Problems with hairy cobs?

C

Cassy

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 July 2007
Messages
483
Visit site
I am looking for my next best friend and have seen a piebald cob with full feathers which ticks most of the boxes. I have never owned a "hairy type" so looking for your experiences about the problems this might bring and how you cope with your cobs. Thanks.
 
I just purchased my horse a month ago, after looking for several months. It's a mine field! Any horse you see advertised may not be what sellers would like you to believe. If this horse appears to tick your boxes, contact seller and ask all the questions you like to hopefully determine if they are worth the effort to go and try out. I actually ended up with a hairy cob myself - a rarity where I am - and even though the sellers were/are very nice people, he is still more green then I had been told. He is an awesome horse though. :-) The one annoying thing is he is high maintenance in terms of grooming, but deosn't like to be groomed for long.
 
PoppyAnderson said:
Mites, LOTS of grooming, sallenders & mallenders and ime, never as bombproof as they look!
Click to expand...


The hairier they are the less grooming they seem to need. Clipping them out and keeping them that way is the hard bit!
Mine always have been totally bombproof, and with no real effort on my behalf! I've known a lot over the years and even the forward sharper ones are very, very sensible. One of mine was sat on once by me at 3 then sent hacking out round the village with kids on. He never batted an eyelid even when they squeezed him down alleyways and rode him past the bin men.
 
My mare has taken a lot of time and effort but I would say she's bombproof now. Feathers take a lot of maintenance. I have just had to cut off the back of my mare's feathers because she has a very old injury which we're trying to heal and I couldn't access it. So it makes it tougher to treat leg injuries. I don't know if you keep in a field but if you do. I've found if they're not oiled you get mud dreadlocks
 
Cassy said:
So are you saying the advert "Safe family pony/ happy hacker" may not be all it seems??
Click to expand...

Just finished horse hunting myself and one persons bombproof is certainly not another person's idea of bombproof! ! The only way to find out is to go and see. I viewed 10 and the only bombproof cob I viewed bronced me off!! 2 friends have lovely cobs but both suffer with skin conditions
 
Ours is really pretty easy. Maybe I got lucky! He's not a proper vanner type but pretty hairy. We have, up til now kept him clipped out, either fully (legs off) or I just trim his feathers off. The latter took a bit of practise at first!
He's *touch wood never had any skin problems.
He's very definitely not a easy first horse though!
He is absolutely awesome! I'd look for another "him" (but quieter to ride!) if I was ever looking to buy another horse.
 
I have a few. Absolutely no problems at all. Lovely, willing, trainable, easy keepers. Year-round clipping is my only downside but I wouldn't ever go back to the warmbloods I had before!
 
Just got myself a lovely little cob colt to bring on, he's a proper hairy type with massive tree trunk legs! The one thing i do (unless you want them) is clip the legs. I like nice clean lined legs that i can care for easily. Also they can be prone to more foot infections due to deep clefts but regular foot care will keep this at bay. :) hope you've found you new best friend.
 
*Sahara said:
Also they can be prone to more foot infections due to deep clefts but regular foot care will keep this at bay.
Click to expand...

Only if they have compromised feet for any reason, quite often grass related.

What no one is mentioned, including me, and the absolutely worst bit, is the constant weight management. With the current one I am very lucky. He doesnt seem to have any metabolic issues and to an extent will limit himself to only eating when hes actually hungry. He would still be fat if I didnt work the legs off him, and by that I mean driving 5 times a week, doing 5 to 8 miles mainly trotting and cantering pulling 450kgs behind him sort of hard work. He is very much the exception though!

The previous one could have done all that twice and still been fat without being hugely restricted. He also had no off switch and would have eaten until he exploded. He was permanently hungry. They also are incredibly prone to EMS which is a nightmare combination. If they come down with lammi the chances of recovery are lower because of the sheer weight of them. I lost Frankie at 6yr old to laminitis which had no known cause.

I would never EVER buy one that had been allowed to be fat for any length of time. That is just asking for problems!
 
My hairy is the biggest nutter I've ever ridden. He's scared of everything. He also requires a lot of grooming - to go out to a show is a 3 day job where as my warm blood mare (trimmed and black)takes about 15 mins but only if she needs to be plaited... I love a hairy but they are a lot of work if you want them to be beautifully groomed - I always said I got him because I was deprived of a my little pony when I was a kid ... but if you hate combing hair they r not the right animal for you!

Ps the weight thing can be an issue but mine drops weight like anything unless I'm v careful with his feeding regime .
 
