Barefoot horse, massive weight loss and one very happy horse and owner.

Finn

Finn

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31 January 2011
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Hi

Im so happy I just though I would share it with you all

My mare who is a Shire X Cob and I have owned for the last 2 yrs was seriusly overweight with horrendous feet when I bought her. I had her shod all round as advised by both my vet and farrier and I cracked on with working her. We had a few ups and a few downs but last Oct she had surgery as she had a tear in her Manika Flexor Tendon. Cue 7 months box rest and lots of slowly being bought back into work.

She was allowed back out in the field in March this yr and I weighed her and she was over 700kgs so I put a paddock up in her field and plonked her in there and upped her work load. This has had to be increased slowly though as she developed COPD due to the long term box rest.

I changed her feed from Hi Fi lite to Fast Fibre,she has Spirinula for her COPD and I put her on Pro Hoof for her feet and now I am so happy to say she is now fully sound and complelty barefoot, is ridden 3 to 4 times a week and when not ridden I take her over the road and lunge her up and down the hills and we have a lesson every Sat.
and her weight has gone down to 567kgs. She used to have canyon down her back and across her bum that was so deep it would collect rain water lol. Now its all gone, she has the perfect bum with no crevasses or anything in it. The difference is amazing!

She looks half the horse she used to be and her feet are amazing thanks to all the advice I recieved on here, her coat is so shiny and she just looks amazing! Everyone on the yard when they see her keep commenting on how good she looks.

So, my horse in the last 6 months has gone from weighing over 700 to 567.

It is very hard work but oh my god Its so worth it!

Sorry Im just so proud and wanted to share it with everyone xxx
 
Excellent. Well done to both of you, that's very impressive. Its no easy task to manage such a regime, you have worked pretty hard to achieve such a turn around. I'm sure your mare is very thankful to be feeling so much better.
 
Brilliant and very well done to you both! The secret to sound barefoot horses is not complicated mineral balancing-just sensible diet, weight loss and lots of steady hard work! Now off to lunge my fatty.....(hangs head in shame)!
 
Well done Finn! Hard work has paid off and I'm sure she feels much better for it too :) Have you any before and after pics?! I'm trying to put weight on my boy at the mo and was told to take regular pics so I can see the improvement :)
 
Thanks everyone!

I have loads of before photos but will see if I can take some after ones later before it gets too dark, how do I upload them onto H&H though?
 
Well Done you OP :D Ive managed to get 45 kgs off my new mare in the 5 months Ive had her and thought that was an achievement as she looks half the horse! Cant wait to see the piccys!

Dont forget to make sure she goes into spring a little under if necessary so she doesnt balloon again!
 
TigerTail said:
Well Done you OP :D Ive managed to get 45 kgs off my new mare in the 5 months Ive had her and thought that was an achievement as she looks half the horse! Cant wait to see the piccys!

Dont forget to make sure she goes into spring a little under if necessary so she doesnt balloon again!
Click to expand...

Well done! Can we have before and after pictures from you too??
 
CobsGalore - as you asked so nicely :D

760 KGS

IMG_0852.jpg


715 KGS

IMG_1271.jpg
 
Hi All,

Many thanks for all your kind replies in this thread. I have managed to take some up to date photos in daylight of her since her weight loss and you all wanted to see the before and afters.

Before

http://i1091

After

[IMG]http://i1091

Hope the photos have worked

She is still work in progress and has more to loose yet but Im working on that by lunging her up and down hills to build her muscles and stamina up and also riding 3 or 4 times a week plus we have lessons every Sat. Shes like riding half the horse now as she is no where near as wide as she used to be.

Her diet consists of 1/2 scoop of Fast Fibre, Pro Hoof and Brewers Yeast and shes on Spirinual for her COPD.

Please feel free to reply but please be nice as Im trying my best and she was really really overweight due to 7 months box rest. Its very hard work having a good doer and trying to get the weight down and keep it off.

Let me know what you think and if you can see the difference.

xxxx
 
Can def see good weight loss well done :D As you say more to go - is she on soaked hay? Are you weighing it? Out unrugged?
 
Thanks Tigertail

Yes she is out un rugged although when its raining I do put a rug on her but its only a thin light weight rain sheet, Shes also unrugged in her stable at night.

Yes shes on soaked hay but I dont weight it. She has about 1/2 to 3/4 of a leaf of hay in a meduim sized haynet at night. She used to have a large one but when she went on her diet I changed it to the meduim sized one, I also double net it to slow her down a little bit.

xxxxx
 
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