Corinium Equine Services

11/11/2024

An interesting point of view.

Is It Fair To Clip For Weight Loss?

This may help you decide.
At our rehab facility we are often in the scenario of wanting to aid successful weight loss. This can be the difference between recovery or, in the worst case scenario, deterioration with eventual euthanasia.

I’ve seen several posts recently discussing the merits of clipping but also those who think it cruel.

To help me explain our reasoning and choices we have our friend Zorro modelling a fetching green line for us, we will get to him in a bit.

I want to address the concerns of people who worry that clipping is unethical as the horse will be left cold and shivering. I personally wouldn’t recommend a full body clip for weight loss. You would then need to rug which in my opinion defeats the object.

Firstly, If a horse is overweight, they will have the insulation provided by a layer of fat to stop them becoming painfully or dangerously cold so in essence they will not feel the cold in the same way a lean, clipped horse would.

Secondly, the idea of this exercise is to promote weight loss and by encouraging the horse to feel the cold a little more, we also encourage the mobilisation of those fat stores to be processed to produce heat within the body (this happens via the process of ‘brown fat’ in the body generating heat whilst also encouraging areas of ‘white fat’ to break down to replenish energy stores).

So how do we decide how much hair to remove when we clip? For me it’s a fairly simple observation exercise.
Zorro is one of the much more resource dominant horses in our group meaning that in winter he needs some encouragement to tip the scales back in the right direction.
You can see his coat after a night of rain and you can see exactly which parts of his coat he needs to protect him from the elements because they are wet.

Ergo, everything above the green line stays. He needs that to keep his back warm, to keep the internal organs close to the surface protected and essentially just to protect his skin from the rain.

Everything below the green line you can see isn’t helping to protect from the rain so we can afford to lose that.

The aim is never to make the horse uncomfortable and if after clipping through observation they are showing signs of being too cold then I would absolutely rug and not leave them in discomfort.

The percentage of overweight horses in the U.K. is thought to be around 40% with up to 70% of native ponies being classed as obese. Laminitis is thought to affect as many as 1 in 10 horses every year (although many cases are not caused purely by excess weight). Those figures should really give us something to think about and with those in mind we should look at using the winter to slim our horses down as one of the most important aspects of our yearly care.

16/09/2022

Schedule for September 17th fun showing show inc CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS class

Ring 1 - Though the large gate off the stone track starting 9.00am.

Class 1 - Youngstock (6month to 3yr old) - Inhand
Any type, gender, height, 6month to 3yr olds. Colts allowed. Will split class to Yearlings and 2/3yr olds if numbers allow.

Class 2 - Junior Handler / Mature Handler - Inhand
Any horse bar colts or stallions! Handlers to be under 15years or 40years plus. This class will run as one but the results will be split.

Class 3 - Homebred - Inhand
Any type, gender, height and age (We will split under 4yr olds numbers depending) must have been bred by yourself. Stallions allowed!

Class 4 - Condition - Inhand
Any type, gender, height, age. Stallions allowed. Will split class if numbers allow.

Class 5 - Natural Turn Out - Inhand
Any type, gender, height, age. For horses in their natural state, no plaits, oil, tarting up! Stallions allowed.

Class 6 – Coloureds - Inhand
Any type, gender, height, age. Must be a piebald, skewbald, tri-colour, spotted, roan or odd coloured! Stallions allowed. Will split class if numbers allow.

All 1st and 2nd placed competitors from classes 1 - 6 gain automatic qualification to the Ring 1 morning Championship.

Classes not to start before 1pm.

Class 7 - Best Turned Out - Inhand

Class 8 - Light Colours - Inhand
Any type, gender, height, age. Must be a solid grey(of any variation), palomino, Cream, Cremello with no patches or spots ect.

Class 9 - Dark colours - Inhand
Any type, gender, height, age. Must be a solid bay, black, chestnut, brown with no patches or spots ect.

Class 10 - Thoroughbred and Ex-racers/ Sport Horses/ Hunters - Inhand
Any age, colour, gender, height. Will split TBs from.other breeds if enough entries.

Class 11 - Breeds Native To The British Isles
Open to Exmoors, Dartmoors, Shetland, Welsh Pony A / B / C / D, Welsh Cob, Connemara, Clydesdale, Dales, Fell, Cleveland Bay, Shire, Hackney, Suffolk Punch, New Forest, Highland, Thoroughbreds. Pure and partbreds but must be true to type. Stallions allowed. Will split large and small if entries allow.

All 1st and 2nd placed competitors from classes 7 - 11 gain automatic qualification to the Ring 1 afternoon Championship.

Ring 2 - Though the large gate by the lorry parking. Starting 9.00 approx.

Class 12 - Novice Handler - Inhand
Any horse bar colts or stallions! Handlers to not have won a showing championship.

Class 13 - Shetlands and Minis
Ant age, gender, height, so long as part or purebred. Stallions and colts allowed. Will split class if numbers allow.

Class 14 - Foreign Breeds - Inhand
Part and Pure blood horses which breeds do not stem from the UK. Class maybe split into part and Pure bloods depend on entry numbers.

