Why do so many people think its fine to have fat horses?

[PapaverFollis]

What really annoys me is that all 3 of mine somehow contrive to look like fat puddings but I can easily feel ribs on all of them. MrT is trying to show a couple of ribs even. But still looks a bit of a podger to me. It's because they arent in enough work to get that lovely lean-ness that fit horses get so it's still my fault but it's still annoying! At least The Beast has lost a bit of creastiness the last week or so.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I have been going through the photos from my parents house .
Our ponies where so slim by today’s standards it it was a bit shocking .

Pic taken in early 70s, me on my hand-me-down 17yo mare at the end of a busy season. This was the sort of condition most Pony Club horses and ponies were in back then. I don’t remember any fat ones.

 

[DressageCob]

It's not always that people want it.

My little cob is prone to obesity. I do everything I can to keep him a lean, keen, cobby machine, but spring grass and wet, hot summers are my nemeses.
I get embarrassed about his apple bottom. Early this spring he developed a rock solid neck, which he's never had before. I kept him in and limited his grub and within a week it had gone.
He does have hard food, for his supplements (which are essential since he had an auto immune meltdown), but it's just a low cal balancer with a splash of sugar beet. He works quite hard, hacking 3-4 times a week and schooling twice. I do my best, but he can get fat on thin air.

In contrast, with my bigger shower cob is apparently too lean (according to the county show judges). Apparently he should have an apple bottom and a crestier neck.
I decided to pack in the showing instead. I prefer him fit than fat.

 

[teddypops]

Lots of people these days don’t have the experience to keep a horse fit and slim. It’s fashionable to feed balancers and supplements, so fat cobs get fed hard feed when really they don’t need anything. People think their horses are in hard work and feed for that when in reality, they are barely in work at all. A lot of people also think that cons are meant to be chunky. I saw a post on Facebook about someone worrying about riding their horse twice a day - for 15 mins in the morning and 30 in the afternoon.

 

[NinjaPony]

Because it’s hard bloody work. My welsh a lost a lot of weight on his laminitic box rest diet but keeping it off a retired good doer is a pain and a hassle. He comes in overnight, I’ve had to find a yard where I can make him his own pen without much grass but where he still has company, and he has to have 12 hour soaked hay split into multiple nets/piles. Not exactly an easy companion pony to have...
Totally worth it of course, but it really is hard work.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I was a rubbish salesperson when I worked in the feed merchants... kept pointing out o potential customers that their horse wasn't even in what feed companies consider 'light' work so perhaps "just some chaff?"

 

[windand rain]

I think it has something to do with the conception of work. Years ago 50 ish my event horses were skinny, they worked at least 2 hours a night jumping galloping hill work and hacks with weekends being 8 hour hack again at all speeds and jumping. They were fed oats and bran with a little molasses or linseed. Too thin they got boiled barley or draff in large buckets full. Lived out 24/7 canvas new zealand rugs and had never heard of laminitis or ems etc. They worked hard. Now hard work is a 2 hour hack twice a week

 

[ecb89]

My ID is a nightmare, given the chance he will eat and eat. He can get fat off air

 

[Shilasdair]

Or

'Why do so many unqualified amateur horse owners think it's fine to police other horse owners'?

If it's not a horse's weight, it's the rider's weight.
And if it's not that, it's rugging too much, or too little.
Or having your horse shod, or having it 'barefoot'.


Live and let live.

 

[teddypops]

Or

'Why do so many unqualified amateur horse owners think it's fine to police other horse owners'?

If it's not a horse's weight, it's the rider's weight.
And if it's not that, it's rugging too much, or too little.
Or having your horse shod, or having it 'barefoot'.


Live and let live.

And should we all ignore starving and mistreated horses too?

 

[wills_91]

This thread has shamed me into doing something about the fatness of my 2. They are out in a field with not a lot of grass but being shitlands get fat in fresh air ?. I'm not that concerned given the time of year we are coming into, and my work has been crazy for the last 6 months but that's looking likely to be the way of things now. The exercise and diet starts tomorrow.

