Can't believe it...A warning to you all.

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Take his rugs off and if he's on straw, remember he might be stuffing his face on his bedding.

He's laminitis waiting to happen
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Agree with this. When I put my cob out on loan, I went to visit him after about 3 months to find that he was obese. I'd spent years watching his weight and loaners were just being too nice to him, feed wise. I was shocked to find that he was unclipped yet was out in Dec (and it was about 9C) in a 400g full neck TO rug
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They thought I was terribly cruel but I made them turn him out unrugged unless it was pouring down, in which case he had a no fill rainsheet on. He went onto 12 hour soaked hay, worked twice a day and hacking upped to 2-odd hours per day at weekends, cut out all hard feed bar a bit of Happy Hoof (IIRC). I also asked them to weigh tape him once a week and take a photo of him once a month, so they could compare. It's really difficult to monitor them when you see them every day so weight taping and taking photos help. Weigh tapes aren't especiallyl accurate but TBH the actual figure doesn't matter, you just want to make sure the number is coming down (and then when he's a good size, making sure it doesn't go back up!).

I do understand what someone else said about feeding P&P to a lazy horse but I really think that if you get weight off him, you won't have such a problem. Laziness might also be a schooling issue rather than anything else, which you can't feed him to cure.

Bed him on shavings if you can as well, then he can't eat his bed.
 
I agree with your vet, he does not need hard feed and will slowly lose weight on soaked hay and straw mixed in. If you feel he needs a feed give him some chopped carrots in his bowl.
If you can get hold of some old hay that isn't dusty he can have more of that because it won't have the same nutritional value as last year's.
I also think use the walker every day if possible, and some decent hacks at weekends, he's a cob type and obviously a good doer!
What would worry me the most would be his crest, that's usually the very first warning before they get laminitis, so do stick to the prescribed regime..
 
I think it's great that you're aware of the problem and doing something about it. That's all i've got to say! No words of wisdom, just words!
 
im glad you have taken him off the p+p my 17hh warmblood in full work jumping foxhunters got fat on it so it is very unsuitable for a 15hh cob in light work!!!!
 
Ok,

If he was mine i would do the following-

HW am before turnout and PM when he comes in. 30 mins both times. Then ride.

Feed wise would soak hay, use tiny holed hay nets and double up if need be, mix with straw or find some poor quality hay. I would also feed just a handful of topspec anti - lam as that will give him all the vits and mins he needs without the calories. He wouldn't be getting a day off either!
 
Hiya, FWIW I don't think your cob looks bad at all on the pic in your sig. But then again who I am to judge. I mean how can anyone properly judge the ideal weight and condition of a horse by looking at a picture like that, compared to actually standing right next to it and doing the proper method of body scoring, by using one's hands!
If the horse has put weight on over winter and during the 6 week period as you say then don't fret about it too much.
He won't take a year to lose it!
As others have said though cut out the high calorie hard feed and if you want to give him any sort of treat at the moment until his fitness levels are up again then consider something like chaff, or hifi with a few chopped carrots ( to take away the blandness).
I have good doers and neither of mine have ever got fat on haylage or hay. It is the hard feed and reduced exercise and the body not burning off the extra calories that you get in hard feeds. Well I have always found that anyway.
Don't worry too much about your horse. So long as he is fit and able and has his exercise increased again and his diet readdressed he will be fine. At the end of the day though he is a cob. He looks a heavy weight type too by the picture.
I think sometimes too many people-especially women who are self body conscious about themselves never mind their horses- are over obsessive about how a cob should look. A heavy weight in my opinion should look just how it reads and likewise a light weight being the same.
What does it matter if a horse is carrying a few extra pounds. So long as it is able to do it's job correctly and is not suffering any visible health issues then what is the big deal. There are plenty of what is considered to be clinically obese people who are far fitter than their thinner counterparts who drive everywhere in their bleeding cars and think walking is just a phrase not to be indulged in.
Likewise there are plenty of horses, dogs and other animals who are carrying a little more than they perhaps would in the wild but who are not suffering as a result.
That said though if an animal is very clinically obese and its health could be severely affected then in my opinion it warrants as much attention as an emaciated animal.
It is all about balance at the end of the day.
What matters most is the welfare of the animal. If it is compromised then intervention is needed. If not then I wish people would stop getting on their high horse and so emotive about animals who are not truly their concern.
If I have offended anyone by what I have said on here, tough. It's a free to speak forum and we are all entitled to our own opinions, whether or not we agree with each other is neither here nor there.
Good luck with the horse, he looks a nice boy. I am sure you will have him up to fitness again. We all make mistakes once in a while but I think some people forget that in the same way that car drivers forget they were once a learner when they are stuck behind one! x
 
