Homey is my first NF. I get very paranoid about his weight. I can still feel his ribs but I have a feeling he might be too fat but I think I am possibly like an anorexic when I look at Homey and possibly I would always think he is too fat. I have asked a few people at my yard if they think Homey is too fat and they have said no they think he looks lovely.

Here are pictures I took today what do you think of his weight?

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His neck looks huge in this one - sorry about the willy I tried to get a photo without out but at this time of year he has it out alot and I could not get him to put it back in.

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Hmm, always a difficult one to call from photos Saskia, and not wishing to offend, but you asked so yes, I think he is a tad plump I show my ponies so some would suggest that mine are 'well rounded' but I wouldn't want them quite that well covered. Honestly though, he certainly doesn't look obese, shouldn't be too hard to shift with some extra work and a stricter food regime. My 8yr old gelding was carrying a bit more than I like in April (spring grass!), but keeping him behind on the bare grass when the others moved fields to fresh grazing, I've managed to get him back to a 'round but not fat' level. your boy doesn't look to have acquired a solid crest on top of his neck so he probably isn't toooo bad...

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As Tina said, always hard to tell the whole picture form a picture! Here's a link to the 'official guide' which actually tells you what to feel for, as well as to look for.

I'd put him, just from the picture, at a 6.5 - 7 on the 1 - 9 scale, so definitely carrying a bit of surplus fat. Nothing to worry about, as yet, but the grass is still growing, and he will put more on over the summer unless his grazing's restricted.

Ideally, if they're to have free access to unrestricted grazing / browsing all summer, they should come ut of the 'lean end of winter' (early April) at about a 4-score (just under the 'perfect 5'), and be around a 5 in May, progressing to a 6 - 7 by the end of the summer, to give them the 'spare' to help them cope with the following winter (nature's cycle).

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I would say your boy looks as if he could do with a bit more work to tone him up and don't worry about the willy: we've seen it all before
As for the comment re unrestricted grazing, every domesticated horse has restricted graszing I would have thought. IMO good horse management is making sure the horse stays around the weight you want due to exercise/feeding/grazing regime.

Spot on Elaine! I like to keep my horses an even weight all year round if I can. Clearly thats not completely possible all the time, as some suddenly balloon or drop weight, but I rely on my common sense to monitor such things at all times and respond rapidly to any sucgh changes by modifying their care accordingly.

If they creep up the weight scales I try to restrict their food intake a little more, and if they are ridden animals I increase exercise as well, both frequency and duration. If they drop off weight, then I of course increase food, but also check their general health such as worm count, teeth, and other issues they might have.

Condition scores are all very well, but they don't consider the individual animal and its specific circumstances, breed type, health, age etc. There is no substitute for common sense and experience in my opinion, but equally it can never hurt to get the opinion of someone who knows your type of animal well, and I think Saskia is being very sensible in asking for advice on NF Forum for a NF pony. Honestly Saskia, he's perhaps just a little too 'well cared for', as I said, certainly not obese, and probably a few more hours exercise a week and few less hours on the grass will fix it easily

Its a dangerous game to play with a horses metabolism by trying to immitate our ideas of nature, and in my opinion totally uneccessary/irresponsible when they are domesticated animals. If we intend that one day they will be ridden, then we should feed them as youngsters to ensure they have the strong bones and frame for that when the time comes. If we intend to breed from them then we also need to ensure they have the proper nutrition to enable them to reproduce and rear their foal without hardship or difficulty.

Nature didn't plan for the domestic exploitation (in the nicest sense) of the horse, so nature wouldn't build in the spare capacity for the animal to cope. We do want to exploit them, so we have a duty to ensure they are fit for purpose.

Which has nothing to do with your question Saskia, but as always on here we do tend to run off in various directions with our posts which makes life interesting I think We all know how much you love Homey and want the best for him, and he is one of the lucky ones to have landed in such a caring, sensible home!

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Saskia, you've got good advice there from Tina and Elaine, both of whose ponies always look fabulous at all times

Are you able to ride him more now that you've moved?



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Good answer Tina, what a lovely pony.

I agree with Tina and Elaine. As a domesticated animal that we are expecting to be fit for purpose, as responsible horse owners we need to ensure our animals remain the desired, healthy weight ALL YEAR ROUND! That means feeding extra in winter when the grass is poor/non existant so they DONT look like hat racks/RSPCA cases and increasing exercise or restricting grazing in the summer time to ensure weight doesnt creep up.

But IMO your pony isnt to bad, just a little bit porky, with a little extra work and a little less grazing time im sure hel be a nice weight in no time.

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Vieshot, you refered to the R.S.P.C.A.,do they do anything then?

Unfortunately very rarely, I think it takes an animal to actually die before they will act The inspectors are often lacking in knowledge themselves and are more than often FAAAAR too easily fobbed off by people who can talk the talk

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sorry steve

The RSPCA's benchmark is always whether the animal is 'being caused unnecessary suffering'.

ETA: where there is no 'suffering', there is by definition no 'cruelty'. Their job is to prevent cruelty - not to judge a show class!

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Not entirely accurate Pippa. Since the advent of the Animal Welfare Act 11/08, the onus is on preemptive intervention - or should be - the relevant extracts being:

'The Animal Welfare Act marks a milestone in animal welfare legislation... Amongst other things, the Act will ensure that all vertebrate animals are properly cared for by their owners and allows for preemptive action to be taken against unfit caretakers before an animal suffers.

The key elements of the Act are:

Reduce animal suffering by enabling preventive action to be taken before suffering occurs

Place on people who are responsible for domestic and companion animals a duty requiring them to do all that is reasonable to ensure the welfare of their animals'

NB "...allows for preemptive action to be taken against unfit caretakers before an animal suffers..."

