Horses that are simply "hard keepers", but otherwise healthy, are a problem only because of the reaction that visitors have--"Oh, what is wrong with him?" It irritates me to have to justify a horses genetic predisposition to be lean to a family of fat people.
It is the rarest of visitors that notices the horse that I have that does have a serious dietary problem. Tradewind was captured because he foundered in the wild to the degree that he was severely crippled. Using Pete Ramey trimming techniques he is now sound and never shows a hint of lameness, even on a fifty mile ride.
However, his life is at risk every day. He is insulin resistant and if he were allowed to have the diet of a normal domestic horse he would cripple or colic within the week. He is overweight unless he is exercised very hard. I am currently running him at least five miles a day, at least five days a week.
By doing so I am maintaining his health. It is time consuming, hard work to keep him healthy. To the average visitor he looks great. Unfortunately, many horse owners think that all horses should be coated with fat slabs.
When I hear people chortle about how they know that their horses are obese but they simply, "like to keep them looking happy," I can only take relief at the knowledge that at least they cannot teach their horses to smoke cigarettes.
This is a shot of what Tradewind looks like when he is in shape.
With his head down and first glance, I thought he was Annie.
ReplyDeleteThose obese horses won’t be looking very happy when they develop arthritis. I let my pony be too fat too much of her life (and rode her too young), then had to watch as she was increasingly hindered by arthritis the last dozen years of her life.
ReplyDelete