Whats your horses fat score?

fidleyspromise

fidleyspromise

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Looking at the thread "why does your horses weight matter" I have now fat scored my natives and my highland is a 4 and the newfie is a 3.5.

Not too bad (neck and bum are 3/3.5, its their middles that have put us up) for coming into winter but my resolution is to get them both within a moderate 3 and to keep them there steadily throughout the year.

Lots of steady walking for Highland, me thinks - will take her out in hand and get some weight off me too :p
No rugging - I don't tend to but they've no shelter and I was debating it but unless they're very cold/wet then I'm sticking to my guns!
Feed will simply be hay ONCE the grass is gone. - this is weighed so they get their rations.

What are your horses/ponies fat scores currently? What do you do/will you do to get them to a healthy weight?
 
My 2 have just been asessed by a nutrionist who scored them both a 3, perfect for their breeds and heights. They are exercised every other day, both are out during the day and now in at night. They have lightweight rugs on at the moment which will change when they get clipped. They have ad lib hay and 2 feeds of Fast Fibre and a small amount of Veteran Vitality (one horse is 20 the other is 17), which can be increased if either of them should start to lose a bit of condition. Both horses came out of last winter without having dropped any condition, despite them being completely stable bound for 5 weeks due to snow and ice, diets were the same (but less hard feed) more hay when I could get hold it, if not they got haylage, hopefully this winter will not be so hard for any of us!
 
my youngster is a perfect 3 :) possibly a 3.25 (lol) but it's going into winter so i dont mind him having a bit of tubbyness. My old mare is a 2.5-3 in summer and more of a 2.75-3 in winter- shes a super good doer and very prone to lami!

eta the oldy is rugged up as she will drop weight a bit quicker now, and is fed rationed hay, a high fibre veteran mix and hifi lite.

the youngster isnt rugged, is fed good quality haylage and is given a small amount of pasture mix and a scoop of mollichop for tea :)
 
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My guys were scored on the 1-9 system, the stallion was a 5, my gelding a 4.5-5 and my mare 7.

Mare is very slightly overweight, but isnt doing much work and isnt rugged, the stallion is doing very minimal work at the moment and my gelding is worked moderatly 6-7 days a week :)
 
My mares about a 2, but shes so skinny its freaky. Although she is naturally got a teeny tiny bone structure. Silly mare costs me a fortune in feed Haha( last hard feed cost us £82)..
 
My 16 tb x shire is a 3 and in regular work I don't feed a lot to him just a tiny bit of alpha a, pasture mix and speedibeet so he can have his joint supplement and ad lib haylage he is a good doer. My 2 yr old tb x trakhner is a 2 - 2.5 she is fed the same but a bigger portion and ad lib haylage and she is gaining weight nice and slow she does go on some short walks with me occasionaly but you can't call it work. I have only owned her for a few months so not sure how she will cope in winter.
 
My 16.1hh warmblood x welsh D is a 3 and is prone to lami, her routine is very strict. Her hay is all weighed and soaked, she has 1scoop of Happy Hoof with magnesium am and pm, she is exercised every day, turned out for 5-6 hours in a muzzle and stabled at night.
 
Had a Spiller's yard visit on wednesday, 15.1hh welsh cob weighed in at 556kg and scored 5 on a 9 scale score, spot on :)
 
Start of September one of my riding clubs had a feed specialist at "day camp". Madam (16.3 standardbred) weighed 576kg and had a condition score of 3 iirc. Apparently she was in "perfect condition" but she's got a bit chubby since then as I've been busy with uni and riding not as much.
 
Nine is a good 4 at the moment. Despite restricted grazing as far as livery will allow, no feed or rug she is obese. HOWEVER she has just had 6 months of no work due to our accident. I was due to bring her back into work this week but now she's lame. Once back in work the weight will come off her.
 
I use the 1-10 system as i think its more accurate. The vet and dentist both agree that Howie is a 6 despite my efforts to reduce it to a 5.
 
The old lad is between 3 and 3.5 - perfect for a veteran going into winter imo. Yearling's a 3. The five year old highland is also a safe 3, no fat pads, ribs easily felt, no guttering, not cresty - he's lovely and fit too :)
 
Thanks fidleyspromise for posting this in response to the thread I started :D
My 2yo New Forest filly is currently a 3, she's wintering out on old pasture and unrugged (she came off the forest in April).
My 3 1/2yo Welsh D filly, I bought just over 2 weeks ago, is a 5 ! :eek:
She had been stabled, rugged up and on hard feed twice a day before I bought her. I kept her in for the first week, with daily turnout on sparse grazing, cut her feed right down (gradually), and she is now out unrugged on sparse grazing (it's a big field so she has to move around a lot while eating).
I'm also starting to back her to help get her to a better weight. The plan is to reduce her weight to a more healthy one for her age, a little work every day in the school teaching her to long rein (I don't lunge youngsters), then once backed I will hack her out regularly over winter. Once she is down to a sensible weight, it will be easy to maintain with the right amount of steady exercise, turnout, and ONLY rug or feed her if she desperately needs it. She now gets a handful of chaff, high fibre cubes + vitamin/mineral supplement daily. My NF isn't fed at all as she is out on 80 acres of old pasture with other youngsters, and is looking fantastic. :)
 
My mare was seen this week by a nutritionist and was a 3.5 overall which I was happy with as she has just has 2 weeks off due to injury and I know that 2 weeks of 5 days a week exercise and she'll be closer to 3.25 which I will be quite happy with going into winter :-)
 
My tb is a 3-3.5 which I'm happy with at the start of winter. My id is a 4.5!! He's currently enduring fat camp!! Difficult as he's arthritic and can't be worked and his field buddy is a tb! He's going to be unrugged, hay will be weighed out and he will get a handful of simple systems chaff (unmolasses) to mix in his joint supps! Fingers x we'll get him trim!!
 
i'd say he's about a 4, for his breed he isnt overly fat but you can tell he has some weight to shift, had dengie out at the yard with weigh bridge but i missed it would have been fab to find out exactly how much he weighed going to use the one we have on the yard for the trailers and see how much he weighs
 
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