Dan's carrying a bit more weight than I'd like - how to get rid?!

[Sol]

Probably not helped tonight by his lovely belly stuffed full of grass as he decided at some point today to jump into the ponies field and stuff himself silly... *sigh*

But, he's certainly not FAT (nowhere near tbh) but he is at the upper limit of what I'd want to see on a horse of his build and you do have to poke around to find his ribs

He's currently getting haylage at night but not as much as he was getting, is turned out from about 9am-5pm (depending on when I ride, sometimes a little less)
He has 2 feeds a day of a balancer (the amount it said on the bag), some Hi-fi (just enough to cover the bottom of the bucket by about 2cm deep) and a handful of pony nuts or so, sometimes some carrots.

And he works 6 days a week, for no less than half an hour per day, usually 40-50mins, schooling or hacking.
Not sure what else I can do? I was working him twice a day (also using lunging/hacking etc) but I'm now riding for someone else most mornings so that's not an option now

He actually looks worse in that photo I think :/ (jumping saddle doesn't help!)

Terry's chocolate orange for anyone who can think of anything

 

[charmeroo]

To be honest - I think he looks fine! The only thing which you could do is soak his haylage for half an hour to reduce the goodness in it. This way he will get the roughage but not the nutrients which as you are feeding him anyway will be fine!

 

[moses06]

he looks fine to me and to be totally honest with the hay situation as it is, I wouldn't be worried about sending him into winter slightly fat and letting him drop off over the season......

 

[Sol]

True.... once I go back to school I should have a more consistent idea of how much time I have anyway so it'll be easier to work him harder in a way.... at the moment it's 20mins to the yard, but 20mins in the other direction (from home!) to the place where I'm riding these other horses, not helpful!

Even through last winter though he was never exactly 'slim' He always seems to stay well covered!

I don't know, will have another look at him tomorrow morning whilst he doesn't have a belly full of grass and get some better piccies maybe, I'm ALWAYS worrying over nothing so this wouldn't surprise me if I was doing just that....

Thanks!