Fat horse, thin horse

Despite the credit crunch, it's more likely nowadays that horses are adversely affected by obesity rather than malnourishment. Are we killing our horses with kindness? Obesity isn't always seen as obesity, or even as a problem, but it can be one of the most potentially serious threats to a horses health.   It's been recognised for a long while that fat horses are more prone to laminitis, but besides this, they could get heart disease, arthritis and lung problems. Obesity increases the amount of fat in the liver which can eventually cause inflammation and cirrhosis or even permanent liver damage.

Colic and obesity kill more horses than any other equine disease in the UK - yet obesity is something which is preventable and treatable.

So what can you do to help an overweight horse?

First of all you need to recognise that he is overweight. While weight gain in humans might be frowned on, in a horse it's seen as 'looking well' and not as a problem. But if other people begin to tell you that your horse is fat, he probably is!

As in humans, exercise is good for horses as long as you don't overdo it to begin with. If you don't always have time to ride, you could lunge. If you are seriously short of time, think about a horse share so your horse has a rider more often.

Simply restricting the amount of food you give to your horse to slim him down won't solve the problem, and could cause others. Horses need a slow trickle of food because of the way their stomachs work, so simply cutting down might leave their stomachs empty for long periods of time, and lead to gastric ulcers and colic.

It's better to feed low-calorie fibre, perhaps putting forage in several small holed hay nets around the stable so the horse has to move around. Since feeding restricted amounts of food will also restrict the intake of essential nutrients, it's important to find a mix that will give these nutrients without adding too many calories. A way to make a small amount of food last longer is to put some very large smooth stones in the bottom of the food so your horse has to move them around to get to the feed underneath. Soak hay for 12 hours or so to reduce the amount of calories in it. This might sound like a bit of a bind, but if you soak it when you turn out in the morning, at least the job will be done for the day.

You can cut down on calories by using shavings or woodchip instead of straw for bedding, as a lot of horses will eat the bedding. It might be better to restrict the amount of grazing, getting your horse in at night, especially if the grazing they have access to is very rich.

The Blue Cross has recognised the problem of overweight horses and ponies by launching a new 'Fat Horse Slim' campaign. They have an information pack for horse and pony owners which gives advice which will help you decide if your horse is at risk, and gives practical ideas for dealing with the problem. Visit www.FatHorseSlim.org.uk.

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