Cob on box rest - needs to loose weight to help lameness probs

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jenz87

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So my beloved cob man is going on box rest for 8 weeks due to diagnosis of PSD (operation next week to suspensories).
He has been on a diet as he gained alot of weight last year, and was loosing weight well when in work. Hes been off work now for 2 months and put on 15kgs.
I need to get his weight down for the sake of his legs / health. Yet no work doesnt help!
He also has had tummy troubles so i am wary of leaving too long without hay.
He currently gets
Hay morning, lunch and night (night hay around 8pm) and 1 small feed a day of tinietiny amount of fast fibre and a hand full of graze on gold (straw based chaff).

What else can i do, will soaking hay help? Any other feed lower in cals? Poor lad doesnt get loads but got to get weight off BUT keep his tummy healthy! :(
 
I feel your pain, hope the op is successful.

Definitely soak the hay, I soak for 24 hours and rinse well. I also feed straw as a third of the ration.
 
You can soak hay for at least 24 hours to reduce calories but still provide enough forage
I feel for you- it's hard when they cant really burn off any weight
 
I share your pain. I thought I was safe booking a holiday at the end of Feb & leaving fatty in a field. I was wrong. It appears to be spring and she's put it all back on again. Another one off work who doesn't lose weight without trotting daily. Grrrr.

Soaking hay is my solution with a tiny hard feed for her supplements. It worked wonders last time I had her on a diet and she's had ulcers before so needs a constant food supply. I soak for anywhete between 12 & 24 hours in winter
 
There is hope! Mine lost 100kgs in a month on box rest and was never without something to eat. I used a teeny holed net Martsnets or Tricklenet, soaked hay for 12 hours and also fed a large net of straw. This was adlib. His bucket feed of Fast Fibre and Spillers Lite balancer was unchanged.
 
It's really really hard I have a horse on box rest despite him not having anything like addlib forage he's gaining weight .
I do take his rugs off and only put them on last thing I feel really mean when he's cold .
 
I had a very fat mare on box rest, I was struggling with her weight and I managed to control it with double soaked hay and then a treat ball with low cal pony nuts and a bit of balancer so she was trickle fed didn't get an upset tummy. She was bedded on straw and could eat that if she wanted, she lost a little weight, she was also being fed a decent sized breakfast and dinner as her meds had to be very buried in there which didn't help !
 
My mare was obese when she came here, I got her weight down by giving her huge trugs of plain oat straw chaff in addition to her (meagre) hay ration. We was never without something to nibble, didn't have to fight a haynet and lost weight steadily.
 
Ooh actually is he is having shoes off look at doing loose hay pillows they can't pull at them so slows down but not bad for neck muscles (I use nibbleze nets)
 
Definitely try oat or barley straw. My elderly cob got equine metabolic syndrome and laminitis and I did not want her to need metformin for the rest of her life. She lived on topspec antilam topspec top chop zero and barley straw all summer. She is now normal and the vet uses her as an example to all the horse owners who say their horses wont loose weight. Her palet is now completely changed and she loves her straw though she now goes out and gets some hay to maintain her weight.
 
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