My horse is putting on weight! Suggestions please :)

tabithakat64

Fudge & Lady
Feb 6, 2007
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Herts, UK
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Fudge managed to maintain a healthy weight through the summer (470kg), in the last two months he has put on nearly 30kg.

He is not wearing a muzzle at the moment as he was trashing one a night and it just became too expensive (think £60 plus a week :(). We don't have isn't much goodness left in the grass but the horses are still finding enough to eat and we are not allowed to strip graze.

He is out over night as this seems to suit him and it suits my routine.
He is in for between 8 and 12 hours a day with two slices of hay and is only fed Baileys Lo-cal, a mug of Black Sunflower seeds and a tablespoon of salt.

He is worked between two and five times a week, with two hacks and also three schooling sessions (he usually sweats after these), this depends on my work commitments.

He is un-clipped and just turned out in a rainsheet no matter how cold and wet it is.

I will be trying to increase the length of our hacks and the amount of trotting and cantering and am going to half his ration of Lo-cal. He's not great to clip so I will only be doing this as a last resort. His hair is so thick you cannot find skin :) .

Can anyone suggest any other ways I can get him to lose this extra weight?

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This is Fudge a couple of weeks ago and yes, his front legs are standing in a hole.

*Cookies if you get this far :D*
 
Take out all hard feed and only give hay.
If he loses too much weight, then add a little extra bhard feed, a bit at a time until you find something that works. But dont offer everything you have to hand - just work your way up to a point where he remains "stable"...

I have 2 youngsters.....and IDxTB and a friesian x TB - both not got very good grass, but both fat on hay! They dont need anything else, so I dont feed it to them (although I do have 2 bins full of food just sitting there, lol).... They dont need it, if I fed it to them, theyd get too fat, and too hot headed.

I suggest giving your horse good quality hay, and add suppliments if he needs it (add suppliments to the water with the hay if you soak the hay). Mine just have salt licks....that they dont use, lol.

If you think the grass is too rich and too plentiful, despite the time of year, then you could try sectioning a part off (if you dont want to muzzle him)....
Another thing you could try doing is leaving him unrugged - let him shiver a little weight off - it wont kill him as long as you keep an eye on him! you could just put a lightweight waterproof on to stop the rain, but if its dry, let him run free!
 
oh. I just read that you turn out in a rain sheet - good job! :D
And just read that you arent allowed to strip graze too...lol.
Is there a horse "walker" at your yard?

He is a little fatty, isnt he! Lovely looking though! I LOVE his colouring!
Theres something quite amusing about the expression hes pulling in the pic too - slightly narked....I love him! Bet hes a character!
 
Ditch the low cal, use a general vit supplement like selenvite e. I'd seriously consider introducing simple systems feeds to him, wouldnt hurt to at least email them to see what they'd suggest.

Soak all hay, the longer the better to leach out all nutrients leaving only fibre. The jury's out on how long is best, but I'd go for at least 4 hours+.

Weight tape and photo weekly to monitor, but to be honest the easiest way would be to start with a small bib clip (know you're not keen, sorry) say just neck into chest, see if that helps.
 
What a handsome chap!

I would certainly take him off the lo-cal. Mine was exactly the same and used to pile on the weight when he had it. Although it is low in calories, it helps them get more from their food, hence the weight. I thought I would try mine back on a balancer again for the winter. He was only on it for a couple of weeks and ballooned so I have gone back to a powdered vit/min supplement. I think we try to be too kind
 
As of this morning I've halved his lo-cal (Baileys said this was fine), cut out the BSS and started soaking his hay and splitting it into two small holed nets. Unfortuantely he wont use a lick of eat a powedered suppliment. :(
Will be upping his work load as much as possible too :)
Thanks for all the advice :D.
The BSS are for foot and coat condition.
 
What a gorgeous cob, he's lovely. I too am having trouble keeping my mares weight down. I managed to keep it steady over the summer, just. By riding every day keeping her in in the day and only giving her hay in the stable.
You seem to be doing most things I can think of but I would say only give him hay when you bring him in and when you ride try to do as much trotting as possible. Cantering is easier for them so will not burn as much off, strange I know. Do you keep him rugged, If you do I would have him in as light a rug as possible without him being cold, he'll have to work to stay warm then. If he isn't rugged I wouldn't clip him and I'd keep him turned out without one. The only horses at my yard that seem to be a reasonable size are the ones that are turned out all the time with no rugs. I'm sure the grass will die down soon, or at least I hope it will.
 
If he isn't rugged I wouldn't clip him and I'd keep him turned out without one. The only horses at my yard that seem to be a reasonable size are the ones that are turned out all the time with no rugs. I'm sure the grass will die down soon, or at least I hope it will.

Nothing wrong with a bib clip and being rugless.
 
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