Leo Walker said:
What no one is mentioned, including me, and the absolutely worst bit, is the constant weight management.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. Hairy black cob I share is currently porky from being on grass and haylage. He has sweetitch, mallenders and mud fever/cob grease in his front pasterns. All of those are manageable but the weight is the one we are struggling with most because he's only just coming into work.

He is also very spooky and will need a lot of work to desensitise.

BUT he is the gentlest horse I have ever come across, very affectionate, will stand for hours to be groomed, loves work and is very quick to learn. I would definitely go for another hairy.
 
I love my hairy cobs, they are both clipped and living out, as the weather is so mild and the weight issues are a problem. Everything Leo Walker says I totally agree with. My youngster is fat and the greediest pony imaginable but he is so easy to train, nothing phases him. He is grumpy as he is out unrugged and clipped but it has to be and he is losing the weight gradually. What I love the most is the total trust that they give you if treated kindly and with respect.
 
I’ve never had any issue keeping weight off a cob. Indeed I can’t keep weight on mine usually, and they get adlib hay, all year round and are never restricted or muzzled and on good grass. Just about to start mine on adlib haylage. Ridden most days.
 
No major problems in my experience. Mine is an Irish Draught cross rather than a vanner-type so doesn't have uber-massive feathers. Although the hair on his legs get muddy his skin is alway dry. He has the most lumpy ergots imaginable! Great feet and so has never needed shoes - farrier complained that he was wearing out his new rasp at the last trim! Cob needs to be on poor grazing with a small amount of plain hay otherwise he gets the runs. At the moment he is a perfect weight as he is in moderate work - he puts weight on easily but also takes it off fairly quickly if his workload is increased. Keeping him cool enough is tricky - he has a high trace clip at the moment and is too warm in a 100g rug. Thankfully we are due for a cold snap. Quick to learn and has good active paces. Adapts to his rider/handler. Mine is not spooky but I've done loads of agility-type stuff with him from a young age. He is definitely not 'switched' off either though - looks at everything and assesses each situation. I love him to bits. He is easy, adaptable and sensible and without the madness of my elderly Welsh cob (who I also adore)!
 
FfionWinnie said:
I’ve never had any issue keeping weight off a cob. Indeed I can’t keep weight on mine usually, and they get adlib hay, all year round and are never restricted or muzzled and on good grass. Just about to start mine on adlib haylage. Ridden most days.
Click to expand...

Then you have been exceptionally lucky. Welsh cobs and lighter weight maxi cobs tend to be a bit different to little traditionals as well. You also have the advantage of keeping them at home so you have total control over their management as well as having rough grazing to turn them out on to. Something most people dont have and wont be able to find access to. These are ponies bred to live on fresh air and work hard, not the lifestyle most leisure riders can easily provide.
 
FfionWinnie said:
I’ve never had any issue keeping weight off a cob. Indeed I can’t keep weight on mine usually, and they get adlib hay, all year round and are never restricted or muzzled and on good grass. Just about to start mine on adlib haylage. Ridden most days.
Click to expand...

I think it depends on the grazing you have available. If you only have access to fertilised, dairy-style rye grass, you will struggle to keep weight healthy. If your grazing is old pasture/moorland, you won't have that trouble. My cob likes eating but maintains a healthy weight herself, her biggest drawback is that her mane gets very tangled in the wind and her tail grows very quickly so it trails in mud, or she stands on it.
 
Last edited:
Leo Walker said:
Then you have been exceptionally lucky. Welsh cobs and lighter weight maxi cobs tend to be a bit different to little traditionals as well. You also have the advantage of keeping them at home so you have total control over their management as well as having rough grazing to turn them out on to. Something most people dont have and wont be able to find access to. These are ponies bred to live on fresh air and work hard, not the lifestyle most leisure riders can easily provide.
Click to expand...

Both my Irish Cobs have/had 10” of bone, they were just kept fit. One of them was also on livery on a dairy farm and I had no issues then either. My own ground is ex dairy pasture, I do not turn them onto rough grazing as a rule, once for one winter when one was off work and one was in foal and it’s really not relevant to this discussion as that’s the fattest they have ever been with me (they were still not fat).

I fail to see how mine are anything particularly different to “little traditionals” (is 14.2 and 15.2 not fairly little?!) except I’ve cut their hair off and kept them fit! Both my welsh cobs were in excess of 100kgs over weight when I viewed them. I did nothing to change that other than ride them regularly. It’s totally simple as it is with people - calories in vs calories out!

Pearlsasinger said:
I think it depends on the grazing you have available. If you only have access to fertilised, dairy-style rye grass, you will struggle to keep weight healthy. If your grazing is old pasture/moorland, you won't have that trouble. My cob likes eating but maintains a healthy weight herself, her biggest drawback is that her mane gets very tangled in the wind and her tail grows very quickly so it trails in mud, or she stands on it.
Click to expand...

