Mine's a welsh cob and I'm not happy if I can't see the outline of a couple of ribs. I don't want them poking through his coat but I do want to be able to see they're there. If I can't feel them he's on a diet. It worries me how many people think that's a bad thing and that he looks better when he's too heavy. On a fit tb I'd certainly expect to see some ribs, but fit is the key word. Lean and muscled up is very different to thin and underfed.
Buddy not picking up
- Thread starter diplomaticandtactful
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Mine's a welsh cob and I'm not happy if I can't see the outline of a couple of ribs. I don't want them poking through his coat but I do want to be able to see they're there. If I can't feel them he's on a diet. It worries me how many people think that's a bad thing and that he looks better when he's too heavy. On a fit tb I'd certainly expect to see some ribs, but fit is the key word. Lean and muscled up is very different to thin and underfed.
It's a useful tool, I like the version where you score each area separately, then add all the scores together and divide by the number of areas measured, I think it gives the most objective result because they rarely seem to carry fat uniformly.
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It was the charts and how you were meant to combine bits from each of them to make a composite score that baffled meIt's not difficult when you have a horse in front of you. Print it out, and take a pencil to write down his score on each section
I can figure that bit out what I can't make sense of is how you get a score. my ancient brain doesn't work that way
Sorry I didn't explain well, You give each area (neck, wither, behind shoulder, ribs, spine, tail head) a score 1-5, 3 being perfect. For example I'll show Jess;
neck - 3
wither - 2.5
behind shoulder - 4
ribs - 2.5
spine - 3
tail head - 3
3+2.5+4+2.5+3+3=18
divide that by the 6 areas 18/6=3
My vet confirmed this at her last visit. even though I can see her ribs and her wither is prominant, she is spot on because she caries fat behind her shoulder. You can see it in this pic.
neck - 3
wither - 2.5
behind shoulder - 4
ribs - 2.5
spine - 3
tail head - 3
3+2.5+4+2.5+3+3=18
divide that by the 6 areas 18/6=3
My vet confirmed this at her last visit. even though I can see her ribs and her wither is prominant, she is spot on because she caries fat behind her shoulder. You can see it in this pic.
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I think he looks really good! So glossy. I would be very happy is old man Mattie looked so good at this time of year.
He's back up to 538kg which is his usual weight, ribs less visible. Give him another week off and then see how we go about returning to being ridden
Having him blood tested tomorrow, just to be sure there is nothing nasty going on
Should have results on Friday, vet thinks he still has a bit of a crackle both side in his breathing, if his bloods are ok she wants him back in work to build up the muscle so I will break it to him gently. Don't want to start him till we get the results, but he is sound with his ringbone, we trotted him up. Possibly because he had the three months off during winter he has dropped his tone a bit.
He looks how Kia looked when the cushings kicked in. Lack of muscle and topline and dropped weight like a stone. He was on 5 daily feeds and as much hay as he could eat at one point just to keep him looking decent. He was starting to drop teeth though which didn’t help and he was probs in reality 8yrs older than your boy. I didn’t think he was that age but vet did.
I was told to keep him in work as much as possible to keep the top line and muscle on so I would say keep that going if you can.
I was told to keep him in work as much as possible to keep the top line and muscle on so I would say keep that going if you can.
results are in. Liver and gut ok, he has raised levels showing he has had some sort of episode and not recovered fully from it. Two levels, if both were raised would go for further testing now, but only one, and the one that is raised is the one that would expect to revert to normal on recovery, so retest his bloods in a month and see if this happens.
Put him back into gentle work and build up and see what happens, stop if necessary. So not out of the woods. But vet wants him to start exercising gently and keep monitoring and see what happens to the blood test in June.
Put him back into gentle work and build up and see what happens, stop if necessary. So not out of the woods. But vet wants him to start exercising gently and keep monitoring and see what happens to the blood test in June.
walked out in hand for 20 minutes, he is blowing a bit through the nose and i thought I heard a bit of a gurgle. have left message for vet.
he's worrying me today, he came hammering in this morning for breakfast, then wanted out, so let him back out thinking would bring him in after mucking out to do his exercise. He came back himself but when I went down at 1045 to take him out, he was sweating up, on quarters and between hind legs. Temperature normal. Washed him down, called vet, no one available. Lots of gurgling from gut. Walked him for 45 minutes have left him on yard so I can monitor if he is pooing, he is drinking, temperature up to 37.6 but he had walked for 45 minutes. And not sweating. Still gurgling and farting a bit. Unfortunately the vet on call is the one I least like or respect her judgement.
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