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> but you have to look at a lot more than
> just whether or not he has a big belly (and being a huge fan of forage
> pigs, I would much rather see a haybelly on an endurance horse than a
> sucked-up flank area).
Hear, hear!  A "hay belly" can come from simply having well-sprung ribs
and a good hindgut, and then enough feed to fill it!  I cringe when I see
the "gutted snow birds" show up at rides--those horses with so much "tuck"
that there just about isn't any belly there!

Susan is right--some of the "hay belly" look can come from simply not
having enough fitness to have good abdominal tone.  (That's how broodmares
end up with "broodmare bellies"--but a season of riding fixes them right
up, too.  And with broodmares in particular, you can have BIG bellies from
lack of muscle tone and still have a horse that is washboard thin.)

Sounds to me like this horse is the sort of horse that one SHOULD select
as an endurance prospect--efficient enough with his groceries that he has
some energy left over for work, and enough of a hindgut to pack his lunch
with him!

Heidi



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