a lot of people simply don't realise where horses carry it either, I ride and look after some ponies, and have been doing so since september, the owner commented the other day how much smaller one of the horses neck is now, yep its lost the crest!! They are pleased though, as they were worried about weight before.
 
Someone said to me tonight that my lad is looking a bit porky!! I took it on board and will be cutting his hay down tomorrow.

I wasn't offended, I was grateful as I think sometimes as owners we wear rose tinted glasses.
 
Unfortunately it's me that's looking a bit porky and anyone that mentions it is getting a poke in the eye .
Saw a video of me jumping oh dear time to give up the x
Chardonnay and mini eggs .
 
Goldenstar said:
Unfortunately it's me that's looking a bit porky and anyone that mentions it is getting a poke in the eye .
Saw a video of me jumping oh dear time to give up the x
Chardonnay and mini eggs .
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Ah well, if we're moving on to rider fitness, I shall make a discreet withdrawal (work in progress :D).

GS, is tonight's 'enormous Indian takeaway' that you mention in another thread, your last hurrah then, pre dietary purdah :biggrin3:?!
 
To AmieeT....Seeing the end rib is an indication that she is a correct weight.....there is NO reason on earth for a part draught to be heavy, as in overweight. Heavy as in 10 inches plus of bone, yes.....but what is on top of that is totally a different matter.
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That's what I meant :) I thought that draughts would look a little skinny if the ribs wear showing though, I won't lie! But like I said, I don't know much! :D

Ax
 
Tiddlypom said:
Ah well, if we're moving on to rider fitness, I shall make a discreet withdrawal (work in progress :D).

GS, is tonight's 'enormous Indian takeaway' that you mention in another thread, your last hurrah then, pre dietary purdah :biggrin3:?!
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No comment at this time !
 
My pony skewbald has an unfortunate vertical stripe around the fattest bit of his tummy which can make him look fat in photos when he isn't in real life,but last year he put on weight really quickly and I admit I didn't see it soon enough I wish someone had told me as we spent all summer struggling to get it off.
 
'Correct' weight depends on lifestyle, build and work. There's seeing a faint hint of ribs but I wouldn't want to see much more than that on my native who lives out 24/7 with no rug. For a competing sport horse who comes in at night and is on carefully managed feed it's a different matter. So seeing ribs isn't always positive.
 
If a horse is a bit lean or underweight there is unlikely to be any health reprocutions. However if a horse is overweight it is far worse for the health of the animal.

If people are constantly telling you he's fat then maybe you need to have a good objective look at him?
 
Goldenstar said:
No comment at this time !
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Enjoy!

I've started to keep a weekly record of the weigh tape measurements of all mine. Its so easy for weight to fluctuate and for the owner to not notice, as they see them everyday. The actual weight as read off the tape is notoriously inaccurate, but it indicates changes.

I get mine weighed on the weigh bridge each time they go to the vets for any reason, and then check back as to what the tape measurement says.

I would rather someone said 'Isn't such and such horse looking a bit porky' than said nothing.
 
I've fought the battle of the bulge with my pony for years...last spring, after finally managing to control his forage over the winter (thanks to moving to my own place), he was pretty good, but then lost weight rapidly when he was bullied in the field by a new mare. He was really a bit too light, but as his hoof-trimmer said, "It's hard not to cheer!". :p After I'd managed to get him a little bit better, he had an assessment with an Endurance team physio, who commented that from a distance, she'd thought, "fat pony!", but when he got up close, she realised he was still a bit under condition. She said the illusion was due to an abnormally enormous ribcage. So conformational oddities can affect how the weight of a horse is perceived! He was at the time 60km-fit, so no slouch. :)
 
Goldenstar said:
Unfortunately it's me that's looking a bit porky and anyone that mentions it is getting a poke in the eye .
Saw a video of me jumping oh dear time to give up the x
Chardonnay and mini eggs .
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I sympathise... Just back from a... *gulp* "run" with the dog as am horrified by my own "show condition" :p
 
PollyP99 said:
Wow inspiring - how,did you do it?
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Exercise and diet. When he's out 24/7, he has no hard feed other than a handful of hi-if lite for his supplements. He is only hacked, does the occasional fun ride as schooling is difficult for his legs. We go out for hours though whenever possible, usually only plodding unless he wants to do more. During the winter is harder as we can only hack weekends in the daylight, so he is exercised in the school, but big circles all the time, hay only overnight, and again just a small feed for his supplements. I am lucky that the more he is exercised, the better he moves.

I do muzzle him when necessary.
 
TheresaW said:
Exercise and diet. When he's out 24/7, he has no hard feed other than a handful of hi-if lite for his supplements. He is only hacked, does the occasional fun ride as schooling is difficult for his legs. We go out for hours though whenever possible, usually only plodding unless he wants to do more. During the winter is harder as we can only hack weekends in the daylight, so he is exercised in the school, but big circles all the time, hay only overnight, and again just a small feed for his supplements. I am lucky that the more he is exercised, the better he moves.

I do muzzle him when necessary.
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Thanks, my girl is more your before than after and I'm upping the exercise as my main attack, now riding 4 days , lunging 1, might have to go further. I want to avoid muzzling if I can but will do it if i need to. I would prefer to exercise more and have the option of a point to point track of two miles, not got her all the way around alone yet (managed half) but I'm thinking if I can get her around this 2 mile ride at a good canter a few times a week it will be a great calorie burner - thoughts anyone?

Forgot to say, feeding wise she is on the same, just hifi lite and vits hay overnight which will stop this week as grass is growing. Her paddock was bare as was her winter paddock but already it's looking green!
 
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I spend my life trying to get weight of my native. I'm used to TBs so this has been a real eye opener for me. Although she has never had laminitis, I treat her as one, and she is fed soaked hay. Unfortunately she can get EVERY grazing muzzle off. She just rubs and rubs on the fence post until they come off. I've plaited her mane and forelock over it and even used gaffer tape to try and make it stay on, but she gets them all off within minutes. So at the moment we're limited with turnout anyway which is quite good for her, so she eats soaked hay, is exercised six days a week and I still can't get the weight off! It's so frustrating!.
OP if more than one person has said that your horse is overweight, then I suspect it is, even though you might not be able to see it. Maybe take some photos and then look at the photos as if it's not your own horse and you might see things differently. Do you have some photos we can see?
 
Sorry OP but if several people are telling you your horse is fat, then she probably is. Sadly, I lost my mare last November after over 2 years of fighting laminitis (she had EMS and Cushings). I had the odd comment, well only ONE actually, which I wish I had taken to heart as I truly believe that she would never have been an EMS horse had I watched her weight when she was young. She really wasn't what many would call fat. Though now I know what I know, she WAS. She was the same sort of condition score as the wonderful Valegro. Now that is food for thought. :wink3:
 
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Late Sunday evening, I had to take one of my livery's horses to vet hospital in Newmarket because of colic. Vets were concerned that his heart rate was 120 beats per minute. Next morning, colic was no longer a problem, but they were worried about heart rate, which was also irregular. Cutting long story short, horse was in heart failure but, because he was so overweight, they couldn't scan him - too much fat!!! They had to diagnose via symptoms because scanning his heart was impossible due to him being so overweight......his owners are constantly concerned about keeping weight on him, despite him being (obviously) obese!!

My liveries are obsessed with wanting grass, thinking their horses are hungry, and feeding and feeding and feeding........this horse may not survive. I hope he pulls through because his owners are lovely, despite their obsession with his weight (oh, and rugs - he's so over-rugged). We're desperately trying to keep our own horses on the lean side.......
 
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