Obese Horses Are Liable To Critical Health Problems

Just like humans, obese horses are seen as unhealthy individuals and are liable to a series of health problems due to their extreme weight. Every person has their own understanding of what equates heavier than average and in the horse race that is even more complicated to decide.

Some experts say that we are on the border of an epidemic of obesity in the equine world because the mass of horse owners don't appraise or don't know how to determine if their are horses are obese or not.

Recent studies and statistics show that obese horses are a developing problem and so are the physical issues related to it, like Laminitis, Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) and DOD (developmental orthopaedic disease).

To address this issue correctly horse owners first need to know how to decide if their horses are obese or not. Many commit the misunderstanding of comparing with other animals in the yard. But with horses you need to apply an objective measure to your horse to tell if he is overfed or not.

Back in 1989 a semi objective measure of fat and obese was developed and published by equine publications worldwide to help owners determine if their animals were fat, obese or in good shape. This measuring method was named conditioning scoring. Recently this method has been updated and renamed to "Fat Scoring" and it has been used by major Roadshows and Championships around the sphere.

This new procedure uses numbers from 0 to 5, where 0 is a very thin horse and 5 an obese horse. The model is to 2 or 3, 4 is regarded fat.

What risks are posed to fat horses?

Overweight animals are prone to laminitis, equine metabolic syndrome and metabolic disorders that could lead to several diseases and gradual loss of vitality. Excessive weight can also influence the immune and reproductive systems, not to mention that has clear long term fitness consequences.

Horses are very much alike to us people when the subject is fitness. Just like a body builder a bulky show horse that looks fat is not fat at all because the bulk is muscle. Just like marathon runners, racehorses look thin and mean but in fact they have a fat score of 2 or 3 maximum.

When it comes down to determine if a horse is heavy each case should be addressed exclusively. Sometimes extra workout is not enough and you will need a feeding plan with specially arranged horse feeds.