Differing opinions to ideal weight

Bobbin

Bobbin

Back in the saddle yeehaa
Feb 16, 2006
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Take a look at this pic, it is of Bryony this morning, she is sedated so looks like a bit of a welfare case but a second after this pic was taken, I asked the vet (one of the top vets in the region) what he thought of Brys weight. I'll tell you his answer after a few opinons.

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A bit difficult with the pic as head is at funny angle so neck looks huge! But id say the horse looks fine.
 
I have a feeling you're going to say that the vet thought of her as underweight.

Personally, I think she looks fantastic and it's what I want Red to be looking like atm (we can all dream! :()
 
Hard to tell with the picture because of it's quality and angle.

She looks to be ok but can't tell if it's a 'slim' ok (good for srping coming) or a 'plump' ok (good from winter coming. Do you have a better recent picture?
 
The vet thought she looked perfect. 6 weeks ago she looked like this.

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In this pic she was taking a 50" girth now just 6 weeks later she is back in a 46" girth.

I said I thought she looked thin and he said she looks great. I have no idea what she weighs right now but I certainly prefer her with a bit more weight on her bones.

Just thought it was interesting what a professional see's as an overweight/thin horse and what we as horse owners think. I have been shovelling build up cubes and Sugarbeet into her to get her to gain some weight over the last week.
 
That last picture she looks fat:eek: Sorry:eek: If she were mine I'd be aiming to have at least 50kg of her. If she's a very good doer and prone to lamitis I would want 75kg off her.

You will find that 90% of (british esp) owners have lost sight of what a horse SHOULD look like - they've got so used to seeing fat horses (esp in the show ring) that that becomes the norm:(

This is Pink last winter - this is the weigth I was wanting her to be (depsite people commenting on how thin she was - vet thought she looked great for a normal fatty in march.

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And Kalli bear the same. These are the weights good doing horses SHOULD be coming up for spring! Yet most owners try to feed them up a bit more

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neither of them are quite there yet this year, but they have the next month to loose a bit more to get to that condition.
 
Pink's Lady I think you're two look perfect weight in those - certainly not overweight. Interesting in the human world we're all trying to be too thin & with horses we all want them too fat! x
 
I think she looks absolutely fine in the first picture. You've definitely got to account for the spring grass and I'd much rather see horses looking nice and lean or even a bit poor at this time of the year. In the second picture she looks like a podgy summer pony :eek: (no offense meant of course!!)
 
martini55 said:
I think she looks absolutely fine in the first picture. You've definitely got to account for the spring grass and I'd much rather see horses looking nice and lean or even a bit poor at this time of the year. In the second picture she looks like a podgy summer pony :eek: (no offense meant of course!!)
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I am happy with her going into Spring looking as she does, I am lucky in that provided she is worked, weight is not something we have to worry about. She can eat what she likes. The second pic is a result of 2 months turned away rugless.

Just goes to show though, if this is the weight a horse SHOULD be then how many horses are actually overweight:eek:
 
Our heavyweight cob looks much like the first photo she is slightly underweight and as our instructor said 'that's good going in to spring' she measures 505kg on the weigh tape and is 15.2. She measured over 700kg when we first got her 4 years ago.:eek: I've had quite a bit of info from the ILPH lately about the increasing obesity in horses.:eek:

Since we've been keeping Peggy trim she has more energy and doesn't sweat up so much when it's warm, a bit like us I guess. We're quite lucky in that we keep her and Flint (who has had laminitis once a few years ago) on restricted grazing together.
 
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i would say that for this time of year she is a good weight, i am having to get used to preferring my two on the leaner side as it's better for them and especially their feet. when i thought they were slightly underweight a few weeks ago, the vet thought they were perfect - "too many overweight horses round here" were his words!
 
I thought Mrs P was skinny when I bought her but the vet reckoned she was fine. Last time he saw her she condition scored a 3 & I thought she looked well - bit more condition than she'd want for serious competing, but well within acceptability - but the vet just grabbed her crest, made it wobble a bit & glared at me :eek: She is now about the same as Bry in the first pic so hopefully that's OK, although she's one of the leanest horses on our yard & probably thinks I'm evil because I underfeed & overwork her :rolleyes:

Bry looks fabby Bobbin - well done you! :D
 
Bearing in mind they are long-term out of work so lack any kind of decent muscle, this is them at the weight vet thought was spot on

J
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Dylly
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