emmaln
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
I'll try not to make this too long.
My brother took his hw cob on permanent loan 2 yrs ago, she is 20 now and over the 2 yrs it has become increasingly difficult to keep weight on her!
When we first got her she was the fattest horse I had ever seen, in fact people commented regularly about how huge she was, she had been doing little or no work and had been on very lush grazing. We built up her work slowly and adjusted her diet and she lost the weight and looked fab, as we went into her first winter we had planned to keep her out 24/7 but she wasn't keen (she was used to coming in) and dropped off a little bit, we also noticed that she seemed to feel the cold and would come in a little tucked up if she hadn't been rugged up enough, so, we brought her in at night and she seemed to settle and was fine!
Over the last year her weight has been fantastic and she did really well her workload has continued at 5 days a week mostly hacking at pace and 1/2 long lining sessions.
This winter she developed a dust allergy (she has always had hay fever which we controlled using nose nets) so she was swapped onto haylage and dust free bedding, outside stable etc. the problem is we ate struggling to keep her weight up! She is by no means skinny but she is ribby some days and tucked up if it's cold or wet! Our grazing is not good this year but my two (tb and wpb) are maintaining perfect weight? We have been adjusting her feed accordingly and today she is going in a lush field but we have noticed that her poos the last couple of days have been very loose, she is wormed appropriately and her eyes and coat are gleaming!
If she doesn't pick up on the lush grass we will get the vet to check her but just wondered if you guys had any ideas?
I'll try not to make this too long.
My brother took his hw cob on permanent loan 2 yrs ago, she is 20 now and over the 2 yrs it has become increasingly difficult to keep weight on her!
When we first got her she was the fattest horse I had ever seen, in fact people commented regularly about how huge she was, she had been doing little or no work and had been on very lush grazing. We built up her work slowly and adjusted her diet and she lost the weight and looked fab, as we went into her first winter we had planned to keep her out 24/7 but she wasn't keen (she was used to coming in) and dropped off a little bit, we also noticed that she seemed to feel the cold and would come in a little tucked up if she hadn't been rugged up enough, so, we brought her in at night and she seemed to settle and was fine!
Over the last year her weight has been fantastic and she did really well her workload has continued at 5 days a week mostly hacking at pace and 1/2 long lining sessions.
This winter she developed a dust allergy (she has always had hay fever which we controlled using nose nets) so she was swapped onto haylage and dust free bedding, outside stable etc. the problem is we ate struggling to keep her weight up! She is by no means skinny but she is ribby some days and tucked up if it's cold or wet! Our grazing is not good this year but my two (tb and wpb) are maintaining perfect weight? We have been adjusting her feed accordingly and today she is going in a lush field but we have noticed that her poos the last couple of days have been very loose, she is wormed appropriately and her eyes and coat are gleaming!
If she doesn't pick up on the lush grass we will get the vet to check her but just wondered if you guys had any ideas?
