Do you try to keep your horses weight the same year round?

Joyscarer

Joyscarer

Active Member
Dec 30, 2006
20,288
5
38
50
Hampshire
Obviously we all would want our horses to be the perfect weight. What i'm interested in is what your tolerances are?

For me, my 2 live out all year. In summer I greatly restrict their grazing and run a track system rather than strip grazing and this works better for keeping the fatties in check. My little companion pony is less of a good doer than Joy, my riding pony. So when she comes in to get ready and go out on rides he goes on the long section and that's enough to keep him at the right weight when my mare needs so much less.

In autumn it all goes by the wayside. Because they are kept out on clay soil I can't restrict their grazing as much as I would like as I have a duty of care to the land. Added to that I don't like rugging. So whilst I'd like them to be their ideal summer weight that isn't condusive to a winter out with no rugs on a land which goes like marsh if the wear and tear is too great. Added to that Joy is effective turned away through winter and has little exercise. I don;t even need to feed hay in winter as there is enough to eat and I just feed a balancer in good doer chaff to ensure they get vits and mins minus loads of extra cals. Joy is even given a neck and belly clip in autumn.

This means that in winter, just to be different, they are fatter than in summer. I don't feed hard feed or hay in winter as they have plenty of grass which I save to grow long. By the end of winter they have hardly anything left and the weightloss begins. I spend the whole time with the weight tape out and having kittens at the thought that they might not lose the winter weight before spring!

Then as spring comes there is that awful period where the grass is growing but it's too wet to restrict their grazing by as much as I'd like because of the mud. Don't get me wrong, it does all work out oposite way to what it would if they were wild. They'd be fat in summer and skinnier in winter where as mine aren't.

So, what are your like for weight? What are your thoughts? Do you like to stable, rug and feed and ensure a similar weight year round or are your more prone to fluctuations like mine are?
 
Last edited:
Joyscarer said:
This means that in winter, just to be different, they are fatter than in summer. I don't feed hard feed or hay in winter as they have plenty of grass which I save to grow long. By the end of winter they have hardly anything left and the weightloss begins. I spend the whole time with the weight tape out and having kittens at the thought that they might not lose the winter weight before spring!
Click to expand...

Oh how I feel your pain on this issue!! Marb has hardly dropped any weight over winter,despite not having hay (except some soaked haynets to encourage him off the wet ground as recommended by my trimmer for his foot issues he's had this year),I just have so much grass and it's such rich grass as well,swear he has hardly dropped any weight this winter and I am now trying anything and everything in a bid to get him a bit thinner before going back into summer paddock:banghead:

I used to think it was just that my fell pony I had was just a particularly good doer,but am starting to suspect that my grazing is just too good and that any horse I have is going to become a porker!! Perhaps I should have gone for an elderly TB that looked like a hat rack,probably the only thing that would be easy to manage year round on my land lol

I would love to maintain the same weight year round,and haven't completely given up hope of doing so,but it is going to be a mammoth effort on my part in the way of fencing,muzzling and finding time to exercise etc,but with the best will in the world I can only do what I can do and am not sure it will be enough TBH,so might just have to live with the fluctuations and just manage the best I can to keep his weight within healthy limits.

ETA: Just to mention he is rugged,but this is because he has no man made shelter and natural shelter is limited so feel it's only fair to give him some protection (ok and I will admit I hate him being dirty lol),he's not had more than a middle weight on all winter though and in fact the majority of the time has just had a lightweight or no fill rug on.
Have just taken it off and left it off today actually as noticed he was sweating (was only summer turnout,but has been warm here today),god knows what filthy state he will be in tomorrow!!
 
Last edited:
I'm only on my second year of coming back to horse ownership and getting used to managing my horse's weight. I've ashamedly not seen him at the right weight since I bought him 20months ago. I hope this summer I can fitten him up to a stage where he's looking really good but during winter it will be impossible to maintain this as he can't be ridden. We had eight weeks of snow and ice - no grass so hay was his only real feed. He went into winter on the second hole on each side of his only girth, I'm now back on him and amazed that I've got one side up five holes and the other at four. Not what I remember as a kid!
I think I will always have weight issues with my horse, he's a particular good doer. I will manage as well as possible so he only varies very slightly - heavier going into winter, coming out of it a slimmer dude. We shall see, I'm yet to see what he looks like when he's really the right weight.
 
