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The Real Reason Horses Get “Pot-Bellied”
“Pot belly” is a commonly used term among horse people for a horse that looks bloated and full through the bottom half of its barrel. It makes the horse look a bit pear-shaped: narrow on top and wide underneath. But when a horse starts to gain too much weight, fat is typically deposited along the crest of the neck, behind the shoulders, over the ribs, and around the tail-head and croup – not its underline. A pot belly is not a sign of excess fat. Rather, it occurs as a result of two contributing factors:- Lack of condition, particularly along the top line.
- A diet with lots of forage.
Exercise to Reduce a Horse’s Pot Belly
While a pot belly is primarily cosmetic, it signals a lack of muscle conditioning along a horse’s topline that could lead to other health and lameness issues. The best way to get rid of a pot belly is good old fashioned exercise. Here are a few ways to concentrate on strengthening a horse’s topline in particular:- walking and trotting up hills
- working over ground poles, flat and elevated
- jumping
- transitions, transitions, transitions
- encourage your horse to move forward, engaging the hind end, and lifting the belly
- doing belly lifting exercises by pressing gently upward under the belly