loosing weight

[lauraandharvey]

my horse desperatly needs to loose alot of weight
hes currently weighing at 552
hes only 14.2hh
hes a high maintnance horse
but i dont have time to ride alot through the week
onces through the week and twice at weekends
wat else can i do??

[coss]

what feed is he getting? is he rugged?

[lauraandharvey]

hes gettin
1 scoop of good doer
1/2 scoop of pasture mix
1/4 scoop of horse and pony cubes
yes hes rugged because he's clipped

[ClaireBear_nz]

hes gettin
1 scoop of good doer
1/2 scoop of pasture mix
1/4 scoop of horse and pony cubes
yes hes rugged because he's clipped


You need to change his feed to get his weight down, thats far too much for a horse not doing much. If he's fat, give him a handful of chaff with any supplements he needs and hay. He won't need hard feeding if he's overweight.

[Pink's lady]

1 scoop of good doer
1/2 scoop of pasture mix
1/4 scoop of horse and pony cubes

:eek: Everyday?! No wonder he's fat! Like Clairbear said, get rid of it all and put him on a handful of low energy chaff (like Hi-fi Lite) and a general supplement.

Reducing his rugs will also help. If he's in a heavy weight, swap down to a medium weight and let him use some of his blubber to keep himself warm.

[mogadoga]

But then it depends on the scoop sizes surely?
Alex gets one scoop of nuts and one of chaff. He gets less than 1lb of feed.

I know someone whos scoop is actually one of those ones out of the persil boxes. Holds a hand full of mix/cubes etc. So isnt actually doing anything.

Without knowing the weight of the feed id stick definatly with the fact that you shouldnt over rug, and let the horse keep himsefl warm.

Can you linge when you cant ride? This will help if you have time :)

[renphil]

My pony is a 14.1hh Cob, she was 537kgs in September (she lived out 24/7with no feed) and got Laminitis!

She is now 490kgs but I had to change her feeding for her to loose the 50 odd Kgs gradually since September. She has been getting only 2 slices of hay at night. Her feed consists of 2 1/2 handfuls of Happy Hoof and 2 handfuls of Alfa-A with some sliced carrots thrown in, spread over 2 meals. She is out during the day. I am not doing very much with her at the moment. She is rugged in a medium weight rug.

Please get his weight down before the Spring starts to come round. They put on weight so quickly but it doesnt come off as easily as it is put on.

[puzzles]

It is vital that you feed no less thnan 1.5% of her bodyweight in forage. To reduce nutrientand energy content further, go for old hay and/or soak it for 20-30 mins before feeding.
Feeding a handful of low energy chaff mixed in with a feed balancer (i.e. Baileys lo-Cal) / broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement (i.e. NAF Pink Powder) will ensure that she is receiving a balanced diet; so she can receive a low energy diet without compromising on essential vitamins and minerals.
Turn out and exercise her as much as possible - preferably every day, even if it's just 20 mins in the menage or so whilst you muck her out. Every little really does count!
Also be careful not to overrug her. Instead, encourage her to use up her fat stores keeping warm by going rugless.
Be careful not to starve her. It will take a long time for her ro lose weight but be consistent and persistent and you will get there in the end!

Good luck!

:-)

xx

[martini55]

I'd cut out the pasture mix and pony nuts for a start. If he isn't been worked much and he is overweight then it is very unlikely he needs it. Like the others have said I'd be feeding some hi-fi lite with a vitamin and mineral supplement. I would then also look at reducing how much you rug him up, especially now it is getting milder.

If you still have no joy then you could look at soaking his hay for at least 30mins before feeding, but you can soak up to 12hrs if necessary :)

[lauraandharvey]

He IS been worked alot more now
i ride 3 times and he goes on the wallker once or twice
the hifi good doer im on has no fattyy stuff in its all fibre so he can have that ( i rang up and checked)
as for pasture mix he needs it for energy as hes abit sloggish

this woman decided to take the michael cos hes tubby and she weighd her horse who is 587 kg
harvey is 543kg HA
he has also dropped from a 50" girth to a 46" :D

he also has 13 pounds of hayledge a day
which is abit less than recommended for him actually :/
and he gets about 7 hours at grass, saying that there is no grass

in summer he has a muzzle on to restrict grass, and lives out at night and in through the day

his rugs, he goes out in a light weight or if it is warm enough ( like this past week :D ) he doesnt have one on
and he has a fleece on for bed

[kaytenherponies]

Hey mate, Personally I dont believe all horses NEED a hard feed. A horse at grass or in light work should have between 80 to 100% of their daily feed requirements as forage and horses like ours manage just fine on hay alone. As suggested you could give him a handful of hi fi light with supplements but is not necessary.

