My horse isn’t overweight …….is he?

The quickest way to put your back up would be to answer yes to the above question and if I really wanted to offend you, I’d also tell you that your horse is fat, or maybe obese. However none of us like to be told something offensive and none of us make our horses fat on purpose. But we cannot escape the fact that we are on the edge of an epidemic of obesity in the equine world. Do something now and it can be stopped in its tracks and the prediction I have made that Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) will be as common as Cushings in 10yrs time and our horses will be dying younger, will be proved wrong and I will be delighted.

 

How many horses are overweight?..........have we really got a problem?

Everyone has their own perception of what equates overweight. A big bulky horse just like the front row of a rugby team might be heavy because of muscle. However if that excess weight and bulk is due to fat, then you need to be concerned.  Epidemiological studies and statistics indicate that overweight horses are a growing (‘scuse the pun) problem, reflecting the same trend in people and other domestic animals.  A quick scroll through some of the studies throws up some interesting numbers:-

‘Fifty-one percent of the horses evaluated during very recent research in the USA were determined to be overweight or obese --. And just like people, it appears as though the culprits are over-eating and lack of exercise……..This study documented that this is an extremely important problem in horses that has been under-reported," said Dr. Craig Thatcher, a professor in the VMRCVM's Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences (DLACS) and diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Nutrition.

 

‘In the last three years, we have seen a 100% increase in the number of welfare calls regarding overweight horses and a 1000% increase in the number of laminitis calls.  We don't get a high volume of calls about overweight horses as most people simply do not perceive this as a problem.  However, Field Officers often visit horses described by the caller as underweight only to find they are fine.’ Mr. Tony Tyler, Director of UK Operations, ILPH

 

‘29% of horses weighed on the ILPH’s Right Weight Road Show were scored 4 (fat) or above’ Miss Samantha Lewis, ILPH Operations. 

 

‘Over a 8yr period, we received thirteen thousand calls (13,000) related to problems associated with horse being overweight which would include DOD, (developmental orthopaedic disease), laminitis, and Equine Metabolic Syndrome, (EMS)’ Jenny Lax, BA (Hons) Helpline Manager

Generally enquiries about problems associated with being overweigh are twice those about underweight problems. The table below shows the % split of 100,000 calls to a Helpline over the last 8yrs

 

% of calls to a nutritional helpline1 over an 8yr period (total number of calls 100,000)

Problem/ Year

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

EMS/Insulin resistance

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.2

Laminitis

5

6.8

6

7.5

6.4

9

6.7

6

7.4

Lethargy/lazy

4

1.9

0.7

2.5

2.7

3.6

3.3

2.5

2.2

Overweight

1

1.6

1.5

2.9

3.3

3.2

3.1

3

3.6

Underweight,(ribby)

5.4

5.8

5.9

7.4

12.3

10.7

10.8

10

7

1 Dodson & Horrell Ltd Helpline statistics

 

My own studies indicate that up to 80% of leisure horses are likely to be comfortably cuddly.  On the other hand, 80% of competition horses from Pony Club to 3* Eventers carry little if no excess fat.

 

  • Why is this the case and where are owners going wrong?

How do you decide if you are overweight? The same influences may affect the way you perceive your horse’s body shape.

 

We can all recognise obesity and thinness in both ourselves and our horses as they are the extreme. But when size zero is accepted by magazines and designers as being the ideal size to promote clothing on the catwalk then we put girls under pressure to conform to what might be seen as ‘normal’.  In turn normal becomes ‘fat’. Yet if we see starving children on the TV, we are appalled; what is the difference from a health perspective? 

 

Confusion abounds

It is all too common to read about horses being in good condition…that word condition means different things to different people. A show judge will stand back and look at the overall shape and confirmation of the horse or pony; an eventer will be looking for a different shape and many horse owners might describe young 2yr old racehorses as being too thin!

  • What are we looking at?

How do you decide if your horse or pony is overweight?

Do you weigh him?

Do you fat score him?

Do you know how many calories he is eating compared to how many calories he needs?

Do you compare him to other ponies/horses?

Do you know how much work he is doing?

Do you compare certain parts of his body?

Do you know what the mean weight & ideal range is for his height and breed?

Do you compare your horse’s body weight with horses you see in magazines?

Are you more likely to compare your horse to a show horse, showjumper, endurance, racehorse or an eventer when looking at its body condition?

 

A show horse can look big and bulky but I might fat score them as 2! Why because the bulk is due to muscle not fat. In the same vein I am likely to score a fit racehorse as a 2. But the horses are very different in their overall body shape. Racehorses will be lean and mean like a greyhound or a human 100m runner. A show horse on the other hand will be built more like a bull or a human weight builder. What differentiates their shape should be muscle NOT fat!

 

What risks are posed to fat horses?

 ‘A fat animal is more likely to develop laminitis following a challenge with food compared to a fit or lean animal’ Robert Eustace, 1st International Conference on Feeding Horses

New research has shown that the more body fat you have, the more leptin your fat tissues produce. Leptin increases the amount of oxygen that is used by cells during metabolism; free radicals are a byproduct of oxygen metabolism. Too many free radicals cause damage and it is a well accepted scientific fact that damage caused by oxidative metabolism is a major factor in the occurrence of many diseases and the gradual loss of vitality and of ageing.

 

Excess fat can also have negative effects on the functioning of the immune system and on reproductive performance. It is not a case of ‘sizeism’……Oxidative damage; (more fat than you need) has clear long term fitness consequences.

