Fat Horse Question

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tubby1

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My cob cross mare is looking slightly rotund at the moment. She is living out 24/7 . When I bought her a few months ago she was underweight & looked pretty awful. I am looking for any tips on how to maintain her at a healthy weight. The grass in field isn't great as its been really dry & the other 3 in the field look great. She is ridden every day & I have started to bring her in for a few hours every day to get her off the grass. She gets I feed a day of a handful of conditioning chaff ( its a pitiful amount ) cod liver oil a carrot & garlic granules . I don't really want to put her ina grazing muzzle. I do give er a hay net when she comes in coz I dot want her standing for hours with nothing. Our hay is rubbish so not sure how much nutritional value is in it . Any tips from others with fatties :D
 
You need to cut back how much food she is in taking. My mare has in as 2.5 acre field they had been in all winter with another horse and 2 ponies and in may she started developing a belly. She was working nearly every day and getting a very token gesture lo cal feed. The grass in her field was about 1 or 2 cm long but was clearly too much for her and one of the ponies so we sectioned off part of the field and now their weight has dropped to a good level. The grass looks very very short but they are not starving.

Can you section her off so she eats less grass? It may not look good quality but it must be doing her too well
 
Why is horse being fed? (Particularly cod liver oil... they can't swim well enough to catch cod naturally!)

You can soak the hay to reduce calories too.
 
Horses shouldn't be fed fish. I would replace the cod liver oil with micronized linseed.

If she has to be out 24/7, then I would either have her on a bareish paddock or use a grazing muzzle for the majority of the time. Give her a rest from the muzzle for at least two hours a day.
 
My first step would be to stop the 'hard' feed. She doesn't need even a tiny amount of conditiioning chaff, if she is overweight; garlic isn't good for horses, very few would eat it given the choice and ime it's not effective as a fly repellant; and echoing Tickles, I wouldn't feed a naturally vegan (herbivore) on fish oil. If you really feel that your horse needs support for her joints you could try feeding rosehips. I wouldn't give an overweight horse linseed either. Your horse certainly doesn't need any oil in her diet if she is overweight. Soak your hay or mix it with straw, or do both.
 
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Personally I always give a hard feed because UK grazing and hay does not contain all the vitamins and minerals a horse needs. Yes, they will survive, but they will be lacking in some essential vitamins and minerals.

Hard feed, if consisting of chaff or fast fibre and a balancer, is not fattening in the slightest. Grass and hay often has more calories per kg. Very few people realise that. It is why when someone wants to put weight on a horse, I say forget hard feed. You need good grass or haylage. Hard feed has one role IMO, and that is to provide a carrier for vitamins, minerals, meds, and supplements. OP, what you are feeding (with the exception of the cod liver oil) will not affect your horse's weight in the slightest.
 
I would also agree to cut out the feed, if it is a pitiful amount then why is she having it anyway? But as above, the small amount you are feeding may not be adding much to her weight gain, but if it is not needed then cut it out. Defiantly would cut out the cod liver oil for reasons above.

If you are worried about nutritional value of hay then maybe a handful of hi-fi light with a vit/min supplement? Or just a handful of pelleted balancer?

Soaking the hay that she does have, sectioning a smaller area of the field off for her? Grazing muzzle etc.

What sort of work are you doing with her and for how long?
 
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Hi thanks for all your replies, I only give her a feed because my daughters pony comes in with her & he needs a feed and to be honest I feel guilty not giving her anything. I can easily cut out the oil I was feeding that coz se wasn't in great condition when I got her & I thought it would help condition her coat. The garlic is because we are next to a wood & a burn so there are tonnes of flies but again I can cut that out. I will speak to yard owner about about sectioning off a bit of te feild but she can be fairly unhelpful with stuff like that. Her work load is increasing but has been fairly light as I had lost my confidence so have been working on building that up by doing shorter rides although we are riding for about 40 mins a Day at te moment. :)
 
Cut out feed, doesn't matter if you feel guilty, two out of my six have morning and night feeds, the other four don't need them so don't get them even if they are in during feeding time. They get on with it.

How much hay are you giving? My 16hh wb and 14.2 oldie gets 4lbs of soaked hay (and yes I have been told off in here for that but vet agrees with me) comes in around 8am, gets the net around 10am and I am back up the yard from half 4pm onwards. Oldie sometimes leaves half her net and spends the day sleeping, wb ears net then sleeps then eats her straw bed.
 
Hi tuby1. If your wanting to feed pony I would feed something like top spec lami light/spillers/baileys equivalent. Its been made to provide the essential vit & mins without the added calories. I would also echo sectioning off a part of the field. You could also lunge, 10-20mins a day can make a difference if time is tight or riding confidence is low. Is there anyone else that can ride pony for you just to add to the calorie burning. Hang in there its trial & error & a fine juggling act finding a routine that suits you & your ponys waist line :)
 
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