The Horse Trust is ramping up their Healthy Body Condition Awards with many Showing Shows signing up to be ‘Weight-Aware’. This recently included The RIHS at Hickstead on the last week of July. These coveted awards recognise and reward horses and ponies in the best condition as well as providing support and advice. The British Equine Veterinary Association considers equine obesity to be one of the most serious risks to equines today.

The Awards were given in over 20 Classes and over 400 horses were body conditioned scored by our qualified experts: Tamzin Furtado PhD, Alison Talbot MRCVS and Dee Pollard from the British Horse Society.

We had winners from across the country; Devon to Orkney and Essex!

Class 175 The Heavyweight Hunter Championship
Lancer is owned by HM The Queen and produced by Katie Jerram-Hunnable from Great Dunmow, Essex. He was 7th in this Class out of 25 registered entries. Lancer is a 7 year old and Katie’s had him since he was 2. His lovely character means that his next job will involve ceremonial parade duties for the Royal Family.

Top Showing Producer Katie Jerram-Hunnable is no stranger to receiving the Award having recently been given the same rosette for her horse ‘The Imperial Choice’ at Herts County Show. Katie attributes the horses’ excellent condition to a tried and tested regime of daily exercise and correct feeding, plus turnout and grazing. Katie monitors the grass available and accordingly adjusts all the horses’ feeds in line with the quality of forage that grows throughout the year. She also implements a good de-worming programme, but the overriding contributor to her horses’ wellbeing is her drive to build muscle-tone, rather than just putting on weight. “We can’t feed to get fit but we can make sure the horse gets the correct nutrition and exercise”, she says. “The Programme is a very good thing and really goes towards helping people to be aware of healthy body condition and its importance”, says Katie, who was delighted to once again receive the Award. (Photograph supplied by Equinational)

Class 183 The BSPS Heritage M&M Open Ridden Fells, Dales & Highlands Greenholme Falcon is an 11 years old Dales pony owned by Victoria Oliver and shown by Chantelle Chapman. ‘Dan’ has travelled from Colchester, Essex and also competes in Working Hunter Classes which probably contributes to him keeping a healthy condition. “He’s ridden at least 3 or 4 times a week; he’s shod which means he’s easier to work. He comes in at night and has a small feed.” His connections hadn’t heard of the Awards before receiving one today. “Sometimes fat is used to try and cover up problems in showing so it’s good to see these Awards to spread awareness”. Chantelle has recently finished school and would like to work with horses. (Sorry no photo available.)

The RIHS has supported the programme since 2019, and is pleased to raise the profile for the awards at this year’s event. David Ingle, Director of Showing at the Royal International Horse Show, Hickstead and former Chairman of The Showing Council, said, “Showing is keen to become more educational and we are in an era of great improvement in equine welfare, with increasing scrutiny under social license. This initiative shines a light on this important aspect of showing. We will be making this award in more classes and highlighting the importance of correct weight to competitors at the RIHS this year”, said David.

What is The Weigh To Win Initiative?

The Horse Trust’s programme is an important initiative to reward healthy equine body condition and raise awareness of healthy body condition in show horses. Showing in particular is often seen to promote horses that are overweight and the aim is to challenge and educate on what is an ideal body condition.

The Healthy Equine Body Condition Awards are presented at events throughout the showing season providing friendly, supportive advice and guidance to owners, riders and producers, both at the events and during online training sessions and webinars.

Jan Rogers, Head of Research and Policy at The Horse Trust, says, “We get very upset by seeing photos of underweight horses in the media, but in reality, far more horses are obese than are underweight. This is worrying for vets who are finding that they have to treat these horses with serious health conditions like Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Laminitis. Peoples’ perceptions of what is a healthy weight have shifted towards the higher body condition scores. We would like to help to reset this balance.”