Monitoring condition in winter...

popularfurball

popularfurball

Learning all the time
Jul 18, 2005
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I haven't wintered with Silver yet, so not seen her so fluffy before! :D

Still trying to get the weight off her, but struggling to guage her condition under the coat! She looks as fat as when I started with her (she put weight on in between over the summer), but some of this must be coat?:confused::confused: Are there any good ways of monitoring with a wooly coat? Her girth doesnt change as much as her fat pockets/back part of tummy :/

She is out 9am-4pm in a muzzle with reasonable grazing - length to the grass, but not vibrant green so less nutritious I guess? And then she is now in at night with 1.5 sheets of hay. She is eating all her hay, but doesn't seem to be starving. She is also having 3 carrots a day (for groundwork and muzzling purposes) but nothing else.

May/June time:
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Now:
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Do it by touch ;)

I like to have a good old wibble of Joy's fatty neck and press with my fingers to determine fat coverage in the other areas to condition score such as behind the shoulders, tail head and ribs.
 
Thanks JC... I was going to pm you :eek:

I did "poke" her ribs the other day and sure I felt ribs :eek: (I also got a kick for doing it :rolleyes: hehe)

With fat pockets, do you know the progression of them? (RE FIlling/emptying?) I presume they go solid when full, but also solid when empty? And wobbly in between? But Im not sure - Silvers vary between wobbley and rigid - she went wobbly quickly last time muzzled but this time they are staying firm - don't know if that is also to do with time of year, or they went through wobbly stage so fast I missed it! But doubt it :p
 
Well in terms of the neck crest it goes more solid the more fat there is up there.

The shoulder will lose definition and blend into the barrel the more fat there is. I like to run my hands round the shoulder blade and get a feel for the covering there as this is one of the tell tale signs that Joy's getting too puffy.

The tail head you can feel a puffyness and if it gets too bad you can feel an upside down 'V' of fat ridges either side.

Point of hip is just a fingertip pressure to assertain coverage over the top of it but it isn't too wibbly on there, the wibblyness is more over the rest of the quarters. Same again with the ribs, you're feeling for a covering of fat which can be felt as a thicker covering rather than a being a wobble. Lastly the back, feel although the spine for coverage either side. Your fingers shouldn;t be down in a ridge and have to go up and out to mover away from the spine and towards the ribs.


I hope this about covers it...


Oh yeah and another place I usually forget but is a great one on Joy is to lift her tail to one side and see how much flab is between her legs which doesn;t get much winter hair on it either so easier to see. I never used to do thet one but discovered it's another tell tale place for her. Her crest and ribs change very little. It's just a case of getting to know the first places your horse gains and losses from as this will make things so much easier for you :)
 
I never knew that about the spine... At least I know we have a long way to go then!!

Her "v" on her tail was visible too :eek: although I think that has reduced now :) She has fat pockets either side of her withers, which also go up and down in size - not really monitored neck as that doesnt seem to change.

How do you know if its fatty or muscle (not that she really has any haha) - would it be more painful or anything?

But thats perfect - I might even print it off and pin it on her walll :eek: Thanks so much for replying :D Infamous feeding stuff knowledge bank :p
 
Ah well knowing what's fat and what's muscle is the same as on you're own body. Mind you I can't remember the last time I felt muscle on my body to know what that feels like :p

I'll give you link to one of my favourite condition scoring sites in case you haven't seen it. I like to work on a 9 point scale so I can see progress that much quicker. :)



http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/conditionscore.shtml
 
Thats brill - will print that off too!! Time to get condition scoring happy :D

Sorry one last question - do it once a week? Or is that too frequent to notice changes?
 
echo everything Joyscarer said - have a good feel for ribs, shoulders, also have a feel over the top of the hindquarter to see if you can feel fat (will be either really solid or wobbly but without the feeling of the muscle grain and sinews)

You may also consider blanket clipping or trace clipping to help you out?
 
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