 

[holeymoley]

I think it’s the norm because that’s what they see-Shows, most yards with horses kept as pets, magazines etc etc so much marketing of hard feed makes the inexperienced owner think their horse HAS to have a dinner or they’re seen as starving it. So many idealistic photos or ideas of lush grazing so that the sign of the grass eaten down or ruts and the horses get moved on to fresh grass.

I think it’s just a national view of most pet owners in general that if you’re not seen to be stuffing it to the gunnels with food you’re inadequately looking after it. Perhaps it’s been years of malnourished animals being shown on welfare adverts that people have the ‘fear’ that if they’re horse has a rib or two showing then they’re a ‘bad’ owner.

 

[PapaverFollis]

My field currently...if I was on a livery yard I'd be shot....

 

[Fjord]

I've had comments that I was 'going to far with this anorexic stuff' because I was strict about my fjord's weight. By someone with a fat horse. When I got my girl she was obese and honestly it's taken years to get it off and learn how to manage it. She has soaked hay all year round, it costs a fortune but we've had ribs all this year and she's slim (apart from the crest which I doubt will ever go). It's a lot of effort and nowhere near as much fun as bunging them in a field of grass.

 

[dreamcometrue]

Amateur horse owner? Are some people paid to own horses?

 

[Nudibranch]

Oh for that bare paddock!
A situation involving cattle with zero respect for electric has resulted in my two being on 24 acres for the last week. All my hard work over the summer has been instantly destroyed and they have shameful grass bellies. Thank goodness it's Autumn. At the moment the only alternative is a well rested hay field ? so they'll be getting a good bib clip and a big increase in the hill work.
Last year I used no hay at all, not one bale, no rugs, and they still came out of winter a good 3/3.5.
I show, but I refuse to join in with the disgusting "show condition" brigade. Some of the large breed m&m classes nowadays need serious reform in terms of expectation. Judges have a lot to answer for.

 

[Mule]

It can sometimes be difficult to get them enough exercise, mine has had a bad asthma flare up recently so he couldn't exercise. He also had to get hard feed to put his medicine in. I just cut his paddock right down so he lost his tummy. So it can be done, but then I have a horror of laminitis.

I always ask the farrier's opinion on his weight because as I see the horse everyday it can be hard for me to judge if he has put on some. The farrier only sees him every 6 weeks so it's quite a useful way of keeping an eye on his weight.

 

[Winters100]

Pic taken in early 70s, me on my hand-me-down 17yo mare at the end of a busy season. This was the sort of condition most Pony Club horses and ponies were in back then. I don’t remember any fat ones.

View attachment 56049

This pony looks great Tiddlypom - and you are right, I also remember this as the condition that most ponies used to be in. I do think though that we had some advantages over the current generation of young riders in that we did not have restrictions on riding alone. I used to regularly hack about 6 miles alone to my friends house from the age of around 10, and then we would ride together in the forest close to her house. Or she would come to me because we had a few jumps. For some years while my Mother was sick they were at livery and we would be all day on the yard, morning was training on the flat and afternoon was jumping. This is much harder now that kids have to be supervised as few parents have the time to stand watching for that many hours. Truly we were luckier back then - we didn't have all the 'things' that kids today have, certainly no collection of coloured saddle cloths, wraps and rugs, but we did have a lot of fun.

 

[Goldenstar]

I like feeding horses and suppose lots of people do .
Sadly I have three ID’s and a obese cob .
So I spend loads of time working on not feeding horses.
Its a twelve month a year job with this lot .
atm Sky looks great
Fatty (retired but ridden a little to help with weight loss ) looks good for Fatty .
H is looking plumb for this time of year he missed a bit of work with a nasty attack of gravel and gained straight away that’s the thing with ID’s they need to work .
but the new cob omg is he fat it’s horrible but it’s a long job to turn them round when they are like that .

