Why has he gone so pot-bellied? :/

floradora09

floradora09

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Bought a 14/15 yo 15.2 TB type horse just over a month ago now. He has a nice front and back end, but his barrel is very pot-bellied, yet he needs to put on condition as he is a bit ribby and hasn't got much topline. His owner put him on loan for six months to a lady that just hacked him and he went a bit downhill. Then he went to a schooling yard for about a month and we bought him from there. Owner sent me a photo of him before he went on loan and he looks amazing, like a little sports horse! Why has he gone so pot-bellied now? Is it lack of muscle? Condition? I would say old age but he's not really very old. He does windsuck and has done all his life, could this be something to do with it? He does tuck it up when working, so it's not as bad then. I will try and post a photo!

Thanks! :D xx
 
The obvious things would be either worm burden or are you giving him large amounts of hay/haylage/grass? This may just be a bigger amount of fibre hitting his gut than he has been used to before.
 
I've got this with one of my yearlings! He's ribby but has a large pot belly, he's well upto date on wormers having had the 5 day panacur guard last, and pramox before that!!! So just a grass belly, the problem is that I can't work out if he's under or over weight!! Everyone says to go off the ribs, which would mean he's underweight! But if I posted a pic on here am sure the vast majority would actually say he's overweight!!

Can you post a pic of him???

It might help to reduce grass intake with reduced turnout or use a grazing muzzle, but increase hard feed and maintain work then he'll put on the weight evenly?
 
Photos:

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Hope they work! He doesn't look too bad in the second one but normally he looks a bit worse than in first one! xx
 
A blown belly would suggest to me wind, grass, cushings or worm burden.

He doesn't particularly look like any of the more sinister ones apply though! Probaby just air and grass!

The windsucking could well be an indication of gastric ulcers. What is his routine?
 
All the wind suckers I've ever known had a bit of a pot belly, getting more pronounced as the got older and/or lost condition. When you watch them do it you realise how much they use their belly muscles! Having said that, I wouldn't have thought it would have become apparent so quickly. Maybe it just exaggerates the affect of a grass pot belly!
There was a post a couple of months ago along similar lines by a lady with another wind sucker.
 
There are lots of reasons-
Lack of muscle tone in intercostal muscles
Weak topline (linked to above)
Worms
Age (harder to tone muscles- everything drops)
Previous foals (not relevant here obviously!)
And yes, the wind sucking- it encourages an upside down frame.

To solve- feed all feed/hay from the floor. Gradually build up the workload. Raised poles and grids (when fit enough) make the horse tense the stomach muscles in readiness for landing, so tones the belly. Working on a slight slope does the same thing if you dont want to jump. Hes just lacking muscle on his topline, which will take time and training to build up
 
My first instinct, which is backed up by the pics, is that he has could do with more muscle tone. His topline looks a little weak, and this will also mean that his stomach muscles aren't toned either, hence the drop belly. If he were mine I would increase the schooling and perhaps lunge a couple of times a week in side reins or a pessoa etc. Lovely looking chap though :)
 
Thanks for the replies everyone! So the general idea is that I need to:

-Build up topline (working on already!)
-Cut down hay maybe? What do you think?
-Feed hay off floor
-Maybe get back checked


Persephone- I would agree about the air and grass- he is rather 'gassy' so to speak! :O He's turned out around 8am, out all day and in at about 6pm. He's fed twice a day on Alfa-A, Baileys no. 4 and a little speedi-beet. Has about 4-6 slices soaked hay in two haynets overnight. However as soon as they are allowed to stay out for the summer we'll be keeping him out 24/7, even in the winter (to prevent stiffness as he's a little older and also help his windsucking). He mainly windsucks at meal times and when tied up, and occasionally in his field :)

Thanks so much!
 
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