Fat in winter?!

[Megibo]

My mare is getting on the tubby side which is surprising for this time of year...this is she in summer after her strict diet:

And no recent photo (will take one tomorrow) but she's bigger than that! You can't see ribs though they are easily felt but I think she's starting to look fat...
She gets roughly 10 pounds of hay once a day, 2 scoops of Happy Hoof a level scoop of sugarbeet and a bucket of readigrass.
cutting her feed down to one scoop of happy hoof half scoop of beet and a possibly no grass hay will stay the same.

any ideas as to why she's getting fat?! currently worked max 4 times a week in walk for 20 mins as she's at the start of a fitness programme though may introduce trot soon as i think living out on a slopey field and marching about a lot she's fitter than i think she is and she messed around continuously yesterday without breaking a sweat!

Also she has a trace clip ear to stifle and turned out in a full neck lightweight rug.

 

[forestfantasy]

I'd guess at the feed..does she really need any? Also ties in with her messing about when riding.

Looking at her i'd say ad-lib hay would be enough

 

[Lady La La]

A bucket of redi-grass and a whole scoop of sugarbeet seems a tad exessive...
Why not just see how she goes on ad lib hay?
If you really want to feed her, for a suplement or w/e, just the chaff would be fine?
I assume she's not in any huge amount of work?

Edit, I have re read and realise you've answered my last question and no, she is not in huge amounts of work. Defiantely cut down your hard feed.

 

[guesstimation]

My boy is a dartmoor and is out 24/7 all he gets is a feed once a day of pure feed easy with their balancers to ensure he gets vits and mins and he's still not dropping weight, hopefully clipping him soon to help. Don't think the mild weather helps as things are still growing in the field! I'd cut down the feed just ensure still getting the right nutrients and see what happens, hopefully the exercise will help too. I'm desperate to get weight off otherwise spring and summer will be even more restrictive for him!

 

[Bosworth]

I have a TB, 2 wb xTB and a ID xTB. I have not yet started them with any hard feed. They have ad lib haylage when they are in at night and then are out at grass all day. All look in fantastic condition with good shiny coats. People over feed their horses as they are conditioned to feed their horses by their peers and the equine media. If you want to ensure you are giving correct vits and minerals then you can give them in a treat format, equimins do a pellet which has everything needed and can be fed as a treat. One/two pellets a day. So no hard feed needed. I don;t bother with a feed balancer, my haylage is good meadow hay, the horses look fantastic on it and all have plenty of muscle and condition.

 

[Alphamare]

That's a hell of a lot of food! That's your problem right there! Cut the food right out.

 

[JustKickOn]

Cut down her feed. For the amount of work she is doing, she's not doing enough work to warrant having so much. Her silliness could be due to the amount of beet she's getting.
IMO, 1 scoop of Happy Hoof and 1/4 of beet to moisten the feed. If not wet enough then just use water. She looks like a sturdy girl so should do fine with that, her hay and grazing.
Once you have started your trot work though it may be different, as she will have to be using more energy.

 

[Sophstar]

My cob is still carrying a bit more a belly than he should be but due to on off lameness he is only being worked in walk a couple of times a week. I have left both of my 2 ponies naked so far this year as I'd rather keep their metabolisms working when it gets a bit colder (they get a rain sheet if it turns very wet and cold) Mine don't get any hay/haylage and the only feeds they get is a handful of safe and sound twice a day to get their supplements into them but other than that, the grass is supporting them well enough as well as good old fresh air!

 

[TicTac]

We are having a very mild winter so far and it seems that most peoples horses are doing extremely well. My horses go out every day for approximately 9 hours per day and there is no grass to speak of in the paddocks at the moment.

My 15.1 con x TB 14 year old gelding has 2 small feeds of safe and sound chaff per day with a few carrots and minerals plus approx 8lbs of hay/haylage ( 1 slice haylage in small holed net and 6lbs hay in another net) he is lunged twice a week and ridden maybe once. Depends on time and weather etc. I have managed to reduce his weight by approx 30 kilos since october. He has a full coat but wears a rug with a neck cover as he is grey!!!
For his weight ( now 500kgs) he is having no where near his recommended 2 / 2.5 % of his body weight in food.

My 16.2 warmblood mare is clipped and in a medium weight rug and she has approx 18lbs Haylage a night plus 2 chaff/ mineral/ high fibre nut feeds per day. She always comes in ' starving' but is looking round and glossy.

Neither of them are having to try and keep warm and therefor not using up extra calories.

Perhaps if you switch to soaked hay in the small holed nets so that your horse still gets the bulk but not so much of the calories. Fat or not, horses still need fibre in winter if there is not enough grass and give her a broad spectrum mineral supplement in a very small feed of chaff per day.

 

[MiCsarah]

Oh dear you are feeding far too much. Mines on more work than yours and only gets half a scoup of justgrass and speedibeet. I don't know why you need the 2 scoops of happy hoof?

 

[FairyLights]

Mine are holding condition.They are unrugged. So much so that they are back out again [brought in at night
dec12 coz of wet and wind]with reduced amount of hay. I think the grass is still growing a little. its so mild.

 

[ester]

well she is essentially on no exercise and getting lots of grub!

