Fatties...how do you cope in winter?

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pottamus

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My circumstances have changed recently and rather than working from home I am now working as everyone else does...from an office that involves travelling to and from each day.
I have a native that must be kept trim and at the moment he is well managed by being out 24/7 on a tennis court sized area with hay from April through to October. He is then gradually given the rest of the field throughout the winter to graze on. I am managing to ride him during the week at the moment by getting up at 5 am and taking him on a short half hour hack. But this will end as soon as the mornings are no longer light as we are straight our onto roads here and will not be riding on them in poor light or dark.
So that leaves me with a worry that with the reduced work and particularly in winter when he has access to grass...the weight will pile on again. It might not, but it is a worry for me.
I can't really put him in at night because he does get a cough and discharge on hay and I cannot wet it due to having no water access where I keep him.
Do you think he will manage okay and not put loads of weight on? How do you all manage in this situation when you can't ride during the week but have a fatty to tend to?
 
I would keep any rugs to a bare minimum if at all and make sure he is worked at weekends. Although I have access to a floodlight school I normally hack in the winter and there are only really about 8 weeks where it is not possible due to light.

I do mornings, get up the yard for 6 to do all the jobs and tack up, then go at first light drowned in hi viz. When it is not light until gone 8 I give up....
 
I take my clothes to the yard and go straight to work smelling of poo and picking hay out of my hair and shavings from my bra
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Is there a school near you that you could rent or an area of field you could school in while the weather permits?
 
We had a native last year that had the same issues - we don't have lights or anything at home so riding in the dark doesn't happen. We had no problem keeping her weight down but didn't rug unless we absolutely had to and kept hard feed to a minimum only feeding a balancer. She had ad-lib hay in the field with the others though when the grass really tailed off. I'm not a great fan of the 'keep them fat' all year strategy that lots of other folks favour - natures way would be to have them looking slightly poor at the end of the winter and they'd pick up slowly and naturally as the grass came back through.
 
winter is the only time i don't worry about our fattie!! grass quality is poor and i don't rug him at all so he looks better in winter than he does all year lol, ok he's a muddy hairy beast but he's a normal sized one
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I wouldn't worry about the grass in winter. Its got a lot less nutrients than in summer, and wintering out should help him drop a little bit of weight over the winter anyway - Just weigh him weekly to make sure he's not dropping too much at a time, and remember that you might need to give him a small feed if he drops too much condition and he might need a vitamin/mineral supplement as they can't get them from the grass in winter.
 
Well if he's anything like my cob he doesn't lose anything over winter, even without any rugs and living out!
I have found the best thing if they are on plenty of grass is to muzzle them during the daytime.
Or you could possibly get someone to loan him during the week, say a mum whose kids are at school. I used to do this for a friend because of her working hours during winter.
Then when it came to spring, her cob was healthy looking and fit. ( probably a bit too fit!)
 
I have never had to worry about natives and cobs over winter. They live out 24/7, do not get rugged much and eat down loads of grass, but it has no goodness. Even the natives become very slim without much work. We don't give any hard feed and hardly any hay either.
 
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