Over Conditioning and Obesity in Horses

There is a big issue in the horse world, and that is the belief that over feeding a horse is better than under feeding. Neither one is ok and neither is better than the other. When you hear "over conditioning" you might think a horse that has been worked too much, but it really means an overweight one. I always hear, "I'd rather my horse be overfed than underfed." The only time this would be at all true, is just because most people fail to recognize an over weight horse as a neglect case, so you're not likely to get the cops and animal control called on you for them, vs having an under weight horse.

You see, people are under this false impression that being over weight is more healthy than being underweight. This isn't true. While an underweight horse is undeniably unhealthy, simple feeding will correct that, with usually little to no long term negative effects. Over conditioning and obesity is another monster entirely. Not only are horses who were once over weight more prone to becoming so again, but they suffer many long term health issues that need special managing for the rest of their lives, including Insulin Resistance and Laminitous, along with others.

One of the biggest problems is though, is that very few people can properly judge if a horse is over conditioned or obese. Studies have been conducted and proven that even people who have worked with horses all their lives are more likely to think their horse is fit instead of fat. Very few people, no matter how much experience they have with horses, have the ability to properly appraise a horse's body conditioning.

This issue is even worse in draft horse breeds. People want "Thick" horses, but the issue is, people normally fail to see a difference in a "thick" horse and a fat horse. When you hear "thick" in draft breeds, people are meaning thick bones, thick muscles, a strong horse. The thing is, most pictures were you see people drooling over these so called "thick" horses, are actually very obese. All the signs are there. Bodies bigger than their legs, fat around the tail heads, rolls on the neck, an overly cresty neck, and fat rolls on the sides, but people just see a big horse and think "thick". If you dare bring it up that the horse is indeed fat or obese, you will be crucified. "No, that is a draft horse. They're supposed to be like that. They're not like light breeds!" Fat is still fat, and fat will never be muscle.

I wrote a research paper on this very issue in college, having to use scientific papers as my references, you can be sure that it's all true. I'll add it below for download so that you can read it if you so decide. It's not overly scientific and hard to read, so anyone can readily read it. And I do urge you to, if only to understand the effects of over conditioning and obesity in horses.