Obese horse in last weeks H&H??

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zoeshiloh

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Sorry if this has already been done, I have been away all week. Am I the only one who was horrified to see the horse on Pg 58 at the top? As soon as I opened the page, it just screamed obese at me, and what made it worse was that it won at a grass roots show?!? Surely that is about training the show riders/combinations of tomorrow, so why, when these show judges/committees say things are changing, are they rewarding obese horses at the training shows?? I am confused!
 
The term heavyweight surely relates to bone (seeing as that is how they are classed) and not the fact that the horse looked horrendously overweight? I showed it to a vet friend on the Friday, and he agreed it looked awful (from a weight perspective). Of course, pictures can be deceiving, but in my opinion the horse looked well overweight, regardless of it being a"heavyweight cob" (The 'heavyweight' title refers to it's ability to carry a heavyweight rider, not that the horse itself should weigh a lot).
 
I know that!
But a heavyweight cob will carry more weight than a tb, as it is the "type" of the breed.
This cob in particular has deep girth, a powerful hind end and a big shoulder - a wonderful example of a HW cob imo.
I dont think it is obese.
 
yup, thought it was fat too. Nothing against heavyweight horses having something to cover their bones, but fat pads takes it too far!
 
I think we'll agree to disagree over this one then, lol. I am not one to admonish the showing world (I love it!) and I like to see "show condition" on horses (I'd like to stress not obese or overly fat, just a good covering) personally I feel it has been getting better, and I have seen fewer overweight animals, but as soon as I turned the page, I honestly thought it was an article about overfeeding for the showring! It stunned me to see it had won, and then stunned me even more to see it was at a training show. I agree the horse is a nice stamp, but you can see there is excess weight there, not just a good covering. I really don't normally get upset about pictures in magazines, but it just stood out a lot to me.
 
I will agree that it is overweight, but I dont think it is obese :)

But then I also think that a lot of LW hunters are very fat as well :p
 
I just did one of my daft art cards with this exact topic :D -

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I hate seeing fat show horses, they should be marked down on it severely - otherwise people think that is the normal way a horse should look!!!
 
Wow - love your cards. So quirky.

Re the OP - yes I thought this too as soon as I turned the page. Surely no horse apart from a stallion should have such a cresty neck.

Fiona
 
My horse is a heavyweight cob and in nov vet suggested that even though he could make ribs out it would be best to lose a bit and to take rugs off and over winter with hay and two feeds a day hardly any exercise managed to get 3" off girth and she did look better for it however I would not want her to lose anymore.
 
I've been banging on about obese horses for years. How any judge can effectively judge conformation when its completely obscured by fat is beyond me.Not to mention the health problems which can be associated with obeisity such as diabetes. But it will never change until judges have the courage to place down overweight horses and ponies in favour of those in a genuine working condition.
 
But look at the size of it's legs anyway - it's a BIG horse with a lot of bone, and stood up properly I doubt it'll look as large. I remember the debate on here about one of Jayne Webbers horses (forgotton it's name, I think it was HOYS champion) - one photo of it cantering made it look fat, but in fact, as was proven by the people involved with it, it wasn't at all. Photos can be awful for making horses look, well, awful.

It'd be interesting to see what it looked like if you stopped feeding it - it'd still be a damn big horse I imagine.
 
Don't know - was at Windsor last year and alot of them, cobs, show ponies, working hunters looked fat moving at stood up. Yes photos can be deception but certain angles could make horses look thinner too.

What I found telling was someone telling me that her successful show hunter has a showing weight in the summer and a hunting weight in the winter.
Surely the right weight for a hunter to perform at it's best in the hunting field should be the right weight to judge the best hunter in the showring.
 
hmm, as mine always looks better in ridden pics (contraction of stomach muscles) than any pics stood up am not sure the pic is to blame. But I have to say given the comments I did think he might be worse than he actually is.
 
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