Please be nice...Question about weight- pictures

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Hi

Had my mare since November, she is 15, in light work. Out 24/7 and is always grazing in the field but there isnt all that much grass...She must be eating something surely? Rugs go on if needed. Gets a pile of hay in the morning, grazes all day and gets 1 scoop of Balanced show mix and a handful of Baileys number 4 for dinner. Also then gets large pile of hay which she usually doesnt finnish in the afternoon. Have now added a small scoop of Allen+PAge Fast fibre in her dinner. Her old home said she was prone to putting on weight easily, she used to be in at night there with a haynet in her old home. She saw dentist 3 months ago.
My farrier said about a month ago that it was really nice to see a trim cob and she looked a correct weight for this time of year. She does need to improve topline.. But at some angles she does look ribby. I was thinking of adding corn oil to her feed? Or should I wait until the grass comes through?
Or maybe I am just used to seeing cobs that are chubby and dont seem to loose any weight over the winter. I think I would be happier if she was less ribby. Whats your opinions of her weight? Sorry photos arent brilliant.

picture.php


picture.php


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Is that any better? I have made album public... Thanks for your patience.. I have posted pics before just not sure why theyre not working x
 
angeldarcy said:
Okay sorry let me try and post them again :s

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/picture.php?albumid=5419&pictureid=22872

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/picture.php?albumid=5419&pictureid=22869

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/picture.php?albumid=5419&pictureid=22868
Click to expand...


Any pics on Facebook? If there are, open your picture image in Facebook (ie right click and select open image... So you just get the image on a blank screen) copy the address at the top... (Should end with jpg) then click the fifth icon from the right at the top of your horse and hound editing box (looks like mountains and a moon) paste the link and insert into your post :)
 
Ah, yes that's better.

It's tricky to tell really from the photo's what she's looking like. I have to say my immediate reaction on seeing the first picture is that she looks a little poor - the ribs are too easily visible and shouldn't be.

Do you have a worming programme in place?
 
Pictures are there - well I can see them and just wanted to say well done. I'm with your farrier as in it's lovely to see a trim cob who will put on a bit of weight with the grass coming through. Has she been wormed?
 
Thankyou- Yes she is regularly wormed and the whole yard follows a programme. Fields are poo-picked everyday. Thankyou for your patience whilst I was trying to get pics to work. From certain angles she does look fairly ribby I agree. I think I will find my weight tape and keep a record each week :)
 
Tiny pics on my phone (2" x 2"!), looks a bit like she has the brood mare belly, but she does look a bit ribby, when was she wormed? Her bum looks well covered though from what i can see.
 
she does look a bit ribby, but the grass is still growing so as long as worming is up to date and she's bright in herself i would give it another month before you change feed (unless she's actually LOSING weight).
our 17yo retired boy looks similar (ID x TB so not quite so heavy but still a good MW sort) and im holding off adding any more grub in until he's had a month more on the growing grass (he is muzzled currently), as i know how quickly he can get porky. If he's still as slim by mid june i might let him do half days, or every other day, without his muzzle.
 
I would be getting a wormcount done. It sounds like she is getting a fair ration of feed and hay. I know all horses are individual, but my 20 yr old cob mare who has less grass than that and gets much less feed (just a balancer, chaff and some unmollassed beet) and is worked at least 5 days a week sometimes 6 still looks rotund and carrying too much weight.
 
You can see her ribs but her quarters are well shaped and she has a grass belly which I think will be due to weak abdominal muscles and linked to the lack of top line muscle that was mentained to you .
Try to get doing some hill work if at all possible walk as briskly as possible up every steep slope you can find get your wieght off her back while going up to get her rounding her back and lowering her neck .
I would not worry about her wieght to much I would worm count just to see what's going on.
It's a good idea to use the wieght tape to monitor it I would not be throwing extra food at her if she where mine the grass is coming through now .
 
Looks fine to me - just the wrong shape due to lack of work. Wouldn't want to throw any food at her whatsoever.
 
It may be worth having her tested for cushings (looking at her dropped belly, and retained coat).
 
Have you condition scored her yourself. It's very, very easy and will be much better than us looking at photos.

http://www.bhs.org.uk/~/media/BHS/Files/PDF Documents/Condition Scoring Leaflet.ashx


She looks ribby I grant you but her bottom and look well covered to me. Condition score each bit of her separately for the best idea of what you have got :)

I like my horses around the 2.5 mark and you can always see the ribs on anything I have ever owned ;)
 
I would get a worm count done and a blood test for tape worm. There is a massive problem with worm burdens due to resistence to wormers... Regular worming isn't neccessarily a good thing - if it is done too frequently and or not big enough doses for the size of animal are administered, problems arrise.

While you have the vet out for a blood test, I would be getting teeth done too.

I wouldn't add anything feed wise but would stop the mix. It won't be doing anything of great benefit.
 
Thanks for the replies. I will look into getting a worm count done. As far as I know, she has never had a foal. She still has 4 inch long belly hair which doesnt help the look of her tummy!
 
She looks fine, just lacking muscle, get her doing hill work and raised trotting poles etc. If you want to add anything to her feed I would say micronised linseed, good for everything without (In my experience) negative side effects
 
She looks fine to me. Yes, the general opinion is that being able to see ribs means the horse is underweight, but personally I think that's too general & should be taken as a rule of thumb, rather than gospel. She has enough belly & a good covering on her bum. You don't really want to feed her up before the grass kicks in & then suddenly find yourself with a very overweight horse. I've learned a lot from my own experience of having my pony come down suddenly with quite a bad case of laminitis in August 2012.. She's only just coming back into work, walk only & I have to ride her bareback because since she's lost weight (& admittedly, all her muscle) & got on a much healthier diet, she's much narrower.. She needs muscling up again, but it really hit home just how fat she'd been, when I'd called her "curvy". I feel you're better off a little on the underweight side & feeding up/muscling up gently as & when than feeding up to ease your conscience & risking the 2 months box rest, special farriery & gentle rehab my girl needed. I wish I'd known more earlier. Keep up the good work though, she looks lovely to me :)

Oh & your farrier's comment probably stemmed partly from seeing overweight cobs suffering the pain of lami, so take a lot of comfort from the compliment :)
 
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