Aargh, good doers!

chev

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May 7, 2002
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Dolly the HairyFooted Coblet has put on so much weight this winter she's been strip grazed since before Christmas, is out 24/7 with no hay, haylage or feed, no rugs and I'm considering giving her a belly clip to try and get her to use some fat up keeping warm!

I really need a sharer for her to up her exercise. But she's not been ridden for a while and as a result is a bit 'exciting '! Plus her saddle is too narrow for her right now so anyone interested would have to ride bareback. I can't afford another saddle just to fit until she's lost some poundage.

On the plus side she's never had laminitis, doesn't have Cushing's and apart from being a blob is otherwise in rude good health.

So is there anything else I could be doing to get some excess weight off her? More exercise is the obvious answer but not possible at the moment :(
 
Feel your pain! I have a mrs blobby atm who is a ridiculously good doer, cannot be ridden due to a tendon issue and despite free ranging without rugs etc still holds onto excess weight! I will be glad when she can be ridden again, because for us it is one of the only things that helps / works. Hope you can get a sharer, maybe they'd start by taking her in hand walks if she is a bit exciting?!
 
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No idea BUT i really do feel your pain! Belle hasn't dropped any weight so far apart form about 5 kg, it's incredibly frustrating isn't it. I too know I need to up Belle's exercise but nothing I can do about that for the forseeable. :(
 
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Dolly the HairyFooted Coblet has put on so much weight this winter she's been strip grazed since before Christmas, is out 24/7 with no hay, haylage or feed, no rugs and I'm considering giving her a belly clip to try and get her to use some fat up keeping warm!

I really need a sharer for her to up her exercise. But she's not been ridden for a while and as a result is a bit 'exciting '! Plus her saddle is too narrow for her right now so anyone interested would have to ride bareback. I can't afford another saddle just to fit until she's lost some poundage.

On the plus side she's never had laminitis, doesn't have Cushing's and apart from being a blob is otherwise in rude good health.

So is there anything else I could be doing to get some excess weight off her? More exercise is the obvious answer but not possible at the moment :(

Chev would you maybe able to lunge or long rein at all? Sorry to pry but not sure if you can't exercise yourself or if like @Trewsers it's the horse who has a problem?
 
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Chev would you maybe able to lunge or long rein at all? Sorry to pry but not sure if you can't exercise yourself or if like @Trewsers it's the horse who has a problem?

The problem is basically that Mr Chev is dying from spine/lung cancer and I have to be around to look after him pretty much all day and night at the moment. I get brief periods of respite when the Hospice At Home nurses come in but it's basically long enough to walk/cycle down to the grazing and count legs.
 
Lunging. Mine gets going. Did that today as she was too wet to ride.
We got on with it and add in some canter. She is just starting to think forwards as I crack on from the start. It's work time.
 
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I found having mine on a track rather than strip grazing helped them to move more so upped their exercise without me having to do anything lol i find strip grazing doesn't allow enough movement. Although i only have mine on the track in the spring and summer as I open up the middle of my fields in the winter for them to graze.
 
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I feel your pain. My horse is worked for an hour everyday, has no hard feed, only a small soaked hay net and is not rugged, yet he still maintains his weight. I watch his skinny TB friend eat a whole nights worth of haylage, have 3 hard feeds per day and is rugged in more blankets than he can move in, yet he still drops weight. It is amazing how horses can be so different.

All you can do is your best to keep the weight down. If I had my own land I would do a track system.
 
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@chev - you're doing a miraculous job looking after Mr Chev, IMO dont worry yourself about your horse carrying a few extra kilo's or more, Dolly will survive I'm sure, its not like she's anorexic which IME is probably worse. Take care of you & Mr Chev & the horses will take care of their blob issues on their own;)
 
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I've always been led to while exercise will help, it's really more about management and lifestyle. You're doing all I do, and it's at about this time I always panic that my lad isn't losing the weight but then the worst weather hits us in January February time and he suddenly goes all svelte around the start of march.
They say while weight loss is important, the natural cycle of fat at the end of summer, skinny by spring is just as important so I always expect weight gain during the summer but I'm careful to limit grazing around March to slow it down a bit.
Not any additional advice I'm afraid other than try to find poor grazing for her if that's an option. Mine also has a fantastic grass belly that disappears if he's taken off the grass for a few hours.
Can you take her off the grass for a wee while each day? Although they say that just encourages them to binge more when they have access. You can't win sometimes!!
 
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The problem is basically that Mr Chev is dying from spine/lung cancer and I have to be around to look after him pretty much all day and night at the moment. I get brief periods of respite when the Hospice At Home nurses come in but it's basically long enough to walk/cycle down to the grazing and count legs.

