Fat horses

[moneypit1]

So tell me, how can my three get so enormous on a 2 acre paddock, stabled with NOTHING for 8 hours a day and ridden 1 hr a day each (except my 3 yo, unbroken)? They are turned out at night and have no hard feed. The grazing is good, used only 6 mths a year and then left alone. We poo pick and spray for docks each year. BUT, they are FAT. Talk about good doers.......how do you manage with your fatties?

 

[bex1984]

I'd be giving them 24 hr soaked hay when in to stop their bodies clinging on to calories...
and maybe muzzle them/reduce their field if they're looking tubby on what they've got now?

But basically...we're fighting against nature and it's not easy to shift the weight/stop it piling on in summer!!

 

[amzy]

I have the same problem and I stable during the day and muzzle at night. Saying that though, he is still far too fat but the 'grass belly' has gone.

 

[Donkeymad]

It really is not a good idea to leave them for a straight 8 hours with nothing to eat.
You really need to up the exercise, not necessarily time-wise, but power-wise, to burn more energy.

 

[trendybraincell]

Echo Bex1984's comment..you'd be better off giving soaked hay whilst they are in. Horses are grazing animals, their digestion functions by trickle feeding, therefore withholding feed will often mean they hold onto the weight.

 

[ISHmad]

And could lead to colic or ulcers. We soak hay for one of ours, the same as Bex1984 mentions. You have to keep their hindgut moving.

You do have my sympathy, I think good doers are so much more difficult to deal with than poor doers.