Owners unite to fight obesity in the showring

A group of show horse and pony owners have formed an alliance to combat obese animals winning in the showring.

The new group, Loving Owners Object to Fat (LOOF), have pooled their resources to install weighbridges at major shows throughout the season, and judges and stewards will be able to have animals weighed to “name and shame”.

LOOF founding member Avril Fulham told H&H: “We are all fed up with seeing grossly overweight animals being put up to win and feel we have to take steps to stop it. The beginning of April is when the summer season really gets going, so we thought today (1 April) was the perfect time to announce it.”

The idea, explained Ms Fulham, is the societies will set the weight limit for each horse or pony and if an animal is found to be over its top weight, it must be immediately withdrawn from the class.

“It’s not cheap,” Ms Fulham pointed out, “the hire and transportation costs for the weighbridges this season are likely to be around £104,010. But we think it’s worth it.”

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