15/05/2025
SKINNY OR NOT?
Here's an example of a slim, fit event horse (its a photo of Piggy March and her horse Brookfield Innocent, from a wee while ago). This is what a top level event horse should look like, and he is not 'too skinny' or under-muscled.
I've been disappointed about some of the awful comments flying around Facebook by people who don't understand the appropriate body composition of an event horse. Horses lay down fat along their 'topline' so when have a low body fat, they can (to the amateur eye) look under-muscled, when in fact they are not.
Some of the owners I work with worry that their horses are too thin but I think that's because generally, we're used to seeing slightly - or significantly - overweight horses.
Of course - as I always say - we need to assess each and every horse individually, in terms of what's appropriate for them. The horse in the photo horse was a top level athlete in a sport where good endurance matters, and this low level of body fat may not be appropriate for a poor doer going into winter, for example.
But for owners who aren't into horse sport, it's worth taking a look at eventing, endurance and racing horses once in a while as a reminder of what a slim fit body condition looks like.
More than half of our leisure and low-level competition horse population are overweight.
It's also worth ignoring the opinions of anyone around you who
1. you've not asked
2. whose own horse is not in good health or condition, or
3. has not had anything to do with the type of horse they are commenting on
(For new readers, I'm an independent equine nutritionist of >20 years, with a masters degree in human & equine exercise phys/sports science, I've evented my own home-produced mare to BE80 and worked with elite sport horses in all disciplines).
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