Mum's anglo often drops weight in winter but it has been so mild even she is only on one meal a day of hifi and a small square scoop of sugar beet. Frank (welsh in no work) is doing perfectly well on restricted hay and grass in the day, sugar beet also sends him a little daft, he only gets that when he is hunting!

 

[Megibo]

well happy hoof is apparently virtually no calories so thought she'd be okay?!

i'll cut down her feed to a level scoop and just wet it so she has no sugarbeet. as her work increases i'll see if she lacks energy/drops too much weight and then adjust accordingly! she's a v.good doer in spring/summer.
will post a photo tomorrow though to get some second opinions on her current weight (i've been a bit obsessive over it since slimming her down in summer..

 

[Firewell]

She eats more than my 16.1 TB competition horse lol.
Mine eats HiFi, fibre nuts and one net of hay.
If I was you I'd just give a double handful of the happy hoof with a powder vits and mins.
Readigrass is basically spring grass and I always think of sugarbeet as good for weight gain .

 

[ester]

happy hoof is only virtually no calories on the blurb! It is 8.8 MJ/kg the same as spillers pony nuts.

I think when you have a good doer you just have to remember every little counts!

for interest I looked up readigrass, that is 12-13 MJ/kg which appears to be more than most competition feeds

 

[lottie940]

That's a hell of a lot of food! That's your problem right there! Cut the food right out.

Yep I'd agree. She gets more than my anglo arab who is a poor doer!! My fat young cob is still on his summer bucket ration with more hay. He gets a handful of Dengie good doer and a tiny sprinkle of pasture mix with his vits and either fresh veg or fruit, depends on what I'm chucking out that day.

I leave two hay bags out at night between them and I put two large handfuls of hay in their stable to share and they do just fine on that.

I'd cut the readigrass out and change to Dengie good doer, the grass will be high in sugar where as the Dengie is higher in fibre and will make her feel full and its low in calories. It's also a complete feed so you actually don't need to put anything else in, I just put a sprinkle of mix in to give him a different taste in his otherwise boring bucket!

I rand Dengie feedline when I was struggling to keep weight off my youngster and they were very helpful.

 

[monkeybum13]

That's a hell of a lot of food!.

That's exactly what I thought.

 

[Megibo]

This sounds bad, but she's always been fed the same each winter-last winter was cold and nasty at ours and she was out unclipped with no rug so i think she burnt off all of what she ate! However the winters before that she was in regular work involving canter and long hacks...


Thanks for looking it up Ester, think I'll try her on a handful of Happy Hoof wet with water as a token feed and a handful of readi grass put in for 'interest' as put above lol.

 

[ester]

I think it is easy to keep doing what you normally do with them when you have had them a long time rather than waiting for them to start looking like they need more grub

 

[Megibo]

I think it is easy to keep doing what you normally do with them when you have had them a long time rather than waiting for them to start looking like they need more grub

very true! off to bed now, will update with a photo tomorrow.

 

[Megibo]

Right she's not as fat as I was making her out to be! Have cut the food down though, she has one heap scoop (its a small scoop) and half scoop of beet will leave her on that for a few days and then cut out the beet totally. Rode her today and she was energetic but fine after a good trot! Here are comparison photos..she is a bit tubby but not fat IMO what do you think? I think she is verging on it if i am not careful.
end of summer:

now:

 

[MrsMozart]

Others have said feed, and you're going to address that, so I won't add to it .

Little Cob now has a grazing muzzle on! The field is big and has an awful lot of grass in it, so like it or not (not!), he's muzzled for a couple of weeks. His feed consists of Baileys Lo Cal Balancer and a small handful of Hi Fibre Lite - he only gets those to get his vits etc. He's not in any work, but if he was he would only get a half Stubbs of Speedibeat plus the Balancer.

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Honestly if she is a good doer she doen'st need the feed, My 20yr old 14.3 welsh mare is on 5lb of Hay a night and grass thats it nothing else and she is worked quite a bit, my warmblood is on 6lb of hay a night and grass thats it.
My sisters TB is on four slices of hay and a quarter scoop of A/P Calm and Condition and two handfulls of hifi lite and he is in work 5 days of the week and worked very hard and he is fine.
Horses are actually pretty easy to feed, mostly its the right amount of hay and grass that they need and only a low sugar feed if need just a top up.

xxx

 

[Megibo]

thanks

 

[Megibo]

bump any other thoughts on her most recent piccies?

 

[FairyLights]

She looks in good condition could loose a bit but isnt vastly overweight.

 

[Ali27]

She looks in very similar condition to my two mares but they have more muscle! I would try and get a bit more weight off her by Spring so cut down her feed! This has made me realise that I need to cut my girls feed down too! They have a scoop of hifilite, couple of mugs of power and performance ( depending on how much work they are doing), measure of blood salts and then a mug of h/f cubes in snack ball! They have haylage in a trickle net and I do add oat straw too! The only other way to get the weight off is to up the exercise! Mine are ridden 4-5 times a week in winter - couple of hacks (1 hour to 2 hours), schooling sessions with lots of canter work and then a jumping session.

 

[Megibo]

okay thanks very much