Wwyd; haybellies and general conditioning

Pixxelated

Pixxelated

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Jul 21, 2020
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My horse went from grossly obese over last winter, to his perfect weight over the course of a year.

A bit worried he’s seemingly lost / going to lose a few too many pounds now the cold has set. He’s not showing signs of illness. But I’d really like to resolve this before he loses more, as I feel he’s gotten a bit ribby over the last few weeks. He’s currently on;

3 cups of Saracen Shape-up
A good handful of Thunderbrook Herbal Chaff
1 scoop of glucosamine

+- 25lbs of haylage daily.

This is for a 14.2 - 14.3 Welsh cross. Last weighed in September and came in at 472kg, which was the ideal according to the specialist. He was not ribby then.

He’s not got any known health issues and is somewhere between a light to moderate amount of work. Turned out every morning currently until 4pm-ish.

Pony is now muscled fairly nicely, but the topline does need work.

Partly because of this godforsaken haybelly... As his workload was upped slightly over summer, it’s reduced slightly but it’s still there driving me mad. Pony has been subjected to the dentist, no issues with chewing. He was wormed not that long ago either.

Unfortunately, I can’t really change foraging as that’s provided by the yard. But I can up the amount if necessary.

But I was thinking about adding a probiotic to his feed to aid his digestion, and what you would recommend product/brand wise?
 
Are you feeding the recommended weight of Shape up? If not I would reevaluate that. The haylage should be sufficient for his size, so adding something like linseed would be good to add a few more calories to the diet. A hay belly is just the slightly bloated result of the gasses given off by digesting a high fiber diet, it's not actually fat at all, you could try feeding fennel seed to help reduce the gas.
 
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Just as a thought - weight/muscle loss, lack of topline and pot belly can be signs of Cushings. Hopefully not in your horse's case as you say he is well otherwise.

Linseed is an excellent idea, or you could try adding oil to his feed for extra calories. Never heard of using fennel seed before @Jessey, does it work on humans too? (Asking for a friend ...)
 
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@Bodshi it's meant to work for humans too.

@Pixxelated the hay belly is just that, the result of large quantities of long fibre. If it really bothers you that much then you could reduce the mount of haylage slightly since 2% of his ideal bodyweight is 9.44kg (20.81lb) and add something like a conditioning cube to give calories. Personally I prefer long fibre, but it doesn't work for everyone and as long as he's getting a minimum 1.5% of ideal bodyweight including grazing you can play around to find a balance that suits your horse. As @Jessey asked, are you feeding the correct amount of Shape Up? Also that's a feed + balancer designed for good doers to help keep the weight off so may not be what you want at the moment.
 
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Bodshi said:
Just as a thought - weight/muscle loss, lack of topline and pot belly can be signs of Cushings. Hopefully not in your horse's case as you say he is well otherwise.

Linseed is an excellent idea, or you could try adding oil to his feed for extra calories. Never heard of using fennel seed before @Jessey, does it work on humans too? (Asking for a friend ...)
Click to expand...
Fennel is wonderful for upset tummies and gas in humans Bodshi.
 
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I know you say hes out grazing during the day, in at night. But theres grazing and theres grazing. Just how much grass is on the field would be my first question.
 
@Jessey when we had him evaluated and conditioning scored in September, a feed rep came out as well. This was the recommendation to use, to keep his weight fairly equal. But I might need to re-evaluate this

@Bodshi I don’t think it’s cushings, he’s not got any other symptoms for it and the vet didn’t think so either. He didn’t have a topline to speak of as he’d been out of work for over a year, and was quite obese (before I got him around this time last year). With the first lockdown happening, we’ve had loads of time off again so didn’t get to make the progress we needed. But he’s come on leaps and bounds since then, and his topline, overall condition and muscle tone are much better then they were.

He’s been a bit cold, especially with the wet weather. we’ve since started rugging him and this has helped a little bit.

@carthorse well, I’m going to have to re-evaluate that. At the time it seemed like the best option for him, but I think he needs something just a little more fattening. I think I will give the fennel and linseed a try.

The grass is poor where we are at the minute. Nothing much in the field, so we do make sure he eats before he goes out now. I suspect he’s also bloating because of this.

Thanks for your replies so far everyone!
 
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@Pixxelated no diet is set in stone, you need to review it on a regular basis as their needs change. I weigh tape weekly, not as an absolute figure but as a way of keeping a check on any changes, and adjust feed accordingly. I haven't seen your lad so I don't know how strong the welsh cob influence is in him, but a hay belly is something the breed tend towards not least because many of them are bred with a slightly dipped back and a high head carriage that exaggerates it - the combination can make any hay belly very noticable.
 
@carthorse it’s a pretty strong influence. He looks more Welsh than the other parent.

I’ve been following the advice in here, and I’ve re-evaluated what’s being fed. He’s doing a bit better now, and actually is gaining a little bit of weight slowly.

His topline isn’t looking as terrible as it was either, but still needs work. Overall he still looks like he’s dropped, but it is coming back on.

I’ve held off on clipping him for now, which I was going to do at the beginning of the month. That and a stable fleece on the coldest of nights seems to have helped.
 
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@Pixxelated I find mine often looks a better shape when clipped, his coat seems to highlight any belly and the way it lays over his ribs can make him look ribby too. Unfortunately the top line - proper topline - will, as you say, need work and that takes time. At least you haven't fallen into the common trap of thinking you can feed for topline and ended up with a fat horse!
 
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