 

[rabatsa]

Years ago most of us did not use an arena, we schooled out on hacks or in the fields. Even pony club rallies were held in fields. To find an arena you had to go to a riding school.

 

[TGM]

As an example of the problem with many horse-owner's perception of what is an acceptable or healthy bodyweight, there was a thread on a equestrian Facebook group recently asking people to show off their horse's 'apple bottoms'. Now whilst I understand that there is a conformational bias towards this in some horses, the majority that were proudly shown off were due to overweight with big gutters between wobbly fat pads. Yet if someone posted asking people to show their horse's skinny ribs there would be an outcry! And this is the problem, not the owners who know their horses are overweight and are struggling to manage it, but the owners who seem to see it as a badge of honour to have a fat horse.

As a farrier's wife I often speak to owners whose animals have developed laminitis and the majority are distraught and say they wish they had known how dangerous it was to have their animals a bit chubby. It is not like it is really a controversial issue - I think most welfare charities, vets and farriers are agreed in the dangers of horses being overweight and there is plenty of information out there how to recognise the signs and how to tackle the problem.

 

[oldie48]

Years ago most of us did not use an arena, we schooled out on hacks or in the fields. Even pony club rallies were held in fields. To find an arena you had to go to a riding school.

20 years ago I could hack locally and the lanes were quiet and safe, they are not like that now. Our single track back lane is used as a rat run, satnavs send visitors to the Three counties show ground past our house despite signage sending them a way with better roads and online deliveries have meant a huge increase in vans and small lorries whilst contractors machines are huge and generally very fast! Luckily I've got some off road riding but for many people that's not possible, certainly my local farmer gets very annoyed if anyone canters round his fields as he now has a lot of rough shooting. Times change but unfortunately horses and ponies don't adapt in the same way. I'd just ask people to be a bit less judgemental, people with fat ponies/horses are not all ignorant uncaring ar..s who over feed and over rug. I commented to my farrier yesterday that Fatty looks like Lami on legs and he replied he'd got four at home in the same condition, his wife is tearing her hair out as they have so much grass ATM!

 

[scats]

20 years ago I could hack locally and the lanes were quiet and safe, they are not like that now. Our single track back lane is used as a rat run, satnavs send visitors to the Three counties show ground past our house despite signage sending them a way with better roads and online deliveries have meant a huge increase in vans and small lorries whilst contractors machines are huge and generally very fast! Luckily I've got some off road riding but for many people that's not possible, certainly my local farmer gets very annoyed if anyone canters round his fields as he now has a lot of rough shooting. Times change but unfortunately horses and ponies don't adapt in the same way. I'd just ask people to be a bit less judgemental, people with fat ponies/horses are not all ignorant uncaring ar..s who over feed and over rug. I commented to my farrier yesterday that Fatty looks like Lami on legs and he replied he'd got four at home in the same condition, his wife is tearing her hair out as they have so much grass ATM!

As a kid, I used to hack for miles and miles out on the roads and traffic was never a problem. Some quieter roads and lanes, you could ride and not even meet a car. Even as recently as 10-15 years ago, the traffic around here wasn’t as bad as it is now.
Our YO was into endurance and regularly tells us how she would do daily 10 mile rides out from our yard to keep the horses fit. Let’s just say that I wouldn’t venture out onto the main road at the top of our lane now! It’s absolutely horrific and can take me 10 minutes to get out in a car as traffic is coming from both directions and an adjoining busy national speed limit lane.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I think that this time of the year is not the best to be commenting on 'fat horses'. I am one of those owners who doesn't mind a bit of extra weight at the end of summer because I expect my horses to lose some weight over the winter. This year the plan is that they will live out, unrugged, except in the very worst weather, and so lose the condition that they have put on over the spring/summer. I prefer to work with the horses' hormones and natural cycles rather than against them all the time.

