Founder and managing director of Horse Weighbridge North East, a mobile weighbridge and body condition scoring service covering the North East of England. This website is also an online space for any owner searching for tools and guidance to manage their laminitic, overweight or movement compromised horse, so even if you're out of my area you are very much welcome!
Over the last four years I've worked hard to expand and develop my knowledge to serve my clients. I've had the pleasure of weighing over a thousand horses (alongside donkeys, pigs and alpacas!) all with their own story or reason why weight management is needed to enhance their health and wellbeing.
If the past 12 years of horse ownership has taught me anything, it's that we horse owners are all trying to do the best we can with the tools we've got available. To some, doing our best might be investing heavily a horse's education in order to progress in a chosen discipline and to others it could investing in that hay analysis to balance out a horses diet - neither is better than the other and we are all doing the best we can.
My passion for weight management and laminitis prevention started with my first pony, Holly, a 12.2hh native type pony who spent repeated summers not catching, growing fatter and fatter. I remember laughing (and also crying) as she would dart across the field leaving me behind, headcollar in hand. I was 18 at the time, and having come from a riding school I just assumed that catching your horse was a given thing - how wrong I was! On the occasions I did manage to catch and ride Holly in the summer, she felt sluggish and behind the leg - most likely laminitis. Winter would come and she would be her sound and fiery self again, full of running once more. Sadly, my naivety to the early warning signs meant Holly spent a few repeated summers intermittently unsound until I finally decided to review her soundness, establishing that this pattern happened largely in the summer, along with her firm, enlarged neck and hot feet. I took a deep dive into learning about laminitis, and the more I learned the more I vowed to not let this happen again - to Holly or to any horse.
Having realised that the fundamental problem was the grazing and her excessive body condition, I racked my brain trying to figure out how to get a handle on either of these contributing factors. I had no idea how much she should weigh or what her body condition should be. Horse Weighbridge North East was born when I realised it couldn't just be me with this problem, and that access to a weighbridge was a necessity for all horse owners.
Since this revelation, have expanded my knowledge hugely, studying Dr. Kellon's in-depth NRC Plus Courses alongside her PPID/IR course. I'm fortunate enough to have built up some professional relationships with leading vets in the field of laminitis, equine metabolic syndrome and obesity management and with that my mission has strengthened. I've dived head-first into different ends of the horse world, and have been lucky enough to visit Gawsworth Track Livery before then weighing world medal champion, Banzai Du Loir at Yasmin Ingham's yard in Cheshire. I believe that this background does set me apart from your day to day weighbridge service and with that I'm certain I can make a difference to horses around the world.
My website and socials are platforms for all horse owners and caregivers, regardless of background or ambition. I plan on expanding this website as to provide useful information for all owners. I'd like my clients to think of me as a virtual cheerleader, helping you through all the ups and downs of horse ownership and management, but with welfare as a priority.
Watch this space! Kelly
