# Are Tennessee Walkers skinny?



## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Nope. I have owned many TWH's and TWH crosses and I owned a TWH that I bought as a 19yo. He was heavy and an easy keeper. He developed Cushings bc of it.
Any horse can be a hard keeper, but TWH's are outcrossed enough that they shouldn't be.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

I would say from personal experience there are more walkers out there on the narrow side than wide (not skinny or fat). Always figured they've been purposely breed that way as a narrow horse is easier to straddle than wide horses. But, the wide ones I've seen have been every bit as wide as a quarter horse.


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## Lockwood (Nov 8, 2011)

Well I would say their body style would more closely resemble a TB or Warmblood before a stocky QH or Paint, however my TWH would have never been considered skinny nor would any healthy TWH I have ever seen.

Like mentioned above, within the breed there are individual animals that fall to either side of the scale.


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## Haileyyy (Mar 10, 2012)

I have heard that the old school "plantation" TWH's are thicker but I don't know if that is correct. I've always been a stock breed person so I haven't been around many TWHs.

That being said, my aunt has two and her gelding is very thick, he is as thick as any quarter horse. Her mare is tall and narrow, but not thin. When I rode her it was completely different from my short stocky QH!


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

He was probably referring to the fact that some breeds are notorious for being hard-keepers, but these horses still shouldn't be skinny. They just need more maintenance to keep weight on.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Haileyyy said:


> I have heard that the old school "plantation" TWH's are thicker but I don't know if that is correct. I've always been a stock breed person so I haven't been around many TWHs.
> 
> That being said, my aunt has two and her gelding is very thick, he is as thick as any quarter horse. Her mare is tall and narrow, but not thin. When I rode her it was completely different from my short stocky QH!


Old school TWH should have thick, heavy bones but still can still be built on the narrow side.


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## toto (Mar 3, 2013)

Ours are very easy keepers-- not skinny at all.. walkers tend to not have any topline when sitting around in pasture undermuscled-- theyre already a narrow backed horse so they might appear 'skinny'. 

Ours are out of the Mery Go Boy lines-- about 14.1 not skinny- very correct straight legs- straight backed-(not down or uphill) our mare is 16 and she stays fat on just orchard grass hay.. very hardy breed of horse. 



When did you last worm your horse?


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Ditto the other posters.

I have one TWH that is long/lanky and very athletic. Until he was around ten, he burned up calories standing still and I always had trouble "covering" his hip bones. Now that he's 19, sadly he doesn't have that problem anymore; he needs to lose about 50 pounds:-|

The other two have always looked like QH's and both of them have metabolic issues.

Years ago, I was on a trail ride with my eldest TWH, and somebody asked me how I taught that Quarter Horse to gait:shock:


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## KatieAndZanzibar (Jan 4, 2013)

walkinthewalk said:


> Ditto the other posters.
> 
> I have one TWH that is long/lanky and very athletic. Until he was around ten, he burned up calories standing still and I always had trouble "covering" his hip bones. Now that he's 19, sadly he doesn't have that problem anymore; he needs to lose about 50 pounds:-|
> 
> ...



The first one you described sounds just like my Zanzibar's Lightning Prince! Ah!


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## KatieAndZanzibar (Jan 4, 2013)

toto said:


> Ours are very easy keepers-- not skinny at all.. walkers tend to not have any topline when sitting around in pasture undermuscled-- theyre already a narrow backed horse so they might appear 'skinny'.
> 
> Ours are out of the Mery Go Boy lines-- about 14.1 not skinny- very correct straight legs- straight backed-(not down or uphill) our mare is 16 and she stays fat on just orchard grass hay.. very hardy breed of horse.
> 
> ...



We are going to worm him again today.


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## KatieAndZanzibar (Jan 4, 2013)

So, it turns out my uncle (Zanzi's previous owner) has never wormed him. He's almost 4, and he's never been wormed... What should we do?


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Call your vet. He may recommend a particular one since the horse hasn't been done in that long. Or he may recommend bringing a stool sample in and deworming according to what he sees under the microscope.


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## KatieAndZanzibar (Jan 4, 2013)

Saddlebag said:


> Call your vet. He may recommend a particular one since the horse hasn't been done in that long. Or he may recommend bringing a stool sample in and deworming according to what he sees under the microscope.


Okay -- Thank you! I can't believe he's never been wormed! :-(


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

KatieAndZanzibar said:


> Okay -- Thank you! I can't believe he's never been wormed! :-(


I've known quite a few people who don't worm unless the horse gets a really bad case for various reasons. Seems to bridge the spectrum from wild horses don't get wormed to someone once told me that worming damages their livers.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

I second getting the vet involved since he's four and hasn't been wormed yet

Way Back In The Old Days, worming a horse consisted of taking the paper off a cigarette and giving the horse the tobacco -- once a year in the Spring

If your uncle smokes, that may be how your horse was wormed


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

Skinny or narrow .. skinny of course if not fed. Narrow depends on the lineage.


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

I've seen both types of walker! I've known long, lean, leggy things that had to have grain poured on them to keep hip bones from showing. These are mostly "new" type walkers from GGC lines. A lot of the walkers I met on the CTR/endurance circuit tend to be "hard keepers." 

"Foundation" walkers tend to keep weight more easily. "Air ferns," I call them. They just need air and grass to stay fat!

Here's my 1/4 walker during competition season. (Running around the barn. :lol The rest of her is foundation SSH. She doesn't get "skinny," even in tip-top shape. She does lose a lot of weight during actual rides, however. But training doesn't take a huge bite out of her.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

walkinthewalk said:


> I second getting the vet involved since he's four and hasn't been wormed yet
> 
> Way Back In The Old Days, worming a horse consisted of taking the paper off a cigarette and giving the horse the tobacco -- once a year in the Spring
> 
> If your uncle smokes, that may be how your horse was wormed


I heard about doing this from an old timer, in the late 1980's. I forget to mention that there are Percheron genes in TWH's, hence the heavier types with a big barrel and good sized leg bones and feet. About 20 years ago they started to breed a leaner line of TWH's. Not my personal preference, and I wouldn't buy one that looked like that.


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