Floofball
Well-Known Member
Well we’ve only gone and done it! EMS has been reversed! It’s only taken 3 years ? just thought I’d share my fat horse slim story 
Top photo was 2016 and approx 680kg! George has always been a very ‘good doer’ and has nearly always been on a diet. Due to personal circumstances I took my eye of the ball in 2016 so as soon as time/life allowed we got back on a mission to get the weight off. In 2017 we were doing more exercise than we ever had, yet his weight hardly changed so I asked the vets to test for insulin resistance - he was off the scale ? and so began the weighing food, soaking hay, small holed nets, strip grazing onto a grass track, muzzling etc whilst also trying to rehab/manage lameness issues (he’s never had laminitis amazingly!)
I managed to get quite a bit of weight off him over the next couple of years but never managed to get him under 600kg. Due to a new intermittent lameness and the awful wet weather last year I decided to take his shoes off and see how we went. He was immediately sound ? so I wanted to keep the shoes off. We were breezing along till the grass started coming through in the spring and I knew I needed to get him off it but didn’t want him just stood on the woodchip or in a stable so I sent him off to a grass free track livery. It was quite stressful for him at first, a completely different way of life - but you could see the weight coming off! He has access to food 24/7, the company of a herd and is moving about more than he has ever done. Vets always said there would be no point retesting till you could ‘see ribs’ I never thought I’d see his but when I could feel them quite easily I booked for them to come and do a resting insulin, just out of curiosity really. I was SO thrilled when they phoned with the results (4!!) Vets were very complimentary as although it is well known that insulin dysregulation can be reversed and the metabolic system ‘reset’ with weight loss and management, it is, in their words, ‘very rarely achieved’ !
Bottom pic today 565kgs and NOT metabolic ??????
Having felt so guilty for letting him pile on the pounds I’m super proud that I now own a normal healthy horse and I’m now looking forward to enjoying a sound (??) healthy horse for the foreseeable ??
Top photo was 2016 and approx 680kg! George has always been a very ‘good doer’ and has nearly always been on a diet. Due to personal circumstances I took my eye of the ball in 2016 so as soon as time/life allowed we got back on a mission to get the weight off. In 2017 we were doing more exercise than we ever had, yet his weight hardly changed so I asked the vets to test for insulin resistance - he was off the scale ? and so began the weighing food, soaking hay, small holed nets, strip grazing onto a grass track, muzzling etc whilst also trying to rehab/manage lameness issues (he’s never had laminitis amazingly!)
I managed to get quite a bit of weight off him over the next couple of years but never managed to get him under 600kg. Due to a new intermittent lameness and the awful wet weather last year I decided to take his shoes off and see how we went. He was immediately sound ? so I wanted to keep the shoes off. We were breezing along till the grass started coming through in the spring and I knew I needed to get him off it but didn’t want him just stood on the woodchip or in a stable so I sent him off to a grass free track livery. It was quite stressful for him at first, a completely different way of life - but you could see the weight coming off! He has access to food 24/7, the company of a herd and is moving about more than he has ever done. Vets always said there would be no point retesting till you could ‘see ribs’ I never thought I’d see his but when I could feel them quite easily I booked for them to come and do a resting insulin, just out of curiosity really. I was SO thrilled when they phoned with the results (4!!) Vets were very complimentary as although it is well known that insulin dysregulation can be reversed and the metabolic system ‘reset’ with weight loss and management, it is, in their words, ‘very rarely achieved’ !
Bottom pic today 565kgs and NOT metabolic ??????
Having felt so guilty for letting him pile on the pounds I’m super proud that I now own a normal healthy horse
and I’m now looking forward to enjoying a sound (??) healthy horse for the foreseeable ??
