Do some people just "not" know

[slv]

I love looking at all of the new foals each year, but recently have seen some announcements of new foals with their dams in the background and the mares are extremely "poor"....backbone sticking up...hip bones sticking out....and these mares just had a foal....now they have to nurse those foals for at the very least three months....should be longer....but those poor mares will most certainly be nothing but bones after three months. And the people just keep buying more and more horses....you would think at some point they would just stop and get a grip on what they have before they would even think of adding more. I just don't understand, but it certainly is a pet peeve of mine. Anyone should be able to see "skinny".....but I also think it stems from people feeling like they need at least 100 horses to be in the business.

 

[Tremor]

This is one of the reasons I switched my feeding program.

My mare, Bow, had a HUGE colt last April. (Her biggest!) Well, by September/August she was SKINNY!

I of course, came her around November and asked continuously about feeding. (I must have annoyed some people, LOL!) By January I had switched my feed over. By the time she foaled she was back to good health!

Here's a picture of Bow and her 2010 colt last September. You can see how drained she was and how BIG he was.



Here's a picture of Bow from May, looking FABULOUS! Bet you can't even tell she foaled about 5 days before that!





But, back on topic. I think one of the things that keep people from "not knowing", is that people don't critique their horses enough. You know how people are. They get fussy when people say anything helpful about their horses. You have to be able to critique your horses yourself before you can let anybody help you with them. You have to realize that something is going on. I think that a lot of people would rather see their horses being their perfect little angels and not see them as skinny or non-so-well conformed.

I think that a lot of people on here have that "eye" for constructive criticism, but there may be other who do not.

Had I not of had that "eye" Bow would have gone into the last 90 days of her pregnancy a skinny mini and very, very unhappy.

 

[ohmt]

Yes, there are a lot of those every year where I look at the pictures and wish I could take the poor mares and bring them here to fatten them up. I think people just don't realize the mares are so skinny. They probably group feed the mares through the whole pregnancy and give a little oats here and there. The mares get their big baby bellies and people think they're doing just fine when in reality they are starving. It's not just people with a lot of horses, there are also a lot with just a few that don't understand all that a broodmare needs.

 

[Tremor]

Yes, there are a lot of those every year where I look at the pictures and wish I could take the poor mares and bring them here to fatten them up. I think people just don't realize the mares are so skinny. They probably group feed the mares through the whole pregnancy and give a little oats here and there. The mares get their big baby bellies and people think they're doing just fine when in reality they are starving. It's not just people with a lot of horses, there are also a lot with just a few that don't understand all that a broodmare needs.

I think you just described our previous feeding program.

My dad, who was in charge back then, thought that Bow was uber fat because of her HUGE baby belly. He then decided to follow what other people in our area do to "slim down" horses. Not feed them. That was in the fall of 2007. None of our horses looked good, and Bow miscarried the following winter (January 2008). Since 2009-2010 (somewhere in those dates) I took over and now my mares looks FABULOUS.

 

[supaspot]

lve seen the ones youre talking about and i do feel for them , nursing takes even more out of them than carrying , I often think people are paranoid about overfeeding and causing laminitis and so they restrict the grazing , mine get grass for 12 hours a day and as soon as its warm enough they are out 24/7 - Ive never had a single case of laminitis even though mine all carry a little too much weight , my mares dont know what skinny is at any stage of pregnancy or nursing

 

[Magic]

Skinny horses bugs me too, especially when it's a lactating mare. Mares who are nursing foals need 50% more feed than they did before. And in the last trimester of pregnancy they need additional feed too. I also don't think it's an excuse that "it was winter and they were so fuzzy I couldn't tell how much weight they were carrying." FEEL them! Put your hands on those horses at LEAST twice a week and feel the ribs, the backbone, the hips. If they are getting thinner, feed them more.

I don't think that (quote) "it stems from people feeling like they need at least 100 horses to be in the business". But it does many times happen when people have more horses than they can manage to take care of. If they can't monitor those horses for weight (and health), if they can't afford to feed them correctly (and enough), then they need to downsize to a size that they can.

 

[Lori W]

In the past year, we've purchased several mares. Three were very skinny - one was even just a bag a bones! Luckily, we have a good program of gradually putting on the pounds, which includes what I consider the basics - deworming, dental work, slowing increasing quality feed, putting them on good pasture - plus supplements as needed. My vet recently remarked that two of the mares are now at a "5" in body condition score (one is due in mid-June, the other one is not pregnant) and the remaining one is on her way to better weight - she had her foal shortly after coming to us.

Honestly, we see these mares and think "How do people not see their poor condition, or see it and do nothing about it?!" Maybe it's not straight-out cruelty, but it certainly is neglect (whether on purpose or simply because they don't know any better) - but it's still wrong. I wish we could take them all in.

 

[slv]

Well, I am glad to see that others have at least noticed it. It is just so unreal to me that some of these mares are in the condition that they are in. Tremor, great turnaround on your mare and kudos to you for that. She looks great. Supaspot, your mares look great to me. Yes, winter hair is not an excuse...feeling the horses should be a part of everyones ritual, if they are not exactly sure what is under the hair....although to me it is easy to see even with the hair. At our farm..these "poor" mares would certainly be pulled to the side and fed seperately....and not even think about breeding them back. It is all a part of being uneducated, I believe. Pot bellies and pregnant bellies are not a sign that the mare is fat. Ethiopians have pot bellies due to starvation. When I can "see" the bones on the horses..ie..ribs, hip...back....then they need some special care. I do know that individuals with a few horses can make the same mistakes....but I think it happens most often with people that feel that they have to have so many....and yes...there is certainly a number of horses when one loses control. I have a good friend that said it best one time....she said that when her herd got up to around seventy head...some were dying...getting ill...looking bad...it was just "too much" to keep up with....and do it right....

