Obese horse - follow up to Bex 1984 post

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canteron

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Do you think this is a form of self denial!!

I have noticed that skinny people generally keep their horses skinny and people who could do with losing a few pounds (like me) have horses the same - I know that I am better at being strict about my horses' diet when I am being disciplined about my own eating! In fact when one of my horses was out at grass and got quite overweight, we both went of a diet and both lost quite a lot of weight!!

Is this irrational, or has anyone else noticed this????
 
Nope
I am overweight and my animals are not. I often wonder how I can keep animal fit and well but not myself
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I think it is a form of denial, but I actually know a mother and daughter who share a cob and, while girls are really slim and very careful about what they eat, the cob is grossly overweight. Our trainer has been on at them for months and months to slim him down, but they just seem to think it is cruel to deny him food. To the extent that, even if he's tied up outside his stable to be tacked up, he's got a net of haylege. They are both lazy about riding him too (and I can see why because, with the extra weight he's a bugger to get going).
Also, they don't see his weight as excessive and are constantly measuring him and showing him to us and saying 'he's not fat' when he clearly is.
It has gotten to the point where our trainer doesn't want to teach either of them anymore because she feels it is either unfair on the horse to expect him to perform at a certain level once a week and then not for the rest of the week at all; or unfair on the riders to expect them to pay to just tootle round the school at a pace the horse is comfortable with.
Honestly, I've never seen anything like it, but it makes me understand how really fat kids are made so by their parents who just can't seem to deny them anything.
 
Nope, in my case I'm far too thin at the moment from trying to get weight off my porky horse all summer! I'm exhausted! Rode 6-7 times a week all summer, and kept him off grass for as much as I dared, and still not managed to shift much. I take his weight loss programme seriously though but it tends to be a year round job now the climate is so mild and grass grows for longer and I'm not allowed hay so have to feed haylage when stabled. I am SO determined to get there with him though.
 
Nope. I eat everything (but manage to stay slim??) but don't let my horses eat everything. Think of how fat they would become
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Flicker - Don't even get me started on people who think diets for horses are cruel !!
 
Nope. My ar$e is probably bigger than Dizzy's
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. But, she's of the harder to keep weight on variety.

I was looking at Little Cob today and thinking he could still do with losing some poundage, so his feed has been cut and he's being worked every day. His owner is a stick insect...
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Well at my old yard it used to work in reverse, people seemed to think that because I am thin I am incapable of feeding my horse enough.
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They were all, without exception, *ahem* larger ladies and their horses were all disgustingly fat.
 
I wish I could put some weight on my skinny horse! I'm like my friend's horse - only have to smell food and I put on a pound.
I do have another friend who has a cob that is definitely overweight - he has a significant groove on his rump. I remarked to her the other day that I thought it looked like he had lost a little weight (trying to be nice about her horse) and she went back and told another friend what I had said so has decided to 'up' his feed a little!!
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Think I should have kept my mouth shut - for the sake of her horse.
 
Ha, I would love my horses metabolism! She's definitely not of the obese variety and I must say probably couldn't ever be fat. I've been desperately trying to put some weight on her (her ribs are all too frequently visible but she has a nice muscular backside and good topline so not overly concerned) but no way! To be fair she is a fit, active TB.
 
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