WATCH HIS WEIGHT
Monitoring your horse’s condition to keep him fit and slender.
WHAT IS OBESITY? A horse, pony or donkey that is obese carries more fat tissue than nature intended. In the wild it is rare to come across animals that are overweight or obese as they have evolved to survive harsh winters, live off rough grazing with little nutritional value, and walk miles each day to find food and water. Modern management, however, is as far from this as you could imagine, and more akin to living like an equine couch potato. We tend to provide more food and warmth — in the form of forage, cereal-based feeds and rugs — than our horse actually needs. Then we restrict his movement to grass paddocks and ridden exercise.
Just like us, when a horse consumes more calories than he burns through exercise and keeping warm, he stores the excess as fat. This is important if you live in a harsh climate where you might need that fat for a rainy day — such as long, cold winters with little food — but problems occur when that rainy day never comes.
Obesity is a major cause of illness and death in horses, affecting up to 70% of the UK population. Aside from putting extra strain on the horse’s joints, tendons and ligaments, the excess fat tissue causes hormonal disturbances in the body which upset the balance of sensitive metabolic systems with serious and sometimes fatal consequences. So the most important thing about obesity is to spot it early, do something about it, and continue to keep your horse’s weight under control and his body condition healthy.