Have you looked at the bag label and/or the website for the Power and Perfomance feed for the nutritional analysis? It has 4.75% of sugar in it which probably hasn't helped the problem.

I asked that same question that Walrus mentions to 3 of the large horse feed manufacturer's helplines when I got my horse and he became fat as on haylage in winter and seemed lacking in energy but I never got told to feed a competition or cereal mix. In fact I was pretty impressed with them all for not trying to flog me their products but just encouraged exercise, keep feeding fibre and supplement vits and mins if needed.

The Blue Cross Fat Horse Slim thing from last year might be running still, for a small donation you can get a great pack including lots of useful info and weightape, etc, to help in shifting the weight.
 
I have just changed my very good doers to barley straw because the farmer ran out of hay they get two haynets (one each) mixed in to the round (they live out) in the evening and this year we have no 'hay bellies'
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Thinking about just keeping this regime up for next winter now.
 
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I mean how can anyone properly judge the ideal weight and condition of a horse by looking at a picture like that,

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bcause if you "know" horses then he is over weight.....

as for your suggestion of carrots...do you know what sugar/fructin levels there are in a carrot?

no, i didnt think so, or you wouldnt have suggested it.......
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I mean how can anyone properly judge the ideal weight and condition of a horse by looking at a picture like that,

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bcause if you "know" horses then he is over weight.....

as for your suggestion of carrots...do you know what sugar/fructin levels there are in a carrot?

no, i didnt think so, or you wouldnt have suggested it.......
wink.gif


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I don't think that is true at all. You can't accurately judge a horses weight from one small photo - particually one that has changed shape to fit a signature!
WHW say that in order to really assess a horses weight you have to get your hands on them, just looking, even up close, just isn't good enough - one of their advisors told me this.
Do they not know what they are saying?
Well done to the OP for realising the pony is overweight, its possible problems, seriousness, and that you have to do something about it. Good luck in getting the pony to drop weight before the spring grass really starts growing - you have plenty of good ideas on this thread to help you.
 
pony is fat......

OP is dealing with it...

but the bottom line is pony has always been fat.

and TBH, i feel for people who cannot see from a photo, that a pony is FAT!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I mean how can anyone properly judge the ideal weight and condition of a horse by looking at a picture like that,

[/ QUOTE ]

bcause if you "know" horses then he is over weight.....

as for your suggestion of carrots...do you know what sugar/fructin levels there are in a carrot?

no, i didnt think so, or you wouldnt have suggested it.......
wink.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Beat me to it
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I mean how can anyone properly judge the ideal weight and condition of a horse by looking at a picture like that,

[/ QUOTE ]

bcause if you "know" horses then he is over weight.....

as for your suggestion of carrots...do you know what sugar/fructin levels there are in a carrot?

no, i didnt think so, or you wouldnt have suggested it.......
wink.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Beat me to it
grin.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

omgg...THANK YOU............

I thought i was going blind......
 
Can I add just as being a owner of a cob which is bloody hard to keep weight off. He was trace clipped unrugged and still nothing really came off.