That’s exactly what my ground is - plenty of rye and it’s fertilised every year several times because I need the grass to be good for my cattle and sheep.

I’ve only got one who you could say is inclined to fatness and that is Ffion, and it is purely because she’s not in hard enough work. When she’s working hard she’s racing snake lean too.

The only thing I have to help is sheep to rotate with the horses but I don’t see how that’s much different to most horse sick livery fields in terms of available nutrition! My ground will still be far better (worse depending on how you look at it!) than most livery yards.

It’s exercise that counts and mine are ridden / exercised most days for 1-2.5 hours with plenty of fast work and it’s no hardship to keep them the right weight.
 
FfionWinnie said:
I fail to see how mine are anything particularly different to “little traditionals” (is 14.2 and 15.2 not fairly little?!) except I’ve cut their hair off and kept them fit! Both my welsh cobs were in excess of 100kgs over weight when I viewed them. I did nothing to change that other than ride them regularly. It’s totally simple as it is with people - calories in vs calories out!
Click to expand...

So you say all the time, yet this only really seems to hold true for you, so either you are doing something different or you have been exceptionally lucky. I certainly wouldnt say the new one was a typical pony type traditional with or without hair.

There is a noticeable difference with my current horse, but equally if I kept him out 24/7 on rye grazing he would be fat no matter how much work I did and he does work hard. He still has to be managed. He had had access to grass 24/7 for about 4 days this year, piled weight on and had to be restricted.

Previous horses were much, much harder to keep and one ended up dead of laminitis even though he certainly wasnt fat at the time and came up negative on EMS tests twice. That was with exceptionally careful management. At the time he was in work, probably more work than the average leisure rider wants to be doing as well.

I just dont know that many people who want to ride 8 to 10k at a trot every day. I generally do because I drive and I wanted my horse super fit as we were preparing for a winter season, but even given that hes ended up having time off this summer for one reason or another. This meant he had to spend time off the grass and time muzzled. Its time consuming and difficult managing a good doer and its something most people arent aware of until they have one. It also gets very expensive, very quickly if you dont have 2 hours a day, every day, to ride and therefore have to pay people.
 
Mine is an angel, and has made me a complete cob convert. Yes, she needs lots of maintenance to make her mane, tail, and feathers look as glorious as they can, but as long as you're content with having a horse who resembles a bog monster most of the time, it's not all that much more work than having any other breed :D In fact, in summer, mine tends to look gorgeous even with zero input from me (excuse the post pregnancy tummy).

bUmYpUs.jpg



Mites and skin issues are the main problems, with both being pretty prevalent, but although they can be a real headache to get on top of, they can usually be managed without too much fuss.

Weight gain can be an issue as well, as LW said, but no more so than in natives. My five year old is looking quite nice and slim currently (except for the ever present baby belly), but that's whilst feeding a huge foal. Without that constant drain on her resources, I do think we'd be struggling somewhat, but saying that, she has never been fat either, pregnancy belly aside. Get the right balance between exercise and food input, and most of them do just fine.

As a breed, I'd recommend them to almost anyone.
 
Last edited:
My friends loveable hairy cob who I look after on a Sunday is high maintenance compared to my Warmblood.

He has mallenders which needs constant attention. He’s big hairy and sweaty, hair gets everywhere when moulting. Needs clipping to stay dry even though he’s retired. After over a year of no shoes he’s got fronts back on because he’s so footsore. In the summer he needs sun cream smothered on his pink bits and has to wear a fly-mask with nose. He’s also a fly magnet despite sprays, fly-rugs etc.

He’s gets anxious and is the first to want to come in every day and if gets too upset is like leading in a rhino! He also does rhino sized poos! However he’s a very sweet guy and gives lovely kisses.
 
I've only had (in the family) 4, 3 of the 4 were tricky to keep down to weight- one (went back to owners for different reasons) since been PTS with lami. The one that kept a nice weight was more a drum horse as about 16hh. The smallest (13.1) always looked plump even when Ribby as it was just his shape. We must have had over 20 welshes over that time and rarely struggled with their weight, the cobs are something else! 3/4 have had problematic skin (one was allergies, 2 had 'cob knees'). They've all been kind, ranging from 100% bombproof to 75%! 1 had dire confo so this needs checking out for as it seriously limited his life, the other 3 were all nice moving.

Chaps splits big and small trads at 14hh fwiw!
 