What a kafuffle you have on your hands! :D ;)

Ben pretty much stays the same thorughout the year, so I'm lucky. He is turned out during the day and stabled at night. Obviosuly grass during the day and hay at night - these quantities don't alter at all - same all year.

His feed does change though. He is on Alfa-A and Hi-Fi/LoCal mix just on varying amounts. Winter: 1 scoop Alfa-a, 1/3 scoop mix (twice daily) and summer: 1/2 scoop Alfa-A with a sprinkle of mix (twice daily). He has a balancer/supplement in with that and some calmer too.

He is a TB so as a rule they are usually quite poor doers. Ben isn't exceptionally poor, but not a 'good' doer either. He tends to loose weight based on stress/anxiety rather than food.
 
Piccolo stays about the same all year round and is about the right weight.

Harvey drops weight in the winter, spring and autumn, so is fed hay right the way through winter and his feeds also go up and include a balancer, a chaff such as Alfa A, speedibeet and horse & pony cubes or cool condition cubes. He drops weight even though he is in a lot less work in winter, is out 24/7 and is on sufficient grazing (3 acres between 2 ponies! which is rested all summer)

Summer they ar eboth only fed a balancer and a handful of chaff
 
with angel - yes - but then angel isnt 'normal'!

appley - no! i think it's not a bad thing to come out of the winter looking a bit trim, to be honest, so i would not feed extra to maintain weight when I know spring grass is around the corner anyway!
 
We have such long hard winters I don't mind them running to a bit of fat come the end of summer, it soon comes off in winter. It's how nature designed our small hairy guys.
 
The short answer is yes, I try to.

In reality though Rosco is a poor doer so I let him get a bit chubby at the tail end of summer and know that he'll come out of winter on the lean side of ok.

On the other hand Maxi is very laminitic so is kept at a condition score of 2 in summer but I can let him gain a little condition over the winter as long as he's skinny again by this time of year.
 
I haven't even finished a year of ownership yet so can't say, but I hypothesise that Ziggy will always be on a diet (even in the bleak midwinter) while Mattie will drop to ribs in the spring and gloss up over summer, as most horses do.
 
in the 'wild' they would go into winter a bit porky and come into spring a little leaner. my old vet always said so many lami cases could be avoided if people didnt let them come into spring carrying too much because they couldnt bear to see any weight drop off in winter.
 
Yes I do but with them being cobs they do easily fluctuate throughout the year. Moet is looking perfect at the minute, so I aim to keep her weight down throughout the summer. Rosie is harder as she doesn't do any exercise! But they will both be restricted in the one paddock over summer....
 
notpoodle said:
in the 'wild' they would go into winter a bit porky and come into spring a little leaner.
Click to expand...

Totally agree and totally agree with your vet too.

Trouble is that mine are the oposite. Fatter in winter and leaner in summer :tongue:

I do think that the trend towards fatter horses is due, in part, to owners who don't know the difference between well muscled and fat.
 
I am paranoid about weight - and finding it incredibly hard to monitor.

Both of them would happily be fat year round, simply because she has some metabolic issues I think, and because the winters aren't harsh enough for his hairyness. He drops weight nicely in the snow, but if there is grass he is immediatly fattened up again!

He is still overweight, but is so hairy it is hard to tell - I can feel his spine but not his ribs, his bum is nice and petite but can't feel his hips.

Her on the other hand, waist line is ahem, expansive - and weigh taping at 300kg :eek: - she should be 220-230kg. However, I can feel all her rips, spine, hip, shoulder and she isn't cresty. She has her usual fat pads on withers and a little bit on her chest - but otherwise trim. So despite weigh taping at massivly over weight, and her tummy looking big, she is actually not carrying much excess weight?!
 
tubby said:
Wally do you think I'd do better up there,maybe come into spring trim :unsure: ! No suppose not :(
Click to expand...

