Advice on encouraging weight loss for my horse?

[EmilyAndRocket]

Currently in the process of getting my cob x conny back into proper work.
Had been on very light flatwork for around a month because we recently moved barns and he had trouble settling.
Quite frankly he is overweight, and had been before we moved.
More recently been riding him on Saturdays (half hour hack, including a few gallops), Tuesdays and Thursdays (20 - 30 minute flatwork & pole sessions). He is fed relatively small feeds on Sat and Tue.
Any advice on any flat/pole excersizes that will help him lose weight and fitten up quicker? I understand this will be a fairly long process but I am all for putting the extra time in.
I would increase length of flat sessions, but he gets out of puff and then starts slacking after about half an hour.
Should I decrease amount of feed as he is turned out 24/7? He is pretty much bomb proof so no worries on any 'spooky' pole excersizes, and also surprisingly forward/easy going. Any advice much appreciated.

 

[Jnhuk]

Cut out all hard feed just a balancer for vits & mins, soak hay to reduce sugar content if getting any hay and no rugs as a start. Find some long hacks in walk uphill and more aerobic work as gets fitter

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Cut out all hard feed just a balancer for vits & mins, soak hay to reduce sugar content if getting any hay and no rugs as a start. Find some long hacks in walk uphill and more aerobic work as gets fitter

This, the reason he is getting out of breath is because he is not fit enough for the work you are asking him to do, which isn't really very much but is the wrong kind of work. You are asking him to do fast work, long before he is fit enough to do it. Plenty of walking hillwork will do far more to get him fit and for weight-loss than dashing around. And he certainly doesn't need any extra feed.

 

[JFTDWS]

Long slow work is always the answer - if you keep pushing him past his fitness, something will break. Go out and walk, walk, walk as far and as long as you can. Yes, you can have a bit of trot or canter work within his fitness level - not until he's completely out of puff, but a bit of controlled work is reasonable.

Remember that the extra weight is weighing him down - think of the extra pressure on his joints, the concussion and the strain. And that when he's out of puff, he can't balance himself to work correctly and safely.

No feed, no rugs (unless shaved and exposed!), just lots of slow, steady work.

 

[alexomahony]

Cut out all hard feed just a balancer for vits & mins, soak hay to reduce sugar content if getting any hay and no rugs as a start. Find some long hacks in walk uphill and more aerobic work as gets fitter

^^this. really good advice. Spending a long time walking up hills is THE best. It's a struggle - my Welsh has just gone a bit sore coming into spring so it'll mean a chunk of time off... I'm gutted as I'd just managed to get some weight off him so I'll be in your position in a few months when he's back in work and probably a bit on the porky side :'(

 

[Fiona]

Can you hack for longer a couple of times a week?

Preferably 1-2hrs.

Fiona

 

[ester]

three days a week work is really nothing, and I wouldn't be galloping a horse that was only worked 3 days a week.
Slower and longer with restricted grazing if required.

 

[BenvardenRach2]

I bought my boy in Dec 2017 - he was HUGE! His old owner was feeding him twice a day(broodmare mix too for some bizarre reason ) He had been out of work for 1.5 yrs also. He has hock arthritis so you can imagine how much he struggled with that extra weight
Believe it or not he is a connie x ISH.

I had to build him up very slowly as he was SO unfit worked up a sweat after 10 mins gentle walking at first.

Anyways, what worked for me was...
Just a small amount of HIFI lite chaff for his supplements once a day as a token feed.
He always had adlib hay but it was soaked to reduce sugars
Track system turn out to get him moving during the day and burning some cals
I worked him 6 days a week, 5 days hack 1 day school.
Hack up as many hills are you can - brisk walking, like a power walk, not a little tootle down the lane

Exercise is the key - as much of it as you can.
Short intervals of high intensity are good too if you have the odd field to have a quick 2 min canter in (when fit enough to do so) then back to power walking home.

Photos below show how much he lost!

Honestly it takes time, it's no quick fix unfortunately

Feel free to PM me

 

[AmyMay]

Long slow work is always the answer - if you keep pushing him past his fitness, something will break. Go out and walk, walk, walk as far and as long as you can. Yes, you can have a bit of trot or canter work within his fitness level - not until he's completely out of puff, but a bit of controlled work is reasonable.

Remember that the extra weight is weighing him down - think of the extra pressure on his joints, the concussion and the strain. And that when he's out of puff, he can't balance himself to work correctly and safely.

No feed, no rugs (unless shaved and exposed!), just lots of slow, steady work.

This is excellent advice.

 

[AmyMay]

What an amazing transformation BR2!!

 

[tallyho!]

