Susan with Flynn. Well done you!

[wabuska]

Great article on obesity in the Listening Post. I would like that piece plastered across every horse magazine and publication in creation. You're a shining example of determination to do what is right for your horse at a time when people are still cuddling up their fat horses for the winter. Killing them with kindness and our twisted ideas about what horses need. It's maddening. So well written Susan. Take a bow. ;D

[Sarah&Pebbles]

Brilliant, huge congrats to you Susan, and of course Flynn!

Sarah and pebbles xx

[june]

We host most of the UK KC La Pierre hoof trimming courses. On the most recent course KC went through condition scoring horses. He scored all the horses being trimmed. They were fit polo ponies so most came in at 4 or 5 out of 10 but one came in at a 6 out of 10. He'd been off work due to a cyst on his elbow and was carrying more condition than normal. However, there was a farrier on the course who insisted this horse was a perfect weight. He clearly wasn't. He had a slight apple bum and you couldn't feel his ribs easily. Some people might even have scored him a 7.

Sadly, I guess we are all used to seeing horses that are carrying too much weight and so think they look normal.

Susan has done a fantastic job getting the weight off Flynn and the change in the horse's energy levels and attitude to work has been amazing. He obviously feels a lot better.

[mandal]

Dec 15, 2008 20:47:16 GMT 1 june said:

Sadly, I guess we are all used to seeing horses that are carrying too much weight and so think they look normal.

I think this is so true!! Susan has been a real inspiration to me.

[Susan]

Firstly thankyou Kanga for the thread and your appreciation of the work I did and I have to say still continue to be on top of.

I agree if I had my way I would do the same and plaster the news everywhere. I do stand on my soap boxes on many things but this has now gone to top Soap Box.. for no other reason then The Horse and its welfare.

I look at those pics of him 07 and 06 and I am aghast.. he was seriously gross and I did not see it. I knew he carried a bit of extra weight as I often said and did beleive I was doing something even as much as I could about it.

Then the weighbridge was reality check.. then worse the LGL attack Real kick up bum time.. which in hindsight I think had been happening before but I put down to many things like his feet are little footy it is the ground.. or the wet..
to even "I think we need shoes back on"! thank god I didnt do that because if I had and ignored that alarm bell the next time would have been full blown laminitus.
Adding another soap box the truth is shoes would mask things and if they have them you wont hear the alarm bell it unless you are very very perceptive and truth is most of us would not be.

So lets bring home the real truth..Flynn in the end lost near 80kgs.. lets equate that to a human in weight terms of Stones and lbs..when the feature was written he had lost 9.5 stones!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kanga out of interest looking at you..are you similar weight or less.

What would you think if a rider sat on your Flynn for 24 hours a day 365 days of the year and then on top of that you put a saddle and yourself again! in reality Flynn would be asked to carry over 18stone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[glow=red,2,300]Now Flynn at his best weight which we will get him back to before spring.. his loss of nearly 80kgs equals 12.5 stone... and note this 24 hours a day 365 days of the year.. [/glow]

So lets think a bit more and please anyone reading this really take this in.. it is shock reality..

I have asked Flynn to carry up to when we had him weighed over 25 stone if not more when I have ridden him.. and wondered why he didnt move that well forward going..

B******* Hell what a terrible owner was I and anyone who allows their horse to be over weight...even worse when they know it is.. and make excuses why they cant or wont do anything about it..

I was down right cruel and he was a welfare issue...
Joints.. muscle damage.. heart strain.. lungs.. breathing.. all of it I put at risk.. because I saw him as a "Little over weight" !! but he is an ID.. and they are not TB's are they..excuses..

WHW brought it home..

Get the weight off .. and work more then they eat.. ( if they are in a condition to work that is) use the weigh tape and dont live your life behind rose tinted glasses..read it and and take note..
then most of all dont cosy them.. use the winter months as nature intended.. dont over rug!! for gods sake..
I have stuck at him living out 24/7 ( expect 2 nights when it was seriouly wet and field a swimming pool) and fully clipped in nothing more then a med weight rug.. I dont actually own anything heavier. He will get his 3rd full clip in the next week.
I have an exercise sheet that is rainsheet only no fleece lining, he keeps dry but he is working when riding he dont need to be cosy..
It has been hard many times knowing he was out there.. but everytime I brought him in and checked him.. he was warm..

June has explained how farriers used to seeing so many fat over weight horse now believe them to be fine! Plus backed up the facts of the change in Flynn and continues to be..

WHW this summer stated we are now a nation of obese horse! owners that is a real shame and not to be proud of.

We are killing them with kindness.. and treating them as humans.. and thinking of them as ourselves..

I have even wondered did I think he was bigger horse to carry me? was that thought in my head.. not sure.. but if it was, it was a stupid idea.

Please I make no excuses for my soap box.. and if I educated one owner to stop killing their horse with kindness I will be pleased but I wont stop my soap box till I continue to educate more.

Again Thank you Kanga and of course June for her compliments and support she has given me and continues to do..

I even pleasantly surprised my vet the night he came out to Flynns colic.. at the amazing slim Flynn he saw..

Remember .. a Fat horse is NOT a FIT horse and can not be.. but he can be Fit and not Fat if you work at changing your mindset and do something about it

[Susan]

Sarah and Mandal..thank you....