I think when we are miniature horse enthusiasts...it is a "high" to go out and buy new horses...that is all OK....but I think one should take a look around at the one's that are already there and help them first if they need it. At some point...you just have to come to terms with "reality".

 

[High Meadow Miniatures]

I too, have sadly seen those mares, and not just in pictures on the internet...I have visited enough farms, been to enough sales through the years, that I have seen those horses everywhere, and not even all of them are minis..Some are Quarter horses, Arabs, etc... As many others have said, pot bellies, pregnant mares and horses with winter coats are some people's definations of "fat"

Some people don't know, others simply don't care.

 

[supaspot]

100 head ???? thats crazy , if you have so many that each one cant be groomed and handled on a regular basis then you have too many , its that regular touch that lets you know when something is wrong - be it weight / condition or something else , after all isnt that reason we have them ? to love them and interact with them ? if we dont then whats the point

 

[minifreishorsefarm]

My maiden mares this year I had a heck of a time keeping them fat the last 2 weeks of pregnancy. I fed free choice hay and plenty of mare and foal grain. They were very picky on the hay those two weeks and no matter what I fed them, they just didnt eat it all. Both had decently large foals so I am thinking they didnt have a lot of room in there and didnt feel like eating so much. Both looked hippy when they foaled. Both had lots of milk and within 2-3 days after foaling their appetite had returned and they are both nicely filled in. I hated how they looked at foaling but really felt like there wasnt anything I could do. I cant make them eat. Never had that happen with any of my other mares this year or previous years. So maybe sometimes when the mare looks a little thin, its not because the people arent feeding them enough or the proper feed. Just might be the mare is refusing to eat a lot at the end. We shouldnt group judge. Just my opinion. Also have to say I have seen really thin mares just after foaling too and some are due to lack of nutrition, just not all.

Marsha

 

[Matt73]

I like my mares (just the 2) to have a bit of fat over their ribs. Lex keeps weight on really well, during pregnancy and while lactating; I just, basically, double everything. I haven't seen too many mares on here that are underweight, but what I do see, and what bothers me just as much, is obese mares with foals at their sides. People seem to think that it's a good thing to have a fat mare while she is pregnant and during the raising of a foal. That's just as bad, IMO. A mare should be healthy looking with a slight layer of fat over her ribs.

 

[Riverrose28]

My rule around here is I don't want to see any bones or ribs, but at the same time I don't want to see obese horses. If I feel a horse I want to feel their ribs, but not see them. Last year I had major abdominal surgery and others were taking care of my horses for three months. when I finally got to take care of them, some were terrable fat,and one was skinny as she was low man on the totem pole. I certainly am in no position to judge others, and hope that they would adjust their feeding program to help the skinny ones. I once bought a really skinny broodmare, I could see every bone, she had a three month old filly on her, brought her home, she thought she had died and gone to heaven, she has never gone hungry again.

 

[Eagle]

I agree. I have recently reduced my small herd of 10 to a tiny whiny 3 minis cos it was just too much work. I would love to spend all day in the barn cleaning and grooming them but I have 2 sons who always need to be taxied somewhere after school. The house to keep, 4 dogs to look after, shopping to do and I am in charge of the grooms at our show jumper's yard oh and I almost forgot Hubby

(Italians like to eat constantly) In the winter here we get 1 - 2 meters of snow and the water freezes over and it was all just too much for me. I was getting up at 5.30am to go and dig out the barn so I could carry buckets of warm water. What a nightmare

My minis where getting neglected cos I just didn't have time to stop and look at each and everyone of them. Now I have only 3 and I can groom and trim and bath them and walk and play with them and they really love it.

 

[minisch]

Thanks for posting this. My other pet peeve is to see foals in dirty stalls, or in muddy, filthy drylots

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

I do think it's some ignorance. I've seen the emaciated horses that people think are fit, or they have that protein deficient potbelly. It's good to educate people without attacking them, as some really don't know.

I don't like seeing a spine/hip bones on mares, but a couple of my older ones, by weaning even with free choice feed will get a bit thin along the back.

In general our horses tend towards the 'fluffy', I'm trying to get ALL of them to lose weight.

The attached pic is our mare Maria, age 25. She looks fluffy and about nine months pg, but her spine can be felt. She just doesn't fill in along the top ever. (She hasn't been bred in 5+years).

 

[SNDFarms]

I know exactly what you mean! We rescued a Miniature last summer in June, standing with his head poking out of a barb wire fence next to a busy highway by himself in a vacant lot, It was 98 degrees and he was still wearing his winter fuzz, feet were horrible, hair matted.. Anyway..

1st Picture is the day we brought him home, and 2nd picture we took 10 months later in April of this year.. I was in the process of clipping him, so excuse the non-finished clip. lol, I was giving him a break..

 

[JaiteraMiniatures]

I haven't noticed a ton of skinny mares on here, but definitely some that are leaner than I'd like. I think a lot of it is lack of education and/or the lack of a good eye (in less extreme cases...if a horse is extremely emaciated anyone with common knowledge should be able to tell). Some people are just plain careless though too...which is by far the worst. Personally, I like my horses a little overweight. Not obese, but I like them where I have to feel for their ribs. This was our mare last year after she foaled (her weight is exactly how we like them), and the other is the mare who is a little too fat. The second mare would be fine if we could work her more frequently lol. She's our biggest mini height and bone wise, but she keeps her head in the hay bucket all day! She's definitely a litle piggy