Chev I'm so sorry to read this, in that case the first thing to do is to stop worrying about your good doer too much, you've enough to be thinking about right now ((hugs))
 
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@chev
Hello :)
I too, have a chubster.
She's 21 this year, but she's well for it. Like, really well - full of life!
Here's a question, what grazing is she on? And what feed [if any] ?

We recently changed yards, and our new fields, are beautiful meadow grass.
All three mares have lost their massive guts, and are looking goood!!
The previous yard, the grazing was Rye - which as we know, is for cattle going to market as it's a massive weight gain grass - for cattle!
Within three weeks of moving, and leaving the Rye behind, the bellies were gone, and the muscle started making a return
Feed wise, might be worth having a look at what vitamins, minerals and essential proteins and fats are in the diet.
If one is missing, it can have a big knock on effect on the metabolism

Hope this helps a little bit! If you want to discuss feed, I have plenty of info I'm happy to share

Anna x
 
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@Maysmoor25 - she's on fairly poor grazing with no feed, hay or haylage. There is a mineral block in the field (Equivite Original) but that's all she gets. The grazing has been hammered for the last few years, it's 8 acres for 3 horses (down to just my two now) and while it's split into sections so we can rest it periodically it's never been fertilised or reseeded.
 
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@chev I am very sorry to hear about your difficult times too.

That online equine nutrition course that a few of us on here did, said that overgrazed and stressed grass is very high in sugar. In fact fertilized grass is far lower because it's fast growth means the sugar is less concentrated. However, there are differing opinions on the matter.
 
@chev

Might go completely against your nature, and I'd advise you do soak [for no more than 4 hours] and feed as little and often as you can, even if that means asking someone else to chuck some in for you.
Feed her some good quality meadow hay. Tiny amounts, as often as possible.

Here goes the saying, 'You can't starve a fat horse skinny'
The more you restrict a horse's feed intake, the more the horse goes into 'survival' mode, wherein they store instead of use.
A brilliant article I absolutely love, as it applies to all three of my mares [one fatty, one okayish and one fluctuator]

'Searching for their next meal is an innate trait in horses because in nature all they really have to think about is finding enough to eat to survive. Putting an easy-keeper in a starvation paddock and removing most of the food from his diet can send them into starvation mode, which basically tells his body to conserve because he is starving. It might even lower their metabolism permanently and lead to undesirable behavior.'

I now live by this rule
We changed how we fed Splash [our fatty cob] and so far, since last October, she's lost around 70kg, and we're carrying on until she looks like she's fit, rather than a fat horse with hulk like shoulders - no jokes, she was chubby and fit at one point, ended up on box rest and just ballooned. Bad us!

Check out the article here - hope this is allowed! https://ecoequine.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/top-five-mistakes-made-when-feeding-a-horse/

xx
 
That's a really interesting article. I'm not sure how relevant it is to me though. Although she's strip grazed the area she's on is far from overgrazed. Although it's poor grazing it is quite long and thick. I had planned on leaving her on it til it was starvation level but after reading the article and Bodshi's post I won't be doing that now! But I don't see the benefit of feeding soaked hay when she does have a totally forage based diet already (no feed at all, not even treats).

Just to clarify she's 18 years old, her teeth have been done and apart from being fat she is the picture of health.
 
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So sorry to read to about your husband.

Our grazing isn't fertilized but it's rolled and harrowed.

The course I think @Bodshi is referring to also said that restricting a horse too much causes it stress. That stress releases a hormone which causes weight gain. (If anyone remembers more feel free to add, my brain digested bits)
My vet said not to muzzle for that reason, if she gets stressed her body will release that hormone.
I would if I had the option track mine in the spring and summer. Though mine bring part goat climbs up onto the wall and eats all the grass around the edge of the field plus trees and bushes. She now has company who copy her!

You could supplement with straw. It satisfies that need to chew and is 0 calories. Mine eats that as well.
 
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We recently changed yards, and our new fields, are beautiful meadow grass.
All three mares have lost their massive guts, and are looking goood!!

Within three weeks of moving, and leaving the Rye behind, the bellies were gone, and the muscle started making a return

Anna x

Welcome to the forum.

A massive gut as you put it isn't actually fat, it is gas from the digestion process.
It is a normal process from eating grass. If anyone reads this thinking their horse is fat because they have one, it's just the gas.

I can only see the bellies reducing because you are now stabling more than you did, or because it is January and the goodness has gone.
Mine has lost a bit of her gas belly as well.

Muscle is muscle, fat is fat. Neither changes into the other. Muscle would be their already but masked by a layer of fat.
You don't say what your cob weighed or weighs but 70kg in three months sounds a lot in one go, we have dropped 30kg.
 
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