I am so pleased.. I have inspired you Mandal as well.. this summer I got lots of support on the DG and did start to change a few to do something.. about their horses weight issues.

Lets hope I can continue to do more..

Hey if you wish to use my feature.. anywhere please do so..

[pinkpony]

Yes welldone, good read too. But can you work your majic on me too pls? I would like to loose just 2stn...

[horsey2]

Fantastic article, you've been an inspiration to me and my now not fat fatty its easy to be complacent but hearing the changes you made really helped me and see how easy it is to change things if you put your mind to it and I'm sure plenty of others see it can be done! Well done!!

[Susan]

pinkpony I too need a muzzle and personal trainer like Flynn had.. ( Me) !!
hey poopicking a field in the dark and wet mud each night as I have him living out.. certainly must be helping me.. I keep that thought in my head..

horsey2..well done you... and stick with it.. your horse will be so much better for it as well..

[pinkpony]

Hmmm, yers, I might have to add "poo picking in the dark and wet mud....each night" to my fittnes program....or perhaps not, maybe thats my problem lol!

[wabuska]

What about sending your story to some of the glossy horse magazines? You could re-write it a bit so it's original copy.

[Jo with Ben & Schooner]

Well done from me Susan - you are a great inspiration to many here and your advice is so useful to many - you stay on that soap box mate xxxx

[Susan]

;D Thanks Jo.. and hope you are feeling better..

Kanga I did send off to Your Horse and got no reply at all, I then sent a reminded about it and still no reply.. felt rather let down by not even an acknowledgement as in the past I have had other items published.
But I am not giving up I am going to send off to Horse and Rider.. and hope they will use it.. and even Chiltern Rider..

WHW said they wanted to use it for their magazine.. I wasnt in the last one.. so not sure if for spring edition.. as the fatties enter spring grass.

[penny70]

I too had a seriously fat fattie - 16.2 IDxTB who I got a year and a half ago, mostly because she made me cry when I saw her as she was so obese - the vet and I put her at condition score 10. When I got her home and got the weigh tape to her she came in at 770kg. Yes she's a big mare, but shouldn't have been that big...

She had an 8" high crest, fat pads over her shoulders, withers, loins etc, what looked like cellulite all over her hind quarters and shoulders, no dips above her eyes as they were filled with fat...I could go on, and if I knew how to get photos on this I would, but sadly I haven't a clue. She looked possibly even worse than the photos in the IH mag of Flynn. Worst of all, she had early signs of pedal bone rotation, and couldn't put her full weight on her front feet.

Needless to say, she went on a diet pdq, but for her weight, the amount of HiFi Lite she was on was still vast - the weight slowly started coming off...

She now weighs 620kg (weigh tape, not bridge), can put full weight on all 4 feet, I can see 4 of her ribs (I now keep her slightly light to ensure the same doesn't happen again - condition score 4), she gallops about her acreage as if she owns the place, and is generally extremely well for a 23 yo mare! And she lives out 24/7 with no rug (and is always warm when I check on her in the morning) , D&H Equibites for vitamins, and I'm hoping she'll get slightly lighter before the spring grass comes through, so she can afford to put on a bit in the spring. (Obviously if she gets too light, I'll up the food a bit - I'm not cruel, just trying to do my best for her).

I suppose it was easier for me than for Susan with Flynn, as I came across the mare with fresh eyes as she hadn't been with me all the time...Nonetheless, I join Susan on the soap box on a regular basis on the issue of overweight horses - good luck to all those in the process of cutting their horses weight, and well done to those others who have managed it...

PS I've also got a 14.2 cob, who I am leaving rug free, is out 24/7, with a handful of chaff and some vitamins daily, and is looking good - condition score 5 at the mo - again I'm trying to slim him this winter so he can put on a bit when the grass comes through. And just today a friend saw him for the first time in a month or so and said - 'he's looking a bit thin isn't he...' Needless to say, I put her right, and also told her he was going to lose a bit more before the spring comes. 'Oh, I suppose I'm just used to looking at my fatties...' Says it all (and yet she's a lovely woman who sincerely believes she's doing the best by them...)

[Susan]

well done penny70 great post..and I am IMPRESSED big TIME and inspired by you as well!!

I bought Flynn as a youngster as of course initially he was still growing and filling out as babies do.. then the rest simply grew on him and stayed there..and as it happened gradually I didnt see it..then I knew I needed to watch him .. but I made all the excuses.. and to be honet one yard we spent the 1st few years at were not helpful to restricted grazing and wearing a muzzle would have been out of the question with who we shared field with. In hindsight I should have moved him to a more accomodating place..but the reality didnt strike home enough..I wasnt in a place to listen yet.
I even had a saddler refuse to fit his saddle saying he was so over weight.. and not worth it till he lost a lot off.. she was telling the truth now in hindsight..

and look at the difference the weight loss has given her to her life.. and yours...GOOD FOR YOU!

I am so pleased to hear about your sprightly 23 year old!!! till more read this and listen and not be in degnial.. they wont change their horses life for a healthier one which is so sad.

BY the way as soon as I hear Spring mentioned the muzzle will be out!!!!!!!! and I even had to plait it to his forelock to keep it on!!! I am not allowing him to become a Gross Flynn again.. and I cant afford his saddle to be altered again.. I even had it flaired to help and the tree made narrower now!