Obese horses in showing

I have to admit I have emailed Baileys to express my disappointment that they, as the owner of the horse and ultimately responsible for its welfare, are unable or unwilling to address its obesity with the producer. I wouldn't be able to recommend a feed company or nutritionist hotline to anyone if it allows its own horses to be fattened up like they are being prepared for slaughter.
 
amymay said:
Good for you Kat. It will be interesting to hear what their response is.
Click to expand...
Seconded. You've prompted me to do the same.

I had a quick look on the Bailey's website to see if they offer yard visits to advise on nutrition, like some other companies do, bringing a portable weighbridge with them to weigh the neds. I didn't see Baileys offering this service, just a telephone advice line. Anyone know if they do yard visits? Was wondering what they'd advise re feed and management if they were confronted with Jovian in the flesh in his current condition, if he belonged to a low level rider.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Seconded. You've prompted me to do the same.

I had a quick look on the Bailey's website to see if they offer yard visits to advise on nutrition, like some other companies do, bringing a portable weighbridge with them to weigh the neds. I didn't see Baileys offering this service, just a telephone advice line. Anyone know if they do yard visits? Was wondering what they'd advise re feed and management if they were confronted with Jovian in the flesh in his current condition, if he belonged to a low level rider.
Click to expand...

They do - they used to do a livery yard I was on. But I never used the services so didn't overhear what the advice was.

Baileys should be embarrassed to have that horse associated with them in that condition
 
Hales-Hector.jpg


Jovian-Class-43-The-Leeman-Family-Maxi-Cob-of-the-Year-Championship.jpg


No comment needed.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Seconded. You've prompted me to do the same.

I had a quick look on the Bailey's website to see if they offer yard visits to advise on nutrition, like some other companies do, bringing a portable weighbridge with them to weigh the neds. I didn't see Baileys offering this service, just a telephone advice line. Anyone know if they do yard visits? Was wondering what they'd advise re feed and management if they were confronted with Jovian in the flesh in his current condition, if he belonged to a low level rider.
Click to expand...

They do do yard visits - we had one in August. And they give you a little booklet with the advice they've given and all their feeds.
They told me my boy was slightly overweight and I needed to shift it. Which, yes, I think they were right as he had put on some summer weight. However, J was nowhere near looking like that so I think it's slightly ironic considering they're associated with this horse!
 
If you google the horse (still can’t work out how to post pictures!) there are a lots of photos, some of which he doesn’t look so fat in. Some of these are a few years old, so I wonder if the ‘fashion’ has changed somewhat. If fat horses weren’t winning, they wouldn’t be allowed to get like that.
 
Realistically I think it is more that he has just got older, much harder to get a 4yo to look like that (I think he is 6?)
 
Good on WHW for highlighting the issue too (not showing specifically, although clearly both inappropriate horse and rider weights are common there, but in general: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/riders-horses-weight-major-silent-welfare-issue-634620)

I was pretty shocked that even the Arabian looked porky - I mean I know there are other horrid things (not least the exaggerated breeding) that happen to showing Arabians but adding fatness is hardly a step in the right direction!

But it isn't just showing - apparently De Nero was PTS due to laminitus. Which one sort of hopes was due to management rather than genetic issues as, although sad for the individual horse, better not to think how much lami-prone genetic material he would be responsible for otherwise.
 
GirlFriday said:
Good on WHW for highlighting the issue too (not showing specifically, although clearly both inappropriate horse and rider weights are common there, but in general: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/riders-horses-weight-major-silent-welfare-issue-634620)

I was pretty shocked that even the Arabian looked porky - I mean I know there are other horrid things (not least the exaggerated breeding) that happen to showing Arabians but adding fatness is hardly a step in the right direction!

But it isn't just showing - apparently De Nero was PTS due to laminitus. Which one sort of hopes was due to management rather than genetic issues as, although sad for the individual horse, better not to think how much lami-prone genetic material he would be responsible for otherwise.
Click to expand...

I have just read that link... did you see the one below about riders deemed to be o/w were pulled off the horse? I think they should also go one step further and pull rider off an o/w horse no matter the rider size.

Will things change? I suppose it could if enough people spoke up.
 
tallyho! said:
I have just read that link... did you see the one below about riders deemed to be o/w were pulled off the horse? I think they should also go one step further and pull rider off an o/w horse no matter the rider size.

Will things change? I suppose it could if enough people spoke up.
Click to expand...

What a good idea - there are certainly circs where a rider would be asked to remove a lame horse from the ring (or at the very least it would go to the bottom in showing, no?). Applying the same to an obese one would be a great start - perhaps excluding anything at either end of the condition scores would be a good start.
 
ihatework said:
They do - they used to do a livery yard I was on. But I never used the services so didn't overhear what the advice was.

Baileys should be embarrassed to have that horse associated with them in that condition
Click to expand...