No we humans have "summer tummy" that's when we are trim, as it's light all night you tend to so such a lot outside all summer. Winters are long and dark and some days it's dangerous to venture outside apart from doing the absolute necessary.staying indoors and stuffing comfort food is not a good winter hobby.:angel:
 
There has just been an interesting article done by a vet on Lami and horses who are prone and their management. This vet was very keen on not feeding at all in winter and letting lami cases go as nature intended, lean in winter and put on the fat for summer to tide them over. She was convinced that's how the horse was designed to survive and by giving them too much food in winter we are messing up their natural bio chemical survival mode.
 
Wally said:
There has just been an interesting article done by a vet on Lami and horses who are prone and their management. This vet was very keen on not feeding at all in winter and letting lami cases go as nature intended, lean in winter and put on the fat for summer to tide them over. She was convinced that's how the horse was designed to survive and by giving them too much food in winter we are messing up their natural bio chemical survival mode.
Click to expand...

Completly agree - though I think it would cause confusion as pasture is so rich now, compared to what most "Lami ponies" (ie natives) are built to live on - thus they are over fed in winter - even without hard feed - so they are constantly fat. I know this applies to both of mine - and they hardly have any feed - a large hadful each of unmollassed chaff 2x daily to get her allergy supps down. They are doing so much better stabled 24/7 as the intake is much more controlable - out at grass its a nightmare as the pastures are so lush for them.
 
That's the problem I have, we are on ex-cattle grazing which is very rich and the ground conditions mean I have to allow them more land than I'd like in autumn to protect the ground. Of course the autumn grass is still rich and there is an increased risk of lami which I'm always concious about.

It does mostly all come off by spring and then bringing her back into work and restricting the grazing gets the rest off allowing the slimline Joy to shine through :angel:

I really don't want to go down the road of stabling in autumn. Her previous owners said she doesn't stable well plus it would be 52 miles day as I'd need to do 2 visits until winter when there was less in the grass. I don;t think it's worth it as thinking on it they just reach what normal people would consider their summer weight in autumn.

I had considered and bought a grazing muzzle too. Trouble is I want them to carry that extra condition going into winter so they don't need rugging and feeding. The question is, by how much do I let their weight fluctuate then? Given Littles is now perfect (and has been for a while) his weight gain in autumn is just right. Joy I'd still like to have had more off before she came back into work so it was just a case of building muscle rather than fat busting too. She's approx 15kgs over what I'd like her to be (her ideal summer weight) at this stage which isn't the end of the world and a tolerance I am ok with.
 
This was one of her points in case. 100 years ago and more, most Natives were all living and working in the environment they were designed for. ie, in the mountains and moorlands. Moving them onto over rich parts of the country and then not giving them the work they were designed for is half the problem. Shetlands in Kent pasture with nothing to do, rather than in the Isles with a days work in the field and beaches fetching and carrying and living on what was available.
 
popularfurball said:
I am paranoid about weight - and finding it incredibly hard to monitor.
Click to expand...

I too am paranoid and I am pretty sure other people think I am mental.

I find it hard emotionally- seeing R & H in muzzles just ruins the look of a happy horse out in the field.

I relaxed in Autumn last year and they put a load of weight on, then I struggled to get it off them over winter. I seem to chop and change too. One day I think they look fat, another day thin.

At the moment, my aim is to have all 3 in at night and out in the day with only Albert (youngster who spends more time running around than eating) without a muzzle. However my mare had an accident in the trailer and I don't want her in because the swelling gets worse so they have been out at night. In an ideal world I would plough the field and re-seed with moorland grasses, rocks for their hooves and have the option to feed hay. However after buying 2 small bales at the farm shop for ... £17 I think out 24/7 and muzzled may be a more realistic option tbh.

I am similar to you, thinner in summer but I am not going to let them put so much on for this winter like I did last year.
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back