Feeling guilty!

[littlen]

Ah i have just had a good telling off from another livery about the way I am treating my horse, and im feeling a little down about it all!!

In my eyes he is overweight. He has a huge huge grass belly that wont shift. He has no muscle or topline or fat pockets, just a huge grass belly. Still when I look at him all I see is a belly and I want it gone. He is laminitic so I cant take chances with weight.

I was busy doing my stables this morning and have reduced his haylage amounts, from 2 large nets to 1 due to the fact he needs to loose some weight and fast as our grass is looking scarily long for this time of year and I also briefly mentioned I am going to reduce his rug weight, from a MW to a no fill lightweight to hopefully encourage him to loose the pounds.

Now, the said livery was horrified at this and proceeded to tell me my horse was not fat it was merely a grass belly and I needed to stop being so critical. She also told me I am underfeeding him and to switch him to a LW in this sort of weather would be downright cruel.

(he is an unclipped arab, so she may well be right)

Now I feel a little deflated and as though I am being horrible to my poor horse and that I should just take him as he is!

Is anyone else overley critical of their horses?

 

[tweedette]

Worm him, bed him on shavings and feed him hay , if hes laminitic cut out the haylage.

 

[Equestrian92]

I think the rug thing is a bit silly if he is used to one.
The haylage thing is okay I would say it just depends on what you are feeding him? But then he'd be skinny if you weren't feeding him enough??!
But yes you are right with the laminitis thing you have to be so careful.

 

[Patches]

My Section A pony is out in a Shire's muzzle, unrugged, to help shift weight before Spring! She is currently grazing in a 15 acre field of dairy grass with five others for about 12 - 13 hours a day.

She also has a handful of haylage when she comes in at 8pm, with a token sprinkling of Happy Hoof as a feed. She then gets a medium sized net of 8 hours soaked hay just before Midnight.


I'd say no rug is probably better than a lightweight with no filling, simply because your horse can fluff their coat up to keep warm when unrugged, but can't with the rain sheet on. That's my theory anyway! If our pony is wet when she comes in, she has a fleece on overnight, otherwise she's naked in the stable too.

Tell your fellow livery that your horse has it easy next to mine!

 

[ester]

some arabs are notorious for having large bellies..... we go the weight off one we had on loan but he was ribby and still very wide, he just had very wide ribs.

However the fact that this horse has had lami in the past is the main concern.

If mine he would definitely not be on haylage.... he would be on the poorest quality hay I could find, poss mixed with straw and poss soaked so that he can have a continous forage supply without comprimising his weight.

I would have no problems with unrugging either I am sure he will adapt pretty quickly and no plenty of unrugged unclipped arabs

 

[terrierliz]

My Welsh D is currently out in a lightweight turnout with neck cover and he is fully clipped, he comes in at night and has a lightweight stable rug on. He hasn't been cold and can move about in the field if he wants to warm up.

Would suggest cutting out the haylage and changing to soaked hay if possible.

 

[muffinino]

PMSL! Cruel because you've reduced the rug weight on an unclipped horse. What's the weather like there? Arabs are far tougher than some people give them credit for - it goes down to minus degrees in the desert at night, how on Earth do they cope, lol. Mine is out in a no fill lightweight and he's got a chaser clip. I turned him out naked on Sunday as the weather was so nice!

A grass belly at this time of year is a bit odd, unless your grass really is lush. Can you change his haylage to soaked hay? Increase his workload? Maybe a bit of lunging to work him hard in a short amount of time if you're pushed for time? What else are you feeding him?

 

[littlen]

Our weather is warming up, although still frost on cars on mornings though!

He has been in a MW all winter so far, he is by no means cold and has a big fluffy coat.

He cant be bedded on shavings as yard dosent allow. He is also filthy and it takes forever to muck him out. He dosnt eat his bed anyway (maybe the odd nibble but by no means is he stuffing his face on it) so it makes little difference.

The haylage issue is a touchy one, as I have struggled finding hay for months with no luck as local suppliers have ran out. He is very sniffly and hay causes him to cough and sneeze, regardless of if its soaked. I also get haylage in with yard costs . He has not actually gained weight on the haylage, he has been a constistant weight since summer but I cant get him any slimmer than this. I have had advice from my vet who has suggested he will be okay on the haylage despite the lami providing he is managed correctly and so far so good.

He only gets one large net a night, compared with 2 hay nets so I thought it wouldnt make all that much difference?

He is hacked a few times a week due to no school, but will be getting ridden lots more in spring!

He is fed nothing at the moment, he looks in good health and I see no need really. He is out from 8am until 6pm.

 

[muffinino]

TBH then it sounds like you're doing all you can at the moment and are managing his weight, so that's all good

I would stick the leightweight on and ignore the livery - fluffy bunny huggers and all that

 

[goneshowjumping]

oh some people are so funny....."cruel to put a LW rug on", what planet are some people on? it is def not cruel, and cannot believe anyone can say thats cruel!
i think you are doing all the right things to help your horse, and as said above arabs have been subjected to much colder weather than the UK!!!
the problem with livery yards is people do stick their noses in, and its usually the people that have problems with their horses that want to critisise other.
just do as your doing, and if in doubt ask someone you trust not to pass judgement. good luck getting the weight off x

 

[eggs]

How rude of your fellow livery. It sounds as though you are doing the best you can for your boy and it is up to you what rugs he has on. Personally one of my bug bears is people over rugging (in my eyes) their horses but I don't tell them.

I've got the 4 / 5 year olds out unrugged as I didn't want them going into spring carrying too much weight. Even though they have access to a large barn for shelter they very rarely go into it and happily stand out in the pouring rain.

The only suggestion I can make is to maybe give a little less haylage but put it into two nets - one inside the other - to slow him down. I have never tried soaking haylage but believe it is OK to do so.

Arabs can have 'well sprung' ribs which can look a bit like a grass belly.