Fat is a long term problem

Obesity appears to be the main cause of human and equine metabolic syndrome. Until recently (1994) fat was considered an inert substance which functioned as a storage form for energy (excess calories) but nothing could be further from the truth. Body fat (especially that stored within the abdomen in people), contains cells that are very active metabolically and hormonally, and when present in excessive amounts their effects can trigger a cascade of metabolic disturbances leading to insulin resistance and persistent high blood sugar. This is linked to an increase in inflammation and free radicals and is one of the reasons that your horse will be more susceptible to laminitis.

  • How can you tell if your horse is fat?

You need to apply an objective measure to your horse to tell if he is fat, don’t simply compare him to the others in the yard. Although personal opinion and experience is useful, it  is often based on a small number of horses, (up to maybe 100). Research however is based on a large number of individuals and is more objective in its analysis

A semi objective measure of fat was developed and published in 1989 and has until recently been described as condition scoring. Due to our studies we have renamed the system ‘body fat scoring’ and the system has been modified and is currently being validated by ultra-sound. This system has been used through the Right Weight Roadshow and at the NPS Championships and is the best method for you to use to determine the amount of fat your horse has.

 

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  • Top 10 tips for avoiding obesity in your horse

 

  1. Reduce calories not bulk; all horses should eat a minimum of 2.5% of their bodyweight as food, (includes hay, chaff, and bucket feed, i.e. ANYTHING he consumes!). Restricting intake to less, means your horse is at greater risk of developing: gastric ulcers, stereotypy behaviour, colic, and dental problems. Soak hay for 12hrs if you cannot get hold of oat or barley straw. This removes most of the nutrition especially the calories, making it the horse equivalent of celery. You can then feed ‘adlib’ satisfying the horse’s need for trickle feeding. BUT make sure you add the vits and mins back in by using a balancer, supplement or special vit/min treats
  2. The number of calories, (MJ of digestible energy) he eats needs to be less than the number of calories he uses. Increase the amount of work he does, borrow a jockey, lunge, ride and lead if you have 2 horses and only time to ride one
  3. Most horses resting, retired or in light work will consume excess calories just from grazing. Ignore the traditional advice of 1 horse/acre and overgraze the paddock with a minimum of 3-4 horses/acre, (make sure you pick up droppings and pull ragwort).You will be surprised just how little grass cover is needed to maintain weight on your horse.  Horses and ponies don’t get fat on ‘fresh air’; they get fat on grass.
  4. If you cannot ‘overgraze’ your grass with other horses, keep it cut; think how often the garden lawn needs cutting, your horse is consuming all this!
  5. Rather than strip graze, put an electric fence in a u shape around the field so that the water is at the opposite end to the gate. This will increase the amount of exercise your horse has to do and therefore he will use more calories.
  6. Weight loss must be slow and does not require you to ‘starve’ your horse. Rapid weight loss or restriction of food will lead to hyperlipaemia(high blood fat)  or a reduced metabolism making subsequent weight loss more difficult. If your horse is obese, (20% over his optimum weight, then it will take at least a year to shift the weight)
  7. It might be tedious but weigh any food you are giving including hay or haylage the first time you use the products. If the advice is to feed 500g a day of a balancer then find a yogurt pot or similar that holds 250g EXACTLY. This means that you will not be tempted to sneak the ¼ scoop up to ½ scoop!!
  8. Take a photo on a monthly basis; you don’t notice weight changes when you see your horse every day. Weigh using a scientifically validated weight tape fortnightly at the same time of day and fat score at the same time. Keep a diary of the changes.
  9. Consider a muzzle. Horses standing in a stable use considerably less calories compared to those out moving around.
  10. Remember that steady but active walking burns up more fat than trotting or canter work. Ensure that your horse gets at least ½ hr per day of brisk walk. Exercise is also protective against insulin resistance for both horses and humans.
  11. Leave that rug off. Horses use 80% of their feed energy to keep warm. Insulate them with a rug and the extra calories will go on their back as fat
  12. Remember that calories are energy and energy is calories. If you have a cuddly laid back horse, he doesn’t need extra calories to give him energy. Extra calories = more weight gain.

 

How to fat score

I have been fat scoring horses and ponies since the system was first published and using the system to gather data since 1994. Recently a group of workers in the USA have published a paper showing that the hands on approach correlates with fat scanned with ultra-sound. The correlation was between 85-90%.

  • Horses store fat over their skeleton
  • Horses have individually susceptibility to storing excess fat, therefore we divide the horse into 3 areas:- neck and shoulder, back and ribs and bottom, score each separately, add up and divide by 3 to obtain the mean
  1. Run your hands over your horse’s neck/crest? Is it solid when he lifts his head, does it wobble, can you bend it over?.
  2. Feel for his shoulder blade, can you feel the outline easily, when you run your hand down his neck, does your hand keep going or does it stop at the start of the shoulder blade, can you feel his point of shoulder easily? Score between 0-5. Can you pinch an inch behind the shoulder blade?
  3. Run your hand horizontally along his backbone, is it ‘suspended’ over the backbone or is it flat. Let your hand relax does it ‘cup’ the backbone or is it still flat along his back?
  4. Place your hand flat along his flank and run your hand along his ribs. Can you feel them; specifically the last 3. You are feeling for the ‘waist’ of your horse. If he moves over when you are trying, you are pressing too hard! Score between 0-5
  5. Stand behind your horse, (careful if he kicks). Feel the outline of his bum. Is it an upside down C or is it a little apple shaped? Can you feel his backbone and tail bone? Can you feel his pelvis bonesScore between 0-5.

 

 

Just because you can feel your horses’ ribs (and you should be able too!!!); doesn’t mean that he isn’t storing excess calories elsewhere.

Click here to view a Fat Scoring card