'Chubby' Horse - What to feed.....

[katyptaty]

Dear All

My dear connemara X is living up to his breeding and LIVING OFF FRESH AIR... not so much living, but getting fat on breathing!

He is ridden 5x per week - 3 for about 1 hour and 2 for 2-4 hours - up hill and over vale! He has 1/4 scoop chaff and 1/4 scoop pasture mix with some equimins in the evening. He has about 4 portions of hay during the day when he is in (from 8am to 7pm when he is ridden) and he is out in a starvation paddock which hardly has any grass in it from about 9pm to 8am.

Many would say keep him in at night, but he has a bad back and i very much like the fact that he can spend all night with his head down therefore back being stretched. I am now counterbalancing this time up with more hill work during the week.

Despite all this, he is now fat after spending about a week in a more lush field about 6 weeks ago and it just won't shift!

Am thinking of cutting out hard feed - giving him just a handful with some equimins and carrots to keep him happy at feedtime. At the weekends when he has done more work, he would be fed as he is now.

Some people say this is fine as he is not in hard work and the 1 hour hacks mostly involve flat ground. Others say he needs hard feed.

what is everyone's opinion? always keen to take in other people's ideas......

Many thanks

Kate

[Sarah]

hello!

Your horse only needs hard feed in order to give him energy,and it sounds like he has enough of that already if he is a bit on the round side!

How about just feeding him chaff and the mineral/vitamin supplement you have been using. it may also be necesary to add a tablespoon of salt to his diet.

if he is still getting a bit porky, then maybe you could put a grazing muzzle on him. keeping him out 24hrs a day is the ideal way to keep him, but it may be necessary to restrict his access to the grass with a muzzle. I keep my horse out 24hrs a day with a greenguard muzzle on her 24hrs and she is a much better size with the muzzle than she would be without!

bye!

[horselover]

Agree with Sarah- not all horses need hard feed, we just tend to think they do. If he has access to grass and is getting tubby off just that, then he hardly needs anymore. Horses ar grazing animals and it is best for them to get their needs from that. Hard feeds are only meant to help a horse who needs more.

Definately keep the equimens in the chaff, and I think Sarah had a good idea about the salt as well.

[ros]

If you want any more back-up, Merlin doesn't get any hard feed either, and he didn't all last winter. All he gets is a LITTLE bit of Dengie Hi-Fi Lite, with a mineral lick in winter overnight in his stable or a ration of Equimins or something similar in his Hi-Fi after he's been ridden in summer.

[katyptaty]

right, down to the food shop i go! i shall definately get a lick and give him no hard feed whilst the grass is still v. nutritious.

muchos thanks!

kate

[Roz]

We use 'Happy Hoof' for our good doers and laminitics just to get their vitamins in them in winter as like your horse our welsh pony was getting fat on air and it was cold and the other one was laminitic so found it easier to 'control' their wight with this.

[katyptaty]

Hi

Despite the horror of the girls who work at the stables - he is now on a handful of chaff with his equimins and lots of carrots which i bought in bulk... he didn't look overly impressed yesterday but he will get used to it. we are going to see how he goes this week on his hacks and if he starts to lack in energy i shall re-evaluate the situation.

the fat IS starting to budge a little anyway due to the kind of hacks he is now doing on recommendation of the physio - hills, hills hills! poor thing

will keep you posted when he hopefully gets down to a better weight.

cheers

[Mossy]

Hi
Mine get a little good doer, CLOP and Garlic and that's it. They are still gaining weight on fresh air! A change of yard and a relaxed atmosphere and they are thriving on it. However I don't mind a LITTLE bulk this time of year. They are naturally building up to cope with winter coming, I know we are all trained not to let our horses get fat but esp if they winter out or partially out they need a bit of internal insulation.

[ros]

Hi

I find going into autumn/winter is the time I have most control over my horses' weight. I have a 16-year old heavyweight gelding who has ringbone, so I can't exercise him at all, and he has to stay out as much as poss. to keep him moving. It's the only time of year I can guarantee I'll be able to get some fat off him, by leaving him out unrugged as long as possible! If field conditions would allow I'd be quite happy to leave both mine out full time.

If I could just add a word of caution about the grass this time of year, I used to feel quite safe allowing mine access to a bit more - like Mossy says, horses are naturally getting ready for winter, and the grass structure changes to provide less protein and more fibre, which you'd assume would be safer for laminitics - but Robert Eustace, of the Laminitis Trust, reckons he gets most of his cases in September/October, when there may be a flush of fresh grass, so laminitic owners still need to take extra care.

[katyptaty]

hi, i did reply earlier but my computer crashed and it's been wiped off. yes, normally i am happy for him to have extra fat during the summer as the autumn means he loses it quite quickly. the problem is though that his fat is affecting his back, i.e. his stomach muscles could not work so that he could be schooled effectively due to excess weight. he was therefore finding it very hard to do what was asked of him and has given himself a bad back again because of it.

the physio has recommended lots of straight line, hill hacking to get off as much excess as possible before going back to lungeing and any kind of schooling.

Therefore it is imperative that we get this off asap. i also try to keep him out at night without rugs for as long as possible.

hopefully this new feeding regime as well as all the hacking will start to take effect pretty soon. He looks like he has started to lose it over the last 2 weeks but we need to carry on until he is a more controllable size (makes him sound humungous, which he isn't, he's just bigger than he should be for his health - bless)

any more feedback is always handy though as it reinforces my opinion that i am doing the right thing.

cheers

[Maria]

Carrie's a good-doer too. During the summer she is stabled during the day and turned out at night. While she's in she gets 1.5 lb of Bailey's Local in a Feedball plus 3 small feeds to break up the day. She has a handful of Happy Hoof and a measure of garlic + apple and carrot in each meal.

In the winter she is stabled at night and turned out during theday. In the winter she gets a couple of sections of Horsehage too.

This is the first summer I've stabled her during the day - she just got too fat being out 24/7. She seems quite relaxed about it and the flies aren't such a problem - plus she doesn't get a sunburned nose. So don't feel bad. Carrie gets fat just looking at grass.

Several people have suggested I replace the LoCal with soaked unmolassed sugar beet. But I worry that she might eat that too quickly. Also oat straw is frequently suggested to replace part of Horsehage ration. Trouble is I can't easily get small quantities locally.

Maria

[Cathy Reynolds]

Are you sure it's just grass and not eating his bedding that's making him fat (liberal applications of Jeyes Fluid are helping cure Benny's raging hunger for straw - as opposed to the very good ryegrass hay I am feeding him at night - just half a slice, which he HATES!!).

[katyptaty]

hi cathy

no, cos he is on shavings. he has eaten straw beds in the past which is why i changed onto shavings. Even HE doesn't much like the taste of shavings which surprises me!

anyway, he is looking better already - even though he's only been on the stiff exercise regime for 3 weeks and a diet for 5 days.... so there is hope for us yet. A session of Reiki booked for next saturday for his poorly back then physio during the week.

poor chap will wonder what's going on!