Long slow work is always the answer - if you keep pushing him past his fitness, something will break. Go out and walk, walk, walk as far and as long as you can. Yes, you can have a bit of trot or canter work within his fitness level - not until he's completely out of puff, but a bit of controlled work is reasonable.

Remember that the extra weight is weighing him down - think of the extra pressure on his joints, the concussion and the strain. And that when he's out of puff, he can't balance himself to work correctly and safely.

No feed, no rugs (unless shaved and exposed!), just lots of slow, steady work.

Absolutely and if you can turn him out on a track/woods/scrubland with friends and no grass 24/7 even better.

 

[BenvardenRach2]

What an amazing transformation BR2!!

Thank you AmyMay! It was horrible seeing him in that state the poor bugger, took me a while to get the weight off him safely but we are in a good place now

 

[ester]

BR2 he looks even worse than Frank did! though I had seen him 3 months previously fit (new owner stopped riding him about 6 weeks in and he had free grazing).
Fast or hill work was always key to him (hills were a revelation) but only once he was fit enough to do so.

 

[EmilyAndRocket]

Can you hack for longer a couple of times a week?

Preferably 1-2hrs.

Fiona

Yes that is possible. We have plenty of available hacking routes around, I realise now that I have been doing the wrong type of work. These routes also include a lot of hills! Thank you.

 

[EmilyAndRocket]

I bought my boy in Dec 2017 - he was HUGE! His old owner was feeding him twice a day(broodmare mix too for some bizarre reason ) He had been out of work for 1.5 yrs also. He has hock arthritis so you can imagine how much he struggled with that extra weight
Believe it or not he is a connie x ISH.

I had to build him up very slowly as he was SO unfit worked up a sweat after 10 mins gentle walking at first.

Anyways, what worked for me was...
Just a small amount of HIFI lite chaff for his supplements once a day as a token feed.
He always had adlib hay but it was soaked to reduce sugars
Track system turn out to get him moving during the day and burning some cals
I worked him 6 days a week, 5 days hack 1 day school.
Hack up as many hills are you can - brisk walking, like a power walk, not a little tootle down the lane

Exercise is the key - as much of it as you can.
Short intervals of high intensity are good too if you have the odd field to have a quick 2 min canter in (when fit enough to do so) then back to power walking home.

Photos below show how much he lost!

Honestly it takes time, it's no quick fix unfortunately

Feel free to PM me


View attachment 30914



View attachment 30915

That is an amazing transformation! Thank you, very helpful advice.

 

[EmilyAndRocket]

Long slow work is always the answer - if you keep pushing him past his fitness, something will break. Go out and walk, walk, walk as far and as long as you can. Yes, you can have a bit of trot or canter work within his fitness level - not until he's completely out of puff, but a bit of controlled work is reasonable.

Remember that the extra weight is weighing him down - think of the extra pressure on his joints, the concussion and the strain. And that when he's out of puff, he can't balance himself to work correctly and safely.

No feed, no rugs (unless shaved and exposed!), just lots of slow, steady work.

Thank you, I understand now that I have been doing the wrong type of work. We have plenty of up and downhill hacking routes nearby so this is definitely possible. Thanks again.

 

[milliepops]

I wish I had better pics of Kira when she arrived (I didn't plan to keep her so didn't bother taking many pics in the beginning ) but I would echo BR's advice. Mine had been completely turned away for 3 years on extremely good grass (!) so I started slow and steady with her fitness and did a lot of hacking. It was not helped by her terrible nappyness so I did plenty on the long reins too.
Hills are great, I would not underestimate how much you can make them work just walking up hills day after day. Little spells of trot then building up.
That's the way you get a depth of fitness that you can then build on for the more exciting work, and it's also the safest way to get them going again not stressing their bodies out while they slim down

I fed mine a balancer so she was getting her basic vits & mins, she wore a muzzle on poor grazing and then I added low-value hay when needed.
Pics are the August to November. She had little to no topline then, but that built up gradually with the right work

now

 

[ester]

Definitely get on those hills!

 

[EmilyAndRocket]

I wish I had better pics of Kira when she arrived (I didn't plan to keep her so didn't bother taking many pics in the beginning ) but I would echo BR's advice. Mine had been completely turned away for 3 years on extremely good grass (!) so I started slow and steady with her fitness and did a lot of hacking. It was not helped by her terrible nappyness so I did plenty on the long reins too.
Hills are great, I would not underestimate how much you can make them work just walking up hills day after day. Little spells of trot then building up.
That's the way you get a depth of fitness that you can then build on for the more exciting work, and it's also the safest way to get them going again not stressing their bodies out while they slim down

I fed mine a balancer so she was getting her basic vits & mins, she wore a muzzle on poor grazing and then I added low-value hay when needed.
Pics are the August to November. She had little to no topline then, but that built up gradually with the right work

now

Wow, she looks like a completely different horse! I will definitely be getting onto those hills, thank you.

