Advice on weight

B

becksten

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 November 2007
Messages
284
Location
Sheffield UK
Visit site
Hi, i have been told by a chiropractor that 1 of my horses is overweight. He is 15hh 6 year old welsh d x. He has just recently been broken, so for the past 5 years he's just been grazing and getting lunged (since he was 3). Does anyone know the average or 'supposed' weight for a 15hh welsh? Is there anything else i could do to help him lose weight? He is in the field in the day and stabled at night, he has 1 hay net at night. I have stopped his hard feed and ride him for an hour a day. Thanks
 
do you have a pic?
is he fat?

weight depends on type and as he is welsh X, whether he is crossed with something light or heavy will have a bit impact on his ideal weight.
 
i weighed him yesterday and hes a heavy 634kg!!!! His breed is mostly welsh d but he has trotter and id in him too. I school him 4 days a week and hack 3 days a week. I havent jumped him yet as hes freshly broken and i dont have that confidence in him yet (he once broke my ribs). And the place where he got broken said to ride him eveyday so it drills in his head and so not to lunge him again untill next year.
 
Please make sure that you still give him plenty of hay or haylage to eat through the night. Otherwise it is the quickest way to ulcers and the like. If necessary soak his hay or haylage overnight, hang it to drain through the next day and feed it that night. It gets rid of all the sugars and means you can still give your horse the fibre that he needs to ensure his hindgut etc is functioning properly.

With the exercise you are doing as well I am sure he will be fine. But please please please don't fall into the common trap of not feeding him enough fibre.
 
My Welsh x TB weighs roughly 500kg, but she will naturally be lighter than your chap given his combination. You'd best do the condition score that jinglebex suggests as that will be a more accurate guide.

But honestly working at those levels going into winter you should find the weight drops off naturally.
 

That is probably a bit on the heavy side.

Apparently brisk walking is the best way to get the weight off them, so make sure you do plenty of that, and as already mentioned, soak his hay for at least 12 hours if you can.

What's his grazing like?
 
634kg is far too heavy going from his description, (alhough its hard to say how overweight without a photo) my chunky warmblood who is a big 16.2hh with 9 1/2 " of bone only weighs 620kg....and he is overweight:

DSC08873.jpg
 
I will try and get a photo on here of him, but im working out how to atm!! The field that they are in atm is about 8 acres split into 3, and my horses have 1 of those 3 sections
 
when we had a native with lami last year he vet said one slice of hay morning, noon and night, and that was all she got, no grazing as she was in.
she also go 2 feeds of dengie healthy hooves,. she lost over 100kg.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I will try and get a photo on here of him, but im working out how to atm!! The field that they are in atm is about 8 acres split into 3, and my horses have 1 of those 3 sections

[/ QUOTE ]

Photobucket is the easiest way
smile.gif


At least with winter coming is he perfect and easiest time to get any excess weight off.
smile.gif
 
Yes that is a bit heavey for a x Welsh! My pure bred Welsh D who is traditional heavey build weighs 510 on the weigh tape at the moment and that is too heavey for him even! I aim to get him down to 490kg over the winter and he will still be chunky then!
 
have a look in the picture gallery, there's a post near the top about how to post pictures. you need to get a Photobucket.com account, upload your pics into there and then post the links in here.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Are you sure you weighed him correctly? He doesn't look anywhere near that overweight to me!

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree - he looks spot on to me. You''ve either used the weight tape incorrectly - or misunderstood the readings.

He's lovely.
smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Are you sure you weighed him correctly? He doesn't look anywhere near that overweight to me!

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto,

did you measure him like this with his head up, if his head was down, ie eating, it makes them appear heavier too:

weigh.jpg
 
I was expecting to see a blob, but he is not terribly overweight at all, he's quite a chunky build. A few pounds off wouldn't hurt, but not too much.
 
[ QUOTE ]
St bernard, i measured him exactly how your horse in the picture is stood, and the weigh tape was exactly to your line. So i did do it right

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes you did, well dont worry he isnt obese at all! a little overweight I would say, no more so than my black one!

do you have a measuring tape that goes over 600kg? i found when I didnt I was having to guestimate some of it,but i now have one that goes up to 1000kg which makes it much easier!
smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
He does look ok from the side, but he is round! His saddle is extra wide fit, and a 54inch girth

[/ QUOTE ]
But that is probably because of his build rather than his weight.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top