Are your ISH's Good Doers?

[Persephone]

I am having such difficulty keeping the weight off my mare at the moment.

She is roughly 16.3 9 y/o ISH and is weighing in at 600 KG currently.

Do any other owners find that ISH's keep their weight a bit too well?

Do you have any solutions?

Thanks!

 

[Ranyhyn]

My ISH is a terribly good doer. He'll go through winter on no hard feed and now we're into summer he's on a laminitic diet/excercise regime to keep him slim. Its a never ending battle and on the days I'm too tired to ride I'm almost in tears thinking of the weight he'll gain!!

 

[TinselRider]

Ban just has to smell food and he piles on the pounds bless him,

All I feed him is a handfull of happy hoof and 2 cups of spillers slow release energy mix twice a day.

 

[martlin]

Mine lives on fresh air and still is a bit of a porker - the only solution I know of is to work it off, I'm afraid
She has a bare paddock with 2 year old hay, no hard feed and is worked 5 days a week, still looks a fatty...

 

[Stormy123456]

Mine went very thin over the Winter, lost alot of muscle and condition, so has been in a huge field and is now at a nice weight, so have resticted her grazing as last year she ballooned in Summer. She's only 4 so I do allow her to carry a bit of extra weight, because she's not in heavy work.

She looked and acted like a racehorse in January!

 

[guido16]

First time in 10yrs my girl has ribs!, I thought she had lost them forever.

She has always been a good doer, its a nightmare.
No amount of strip grazing helps, as has been said, exercise is the only way to shift it!

 

[Charlie007]

Yeah my boy is, but usually if I bring him in he deflates a bit as its mostly wind!! The first year I ha him I was really orried he would drop weigh through winter so I put him on blue chip balancer. He looked fantastic, but reviewed his diet and this last winter all he had was adlib hay, a bit of chaf and a few nuts and he looked just as good!!

 

[reindeerlover]

My gelding always has been despite being 3/4 tb. I notice that if I bring him in and restrict his hay he looks an awful lot better though as it's mainly his belly that makes him look huge, I'm happy for him to keep his topline as it's not flab. He's on 2 cups of baileys stud balancer a day and is out all the time on poorish pasture.

 

[Ranyhyn]

Maybe it also depends on the ammount of blood in your ISH, mines only got 1/4 blood so all the rest of him is fatty ID!

 

[Persephone]

Cheers guys! Mine is 7/8 tb but boy does that 1/8 make up for it lol!

She had to have a load of time off over the winter, then I had her back in work for 6 weeks, where she did shift some weight but now I'm back to another month off waiting for a new saddle and treating sore back!

I have changed her from haylage to steamed hay, but it has to be ad lib due to previous ulcer problems.

She is just having a scoop of Apple Hi Fi, a scant handful of tiger oats (to use them up ) and a vit min supplement. I'm only turning her out for the mornings because I am so frightened of the weight she has put on although the grass is pretty poor.

 

[queenb]

Yep I have an ISH who events to novice level and she is a very good doer even through the winter. She is fed on a basic hi fibre horse and pony cube with hi fi and this is fine for her obviously with grazing and hay.

 

[JoJo_]

Yes mine lives on barely any hard feed all year round. She came down to a good weight at the end of the winter so i'm strip grazing her paddock so she doesnt put too much on. Especially now she is out of work with a bad back!

 

[chestnut cob]

I have an IDxTB who is an unbelievably good doer, more so than my Welsh cob ever was. The only way I can manage him in summer is to watch his weight in the winter so he comes out of it pretty light in the first place. He comes in during the day in the spring/summer/autumn, only eats 12-24hr soaked hay (which he gets quite a bit of), is on our starvation paddock without much grass on and has to be worked 6-7 days a week when I can.

 

[amandaco2]

mine is!
she gets practially no grass and 6 hour soaked+rinsed hay plus straw and happy hoof.

she came out of winter looking like a house this year as she was out (rugless) on 4 acres with 3 other horses 24/7. (only had happy hoof- no hay)

 

[steph91]

i've got 3 ISH at home, all completley different weights so i think it purely depends on the individual horse. A method i use to manage another horse's weight is to keep her in during the day, i know it sounds mean but she has a haynet and is out of the sun and the heat

 

[Coffee_Bean]

Mine isn't as awful to keep weight on as Bean, but she certainly isn't a good doer! She's on 28lb of hay per night!! But that's my choice to feed her adlib, she doesn't have too much hard feed 1/2 a scoop of cool mix twice a day. Wish she was a good doer- would make things so much cheaper

 

[posie_honey]

yup
v good do'er

she's the only horse i know that got fat in -16'C this year = that was because i couldnt rider her!!! and she was living out 24/7 fully clipped on the side of a hill on the edge of the highlands!!

 

[KingCharles]

No Charles is a poor doer!

He needs a lot of management to keep him looking well. I would say he is probably as high maintenance as a full tb.