 

[sharni]

most people dont know how a horse should look like condition wise these days when they are a normal sensible weight people think they look thin. same with humans, just look at all the fat girls wobbling round in skimpy clothing with disgusting blubber wobbling round their bellies thighs and fat faces. they think they look good and yell body shaming if anyone says they are fat. truth is they are fat and obese and doing themselves no favours. you didnt hardly ever see fat people or horses years ago.

 

[dorsetladette]

Oh for that bare paddock!
A situation involving cattle with zero respect for electric has resulted in my two being on 24 acres for the last week. All my hard work over the summer has been instantly destroyed and they have shameful grass bellies. Thank goodness it's Autumn. At the moment the only alternative is a well rested hay field ? so they'll be getting a good bib clip and a big increase in the hill work.
Last year I used no hay at all, not one bale, no rugs, and they still came out of winter a good 3/3.5.
I show, but I refuse to join in with the disgusting "show condition" brigade. Some of the large breed m&m classes nowadays need serious reform in terms of expectation. Judges have a lot to answer for.

Arh yes - show condition! Thats how you could describe me at present

I was at a show a couple of weeks back - nothing serious, just a charity/fund raising event and everyone had fun. But upsettingly the pony that took the in hand championship was obese - I mean really obese. The fat pads either side of his tail head made his bum look square from the side. I've been in and around the showing world all my life and I have not seen anything 'that' bad on a show ground before. I really rate the judge as well, I've known her a long time and have always valued her opinion. It really shocked me TBH.

My horses go in the ring 'fit' and do look odd compared to the competition, they also come out of the ring with enough energy to do it all again - even in big M&M classes at county level. When judging natives/hunters/cobs one of my dads criteria was that he wanted to see something that 'could go all day' surely it need to be fit enough to do so? a fat welsh cob will never 'go all day' but my fit ones would of. (past tense as they are currently in a field, one fat and the other being brought back into work after being put on the back burner for a year or so).

 

[LEC]

Or

'Why do so many unqualified amateur horse owners think it's fine to police other horse owners'?

If it's not a horse's weight, it's the rider's weight.
And if it's not that, it's rugging too much, or too little.
Or having your horse shod, or having it 'barefoot'.


Live and let live.

or live and let die. This question came out from talking to a vet friend who was banging their head on a brick wall that it wasn't getting through to owners. Horse killed as has severe laminitis and owner feels sorry for them so chucks them out on grass for a few hours. Dead the next day. I exaggerated somewhat in this story about dealing with a livery, but find contentious gets a better response rate, but you know all about that.

 

[Tarragon]

People don't think it is fine to have fat horses - they just don't know that their horse IS fat.
My only comment is that, personally, I feel that the key factor to keeping the weight down is through exercise, so that the horse or pony can live a more normal "horsey" life at the same time and still maintain a good weight. Though, obviously, this excludes those horses or ponies who cannot be exercised on medical grounds. As soon as you take exercise out of the equation, I personally feel that the horses' mental welfare is compromised, because any form of regime designed to keep weight down without exercise has to be quite extreme and probably includes fairly long times of being without food, whether stabled or in bare fields, or frustration trying to get at their food either through a muzzle or tiny holed hay nets. The only one I feel hits the mark is the track system where your horse or pony is kept on the move and has to work to get their food and I really hope that this is the way things are moving. It is the exercise that takes the horse out of its stable or field and get out and about, makes the brain work, lets them stretch their muscles and lungs and enriches their lives.
I am not sure I have put this very well! I found it hard to word.

 

[Goldenstar]

I rode the obese cob today it’s a miserable experience his crest swings about with a life of its own ( he’s hogged ) it looks like an eel is trapped in there .
its going to a long job it’s a good job he’s nice .

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I rode the obese cob today it’s a miserable experience his crest swings about with a life of its own ( he’s hogged ) it looks like an eel is trapped in there .
its going to a long job it’s a good job he’s nice .

It took me 3 years and bags and bags of plain oat straw chaff to get the Westphalian Kaltblut down to an acceptable weight and I am pretty sure that it had onlt taken 9 months for her to become obese, as she had only been in her previous home that long, prior to that she worked for her living.