Weight Issues in Horses
For many horse owners, managing the weight of their animals can be a rather challenging issue. In this respect, horses can be very much like humans: some have difficulty gaining and maintaining weight, and others have difficulty losing weight. Overweight horses are more prone to disease and injury, and underweight horses are much more likely to experience difficulty fighting infections and staying warm in the cold and cool in the heat. All of these issues can prove life threatening to a horse, so keeping a horse at its ideal weight is not only a wise idea for a horse owner, it’s also a responsibility. While this task may often seem daunting, with a little education and some practical application of expert knowledge, you can put the pounds back on your horse, or keep them off.
It could be reasonably argued that an underweight horse would generally be in more danger than an overweight horse. This is because underweight horses do not have the fat stores, muscles, or overall body conditioning to fight issues caused by disease, injury, environment, or climate. For owners that are dealing with a horse that is underweight, the primary concern is to discover the cause of the weight loss. It is not a wise idea to assume that a skinny horse simply needs more food. As any experienced horseman will testify, adding more calories to horse feed will not put the pounds back on if the underlying issues are not addressed. This means that an underweight horse must be given a thorough examination from the ground up by qualified professionals.
In general, weight loss in horses is caused by stress, disease, overworking, or injury. In the case of stress, horses that are high strung or nervous may have difficulty maintaining weight if they are consistently exposed to stressful stimuli or environments. This is because stress causes the equid’s metabolism to work faster, requiring more caloric and nutrient intake. This is exacerbated by the body’s inability to properly process the feed provided. In order to remedy this situation, the animal must be removed from the stressful situation, provided with outlets to release stress, and/or trained to no longer feel stress in those particular environments. This can be a tall order for even the most experienced horseman.
Weight loss caused by overworking is fairly easy to correct. In most cases, it should first be determined if the work load asked of the horse is reasonable to expect from an animal of its age and condition. If the work is too much, then the matter can be resolved by lessening or eliminating the work load. If the animal is of optimum age and condition to perform such work, then the matter can generally be regarded as a matter of caloric necessity: increase the animal’s fat and calorie consumption, and continue working the horse in a safe and responsible manner after the animal is once again at an ideal healthy weight.
Weight loss caused by injury is often very difficult to overcome. Horses that are injured will usually experience a lack of appetite caused by pain and discomfort, or as a reaction to medication or other methods used to treat the injury. Treatment of the injury should not be considered more important than the issue of weight loss, as one issue compounds the other. Therefore, injury should be treated at the same time as weight loss. In this case, your veterinarian will need to develop a specific weight management plan with you, as certain injuries and many different types of medications will have a substantial impact on the best method to produce weight gain in a skinny or underweight horse.
Disease can cause rapid weight loss. In many cases, disease can be traced to the condition of the horse’s teeth and gums. Horses with sharp enamel points, missing or damaged teeth, or infections in the mouth may have difficulty eating their feed.
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