Hey guys, I have a 16 yo Dutch warmblood jumper that just hangs on to this “beer gut”. He’s on a small portion of performance grain 2x a day, an alfalfa flake in the morning and evening, and a mix of grass and orchard 3x a day. He’s in very consistent 6 days a week work (I keep one very light as he’s older), is very fit, healthy, energetic, great muscle tone, has a lovely bloom to his coat, healthy feet etc etc. We’ve reduced the grass/orchard before and then he gets a little ribby up higher. Is it just his confirmation at this point with a bit of a dad bod or is there more diet change we can incorporate? Just a question for the vet?
What type of work does he do? Make sure to incorporate things that encourage him to engage his core. Backing 10+ steps a few times during a ride. Hills. Lots of poles. And do some of the exercises on the ground like tummy tucks and butt tucks that ask him to lift his back and ribs and tummy.
Otherwise, just assume that’s him. As long as he’s healthy and sound and doing his job well, a little gut shouldn’t matter. 
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Two things other than pregnancy can contribute to a big belly.
Coarse hay that’s creating a lot of hind gut gas. Different hay affects different horses differently.
Horse isn’t using his stomach muscles to lift his back in work. This can be improved by teaching lateral work at the walk both in hand and under saddle.
Belly droop isn’t even one of the check points on the Henneke body weight score chart because a horse can be in poor condition and have a belly
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PPID can cause a pot belly. Might be worth testing considering his age
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He does lots of lateral work and poles. We can only incorporate hills on the driveway but at least once a week we do laps. He jumps 2x a weeks
The only pictures I have from the side are apparently show pictures, I don’t have a shot without tack or a human. But you can see there’s just a bit of a gut
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I will ask the vet but he has absolutely no other symptoms.
I do think he does proper lateral work regularly, we even train with a dressage trainer sometimes and he has lots of dressage background as do I. And you can feel his back really come up to you. I have considered putting him on the rig once a week instead of one of our flat days.
We need a stood up conformation shot with no tack.
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That’s just as good as I have for photos is our one horse show.
Well the next time you are at the barn line him up and snap a few with your phone. It’s good to stand back and zoom in slightly to overcome the fisheye lens effect that distorts.
Your horse is moving and has no noticeable belly in these photos.
It’s possible you are imagining a belly, or that it’s something only seen when he is standing still.
Action photos are no good for conformation analysis. Every horse looks much better when he’s moving forward with energy and has his core and neck engaged
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In the bottom photo he is dropping his back and going upside down, probably momentarily so his back and belly sag. In the middle photo we can see his top of hip muscle is a bit sunken at the tail head. So I want to see his topline.
Are you actively involved with this horse’s care or just sitting home over fixating on last summer’s show photos? If you are actively involved it shouldn’t be a huge issue to shoot some straight up no tack conformation shots on your own phone over the next few days.
If this is not actually your horse and you have no access to take photos we really shouldn’t be commenting anyhow
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It’s the horse that I own and ride at least 5x a week if not 6. I am very involved in absolutely every aspect of his care (farrier, massage, maintenance). To be fair, you were willing to comment without any photos so I just thought it might help answer one of the above posters questions. Trainer thinks it’s just his confirmation which has become a little more pronounced as he ages. That seems reasonable but I think we can probably tweak his diet. His muscle along his top line has greatly improved since I’ve had him, and the gut has gotten smaller….it just still kinda hangs out. Anyway I’ll snap a conformation picture Tuesday, he has Mondays off and I’m just ruminating on it
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Ok great that makes sense.
Like Scribbler said, really impossible to tell in action photos. But based on the photos provided, I see a horse at an appropriate weight for the height he is competing. This is supported by the fact that what I assume was a small reduction in grass hay made him get ribby, so he’s not likely actually overweight.
Typically, a hay belly is an indication of not enough protein. When you reduced the grass hay, you should have replaced it with Alfalfa to add protein, instead of just removing calories.
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This last point is what I was getting at with this post. This probably gets into a direct conversation with the vet, but how high of a percentage of total roughage weight of alfalfa is appropriate? When we bought him he was chubby but under muscled and as he got fitter and more muscled but still chubby we reduced some roughage. Then he got ribby so we added in the alfalfa. Ribs went away, muscle tone continued to improve, be he just still has a bit of a gut. I did just look up an old picture of him with his last owner and 3.5 years ago he has the same shape.
Also, as my name implies, I’ve only ever had TBs. This is my first warmblood…and there is nothing going on in my office today so I am admittedly ruminating pretty hard
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All hay is roughage. Horses need a lot of it.
Different hay has different levels of indigestible fiber versus digestible fiber versus carbs versus protein. Typically the more indigestible fiber, the less overall nutrition, this is obvious when you see twiggy over mature hay.
Some horses do fine on 100 per cent alfalfa. Typically people try for one third alfalfa by weight. Some horses cannot tolerate alfalfa for various reasons. Alfalfa can vary a lot, it can be really mature and twiggy too.
Belly in horses is typically not just weight gain per se, unlike in humans. It’s about fitness or gas or needs more protein, depending on what the top line looks like. He could also be gassy from something in his grain.
Alfalfa has more protein on average than grass hay, but if you want a boost you can add in an essential amino acid supplement to maximize available protein.
A WB will never have the tucked up greyhound look of some TBs
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That’s interesting. I did not know that horses could do 100% of their roughage from alfalfa. But, again coming from a TB background you’re always worried about making them hotter with too much alfalfa which isn’t a concern with him. My concern with changing the roughage ratio is that he looooooooves alfalfa and wolfs it down, and then slowly picks at everything else. And I like him to pick at his hay for hours into the evening so he has more hours with hay from night to morning feedings. So I could maybe take off a low quality flake in the am and add amino acid supplement
I understand it’s in places like California where irrigated alfalfa is the main local forage. You do need to balance the phosphorus and calcium with a full alfalfa diet
The belly is not likely about total calories. Look up the Henneke scale. Look for fat pads at tail head and withers and rib covering. There are lots of horses in poor condition with extended bellies.
We are so fixated on belly fat in humans, but distended belly is not necessarily an overweight horse.
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My OTTBs have been on 24/7 Alfalfa for 7+ years. It is the most affordable hay in Florida of the hays trucked in from out west. I don’t subscribe to the idea that it inherently makes thoroughbreds or any other horses “hot.” All horses are individuals.
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From the pictures you shared, he does tend to look like his build and natural way of carrying himself might play a large part in what you’re calling his “gut.” I don’t really see anything abnormal with his belly in the pictures. He just is what he is.
Do you do much long and low work with him, asking him to stretch over his topline and lift his back? I realize these pictures are just snapshots in time, but both over the fence and in between, he looks like he’s prone to carrying his head and neck high with his back maybe a little dropped, which would indicate he’s not engaging his abs and working over his back, which could lead to the lack of tone in his abdominal area.
He’s cute as a button to me. Looks happy and healthy.
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