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Powered by  TranslateIf your horse is over weight it can cause loads of problems, heart, lungs diabetes and laminitis there are lots of other weight related problems too. Do you know how to tell if your horse is overweight? You should be able to slightly feel his ribs when you run your hand across his side.............. Now I will hold my hand up and tell you all now, Caddy was overweight, he was obese when I bought him and he lost loads of weight as I was riding 6 days a week, but when I became unwell he put weight on. I do not have loads of land just over an acre which is split in half come the spring. But Caddy was not being ridden and even though he didn't have a great deal of grass he put weight on. Caddy has lost some weight this winter and I am keeping a close eye on his weight. I can now feel his ribs ( haven't felt them for ages! :-) I cannot see them but they are there when I run my hand across his side. I will be keeping his weight down this year and hopefully with riding more and monitoring his turn out on grass we should succeed! Never ever starve your horse this can cause added serious problems. Horses need to have a food supply. We have over the years in the winter months given our horses cushy live styles, rugs are a lot more cozy than they used to be so we are keeping them too warm, but still giving them the extra food for winter. Last year Caddy came out of winter as though we never had a winter, as we all know that horses lose weight in the winter as they haven't got the endless supply of grass and also the wet and cold. I watched the video on you tube from World Horse Welfare and that opened my eyes. I now have a better understanding of what is a normal weight and what is not .... have a look http://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/information/right_weight_advice this is a link to their you tube This is also a good one Dengie, it also shows you diagrams of horses weight and how to manage it http://www.dengie.com/pages/feed-advice/feeding-the-overweight-horse.php
If your horse is too thin that can cause all sorts of problems too, and eventually death. Horses must have enough food to survive the winter months. You cannot cut back on a horses supply of food that he needs. It is easier to build up an underweight horse than it is to have an obese horse lose weight..... I read that on a web site! If your horse is overweight or underweight contact any of the links I have given or contact your vet.
Here is a very good link with pictures of horses ranging from very thin to obese. Have a look and see where your horse comes on the pictures, Caddy i think now is classed as overweight and not obese as he was! http://www.rodeocityequine.com/horse_scoring.htm |
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 This is an extreme picture of a horse with fat deposits on its body, but I thought it gave a very clear example of how fat deposits look on a horse...... please remember that very rarely will you see a horse to this extreme but horses will get fat deposits that you can see and feel when they are over weight
A picture of a thin horse, you can clearly see the ribs and his pelvic, this is not one of the worse horses that I have seen in real life. Worming, lack of feed, needing the dentist, illness and many other things can cause weight loss if your horse is losing weight and you have wormed and had the dentist then the next step would be the vet
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 If your horse should get cast in his stable this is when he cannot get back up off the floor when he has laid down or rolled in his stable and has got stuck against the wall. do not try and get your horse up on your own it is very dangerous and you could get severely injured! You must get help. If you google cast horse many pictures and advice will come up with information on what to do, look at the well know sites ie horse and hound or your pony etc, I did post a link but as they change the pages the link gets broken.
COLIC
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cushings disease 
Cushings Disease Symptoms include .....Failure to shed their coat in Spring, the coat becomes long, thick and matted. Affected animals tend to sweat more than normal, they lose weight despite an increased appetite. They may become diabetic, either diabetes mellitus, (sugar diabetes) or diabetes insipidus. They therefore drink excessively, and if stabled you will notice their bedding is quickly soaked. Here is a link to laminitis trust, it is very good and explains cushings disease and its symptoms plus treatment http://www.laminitis.org/cushings.html
Thrush Hoof thrush is found in the underside of the hoof and can affect the clefts, sole and frog. It’s not known whether thrush is caused by a bacteria or a fungus, but the condition is more likely to occur in the damp areas of a hoof that are often tightly packed with dirt and manure. In the early stages it is harmless, but left untreated it can cause hoof damage and lameness. If you notice that your horse has black smelly gunge (tarry ) when you clean out his hooves he may well have thrush, as you clean out the hoof the black substance will scrape out but leave dark staining in the hoof. A small amount of thrush is fairly harmless and easily treatable in the early stages. Left untreated however, it can erode the hoof to the point where the horse becomes permanently lame....... contact your farrier or your vet if your horses has thrush for advice on treatment
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