Preferences

Generally speaking ...

• I'd rather see a horse a little overweight than a little underweight.
• I'd rather see a horse a little underweight than a lot overweight.
• I'd rather see a horse a lot overweight than a lot underweight.

But ideally, I like to see horses at a healthy weight.

Sometimes, that means work.
Money, too, perhaps—but mostly research and effort.

A day at the 4-H Fair

Walked through the horse barns at the local fair the other day.

Most horses — and I was actually a little bit surprised by this — were in really good weight.

Many, more than half, had a mild "crease" down the center of the rump that showed they were certainly not malnourished. There was nothing I would call obese. No disgusting fat bubbles.

There were a few that were on the thin side of average. Nothing I'd go calling the police about. Overall health and attitude of the horse reflected alertness, maybe a little nervousness. The stress of a week away from home in a crowded barn with tie stalls and hundreds of kids and adults coming through at all hours is pretty rough on a horse that is pulled out of the pasture once a year for this.

There was one horse, however, I would have talked to the owner about if I'd been able to locate him or her. I had a few questions about this animal's condition:

Now, you don't really see any ribs. I don't consider whether or not you can see ribs a very good indication of whether or not a horse is in good condition, because just like an overweight woman can be apple shaped or pear shaped, an overweight horse might show ribs, and an underweight horse might not ... you have to look at more factors. High withers are also a fairly common conformation issue rather than a clear indicator of condition.

What gives me concern is the pronounced spine at the top of the rump and tailhead area. The rump of a horse in good weight is generally flat or somewhat convex from the spine to the point of hip. When you see a dip as shown, and a sharp slope away from the spine at the top of the rump, there is reason for concern. I don't often see a "high spine" as a common saddle-fitting issue ... narrow shoulder, high wither, narrow back, no withers ... but not pronounced, bony spine. (Except in the case of my fattie, poster child of the Obese HOTD blog. Of course.)


Now, the overall health of this animal appears fine, and the exhibitor was not sent home, so the horse must have been able to perform soundly. I would not be surprised if the judge made a comment to the rider.

Some may comment that a horse in this condition should not be ridden. That is an opinion that you are welcome to share. I'd like to know more before I pass such strict judgment.

I would not support a "midnight rescue operation" or anything of that nature that is often suggested by those who believe that only their own horses have valid reasons for being imperfect.

I would not offer virtual high-fives to those who proclaim that we should STARVE the owners and see how they like it. Personally, I find comments that wish pain, harm and death to other humans offensive.

Well, except when they are made as ignorant YouTube comments to my horseback riding videos — users claim they would like to see ME saddled, whipped and spurred instead of the horse — in which case I find them highly entertaining, considering you won't see a spur or crop anywhere near my TWH because I'd like to live, thankyouverymuch.

Peace.

Skinny article

Check out this indepth (quite long) article on caring for the skinny horse in the herd.

An excerpt:

Some horses are metabolically inclined to be hard keepers while others have medical, psychological or environmental reasons for having difficulty in maintaining weight. Increasing the caloric intake of a horse is not problematic if careful attention is paid to the feedstuffs offered to the horse. Manipulation of the amount and variety of energy sources will often achieve the ideal body condition on the hard keeper.

repost: The skinny on skinny.

This is a post I made on another blog last November.

This is a skinny horse:

He is trim, but healthy and well fed. He filled out nicely on pasture, and stopped dropping grain after his teeth were floated. This is a summer photo, after taking him out of a dry lot where he shared a free-choice round bale of hay with another horse. He had to be gradually introduced to green grass, to prevent colic or founder. He had a nice protective fat layer by winter. His hooves were long, but he was sound.

This is a skinny horse:

This is a Saddlebred mare. I do not know how she came to find herself at Horses Haven rescue, but I am sure glad she did. Much more emaciated than this, and the only kind thing to do is euthanasia. Desperately malnourished horses do not always respond to attempts to "fatten them up" as their organs have already started to lose function. I think this horse wants to live.

This is a skinny horse.

While you can clearly see her ribs, her overall body condition does not look critical. She needs good food and good weather. She looks very typical of an aged horse having wintered outdoors during a harsh Michigan winter. There is a shine on her coat and a gleam in her eye. She probably looks like a different horse in the summer and fall.

This is a skinny horse.

For a young horse to be in this kind of shape in September, it must have not had access to the summer's green grass. The hooves have been neglected, and the bloated belly is a tell-tale sign of intestinal parasites; with the ribs showing, I'd guess an overload of them. The legs should straighten out some with corrective trimming. I would have to assume he had limited turn-out as hooves should wear down differently with exercise. His overall depressed look and dull coat is another sign of poor health. As he is young, he has the potential to fully recover with proper care.

Well, they're ALL skinny... so which one(s) should be taken away from their owners?

Skinny is subjective. What's your definition of skinny?

Some breeds are naturally more skinny than others, same with bloodlines within a breed, or types within a discipline.

Athletic horses tend to be more skinny, as do hot ones.

Acceptably skinny looks different with an older horse than with a younger, growing one.

Emaciated is never okay, for any breed.

I'm XP, and I approve this message.

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...