So many fat horses!

i so agree and until judges start saying i want a fit not fat pony/horse it will continue - but placing overweight animals means it willl continue - come on fit muscled animal = fat obese it really is a no brainer so come on Judges make a stand for the health of the pony/horse
 
It's disgusting.

I got talking to a lady not too long ago, who had a native showing stallion. He was LOVELY but massive. She told my that they'd dropped a lot of weight off him so he could jump, and when they started showing him on the flat again he'd be built up to make him look thicker set and like he had more bone :( I was speechless. Such a shame, he was such a fab little jumper.

I'm another with a TB on relatively poor grazing, and a scoop of high fibre nuts a day (so he can have a calmer :rolleyes:) and he looks fab :)

Don't get me started on fat dogs!

J&C
 
i pray for winter so my mare can go nude and lose weight so she hopefully comes underweight in spring - so rather see underweight( not skin and bone btw just a tad under ) than over weight - but its a culture thats as become norm lets hope it changes
 
Rosie041390 said:
I agree!! A lot of people I know overfeed their horses.. Most probably due to lack of knowledge.
Click to expand...

I actually think exercise is more important. My mares who are good doers need lots of work - that is what they were bred to do. Once upon a time they would have been ridden or driven 20 miles a day ...now we call that endurance!!

During my childhood we could ride our ponies for hours on and off road safely. I would not let a child of mine hack out in the UK today. Same with bikes - I feel rural France is like the UK in the 50's. One reason given by Brits for moving here is that they feel they can give their children better quality of life.
 
People don't even know what a healthy weight is any more. I often see people preaching about fatties but when you look at their own horse, that's fat too. I think that relatively few horses need hard feed either. I know it tastes so yummy but you wouldn't eat 4 chocolate bars a day and expect to be healthy, and that's what you're doing when you pump molassed mix into your horse.

I was also disgusted to hear that a very obese horse (out of breath after 2 min trotting) was being given a big portion of mix and molassed chop and sugar beet as otherwise they would apparently get no goodness and become ill. This is a supposedly experienced horse person with numerous horses. Also they thought that the half a large feedbowl of this stuff was a meagre portion. That's how people have been trained to think these days.

Most of all it makes me sick when i see fat babies. Yearlings being pumped full of feed, 2/3 feeds a day, hard feed around the clock to be 'showing fit' and grow bigger more quickly. What is it doing to their bones? IMO young horses (if not all) should have a very faint outline of ribs visible though a fine coat.
 
tallyho! said:
On one yard, I saw people have a picnic and were feeding the ponies ham sandwiches. Go figure.
Click to expand...

Ah well in fairness, when I was a teenager I did this a LOT, whatever I was having, pony got some too. I remember one yard bbq he was eating pavlova :o But he was never fat, because, despite being a hw cob, I worked his little backside off enough to keep him in shape. He's now 18, still working hard (but only for "fun" things now) and the ham sandwiches don't seem to have done him much harm :D
 
Exactly why I don't show anymore - the amount of weight that has to be piled on to natives to even think about getting a place is disgusting. Good manners and a nice show count for NOTHING in the ring these days, they might as well just put a weighbridge in the middle and fattest wins. Until we get rid of these narrow minded, half sighted, silly old duffers of judges showing will never change, and I'm best off out of it to keep my horse healthy.
 
When I was a young, horses lived in fields not stables.

Wore rugs in winter only when it was below freezing and wet.

And if you fed it any hard feed, a sack of pony nuts would last you all winter!

Albeit, I didn't have any 'quality' horses. They were the average 15hh heinz 57 beasts. But my idea of quality is excellent confirmation and type for breed, not the weight they're carrying!

I have to admit that these days I rug when it rains, even in summer. Feed hard feed all year round, and have become a little bit prissy about things. But I do like slim, not fat horses....
 
mine is overweight by my standards and i hate it, so hard to keep the weight off- she looks pregnant imo and she is on rubbish grass and no feed, having exercise 5/6 days a week ! for once i am looking forward to the winter
 
Do you think our perception of weight has changed? People who would have been thought fat 30 years ago are now the norm. Likewise, 30 years ago, a fat horse or pony would have caused heads to turn with mutterings about laminitis. Perhaps we are unconciously extending our acceptance of obesity and allowing it to colour the lives of ourselves, our horses and our dogs. Just a thought!
 
I have given up showing my cob in cob classes as have been told by 2 judges this summer that he needs more 'condition' to be a show horse.

He is well hunted in the winter, competes in RC events and attends fun rides in the summer, but if I allowed him to be in 'show condition' he would not be fit enough to enjoy any of these activities.

We are now turning our hand to WH and although he is tiny compared to some of the others, jumps well and always get placed.

I am going to Hoys in Oct and will be interested to see if the obesity problem is still apparent at the higher levels, as think this is where the example should be set.....
 
Last edited:
How refreshing to read the posts on this thread!

I'm afraid peer pressure has a lot to do with it. Post a picture of a modestly lean pony on some native pony forums and wait for the sparks to fly! You will be accused of everything from down right cruelty to comments about neglecting your pony's health! Of course, they all like to score points and point out how much more they know than those who have been working with livestock all their lives.

Comment from a judge last season, "Your pony is not fat enough". Luckily for her, I only got this secondhand or I might have been tempted to answer back!

I'm not sure what can be done, but talking about it will certainly help. I was tempted to write to the show committee, quoting the remark and drawing attention to all the campaigns by equine charities and vets against obesity in horses and the long list of ailments that are caused by being over weight.
 
SJcrazee said:
Exactly why I don't show anymore - the amount of weight that has to be piled on to natives to even think about getting a place is disgusting. Good manners and a nice show count for NOTHING in the ring these days, they might as well just put a weighbridge in the middle and fattest wins. Until we get rid of these narrow minded, half sighted, silly old duffers of judges showing will never change, and I'm best off out of it to keep my horse healthy.
Click to expand...

I went to a show last year with a 2yo. Up untill two weeks before the show he had never been handled, his owner then decided he wanted him to go. I had never shown a horse before but knew basically what I had to do. The horse behaved impeccably at the show, there were two in the class, I got marked second. Both myself and my horse were imacculate the horse that won went around on it's back legs, the handler was a mess, it had s**t stains down it's back legs. My horse only came second as he wasn't fat, I had worked his backside off for the two weeks before the show so he would behave. If I had known that behaviour doesn't count in showing I wouldn't have bothered and dragged him straight from the field.
It made me vow that I would never show another horse again.
 
What annoys me is when you have a very healthy looking horse he is called 'underweight' because he isn't the size of a hippo.

There are so many health problems to do with weight and apparently diabetes is becoming more common in the UK. I wonder why?

People with obese horses and not doing anything about it should be challenged by rescue organisations just as people with skinny horses are. I personally think there are more health problems with overweight horses than underweight.
 
Kokopelli said:
What annoys me is when you have a very healthy looking horse he is called 'underweight' because he isn't the size of a hippo.
Click to expand...

You're not alone, drives me nuts too! I work really hard to keep my mare in shape and on the leaner side. She looks really well and is as bright as you like in herself, when she moves you can see a very slight shadow of ribs. According to some people, this is too thin!! She is no where near wasting away I can assure you and is really well muscled up! Given her slightly un-perfect confo (!), she would look a neater picture with more weight, but that would put her overweight. I don't get why you would want to pretty much fill in the gaps with fat - we have our horses to work so why not keep them in a fit condition so that they are able to do this and continue to be able to do this well into the future?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top