Mixes are way 2 fattening for horses like ours and in my experience they have very little effect in giving omph.

He is probably sluggish because he is over weight so you feed him more feed to give him a boost and that adds to the weight problem. Is a vicious circle. When the weight comes off am sure he will have more life because he wont have the extra weight to carry round. Also as you dont get to ride that much (not your fault) he wont be particually fit so thats another reason for his sluggishness. Ucould try building up his stamina by gradually introducing more and more trot and canter work in to his reigime!

[lauraandharvey]

i wieghed him today and before he was 552kg
hes now
*drum roll*






537
WOOO


so we went out for a hack today my arms legs and backside are killing me but he loved every minute
he even JUMPED a fallen log AHHHH bless
bearing in mind we went out with a xracehorse and a sec d x thorughbred?
(not sure on his breed)
he basiclly jogged the hole way there and back he was dead sweaty but he loved it :D
so did i

[Daffy Dilly]

Are you feeding him for the weight he is now, or the weight he ought to be? I feed for the latter, Daffy is about 40kg overweight at the moment.

Daffy was, until he started getting a snotty nose, turned out unrugged and only wearing a magnetic rug in the stable to help with stiffness. He's fully clipped. He's now wearing HW rugs, so I've done the maths thing with his feed.

I decided that if you work on the Pony Club recommendation of 2.5lb feed/forage for every 100lb of horse, Daffy should have 26lb per day. Of that he is having 2lb fibre based feed, not a single thing that isn't grass based, and then the remainder haylage. He is, weather and time permitting, being worked in some form most days, and I think he is slowly losing weight. Weigh tapes also list your horses weight in kg, but I worked it out that 2.2lb = 1kg.

[kaytenherponies]

Aww Laura am so glad to see you had a brill ride. Seems like you have been having a bit of a hard time of it recently. Bet it was lovely just to have a fun ride with out the stress.

Well done on the weight loss. How tall is Harvey? Kallum is 15.1 and was 535 last time I checked but has dropped a little more. Looks a lot better now but still a lil way to go me thinks. Am now gona do new thread of pics for opinions on his weight so check them out and give me your honest opinion

[mu0ljk]

My old horse was forever overweight. I just gave him a handful of hifi (either good doer or light can't remember which). The only reason he got that was becasue he had a joint supplement.

He only ever had hay and during the summer was in a tiny paddock on restricted grazing. He was 16.2hh and coped fine with that diet.

[lauraandharvey]

yeah it was great XD
im goin to take him out next sat on a nice long hack
(if im not hungover i promised him)

so i bought him a respiratory lickit gave it him today and he grabbed it and flung it across his stable and it landed in the water bucket
!!!!!!
weyhey nice throw

still managed to eat it tho....*adds pic*
http://i31.tinypic.com/2s8gy0l.jpg



kaytenandherponies..hes 14.2hh/14.3hh seems alot bigger when he gets his sily head on cos ima midget yer see
5ft2"
i struggle to get on from the ground and hes still bum high oh heck if he grows!!

[TALLI3_BAYBEE]

My pony is 13.3hh and she weights 398 .
I NEED SOME HELP WITH GETTING WEIGHT OFF HER !!!!! :)

[cathUK]

Z was overweight when he came to me two months ago, but feeding him 1 scoop hi-fi light, small amount of quickbeet and pink powder has really helped. I also cut down the hay (well actually they decided they didn't want it anymore) I was giving him in the field at night (he lives out 24/7) and have drastically cut back on the rugging (he is bare nekkid today).

He is in great condition, lovely shiny coat and sems toasty warm whatever the weather.

Being a native I am a little paranoid about him being prone to laminitis, although he has never had it before.

[chickyd444]

my boy is overweight :rolleyes: he is an id x tb clipped and he only wears a lightweight and has just a small chaff and supplement mix i ride him as often as i can which is probably 4 times a week with a lengthy schooling session included. he's still porky :(

[Showjumper]

Warning to all - the grass is coming through! Poo picking last night I came across a couple of very green poos...will be refencing my field this weekend to reduce the amount of grass they're getting.

For those of you with obese horses, might be worth considering a muzzle in the daytime.

[lauraandharvey]

i have my muzzle ready
the grass is trying to come through but the field is still water logged from the flooding so its not getting very far!
he still loosing weight!!
woo

cut out his pasture mix al together and hes fed hifi good doer and horse and pony cubes
goin to weigh on sat
xx