Advice for my VERY good doer!!!!

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danielledanielle

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Basically, my showjumper is an extremely good doer, so much so that im hardly feeding him anything and I still cannot manage to keep his weight under control so I can manage it propperly.

In your experience, is it better to leave them in at night with minimal hay and put them out in the day for 5/6 hours..

OR

Have them out at night, and in in the day? His paddock is very short grass as ive sectioned it off.


He's a 16.2 belgium warmblood - 10 years old.

Thank you very much xxxx
 
I have a very porky 17.1, and apart from working him to death, the only other way I can manage is out for a few hours in the day on basically diddly squat grass, and when he is in his hay is double bagged in two haylage nets. He has 6kg at night, and 3 or 4kg in the day. Two small feeds of pony nuts, oats and plain chop.
 
Have you got him on a feed balancer?

My good do'er was a total pig and would eat anything and everything but when I started using a balancer he didn't seem as hungry - I think he was missing out of something so his constant eating was just his way of getting the 'ingredient'

I'd turn out overnight as the flies are so bad at the moment and see how he goes :)
 
No, i dont have him on a balancer, he has a salt lick which he doesnt stop licking so i could possibly try the balancer..

Its just so confusing because hes worked for 1-2 hours a day and walkered with minimal food... I just don't get it.

Dont get me wrong, he's not obese, he is very muscly and doesnt have a crest..but imo hes just a little round :S lots of people have told me not to worry, but I dont know what to do for the best and when i should turn him out
 
I would feed a balancer so as to keep up the vits and Mins.

I would also bring him in during the day, mostly because of the weather but they are more likely to eat less during the night.

Horses can work quite hard on only grass. My Endurance horses will do up to 50 miles off grass and a balancer.
 
In during the day, out at night; ( there is no evidence to suggest they eat less overnight, why would they??) the sugar levels are lower between 7/8pm and 11am.

Either a balancer or some Fast Fibre with magnesuim oxide, most pasture is lacking in this, easily bought from ebay, brilliant for their feet and suposed to be good for fat pockets although how true that is I don't know :D

Hill work is best for fat burning :) make sure he's walking out not mulching along too!

Is it possible to run a track system around the paddock leaving the water at one end so he has to walk around more?
 
his water is at one side of the field yeah, but he doesnt have a very big field now so he has minimal grass :)

Thank you... Any more thoughts?
 
After taking advice on here and reading anything and everthing on weight loss, I put my overweight mare in during the day and out on the evening. Added magnesium supplment, upped the exercise and strip grazed with the water at one end. Happy to say after a month she has lost 23 kilo already and is looking so much better.
The weight really started to come off quite quickly when I added the mag supplement.
Not sure which has the most effect but I'm sticking with it....albeit I'm totaly worn out!
Thanks to you guys I now have a much better looking horse :D
 
My sportshorse is a very good doer. He's out by night, in durnig the day. Depending on what time he comes in, he either gets a bit of hay or he doesn't.

So for instance - he came in at 7.00 this morning, so was given a small net. However, if he'd come in after 9.00, I'd have given him nothing. He gets worked in the afternoon and is back out by about 7.00pm.
 
I have a belgian WB 17.2hh weighing approx 600kg. He is a good doer. He has for the last six years lived out in the day and in at night but due to recurring spasmodic colic can only go out for 5/6 hours a day max. However the last 8 months he has gradually had his time out at grass increased to about nine hours a day and has been fine with (touch wood) no colic in evidence for over a year now. On Monday I decided to turn him out overnight (min 13 hours) and touch wood he has been fine. He has lost a little weight (probably due to not eating haylage all day long) and when he comes in he eats very little haylage due to him being so tired and sleeping for most of the day till I get there after work in the evening.

I really do think out at night is the best thing. Its better for the horse as sugars in the grass are at a minimum, its better as there are no flies, and no relentless sun all day long, and mucking out is much, much quicker.
 
Hi, best to turn out at night when the grass sugar levels are lower, also avoid turning out on warm and wet days as this weather causes the grass to shoot up, again increasing sugar levels. Long, old grass is better than short, well eaten grass as again, it's that pesky sugar levels...they are higher in new grass.

Perhaps use a muzzle when he's out grazing?

Soak your hay for 24 hrs (change the water every 12hrs due to toxic levels) and double net it so the holes are smaller.

Try feeding Dengie Good Dooer chaff with your suppliment as it is low in calories. You could also try Happy Hoof or Healthy Hooves. These are designed for lamanitics but they are really low in sugar and have added vits and mins keeping his tummy happy.

Of course exersise is important and may need increasing. If you can't ride maybe lunge or even go for a walk in hand. I used to lunge every otherday in the mornings as well as ride at night!!!

Sorry if I'm saying anything you already know but I hope some of the above help?

Condition score your horse or get the vet to do it for you as he might not be as fat as you think?!!? Weigh tapes are not accurate and should only be used as a guide.
 
My section D mare is a very good do-er and has had laminitis in the past. I've tried all sorts of combinations of turnout/bring in/no feed/no grass/grazing muzzle etc over the 12 years i've had her and nothing stopped her looking like an orange hippo. This year I put her on to Top Spec Comprehensive in January, put a grazing muzzle on her as soon as we went over to the summer fields (6 acres, lots of fertilised grass, not my choice, YO obsessed with green fields!) and for the first time ever she is not only out full time but looks great, a good weight, no signs of laminitis despite others on the yard suffering still, she has a Shires grazing muzzle on full time apart from the occasional night in and an hour each morning when a friend takes it off for me and I then pop it back on again. She has no fat pads across her shoulders this year, no solid neck, her coat is amazing and she is getting zero hard feed except the mug of Top Spec once a day. I know she's getting the right balance of vitamins and she looks fit and well. I honestly never thought that these "expensive" feed balancers could be all that but I am truely converted and £35 a month for the balancer is a heck of a lot cheaper than the bedding and hay (and vet bills for lami bouts) I have experienced in previous years. She is also happy and living out as nature intended her too, yes she has a couple of bald bits from where the muzzle sits but she isn't sore at all. She is also excercised about three times a week, not a lot really but far more than last year when she spent most of the summer stabled and lame due to regular bouts of laminitis. :)
 
Thank you very much guys, and you hudsonw...

I give him a couple of handfulls of Happyhoof, with garlic and water. He was on alfa oil for his feet, but its for poor condition horses so ive taken him off of that and tday I bought some slimline with magnesium and lots of vitamins to help his metabolism and also some electrolytes as hes in hard work.

I swapped him around tonight so he's out at night, and im hoping to bring him in tomo early and horse walker him in the morning, and ride in the evening. I am hoping with this new regime he'll get better :D I also think I am worrying slightly too much as nobody else seems to think hes bad at all.

I have soaked a double netted section of hay overnight, and he'll get a little bit of that whilst he's in, but not much hehe

Thanks so much for all of your help - it's greatly appreciated. Its so much easier to deal with my 3 skinny horses!!!!
 
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