Skinny has a sibling!

The Obese Horse of the Day blog is up and just getting started.

One of the first entries is a must-read on how harmful obesity in horses can be, and the shocking prevalence of it (over fifty percent of horses in a recent study were found to be overweight; with nearly a fifth of the 300 horses randomly chosen at the very top end of the scale).

Check out the linked articles at ScienceDaily.

Skinny Horse #3

Let me preface this entry: no one said he was starved by his previous owner, but that could be due to his reported history of being rescued from a farm where horses were allegedly dying in the field, six months ago.



This is a 2 year old TWH.



He's fed and fit but not fat.



They aren't supposed to look like a halter bred QH.

(Most halter bred QH probably shouldn't be as fattened up as they are for the show ring, but what gets pinned? Maybe judges should penalize obesity.)

"He's a little skinny..."

"He's a bit skinny..."

"Good of you to take him and get some groceries in him too."

In horses as in humans, obesity in growing youngsters is a bad thing. I don't think he's far from a healthy weight. Obviously we should be sure to provide all the nutrition necessary for a growing horse, especially if they might have been lacking in the essentials their first year of life, but that doesn't mean they need to be fattened like a steer.

Comments?

Skinny Horse #2

Here, I see a horse that is moderately underweight.

I see a flat but not sunken rump, prominent withers (not a good indication of anything except just that ... a horse in any condition can have high withers) and the beginning of visible ribs.



The hip does not appear to jut out and I'd like to see more meat on her shoulder/elbow, but I'm not ready to call the brute squad.

Apparently, others see starved and neglected:

"Unfortunately I am afraid as low scale as she is, she probably won't be around much longer. It is a shame that folks don't see anything wrong with how she looks. Maybe if we withheld proper nutrition from them they would get the point."

"Poor mare."

"... would love to see this poor girl get out of a bad situation that it appears she is in."

I'd like to see her sold to a good home and put on 50-100 lbs. but I don't see reason to send out a lynch mob or midnight trailer run.

I particularly object to the notion of causing harm to fellow humans simply because you don't agree with them. That is the animal rights extremist philosophy that brought so many death threats to myself and my family.

Skinny Horse #1

While the earlier May images of this mare have been deleted, the June photos show a mare that has put on a little weight but mostly just lost the dull and scraggly remnants of a slow-shedding winter coat.



Check out the comments made, even considering visible improvements (below) over a few short weeks:

"[IMO] 'a little thin' is an understatement. I would NOT even ride a horse that skinny ... there is no reason, other than neglect, for a YOUNG HEALTHY horse to be that skinny"

"[IMO] she is still very very very thin, you can see the top of her spine from withers to tailbone"

"I would also say this horse was 'thin' and wouldn't even stick a saddle on her"

"I WOULD NOT even consider putting a saddle on this horse and try to ride her at her weight"

I left the authors' emphasis, but fixed some typos.



I am not an expert on using the body condition scoring system, but I sure don't see a starving horse here.

Welcome! The intro ...

I'm noticing more and more lately that some people tend to think that horses that are even slightly on the thin side of average are dangerously underweight and neglected.

I don't get this.

Should horses really be FAT, at any time of year? Any more than we should?

I'm going to pull some information from a PDF I recently downloaded. It does not use the Henneke Scale but a different model that rates a horse between 1 and 5.

"Average" weight for a "typical" 15hh horse:

• Score 1 - 860 lb - poor
• Score 2 - 925 lb - moderate
• Score 3 - 1015 lb - good
• Score 4 - 1180 lb - fat
• Score 5 - 1345 lb - very fat

"Typical" body score by "class" of horse:

• endurance racehorse - 1.5-2.5
• sprint racehorse - 2.0-2.5
• harness racehorse - 2.0-3.0
• distance racehorse - 2.5-4.0
• typical riding horse - 3.0-4.0
• typical show horse - 4.0-5.0
• typical broodmare - 2.5-4.0

Body condition should not fall below 1.5, but poor body condition is not always due to lack of feed. Other reasons:

• parasite infestation
• poor dental health
• chronic injury or illness

The competitive horse: 2.0

• Flat rump either side of backbone
• Ribs just visible
• Narrow but firm neck
• Backbone well covered

The pleasure horse: 3.0

• Rounded rump
• Ribs just covered but easily felt
• No crest, firm neck

The halter/rail horse: 4.0

• Rump well rounded
• Gutter along back
• Ribs and pelvis hard to feel
• Slight crest

I know a lot of you are guilty of having a 5 out there in your field when you should have a 3 ... I know I am, even when I do my best to regulate his intake, my older horse seems to gain weight by sniffing food! But there is much more tolerance for obesity than there is for even slightly underweight. Visible ribs do not equal neglect!

If the rump is sunken, and the backbone protrudes (check the tailhead, some horses have a high backbone in any condition) then there is definitely cause for concern.

Save the lanterns and pitchforks for the people that deserve them, the people who won't even dump their emaciated horses at auction because they're waiting for the market to return, even if they can't afford hay ... :'(

Get ready to see more of it as the summer (and pasture) fades. But rather than attack anyone who posts a 2.0 on craigslist or dreamhorse (thankfully they are trying to sell before the poor thing hits 1.0), put your energy into something constructive.

As many people as claim to dislike the Fugly Horse of the Day blog for her confrontational approach, many of my peers could author Skinny Horse of the Day and be just as brutal if they simply reposted what they've put on the public message boards.

Hmmm... SHOTD has potential...