I feel its easy for people to say who have horses that are hard to keep weight on how can you let you horse get so fat. Its the same for cobs they arent easy maintain really as you are always watching their weight bit like us humans really
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how easy is it for you to loose weight once youve put it in, its not gonna dissapear over night.

Summer stars your piccy of him look lovely but I think hes a bit of a HW and if he had his feathers back on (grow them not stick them
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) he would prob look a normal weight in that piccy if thats him normally. Now its late so I hope that makes sense.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Bed him on shavings if you can as well, then he can't eat his bed.


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TBH straw has such a low nutritional value it will not make any difference if he eats it, all it will provide is fibre, which is not a bad thing - as long as it is not wheat straw that is, wheat straw contains more lignin that say barley or oat, and can, but not always cause impactions.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Aw same pair working in tandem again. How very predictable
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thats because we actually know what we are talking about...

unlike being in fantsmaland..bless you...or would that be fantasy island..
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[ QUOTE ]
Aw same pair working in tandem again. How very predictable
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What on earth are you on about?

I was in fact going to answer your long post myself, I was particularly going to refer to your advice to feed carrots, however another poster beat me to it. If someone is giving out dangerous advice then I WILL comment, I do not work in tandem with anybody.

You quite obviously think you know more about horses that you actually do, which is fine but please do not give out advice that is patently rubbish!
 
sirena..i'm loathed to agree with you.

mabe i should start a "i talk bollox and give duff info" thread and put forward a couple of posters from here??

what do you say, fantasmegorical?
 
I too was going to reply about carrotts, any veg which caramalises when roasted has far too much sugar (when fed raw) to be fed to a fat horse.
I think it should be remembered that the VET has said that this horse is obese, therefore at risk of many health issues, not least of these being laminitis, which can be deadly.
 
Ooh that sounds quite fun lol maybe if I was a bloke I could talk bollox cos I'd have my own to talk through.
As for carrots being dangerous pmpl at Sirena lol. Have you encountered any dangerous carrots while you have been meandering then? Have you been karrot-chopped by one? Poked in the eyes by one, though clearly they are meant to help you see better not blind you my dear

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[ QUOTE ]
Hiya, FWIW I don't think your cob looks bad at all on the pic in your sig.

[/ QUOTE ]
The OP has said that the horse is MUCH slimmer in that pic than he is now.

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If the horse has put weight on over winter and during the 6 week period as you say then don't fret about it too much.
He won't take a year to lose it!

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That's interesting. You can't do a correct body score from a photo, but you CAN predict how long the horse will take to lose weight??

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I think sometimes too many people-especially women who are self body conscious about themselves never mind their horses- are over obsessive about how a cob should look.

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Are you sh!tting me? That must be why I have a TB...
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What does it matter if a horse is carrying a few extra pounds. So long as it is able to do it's job correctly and is not suffering any visible health issues then what is the big deal. There are plenty of what is considered to be clinically obese people who are far fitter than their thinner counterparts who drive everywhere in their bleeding cars and think walking is just a phrase not to be indulged in.
Likewise there are plenty of horses, dogs and other animals who are carrying a little more than they perhaps would in the wild but who are not suffering as a result.

[/ QUOTE ]
This horse, by the OP's OWN admission is NOT carrying a 'few' extra pounds. He's FAT. VERY fat, in fact. Why do you insist that the horse can't be that fat (based on that photo in the sig) against the opinion of the person who looks after him on a daily basis??
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It is all about balance at the end of the day.
What matters most is the welfare of the animal. If it is compromised then intervention is needed. If not then I wish people would stop getting on their high horse and so emotive about animals who are not truly their concern.

[/ QUOTE ]
Unlike YOU, of course??

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If I have offended anyone by what I have said on here, tough. It's a free to speak forum and we are all entitled to our own opinions, whether or not we agree with each other is neither here nor there.

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Exactly, so why are you so rude to Sirena and wysiwyg?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hiya, FWIW I don't think your cob looks bad at all on the pic in your sig. But then again who I am to judge. I mean how can anyone properly judge the ideal weight and condition of a horse by looking at a picture like that, compared to actually standing right next to it and doing the proper method of body scoring, by using one's hands!

