Getting the weight right

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AshTay

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My mare had laminitis for the first time ever in January. She wasn't overweight but was probably slightly over ideal weight.

She's now doing fine and is out in the day (9am till about 6.30pm) and in at night. She has a weighed amount of soaked hay overnight (triple netted) and is out in a largish field with not much grass. She has a muzzle on. Feed is a bit of soaked speedibeet and pro hoof.

If I had to condition score her on a scale of 0 to 5, I'd say 2 (where 3 is perfect, 0 is emaciated and 5 is obese). She's certainly slimmer than she's ever been before and my YO (a showing person) reckons she needs more weight on although my instructor (owns lean sport horses) reckons she's fine.

She's worked 4 or 5 times a week - never more than 30 minutes and hacks are light. She never lacks energy, even when schooling, and seems happy in her work.

I think I'm looking for reassurance that I'm doing right to keep her slightly under (ideally I'd have her at a perfect 3 the whole time but if I'm going to get it slightly wrong i'd rather she was too slim than too fat). She piled on weight quite suddenly last June when we had a flush of grass and I was away for a couple of weeks.

I was wondering about taking her muzzle off for a couple of days but even with it on, and not much grass, her hooves are warm when she comes in (no pulse) and I guess I'd rather give her more calories with hay (less soaking?) than grass...

How do others manage this? What risks to her health am I running if she's in light work but slightly underweight? How are other's horses doing weight wise at the moment? Have any started piling it on with the recent weather we've had?

Thanks to all! Belvita biscuits on offer....
 
3kg (dry) - then soaked for just under 24 hours. When she was on box rest she was getting a total of 7kg (3kg over night and 2 x 2kg nets spaced out during the day, also triple netted).
That's probably the most sensible thing to do.
 
Can you get her to the wiegh bridge at the vets .
That's what do with mine then I use a tape and know about where I am .
I don't mind my horses on the thin side ( verses what I see going about)
If your horse gains wieght easily I would either allow some grazing time with out the muzzle or up the hay a bit.but it's a fact of life you spend part of the time trying to get wieght off them and then instantly worry they are too thin.
Being slim won't be harming him.
 
Whilst "3" is deemed to be perfect, the "perfect" 3 will be made up of muscle not fat. So a horse which isn't super fit, should, in my opinion, actually condition score 2.5.

Bear in mind that a condition score of 2 is perfectly healthy (gets the green light on the WHW traffic light system!) so actually, a 3 is the fattest a healthy horse should ever be.

I would up her work load if you can, particularly if you decide to take her muzzle off. Personally I'd up her hay quota rather than de-muzzle (unless your grass is as poor as mine!).


Also bear in mind that that many people are incapable of telling fat horses from well conditioned ones, due to the number of overweight animals they see being described as good (in the show ring, on adverts, in horsey magazines). It's a common discrepancy between studies that obesity levels in the UK vary by 30-40% depending on whether owners or professionals condition score their horses.


I think the BHS should bring out a sister campaign to their "Think before you breed" campaign: "Think before you feed" :cool:
 
I think mine look perfect at 2.5 and on the fat side at three.
If they doing very hard work they will look likes twos but there's a difference between say an advanced event horse in work and an out of work horse looking extremely slim.
 
Goldenstar said:
Can you get her to the wiegh bridge at the vets .
Click to expand...

I did "calibrate" my weigh taping with the weigh bridge at the vets when she went in for xrays. I haven't weigh taped her for a while but I can see her ribs.

JFTD said:
I think the BHS should bring out a sister campaign to their "Think before you breed" campaign: "Think before you feed" :cool:
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Since she got laminitis I've become even more (quietly) critical of overweight ponies. My mare was never overweight (one vet said she wasn't overweight, another said she was slightly overweight so...).

Goldenstar said:
I think mine look perfect at 2.5 and on the fat side at three.
If they doing very hard work they will look likes twos but there's a difference between say an advanced event horse in work and an out of work horse looking extremely slim.
Click to expand...

Agree with this. She definitely looks "poor" rather than "lean" but she's still got lots of ping and energy. I've increased her hay to 3.5kg dry a night and will see how we get on. Hopefully I can put the weight on her as muscle rather than fat.
This was her a week and a half ago...remnants of winter coat make it hard to really see her condition.



(professional photo but I've bought it).

p.s. that was just an intro test at our very local RC show.
 
From what I can see in that photo she looks ok. Seeing a shadow of rib is fine in a horse. I had mine weigh bridged and condition scored by a nutritionist last year. I was worried as she is a poor doer and we struggle to keep her weight up. She was much thinner than anything else on the yard and gad visible ribs a pointy croup and her hip bones were visible. Well turned out she was the only horse on the yard not to be overweight and was given a perfect score. I wad told she lacked some muscle but to build that not plonk fat on her. I was quite surprised that she wasn't scored as a bit poor!
 
Thanks Kat!
That's very reassuring. She has a pointy croup and her ribs are certainly visible. Her neck looks thicker than it is in that photo - but it's not "weedy".
It is hard when the "norm" is overweight to know whether you're getting it right.
When she was weighbridged at the vets she was 415kg (I'd estimated 420 from weightape so not too far off). She's considerably lighter now (she's 14.2hh).
 
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