They condition scored Fergus as a 5.5 and Dae as a 6 at the end of last summer. These are the closest images I have to that time. So if both of these are on the boundary of overweight / slightly overweight (which, to be fair, they are - F is very muscular, but chunky, Dae is a bit wobbly), what the devil is that horse?!

Fergus:
14290000_516884421853942_8068593390774619521_o.jpg


Dae:
14362644_517260078483043_4234243497173510098_o.jpg
 
GirlFriday said:
But it isn't just showing - apparently De Nero was PTS due to laminitus. Which one sort of hopes was due to management rather than genetic issues as, although sad for the individual horse, better not to think how much lami-prone genetic material he would be responsible for otherwise.
Click to expand...

Lami is not always caused by horses being fat! it can also be caused by trauma to the feet (cantering on roads as in the case of the cavalry horses recently), by medication (prednisole, any steroids or some pain killers) or by stress (one thing to watch carefully for after any surgery)!

Ive had a 38 yr old pony go down with Lami, we had been struggling to keep weight on him at all and he was still far too skinny to be seen in public, he had never had lami in the 25 years we owned him and in those 25 years he had been enormously fat at some points. It was because he was on steroids to reduce the size of a tumor growing above his eye.
 
^ To ConnieGirl - yes, agreed. But no other illness or injury was mentioned and he was presumably not cantering on roads. He had apparently had on-going lami issues for some time.
 
GirlFriday said:
^ To ConnieGirl - yes, agreed. But no other illness or injury was mentioned and he was presumably not cantering on roads. He had apparently had on-going lami issues for some time.
Click to expand...

He was a 24yo. He probably had cushings.
I'm not sure how an aged sporthorse stallion getting put down relates to a 6yo obese cob?
 
GirlFriday said:
^ To ConnieGirl - yes, agreed. But no other illness or injury was mentioned and he was presumably not cantering on roads. He had apparently had on-going lami issues for some time.
Click to expand...

I suspect it was probably more to do with multiple steroid injections over the years into his joints to help keep him sound. Very common to get done in dressage horses (any horse really with joint changes) and I suspect was most likely the factor here, increasing his risk of lami. Not necessarily an illness/injury but just ongoing condition.

Anyways, has baileys made a statement about this yet? Curious as for a feed company really not good publicity, unless you want your horse to gain weight lol
 
ihatework said:
He was a 24yo. He probably had cushings.
I'm not sure how an aged sporthorse stallion getting put down relates to a 6yo obese cob?
Click to expand...

24 is not that old these days...

But probably not a great example. Was just trying to point out that it isn't just this one horse/type. I also mentioned that even the Arabian pretty fat too - number 10 here
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/21-hoys-showing-winners-may-not-seen-yet-634526

Not as bad as the 'cob' - but there are certainly others that you'd want to slim a little.
 
GirlFriday said:
24 is not that old these days...

But probably not a great example. Was just trying to point out that it isn't just this one horse/type. I also mentioned that even the Arabian pretty fat too - number 10 here
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/21-hoys-showing-winners-may-not-seen-yet-634526

Not as bad as the 'cob' - but there are certainly others that you'd want to slim a little.
Click to expand...

24 is plenty old enough for a horse to have metabolic issues not related to it's management in anyway!
 
conniegirl said:
24 is very old for a sports horse who has competed at GP level, normally thier joints give up well before then.
Click to expand...

And then spent X number of years as a breeding stallion, jumping onto a dummy on a frequent basis takes its toll! RIP De Niro, what an influential boy for dressage.
 
ihatework said:
And then spent X number of years as a breeding stallion, jumping onto a dummy on a frequent basis takes its toll! RIP De Niro, what an influential boy for dressage.
Click to expand...

Indeed. My first horse was by De Niro, and he was marvellous, splendid and wonderful. Had a number of issues, but being prone to lami wasn't one of them! Have known a few with De Niro in the breeding and none of them have been lami prone either. I was very sad to hear the news about him this morning, a bit of a legend. Not sure I am seeing the connection with obese maxicobs though...
 
This is so sad, I genuinely thought progress was being made in the showing world with regards to weight, clearly not.

My wee cob mare recently got a body score of 7.5 and she doesn't look anywhere near that horse, he's in a whole new category surely?! I'm rubbish at embedding photos, but here's a link to a pic of my lass. https://www.instagram.com/p/BaJfzysnGOw/?hl=en
I'm thoroughly ashamed of how overweight she is, I didn't realise quite how bad she was and I'm working to address it.
 
I only read the first page (sorry) but surely it makes the judges work much harder, not to mention a fairer verdict less likely, as in really obese horses conformation is hard to properly judge surely? I imagine being so fat would surely hide myriad faults: we had a welsh a we were looking after who had a ewe neck and a really flat croup but she put on some weight and the ewe neck wasn't visible and her rump didn't resemble a table so much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top