Leo Walker said:
So you say all the time, yet this only really seems to hold true for you, so either you are doing something different or you have been exceptionally lucky. I certainly wouldnt say the new one was a typical pony type traditional with or without hair.

There is a noticeable difference with my current horse, but equally if I kept him out 24/7 on rye grazing he would be fat no matter how much work I did and he does work hard. He still has to be managed. He had had access to grass 24/7 for about 4 days this year, piled weight on and had to be restricted.

Previous horses were much, much harder to keep and one ended up dead of laminitis even though he certainly wasnt fat at the time and came up negative on EMS tests twice. That was with exceptionally careful management. At the time he was in work, probably more work than the average leisure rider wants to be doing as well.

I just dont know that many people who want to ride 8 to 10k at a trot every day. I generally do because I drive and I wanted my horse super fit as we were preparing for a winter season, but even given that hes ended up having time off this summer for one reason or another. This meant he had to spend time off the grass and time muzzled. Its time consuming and difficult managing a good doer and its something most people arent aware of until they have one. It also gets very expensive, very quickly if you dont have 2 hours a day, every day, to ride and therefore have to pay people.
Click to expand...

8-10km is light work.

It doesn’t just hold true for me, I know lots of fit cobs, indeed more fit cobs than fat cobs so maybe it’s the circles we move in.

And as for your comment about “so you say all the time” how rude are you? This is a forum where most people including yourself repeat themselves all the time - unless of course you tell tall tales and change the story every five minutes - but my life is pretty boring and completely transparent so I’ve not a lot to add. Itt was for the OPs benefit I posted. If you’re bored with me saying the same thing “all the time” feel free to use user ignore.
 
Last edited:
I have a traditional cob x Clydesdale and she is pretty high maintenance! She has suffered with mites though thankfully that seems to be sorted now, she also has mallanders that need a lot of attention to keep under control. I have recently taken her mane a lot shorter, thinned and trimmed her tail, and taken her feathers off.

She has the start of sidebone at the age of 7 and due to her size and weight is also a likely candidate for suspensory issues. She has been barefoot for two years but just recently had shoes on due to a foot imbalance and is much happier.

Her weight is one of our biggest problems....she only has to look at grass and she gains weight! She recently topped the weighbridge at a massive 740kgs (she's 15.2 approx) and I was mortified. However the vet has said she is not that bad for a horse coming into winter but it is a constant battle.

However, she is the most bombproof horse I have ever come across. I bought her as a rising 5 year old and she was so laid back. My grandchildren aged 2 to 10 ride her.
 
FfionWinnie said:
8-10km is light work.

It doesn’t just hold true for me, I know lots of fit cobs, indeed more fit cobs than fat cobs so maybe it’s the circles we move in.

.
Click to expand...


Well, I can't claim that mine is fit but she is still not fat. She does graze on unimproved (as in unfertilised) old pasture, alongside sheep, who certainly don't need ryegrass to put on weight. She has the hardest feet that I have ever known - she is bf and my farrier struggles at every visit to trim her feet, because they are so hard. I wasn't sure that the vendor was telling the complete truth when I bought her and was told that her feet had been done 6 weeks ago - they were so long. Now I know that they do grow very quickly, as do her mane and tail.
 
FfionWinnie said:
8-10km is light work.

It doesn’t just hold true for me, I know lots of fit cobs, indeed more fit cobs than fat cobs so maybe it’s the circles we move in.

And as for your comment about “so you say all the time” how rude are you? This is a forum where most people including yourself repeat themselves all the time - unless of course you tell tall tales and change the story every five minutes - but my life is pretty boring and completely transparent so I’ve not a lot to add. Itt was for the OPs benefit I posted. If you’re bored with me saying the same thing “all the time” feel free to use user ignore.
Click to expand...

But you do say it all the time, as if its a perfectly normal state of affairs, when this thread clearly shows the exact opposite. I'm not sure why you have decided its very rude of me to say that or massively over react.

Its lovely that you can manage your horses with no issues. I find the current one easy compared to previous horses and its an absolute pleasure. Its simply not true for most people though, so its not really benefiting the OP at all. 8-10kms mainly trotting might be light work for you. Its not for the vast majority of people. The last thread on here about it shows that most horses are in almost negligible work. Even the 2 horses out team chasing and eventing on my yard do not get ridden 8 to 10kms every day, or even most days. People are horrified how hard mine works, yet hes on easy street with me compared to previous homes. Limited work and unsuitable grazing is the reality of life as a leisure horse most of the time.
 
As I also said my cob works 3 times a week , is kept on Cheshire dairy pasture and I struggle to keep weight on him in the winter ... not all cobs are naturally fat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top