 

[tristar]

more work less food, simple really just give it time., on days you are tired, busy, unmotivated, lunging for 20 mins in circles and squares will really bring him on, no weight on his legs, continuous trotting on good surface will raise his heart rate gently, exercise will increase the metabolic rate at which he uses up his food and burns off his fat

 

[JFTDWS]

I'm not entirely sure what magic force is supposed to be supporting the horse's weight while lunging, if there's no weight on his legs?!

Lunging an overweight horse is really not advised due to the strain of their weight on the legs, and the issue of lack of fitness / working horses repeatedly on circles both being problematic for their biomechanics / injury risk.

 

[tristar]

I'm not entirely sure what magic force is supposed to be supporting the horse's weight while lunging, if there's no weight on his legs?!

Lunging an overweight horse is really not advised due to the strain of their weight on the legs, and the issue of lack of fitness / working horsrerepeatedly on circles both being problematic for their biomechanics / injury risk.

well you would hardly be riding it would you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!lif you were lunging it

considering most horses are lunged before being broken when they are very unfit to start with and still growing i think that it is totally wrong.

quiet lunging for short periods would do no harm whatsoever, and would start to turn fat into muscle

 

[ester]

Lots of horses are not lunged before they are broken because of people’s concerns about it though. I didn’t really understand the no weight on his legs comment either TBH.

 

[JFTDWS]

well you would hardly be riding it would you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!lif you were lunging it

Um... You know the horse has weight of its own, right?! They're not made of helium...

I don't lunge anything before breaking - I don't think that's sensible at all.

 

[tristar]

Um... You know the horse has weight of its own, right?! They're not made of helium...

I don't lunge anything before breaking - I don't think that's sensible at all.

.

i am so glad i came on here to find out that the horse has a weight of its own,..... shock horror

well i lunge everything before and after backing, in the hope i can give horses a good start in life, i lunge to create muscle to carry the rider and to bring cardiovascular fitness before expecting a horse to carry any weight on its back, i would have thought most people would consider that normal.

 

[JFTDWS]

...no weight on his legs...

i am so glad i came on here to find out that the horse has a weight of its own,..... shock horror

Glad to have enlightened you.

I long rein and I ride and lead to develop CV fitness and musculature. Fewer circles, less time on an artificial surface, less strain on legs.

 

[tristar]

op wishing you the best with your horse, you`ll get there.

podhajsky alois, former director of the spanish riding school in vienna recommends lunging all horse for a minimum of three months before and during backing ,quote:`` the longer the period of training on the lunge, the greater will be the trainers influence on the horse``

but never mind i won`t bother with podhajky, i have jftd-ws to `` enlighten`` me now.

 

[JFTDWS]

Actually it's science doing the enlightening, and personally I'm a much bigger fan of empirical data than I am of arguing from authority, which is a logical fallacy anyway. It is all irrelevant to the OP though, whose horse is not in for backing at present.

Ultimately, if people say daft things like "there is no weight on the horse's legs when lunging", people will pull them up on it. I'm sorry if you don't like that, TS.

 

[ihatework]

As is usually the case I think there is a balance to be had when training horses especially young or fat unfit ones.

I’m not anti lunging, it has a number of benefits, but it’s down to the skill of the handler. We can spout Spanish riding school until the cows come home but we have to remember those are highly skilled horsemen training purpose bred horses for a specific job.

It doesn’t apply so readily to fat pony with an inexperienced Brit.

There are benefit to cross training on different surfaces and it also doesn’t hurt to get their heart rate up a bit.

But in this instance I think the sensible thing would be to get long and slow stage done first.

 

[TGM]

We took on an overweight horse at the end of last summer for OH to bring on to hunt and be a master's horse. He had been out of work for three months (not injury related) and turned out on very good grass and was massive! He is an Irish Sports Horse but looked more like a Percheron! But the answer was not to feed him more in an attempt to get more energy, but to get him fit. He did lots of hacking and hillwork whilst getting ad lib haylage but just a token bucket feed. To be honest, at the beginning we weren't sure he'd make the grade, but now he has lost the weight and got fit he is a different horse - much more athletic and forward and much nicer to ride! Sadly didn't get any before photos but here is an 'after'.

Just wanted to add that I am not anti-lungeing at all, as I think it is a useful skill for a horse to have for various reasons, and our youngster was lightly lunged before backing. But like all things moderation is the key and going round and round in circles for long periods is not a good idea. In this case with an overweight, unfit horse it is probably best avoided!