<font color="blue"> The horse is overweight, when you have developed an eye for a horse, you too will be able to tell just by looking. Weigh tapes are a fairly recent invention, devised to help people (like yourself) who have not yet developed an eye </font>




If the horse has put weight on over winter and during the 6 week period as you say then don't fret about it too much.
He won't take a year to lose it!
As others have said though cut out the high calorie hard feed and if you want to give him any sort of treat at the moment until his fitness levels are up again then consider something like chaff, or hifi with a few chopped carrots ( to take away the blandness).
I have good doers and neither of mine have ever got fat on haylage or hay. It is the hard feed and reduced exercise and the body not burning off the extra calories that you get in hard feeds. Well I have always found that anyway.
<font color="blue">From this I can tell you do not have the slightest idea how a horse's digestive system works, it is not the calories that are the problem with the hard feed - it is THE STARCH! This horse is now not just overweight but the vet has declared it clinically obese! Fibre is very very important to keep his hindgut healthy and to help prevent laminitis, you do not want to feed him sugar filled carrots! Conversely you do not put weight on a horse through hard feed - horses gain more weight through high quality fibre than any amount of hard feed </font>


Don't worry too much about your horse. So long as he is fit and able and has his exercise increased again and his diet readdressed he will be fine. At the end of the day though he is a cob. He looks a heavy weight type too by the picture.

<font color="blue">This horse is at serious risk of laminitis, the OP is right to worry </font>


I think sometimes too many people-especially women who are self body conscious about themselves never mind their horses- are over obsessive about how a cob should look. A heavy weight in my opinion should look just how it reads and likewise a light weight being the same.
What does it matter if a horse is carrying a few extra pounds. So long as it is able to do it's job correctly and is not suffering any visible health issues then what is the big deal.
<font color="blue">????!! The OP has already said he lacks the energy to do his job properly fgs! </font>

There are plenty of what is considered to be clinically obese people who are far fitter than their thinner counterparts who drive everywhere in their bleeding cars and think walking is just a phrase not to be indulged in.
Likewise there are plenty of horses, dogs and other animals who are carrying a little more than they perhaps would in the wild but who are not suffering as a result.
That said though if an animal is very clinically obese and its health could be severely affected then in my opinion it warrants as much attention as an emaciated animal.
<font color="blue"> Amen to that </font>

It is all about balance at the end of the day.
What matters most is the welfare of the animal. If it is compromised then intervention is needed. If not then I wish people would stop getting on their high horse and so emotive about animals who are not truly their concern.
If I have offended anyone by what I have said on here, tough. It's a free to speak forum and we are all entitled to our own opinions, whether or not we agree with each other is neither here nor there.
<font color="blue">You are right, but as I said, if I see someone giving out advice that is patently wrong - I have the right to comment </font>

Good luck with the horse, he looks a nice boy. I am sure you will have him up to fitness again. We all make mistakes once in a while but I think some people forget that in the same way that car drivers forget they were once a learner when they are stuck behind one! x

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<font color="blue">I agree with this in principal and I also think the OP has acted quickly to rectify the situation, trouble is though, when mistakes are made with horses they suffer, you cannot say the same for cars so that analogy simply does not wash with me tbh </font>
 
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Ooh that sounds quite fun lol maybe if I was a bloke I could talk bollox cos I'd have my own to talk through.
As for carrots being dangerous pmpl at Sirena lol. Have you encountered any dangerous carrots while you have been meandering then? Have you been karrot-chopped by one? Poked in the eyes by one, though clearly they are meant to help you see better not blind you my dear

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Jeez, you are SO full of sh!t, I can't believe it, and how DARE you get on your high horse about your right to have an opinion and then be so rude to Sirena?
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FYI;