Class 15 - Veteran Horse - Inhand
Open to all horses/ponies over the age of 15. Will split class at age 20 if enough entries.

Class 16 - Heavy Horses and Cobs - Inhand
Open to pure and part-bred, shires, clydesdale, Camtois, Ardennes, Traditional, Hogged, ect of any age, colour, height and gender. Class may be split dependant on entries.

Class 17 - Best Mare - Inhand
Just female!

Class 18 - Best Gelding - Inhand
Just male!

Class 19 - Ponies - Inhand
Anything under 14.3hhs!!!!

Class 20 - Horses - Inhand
Anything over 15hhs!!!!

All 1st and 2nd placed competitors from classes 12 - 20 gain automatic qualification to the Ring 2 Championship.

Classes not to start before 1pm.

Class 21 - Ridden Best Turn Out.
Can be any height, breed, type. Equines must be over 4yrs of age.

Class 22 - Ridden Lead-rein/ First Pony
Can be any height, breed or type. No stallions. Equines must be over 4yrs of age.
(Will be split with enough entries)

Class 23 - Ridden Best Mare.

Class 24 - Ridden Best Gelding.

Class 25 - Ridden Coloured.
Open to piebald, skewbald, spotted and roans.

Class 26 - Ridden Breeds NativeToThe British Isles. Open to Exmoors, Dartmoors, Shetland, Welsh Pony A / B / C / D, Welsh Cob, Connemara, Clydesdale, Dales, Fell, Cleveland Bay, Shire, Hackney, Suffolk Punch, New Forest, Highland, Thoroughbreds. Pure and partbreds, 4yrs and over, must be true to type. May be split depending on numbers.

Class 27 - Ridden Veteran
For Riders over 40 or/and horses over 15

All 1st and 2nd placed competitors from classes 21 - 27 gain automatic qualification to the Ring 2 Championship.

*****CLASS 28 - BROOK STUD CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS 2022 IN MEMORY OF THE FABULOUS HELEN KENNET*****
This class is open to anyone who has placed Champion or Reserved Champion at any of our showing shows from April 1st to this show inc the Champions and Reserves from this show! All proceeds from this class will go to Cancer Research. This class will be £10.00 regardless of when you enter it. The overall Champion shall receive a perpetual Trophy which will need to be signed for with a deposit (£20) that will be returned when the Trophy is returned undamaged in 11months time. The Trophy is most kindly sponsored by Stephen and Gemma Potter. Plus a Champion of Champions sash and prize from Brook Stud. All entries will recieve a medal to thank them for supporting both Brook Stud and this class for Helen Kennet.

Classes are £6.00 each pre-entry or £10.00 on the day. If you enter 5 classes you get the 6th Free!!!!!! Email [email protected] or contact on 07855755831 to enter. Closing date for pre-entries is 15th September 2022.

Classes must have 15 entries to need to be split.

Ribbons to 10th in all classes.

Sashes and prizes to class Champions and reseves

Not fussy on tack or turnout. For nervous, novice, beginners or youngsters!!! Stallions and colts allowed but please be in control or you may be asked to leave! The schedule may get adjusted on the day depending on how classes are running! All classes to run in fenced arena! No loose horses or dogs!!! Plenty of feild space for parking and a hard standing area for lorries. Our usual fabulous, friendly, welcoming judges who make showing fun!!! Toilets, food and photographers available.
Please don't follow Sat Nav all the way to Brook Stud SN15 4JY. It likes to take people down roads unsuitable for equine transport vehicles.

S***m Lane, Whitehill Road, Callow Hill are all suitable roads!

Tockenham Wick, Bowds Lane and Trow Lane are all unsuitable - Do Not Use!

I think that is all 😁

10/08/2022

🥵 Some good advice 🥵

HOW IS YOUR PASTURE HOLDING UP?

Here in the UK I can't remember having so little rain - and such high temperatures - over the past few weeks. Many pastures are looking a lot less green than usual.

Grass will come back when the rain returns but in the meantime here's a few snippets and tips to help you:

🌱 Don't assume no nutrition in yellow dry-looking grass. It can be higher in sugar than green, growing grass and can still supply significant calories
🌱 If you're running out of grass, offer supplementary forage in the field - do this every day to keep the diet consistent and be sure to introduce and increase any hay or haylage gradually
🌱 Monitor your horse to assess their needs - their condition, how hungry they are, how many piles of droppings they're passing compared to normal - don't just assume they have nothing to eat in their field
🌱 Don't worry - keep a close eye on your horse and adjust their diet and management accordingly. The pasture will come back once the rain comes (and it will!)

Feel free to share and comment below with pictures of your pasture an how you're managing
🐴🍏

03/07/2022

Weighing the ponies and chatting to the competitors at the Pony Club Area 9 Grassroots ODE. Beautiful day for it! 🐎 😎

17/06/2022

25/05/2022

Please feel free to share or get in touch if you’d like a visit.

22/05/2022

🐴 We will be at the show on Saturday with our weighbridge 🐴

Come over and say hello😊

Have a go at our ‘Guess the weight’ competition and pop your four legged friend on the scales.