Ms.Cameo.22
Active Member
excuse me but i really don't think i need to consider my options but if you really don't believe me then fine i won't ask you to.
Got a very fat pony needing advice!
- Thread starter Ms.Cameo.22
- Start date
Ms.Cameo.22
Active Member
Thankyou!
Moomin1
Well-Known Member
Does what exactly? Need exercising twice a day to keep her at a healthy weight? In that case she doesn't lose weight easily does she?
If you just mean that she loses weight during a ride..then she isn't losing weight, like people have pointed out - it's air.
If I were you OP, I would review your management of her. Get her tested as others have suggested to start with, and then review her exercise regime. Get someone in to help exercise her daily if you cannot.
Moomin1
Well-Known Member
Which is why I said that the girth going loose during exercise is NOT losing weight.....
LCH611
Well-Known Member
But you were also advocating taking her out of a starvation paddock and not stabling her for so long. Of course I agree that the key to it is more exercise, but some with challenging metabolisms (and I guess this applies to fat people as well as horses) cannot always rely on exercise alone to lose weight, it has to be in conjunction with healthy eating.
OP you have been given some good advice about management & there are other useful sites that will help you sort out a suitable diet for her. I would also be asking your vet to look at testing for Cushings & EMS.
Moomin1
Well-Known Member
My point about the paddocks and stabling was that op said the horse loses weight quickly - therefore it's simple to keep the weight down without having to impact the horses welfare, by simply providing the right balance of exercise and diet - rather than stabling for hours on end, to then turn out on a starvation paddock..
AmyMay
Situation normal
No one has said they don't believe you. However as, seamingly, a novice owner there are a couple of things for you to consider. Management obviously being the primary one, and also your confusion over exercise/weight loss/girthing.
Do you have a good instructor or knowledgeable YO who can help you?
LCH611
Well-Known Member
Are you being deliberately obtuse? in your posts #15 and #20 you have made it quite clear that you do not believe that the horse loses weight quickly, it was merely movement of gas, so to advise that OP ditches the starvation paddock is really very bad advice until the weight is under control.
L&M
Well-Known Member
Work, work, then more work.....
I have struggled with my cobs weight over the summer - starving him, stabling, or muzzling only makes him gorge when he does get access to food. I got his weight down nicely, then went on holiday for a week - despite being in a bare paddock I came home to find him blown up again. However worked daily, this weight cam off as quickly, so made me appreciate the need for exercise for weight loss.
I have struggled with my cobs weight over the summer - starving him, stabling, or muzzling only makes him gorge when he does get access to food. I got his weight down nicely, then went on holiday for a week - despite being in a bare paddock I came home to find him blown up again. However worked daily, this weight cam off as quickly, so made me appreciate the need for exercise for weight loss.
Tnavas
Well-Known Member
You don't get gas around the rib cage, but some horses/ponies who are actually tender around the chest area (neck problems) will expand their rib cage as you go to tighten the girth. If you hold the strap long enough they will exhale and you can do the girth up firm enough.
Clodagh
Playing chess with pigeons
It does seem odd, Moomin, that you have never tacked up a horse that blows himself out.
OP - can you put a track system in, it doesn't need to be complicated but you can use electric fence to make walkways around a bigger field.
OP - can you put a track system in, it doesn't need to be complicated but you can use electric fence to make walkways around a bigger field.
Moomin1
Well-Known Member
I have encountered horses that need the girth doing up shortly after being mounted and ridden, and later in the ride..most horses in fact. I don't for one minute believe it is down to the horse 'being naughty and blowing themselves out to loosen the girth' is what I am saying. IMO it's more the fact that the gas in the gut is being worked out/moved during exercise. Just my opinion though.
Moomin1
Well-Known Member
No of course you don't. But any gas in the abdomen will cause the torso to expand, and therefore will effect the muscles and fat stores around the rib cage.
fattylumpkin
Well-Known Member
My mare was extremely anxious about being saddled when she arrived and you had about 5 seconds grace period to get one of the girth straps fastened before she inflated like a puffer fish and doubled in size. If she managed to blow herself out fully the only thing to do was wait and try again. A new saddle that fits and an ergonomic padded girth and that's a thing of the past.