It is this legislation that means the RSPCA no longer have to wait for an obese pony or a very thin pony to acquire an illness before they act, merely to have expert opinion that the animals welfare is being compromised buy its current environment, and be of the opinion that without intervention the animal will suffer, even if they have no evidence that it is currently suffering.

In answer to Caroles question, guess it depends on the individual Inspector and how dilligent they are...

Again, nothing to do with the original post, but for the sake of accuracy and clarity, worth mentioning.



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As always from Tina,an excellent reply,explaining the new legistation(sorry,can`t spell). The defination of cruelty would I think have several meanings. Beating a pony is an obvious form of cruelty,but surely starving a young pony so as they are unable to grow and develop,so their bones stick out,so their action is unsteady and their eyes have a lost and dejected look,is as cruel. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong!

Thank you Carole, I'm blushing, but really, its not hard to understand basic animal husbandry surely, and anyone relying on semantics to avoid such a charge is clearly on thin ice and knows it. For the majority of us it shouldn't even be vaguely ambiguous as to what consitutes cruelty - certainly for animals such as you describe, which sounds depressingly like poor stewardship at best, and more like wanton disregard for welfare, I think if it were me I would probably remind the RSPCA about Spindles Farm. They might be rather scared of another horrifying (and for them, humiliating) situation like that, so should now be a little more switched on to reading the signs of such a scenario.

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Obviously nobody wants another Spindles farm, with hundreds of animals, may of whom had every bone showing, and some of whom had died and were left to rot .....

The RSPCA obviously have to sort out what is genuinely cause for concern, and what isn't, and take expert (vet) advice and input as and when necessary, which is what I think everyone would want. After all, nobody wants to have the RSPCA's time being taken up with too many cases where there isn't actual cause for concern, as it takes away from the resources they can put towards cases where there is real cause for concern.

I should have made it clear that what I meant wasn't that animals were actually suffering, but whether they were likely to - I misworded that one (sorry, had a dim moment).

And, to get back to the original post, obviously Homey isn't cause for concern Lovely pony.

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I don't know if anyone else has this problem with their pony but he can put on weight in a matter of days! He is obviously designed to live on the forest. I do weight tape him every week to see if he is getting bigger or smaller.

I am at the moment in the process of getting him fit to take him on holiday in July - he will be doing 15-20 miles a day when he goes on holiday - this should hopefully get some of the flab off!

Also I am going to do more high intensity work with him so more cantering and jumping.

I think I am going to take some half days off work so I can bring him off the grass and exercise him for longer.

But all the spring grass is coming through and although his field is not really long lush grass it is quite big and he shares it with 6 other ponies. He is exercised more than all of them and he is still the fatest probably because he is the greediest. As you can see his field is big as this photo does not show all of it - this was taken last july.

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is that at hinchesly?

No he does not live in the New Forest area anymore. He is in Herts but I think his field is a bit like being in the NF as it has wooded areas for him to go into which is probably why he is so happy at this yard.

No wonder he is happy, that's a lovely field and how nice to see all his companions looking well fed/cared for.

They love the summer field - they have winter fields which are rested and turn into living hay and they go there for four months Nov-March that has a field shelter - in the summer they use the wooded areas to get away from the flies and heat. They always hang out together like a little herd it is really sweet.

Part of the weight problem was that Homey did very well this winter compared to last winter due to better grazing and also YO gave them hayledge when there was snow.

He certainly does look very well and happy Which area of Herts are you in? Just curious as I'm originally from Harpenden Now I'm all the way up in Lincolnshire!

Following on all the wise words from Tina, I would like to confirm to you that the Forest pony has over the centuries developed as a very good 'doer'. This is essential for the semi feral herd since winters on the forest can be very hard on them, so they do need to gain weight rapidly through the summer months, since by the time the spring grass creeps in many of them are looking quite boney. Our commoners have agisters who keep an eye on the stock and bring in animals that are not over wintering well, so even the semi feral herd is well cared for. This means the domesticated pony puts on weight with alacrity and it is a problem for all of us to try and maintain a balanced weight all year round. The main key is exercise. Don't be tempted to cut down the size of his grazing because this restricts the area he has for self exercise. If he does continue to pork up I personally would suggest you try using a soft grazing muzzle. We have used these with a lot of success and our ponies got the hang of maniplating them to get the restricted grass! Good luck and enjoy your summer riding.

not that is the case with Homey!!
but I have found that the BHS are very helpful re any concerns - they treat it confidentially as well. They have local field officers who will go out and report back and take it further if necessary. they would rather go in with helpful advice tahn leave it too late - they are in to education a lot

that must mean my 3 yr old is fat too

Well probably by BHS standards yes Rhi but a) he's a growing youngster so not quite as big an issue as he will burn fat for growth and b) he's not quite as plump as Homey (who is not huuge, just plump ) as he doesn't have the fatter neck of Homey who as an older pony is starting to lay down long term fat deposits - which Saskia is aware of so is doing something about it! Murphy has a nice neck and just a bit of a belly

But you know that as you are perfectly knowledgeable to know how they should be and how you want them . Those of us who show tread a fine line, as long as we are aware of it and don't get carried away (as some eejuts do) thinking fat is condition, then its not an issue!

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Murphy's certainly on the 'plump' side of optimum, but not so much you need to worry, as Tina says!

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Homey tend to have a chunky neck I think in part due to his stallion days (not saying it is an excuse for being too fat).

Hopefully now the weather has taken a turn for the worse with lots of rain and wind he might use up some cals keeping warm. He is exceptionally greedy though - when it was very hot the other ponies went into the wooded area to get shade and relief from flies - Homey was still out in the full sun eating!

Exercise is the way forward for him I think - did a three hour ride on Sunday I was tired but he was not!