Too fat for your horse?!

Bearing excess weight can potentially
lead to health problems in horses

"Too fat for your horse?" Surely not?! Well, in a bizarre turn of events, recent research has indicated that the effect of a growing obesity crisis among U.K. citizens has far-reaching implications, putting additional weight on domestic horses - literally.

As detailed in a recent article in The Telegraph, almost a third of recreational riders are too heavy for their horses, and run the risk contributing to bad backs, arthritis and lameness in their animals. This recent study, which focuses on over 150 horses from the Devon and Cornwall area, also found that just one in 20 riders sat within the optimum weight range for recreational horse riding which, according to the research is less than 10 per cent the weight of the horse. To put it into the context of the average stable horse, which is though to weigh between 500-600kg (between 79 and 94 stone) this means a rider should weigh approx. 60kg (9.4 stone).

The issue originally came to light last year when it was reported that a US company announced that they had started producing “extra large”, 18-inch saddles for obese riders. This has proven worrying as there is growing concern from equestrian experts over the impact of the health and behaviour on horses ill-equipped to deal with the weight.

However, it has been suggested that heavier breeds should be used for heavier riders such as thoroughbred horses such as The Household Cavalry Horses, which according to the article: "are able to carry a 13 to 14 stone man, plus four stone of armour, when they are on parade.”

Perhaps one of the biggest difficulties is bringing up a problem which can be quite personal and embarrassing. But it's not something that the equestrian community is taking likely, and probably not for very long. 

New safety guidelines to Slow down horses for the Grand National

There has been some concern over the
safety of courses such as Aintree (Photo: Carine06)

In light of recent fatalities and injuries sustained in major horse racing competitions in the U.K., particularly at the annual gathering at Cheltenham, there have been concerns about the welfare of participating horses with regards to hardness of the track and race speeds. 

According to an article in The Guardian, a set of new guidelines have been issued by Aintree ahead of this year's Grand National, which takes place next month, with the aim at slowing down participating horses during the initial run to the first fence, which has been known to be precarious during previous meetings. 

As also detailed in the article, "the start of the race has already been moved forward 90 yards further away from the grandstands in an attempt to keep the horses as calm as possible."

The issue of reducing the pace early in the race is among a series of new guidelines issued in conjunction with Aintree and the Professional Jockeys' Association, following a series of incidents during last year's event. During this one race alone, there were two false starts and two major fatalities, including the death of former Gold Cup winner, Synchronised.

Officials have voiced concern that slowing horses down for the initial portion of the popular race meet is 'easier said than done', due to the logistics of keeping 40 horses together prior to the beginning of the race.

Although these incidents are fairly rare in terms of statistics, it's sensible to try to impose new measures to prevent the repetition of previous tragedies, but is has been suggested that the natural unpredictability of circumstance and indeed that of the horses' behaviour themselves in these kinds of situations is part and parcel of the nature of the event, although measures to reduce the potential threat of difficult fences on this initial run has been welcomed.

However, it has also been reported that the RSPCA has suggested that the iconic Becher's Brook fence should be axed, although this isn't likely to happen. Again, there is concern over the employment of extraneous safety measures turning arguably the most famous competitive horse meeting in the U.K. into a 'flat race', with many arguing that there are more challenging fences and obstacles on other tracks, with some of the lesser fences being the source of several accidents in the past too, so there is no guaranteeing such a drastic measure would solve the problem. 

Either way, there appears to be a lot to think about in the lead up to this year's Grand National, which should be, regardless of apparent controversy, just as big an event as ever.