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Many horse owners are aware that obesity is not healthy for horses. Nonetheless, managing body conditions is challenging and likely explains why approximately one-third of horses are overweight. Researchers in the United Kingdom* recently identified a handful of risk factors for equine obesity. Understanding these factors can help owners to proactively manage their horses’ weight and take preventative steps before gain occurs.

  1. Body condition score changes with season. Many horses will naturally put on weight in the summer when high-quality forage is available, then lose weight in the winter when food is scarce. This natural cycle is typically more obvious in horses that spend most of their time on pasture. Owners likely need to account for season when assessing body condition.
  2. Owners influence obesity. Highly managed herds may no longer experience seasonal fluctuations in body weight because owners and managers can intervene and provide supplemental nutrition to maintain a constant body condition, but one that is frequently too high.
  3. Don’t underestimate grazing. In situations where access to pasture is not necessarily controlled, horses and ponies can consume a considerable amount of grass in short periods of time. Frequently, this intake exceeds the recommended intake in a 24-hour period. Breed may also influence grazing behavior, with thriftier breeds potentially being more driven to forage than lightweight horses due to their inherent survival mechanisms.
  4. There are many ways to measure body condition. Some are 5-point scales, others are 7-point scales, and some systems rely on various measurements, such as heart-girth. Ultimately, owners are simply encouraged to pick a system that works for them and to use it consistently to assess the body condition of individual horses, not just the overall herd.
  5. Breed, not size, contributes to obesity. In contrast to the theory that ponies are more at risk of becoming obese, the study by Giles and coworkers showed that breed was more important. In that study, when included horses were compared based on breed, cobs were over 13 times more likely to be obese than lightweight horses (Arabians, Thoroughbreds, etc.). When the study population was compared based on height, ponies were not more likely to be obese than horses.

*Giles, S.L., S.A. Rands, C.J. Nicol, et al. 2014. Obesity prevalence and associated risk factors in outdoor living domestic horses and ponies. PeerJ 2:e299.

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