Just like human beings, overweight horses are seen as in ill health individuals and are liable to a series of health issues due to their indulgent weight. Every one has their own perception of what equates overweight and in the equine race that is even more complicated to decide.
Some experts say that we are on the verge 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 overweight or not.
Modern 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 attend to this issue correctly horse owners first need to know how to determine if their horses are overweight or not. Many commit the inaccuracy 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 overweight or not.
Back in 1989 a semi objective measure of fat and obese was developed and written by equine publications worldwide to help owners determine if their animals were fat, obese or in good shape. This measuring method was called conditioning scoring. Recently this method has been remodeled and renamed to "Fat Scoring" and it has been used by major Roadshows and Championships around the globe.
This new system uses numbers from 0 to 5, where 0 is a very thin horse and 5 an obese horse. The ideal is to 2 or 3, 4 is considered fat.
What risks are posed to oversize horses?
Fat animals are prone to laminitis, equine metabolic syndrome and metabolic disorders that could lead to many diseases and gradual loss of vitality. Excessive weight can also alter the immune and reproductive systems, not to mention that has clear long term fitness consequences.
Horses are very much alike to us humans when the subject is fitness. Just like a body builder a beefy show horse that looks fat is not fat at all because the bulk is muscle. Just like marathon runners, racehorses look lean 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 overweight each case should be addressed differently. Sometimes extra workout is not enough and you will need a feeding plan with specially formulated horse feeds.
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