Cresty and fat cob, but tucked up and a little hippy?

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Marley&Me

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Hi All

I wonder if you can help, my 6 year old traddy cob is on grass livery and is a wooly bear at the mo. But I have noticed he looks hippy and tucked up, but has a crest and a gully down his back/bum.

He is obviously fat, despite living on fresh air. He is on no feed at the mo and living on very sparse grazing....think starvation paddock. He is lami prone. He has been on the sparse grazing a month and last week (Fri) I though he looked a bit tucked up and hippy, I could feel his ribs (just) and as he has got to live out all winter, I thought he needed a little more. So on Saturday I moved him to a paddock with more grass though not loads. Within 24 hours he had a huge crest and was clearly fat, thought still looks hippy and tucked up. He has a slightly starey coat.

Due to the crest I have moved him back to the sparse paddock.

What is causing the tucked up-ness??? Could it be cold? Lack of fibre? Worms? he is due to be wormed with the yard programme next week.

He seems happy enough, but I am concerned, any advice or thoughts?
 
He could be deficient in something, esp if he needs sparse grazing. I would maybe consider feeding pink powder (for digestion) and a vit/min supp in a handful of Healthy Hooves/Happy Hoof each day if that's practical?

I would do a worm count to see what wormer he needs, even if you do it a week or two after worming it will help to show if theres resistance to the wormer or worms other than the types the wormer is covering.

It might also be cold - Im feeding lami prone girl soaked (12 hours) hay in her paddock even tho we have 40 acres of grass - I need her to lose the crest but still stay warm. Frustrating or what? But it's a lovely feeling to see the excess weight gradually melting off her at last.

So in summary to be safe keep him in the sparse paddock but make sure the wormers are working, his tummy is working and he has the vits and mins he need. Maybe a paddock block (not a tub, one without molasses, the block type)?
 
You shouldn't starve him! He needs fibre and should have some form every day even though you are trying to slim him down. Why do people think they can starve fat animals slim when you wouldn't do that to a human!!

Find out what he weighs and then make sure he has at least 1.5% of his body weight a day in fibre ( soaked hay split into 2 or 3 small holed nets) plus excercise if you want him to loose weight or 2.5% a day in fibre ( same as above) for just maintainance.
 
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Firstly, is your cob alone in this? Are any other horses on your yard similarly affected?

If not, it could be the cold - I don't think you say whether he is rugged or not - and maybe a lack of fibre. As the owner of a Great Crested Cob I know the worries; but I did notice that when she was on quite severe food restriction in the summer, her crest remained although you could, for the first time ever, see her ribs.

Is he sound when you ride? and happy to be ridden? How does he seem in himself? I think you need to weigh all these things up beefore you panic too much. Could you strip graze the better paddock so that he gets a bit of grass, which should be now be not as rich as in summer, but not so much that he bloats up. It will be interesting to hear what conclusions you come to. Hope he's OK
 
TicTac said:
Find out what he weighs and then make sure he has at least 1.5% of his body weight a day in fibre ( soaked hay split into 2 or 3 small holed nets) plus excercise if you want him to loose weight or 2.5% a day in fibre ( same as above) for just maintainance.
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I agree. If he is cresty and as you describe on grass, do consider metabolic issues. Think about treating him as a laminitic and have think about a Cushings and insulin resistance test for him.
 
amandap said:
I agree. If he is cresty and as you describe on grass, do consider metabolic issues. Think about treating him as a laminitic and have think about a Cushings and insulin resistance test for him.
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This, and TicTac's in the same post (remember grazing counts towards forage levels but obv the bulk will be hay). I always thought Cushings was an older nag's syndrome - turns out it's becoming common in younger ones.

Scarier bit over, I'd recommend TopSpec AntiLam - it's designed for those prone to lami and has all the vits and mins. When my new boy arrived in May massively overweight, I was advised not even to start with TopSpec Lite and to put him straight on AntiLam until some of the weight shifted.
 
bloods and fibre (ie soaked hay or a mix of soaked hay and straw) the tucked up ness is more than likely a lack of fibre. nos of pooh per 24 hr?
 
I recently have been to a shown and got asked by the judge if my 11 year old cob is stressful but she is not at all, then she said that she is very tucked up and needs to put weight on but only in the hippy area, she is not skinny by any means but not fat either, she is rugged when needed and has soaked hay, due to respiratory problems, the feed I give her is a handful of mollichaff and 2 scoops of balancer. Can anyone help?
 
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