Here you go, sensei.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Ooh that sounds quite fun lol maybe if I was a bloke I could talk bollox cos I'd have my own to talk through.
As for carrots being dangerous pmpl at Sirena lol. Have you encountered any dangerous carrots while you have been meandering then? Have you been karrot-chopped by one? Poked in the eyes by one, though clearly they are meant to help you see better not blind you my dear

grin.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Oh dear, you have just confirmed your complete and utter idiocy! Bless!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hiya, FWIW I don't think your cob looks bad at all on the pic in your sig. But then again who I am to judge. <font color="blue"> Should we be aware of who you are? </font> I mean how can anyone properly judge the ideal weight and condition of a horse by looking at a picture like that, compared to actually standing right next to it and doing the proper method of body scoring, by using one's hands! <font color="blue">Which presumably the vet did </font>
If the horse has put weight on over winter and during the 6 week period as you say then don't fret about it too much.
He won't take a year to lose it! <font color="blue"> The VET obviously thinks he will </font>
As others have said though cut out the high calorie hard feed and if you want to give him any sort of treat at the moment until his fitness levels are up again then consider something like chaff, <font color="blue"> Many chaffs are higher in calories than hay </font> or hifi with a few chopped carrots ( to take away the blandness). <font color="blue"> The horse is unlikely to worry about blandness, his natural diet is GRASS and in any case the horse does not need a 'treat', he needs to be fed appropriately.</font>
I have good doers and neither of mine have ever got fat on haylage or hay. <font color="blue"> Well aren't you lucky? Ours and plenty of others have. </font> It is the hard feed and reduced exercise and the body not burning off the extra calories that you get in hard feeds. Well I have always found that anyway.
Don't worry too much about your horse. So long as he is fit and able and has his exercise increased again and his diet readdressed he will be fine. At the end of the day though he is a cob. He looks a heavy weight type too by the picture.
I think sometimes too many people-especially women who are self body conscious about themselves never mind their horses- are over obsessive about how a cob should look. A heavy weight in my opinion should look just how it reads and likewise a light weight being the same.
What does it matter if a horse is carrying a few extra pounds. So long as it is able to do it's job correctly and is not suffering any visible health issues then what is the big deal. <font color="blue"> The fact that it could easily develop laminitis </font> There are plenty of what is considered to be clinically obese people who are far fitter than their thinner counterparts who drive everywhere in their bleeding cars and think walking is just a phrase not to be indulged in.
Likewise there are plenty of horses, dogs and other animals who are carrying a little more than they perhaps would in the wild <font color="blue">this is not the same as clinically obese </font> but who are not suffering as a result.
That said though if an animal is very clinically obese and its health could be severely affected then in my opinion it warrants as much attention as an emaciated animal. <font color="blue">So what is your post about? This horse IS clinically obese, the VET said so. </font>
It is all about balance at the end of the day.
What matters most is the welfare of the animal. If it is compromised then intervention is needed. If not then I wish people would stop getting on their high horse and so emotive about animals who are not truly their concern. <font color="blue"> The vet thinks this horse is obese and the OP posted about the horse</font>
If I have offended anyone by what I have said on here, tough. It's a free to speak forum and we are all entitled to our own opinions, whether or not we agree with each other is neither here nor there. <font color="blue"> Indeed and yet you are taking issue with other posters </font>
Good luck with the horse, he looks a nice boy. I am sure you will have him up to fitness again. We all make mistakes once in a while but I think some people forget that in the same way that car drivers forget they were once a learner when they are stuck behind one! x

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<font color="blue">I do not know you and cannot remember ever having read any of your posts but was amazed to read your unpleasant comments directed towards 2 knowledgeable members (whom I know no better than I know you), I am afraid that you have simply shown yourself to have little or no more knowledge than the obviously inexperienced OP </font>
 
sadly PF and S..there seems to be people who are obviously ignorant to the welfare of obese equines...

as my dear departed great granny always said..you cant educate a slab of pork...
 
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