Correct horse weight - Advice for losing weight

[TiggerthePony]

I need to do something about my horses weight, having used a weight tape and checked her over I think she weighs approx 577. She is a 14.3 Welsh Section D Mare. She is def. overweight! I am just about to bring her back in to work after not doing much over the winter through lack of my time, I should be able to regularly ride her 3 times a week, I hope to do more as her fitness builds but I am sometimes short on time so may not be able to. She lives out 24/7 and has lots of grass at the moment but nothing else, it is very hard to restrict this where she is so any thoughts or opinions would be much appreciated on how to get the weight off!

Obviously exercise will help. Once she is fit I hope to do quite a bit of trotting work to burn off the calories.

Any opinions on a grazing muzzle? next week she is due to move in to a different field which does not have as much grass so this will help matters quite a bit! Obviously I don't want her to start suffering from anything like laminitis and I have been keeping a very close eye on her for signs and she has none. I am not over keen on using a muzzle unless I really feel I have to so any thoughts are much welcome!

I have thought about getting a sharer to help with the regular exercise but I keep her out with all our ponies (herd of 19) and I am not confident about leaving a stranger to cope with all them as well as her as it isn't always easy!! And of course if the person were to get injured it would be a disaster!

 

[martini55]

I don't want to sound harsh but unfortunately if she is on a lot of grass riding 3 times a week might not help with the weight issues. Therefore, I think strict dieting is in order (by that I don't mean starving her btw). It's good that she is moving to a field with less grass. Do you have stables? I know that it is not the best but in the short term if she really is needing to lose weight you might be best bringing her in during the day with some soaked hay and then puting her out overnight with a muzzle on. Or could you fence off a small part of the field to pop her in during the day (preferably with a friend) and then let her have the run of the field at night with a muzzle on. The problems with only muzzling for part of the time is that when they get it off they can stuff their faces and undo your hard work.

 

[MaisieMoo]

I don't want to sound harsh but unfortunately if she is on a lot of grass riding 3 times a week might not help with the weight issues. Therefore, I think strict dieting is in order (by that I don't mean starving her btw). It's good that she is moving to a field with less grass. Do you have stables? I know that it is not the best but in the short term if she really is needing to lose weight you might be best bringing her in during the day with some soaked hay and then puting her out overnight with a muzzle on. Or could you fence off a small part of the field to pop her in during the day (preferably with a friend) and then let her have the run of the field at night with a muzzle on. The problems with only muzzling for part of the time is that when they get it off they can stuff their faces and undo your hard work.

Ditto all of this - this is what I'm doing with my 15h HW cob who weight tapes at 468kg (he was about 570kg when I got him).

I use weight loss supplements mixed in with a miniscule amount of hifi good does and ride 5/6 times a week for a miniumum of 40 minutes.

He's not had is grazing muzzle on yet as he is still in a reasonably small paddock with 6 other horses and although there is some grass it's not enought to cause problems(I hope)

If you are struggling to ride more than 3 times a week I'd suggest getting a sharer to help with the riding as these horses can live on fresh air and will maintain the weight even with very little feed.

 

[jaydevon]

im not sure a muzzle would be a great idea with all the youngsters about.... they may want to play!

could you section a bit off in the field and lunge her on the days your short of time??

 

[Sexy Sietske]

I personally dont like grazing muzzles, they can cause all sorts of rubbing and have known horses to ebcome headshy/difficult catchers because of the dreaded muzzle!!

I think a weight issue needs ideally sorting to before spring/summer but as your mare is really over weight it is best to make a move now. I would have her on poor grazing/bare field with soaked hay (12hours if poss) mixed with good quality straw and a small handful of mollasses free chaff with a vit+min supplement.

If this isn't possible then stabling part of the day with soaked hay/straw and turned out on to the poorest grazing available. Someone suggested if turning out onto grass give a decent sized feed of something like happyhoof/hifi good doer before turning out so they are full and dont pig out but not sure how affective this is.

Also exercise 2 times a day if you can rather than doing one lot of long work.

 

[TiggerthePony]

The problems i have are no stabling and even if I did have stabling she goes totally mad so I can't stable her.

We have too much grass at the moment (never thought I would say that) in all the fields, the one she is moving too though has less and is of poorer quality so sooner she goes in there the better. My options are very limited. And I would love to get a sharer to help me ride and exercise her more but I do not know how to find someone who I can trust to go in the fields with all the others too!! I hope to lunge a bit but I can only go up about 4 times a week (once a day) so the other days she is getting nothing!

Time is a real issue which is a real problem for me at the moment. If you know of any good riders in Moretonhampstead who can cope with 18 others without letting the escape and causing mischief let me know!!