Beginning in the second half of January and over the following three months, there is a small window of opportunity to ‘peel the pounds from your ponies’.
Winter brings with it unique conditions where a horses’ metabolism is put under pressure naturally.
It is essential that we use this valuable time to adjust diet and maintain or increase exercise to help rid horses of excess weight.
It is now clear that obesity represents a significant health issue, affecting humans and horses alike.
As an equine welfare charity, we are now infinitely more likely to see overweight horses, suffering from insulin resistance and the array of disorders that accompany this, compared to the horse crisis of a decade ago.
This issue is just as serious – in fact more so – as the sheer number of horses affected is much, much higher and the situation is worsening.
Laminitis is just one disease linked to obesity – which causes horses to suffer immeasurably and often leads to the terrible, but necessary decision to euthanise.
