Any advice on weight loss for my non ridden fat horse

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cascada27

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Hello :)
So my boy is a 14.2 light cob who to my shock was weighed a few weeks ago at the vets and now weights a huge 547kg - which seems for his height to be hugely overweight. he does also look overweight although not horrendous.
The problem is that at the moment he cannot be ridden and cannot be kept in due to being diagnosed as an idiopathic headshaker a few months back.
To try and keep him comfortable while we are having treatment he has spent the last 4 months living out 24/7 in a large herd field with his horse friends as he has been unrideable and the only thing that seems to distract him from the headshaking is grazing.

Since having treatment he is not as bad as he was (still not well enough to be ridden/lunged or even walked in hand for any amount of time) so he is out in the herd field with grass during the day say 10 hours and in a restricted grazing paddock with a couple of slices of hay at night (barely any grass) He has a mouthful and I mean a mouthful of chaff as he is on a magnesium supplement for the headshaking.

Any ideas if this will be enough to start seeing some sort of weight loss? and how much hay should i be giving him - Ive been giving 2-3 slices overnight - should that be less?

I dont want him to be unhappy as when he is kept the stable he headshakes constantly, but i am worried that if he doesn't start loosing weight he will develop more problems! :(

Anyone had to cope with anything similar - weight loss for the non ridden horse and has any suggestions?
 
What's is the grass like in the field? sorry didn't read it properly can you reduce the hay down that he gets at night and maybe cut the amount of time his in the other field? is his hay soaked?
 
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The two things that seems to be working for my fatty are - half straw, half hay, soaked if you are able but I know its difficult in the winter - I fully clipped her and put a lightweight rug on her so that she is just on the verge of being cold.
 
Weigh your hay. My pony was seriously overweight. I knew how much to feed but never weighed it. I decreased her hay and feed by so much once I realized. Shavings is also a good idea, a trickle-ball, double netted hay-nets possible take him for in-hand walks if he doesn't head shake then as well! :)
 
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Weighing is an excellent idea. I stuff the same haynet day in day out and it always varies sometimes as much as by 5lb. It's so hard to estimate.
 
Thanks all :)
Not sure what the quality of grass is like in the big field - the herd have been out there since October but it's a big field so still seems to be quite a bit.
I will definitely try and soak his hay and will try weighing the hay! How much should I be giving for over night, I think I have been giving around 2-3kg? I could see if I could hang the hay in a double hay net overnight somewhere in the field.
Hard to work out what he eats during the day in grass as keep reading diet plans for fat horses but it measures the amounts of food and I have no way of telling how much grass he is consuming. He could stay round with just air I think!
I work during the day so I go down at 7am and anouy 6pm so my times I can move him from one field to another are limited.
The weather at the moment is not helping - he's far too hot in a rug with fill but as he's out all night I'm not sure if he's better off with no rug or a rain sheet when it's raining!
 
I'm currently allowing the one who absolutely must drop weight (she needs steroid injections) about 1/3 of her normal hay ration (unsoaked) and she needs to get the rest of intake from grass. She got tetchy when everything was frozen and because she's had ulcers before i mixed hay and straw together so she felt she was getting more. I think there's more in the grass than I thought though because she's definitely not dropping weight as quickly as I'd like!
 
If his overweight I would be inclined to not rug him at all if his got a full coat it might just be the routine and environment is not going to be suitable for him long term if he can't do any form of exercise, the amount of time his spending on good grass may just be to much and it's February I would be worried about what could happen come may when the grass is much richer and much more of it.

I know how it feels it's very worrying and it's a major struggle I had a horse in a similar situation and it didn't end well:(
 
I think so long as he is grazing half the day, your only option to figure out if you're on the right track is to monitor his body condition and weight tape.

I'd take the hay amount you are feeding at the moment as a starting point, and if he is not showing signs of losing weight in about two week's time, I'd continue to reduce the amount and quality of the forage you offer until you feel you can't reduce it any more, or risk that he goes without something in his tummy for too long a time. If he still won't lose weight on this regime, I might consider changing my strategy, e.g. keeping him full-time in the small paddock, but bringing in another horse as a companion for part of the day so he has some company. That way you'd have more control of his intake. Maybe you can find someone else who'd be happy if their horse lost a bit of weight too.
 
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