Ms.Cameo.22
Active Member
IK was talking to Moomin1
Moomin1
Well-Known Member
I believe you have an overweight horse. I believe that you thought she lost weight during a ride. I said this cannot be the case. I'm not sure what else you want me to 'believe'.
I think you've had some fantastic advice from others who have suggested getting her tested, as if she is still very overweight despite your current management then it suggests something somewhere is not quite right. Either that or she just simply isn't getting enough exercise.
TigerTail
Well-Known Member
basic premise of a paddock paradise/track system
You don't need the different surfaces though they are the ideal but it mimics what horses in the w ild do - MOVE AND GRAZE CONSTANTLY. They don't spend 20 hours stood all but stationary with a couple of hours turnout. They are designed to trickle feed low quality roughage constantly.
This is the easiest way to get weight off as they horse moves constantly whether you are there to exercise or not. Got 200kgs off my friesian when I bought her disgustingly obese in a year.
AmyMay
Situation normal
You may have been. But my points and questions remain.
ester
Not slacking multitasking
Second the track system, it really does keep them moving.
An more exercise, every other day (however much then?) really isn't much.
An more exercise, every other day (however much then?) really isn't much.
EmmaB
Well-Known Member
Christ some people are being petty and argumentative on here.
OP, if I were you I'd turn the horse out more if you can, with a grazing muzzle if too much grass, and work her every day, maybe even twice a day. If you don't have time it might be worth paying someone to ride/lunge her for you until she drops the weight, then you should be able to keep on top of it yourself. Good luck!
OP, if I were you I'd turn the horse out more if you can, with a grazing muzzle if too much grass, and work her every day, maybe even twice a day. If you don't have time it might be worth paying someone to ride/lunge her for you until she drops the weight, then you should be able to keep on top of it yourself. Good luck!
Sussexbythesea
Well-Known Member
This is a really good guide. It tells you how to condition score your horse and how to safely lose weight as you have to be careful that she doesn't lose weight too quickly as that can cause other problems especially in ponies.
http://www.bluecross.org.uk/files/fat-horse-slim.pdf
As you have mentioned a bloated tummy you need to be sure it isn't just her tummy that is gassy as opposed to her being fat all over.
The only way I managed to get the required weight off my warmblood for his surgery this week was to feed 1.5% of his body-weight in soaked hay and virtually no grass. He cannot have any exercise due to his injury. I soak his day hay overnight (4kg) rinse well and split it into 4 piles in his tiny paddock so he gets to move from pile to pile to emulate grazing a little. Overnight he has 3.5kg double netted. He has 2 small feeds of chaff and his balancer and joint supplements. He lost 14kg in the first 5 weeks because I was strip grazing a small paddock during the day and although it was crisp dry and virtually bald he was obviously still getting a fair amount of grass but he also had to graze it down in the first place. To get him to lose weight faster I've had to restrict him to a smaller dust bowl with the soaked hay only and he lost a further 15kg in 2.5 weeks. I've had him weighed at the vets so it is accurate. He wore a grazing muzzle for one day and had a hole in his chin so that was no go.
Longer term I think Tiger Tails advice is sound and that's what I plan to do next year as always too much in the summer but not enough in the winter. So will save his paddock for the winter when the grass is less rich.
http://www.bluecross.org.uk/files/fat-horse-slim.pdf
As you have mentioned a bloated tummy you need to be sure it isn't just her tummy that is gassy as opposed to her being fat all over.
The only way I managed to get the required weight off my warmblood for his surgery this week was to feed 1.5% of his body-weight in soaked hay and virtually no grass. He cannot have any exercise due to his injury. I soak his day hay overnight (4kg) rinse well and split it into 4 piles in his tiny paddock so he gets to move from pile to pile to emulate grazing a little. Overnight he has 3.5kg double netted. He has 2 small feeds of chaff and his balancer and joint supplements. He lost 14kg in the first 5 weeks because I was strip grazing a small paddock during the day and although it was crisp dry and virtually bald he was obviously still getting a fair amount of grass but he also had to graze it down in the first place. To get him to lose weight faster I've had to restrict him to a smaller dust bowl with the soaked hay only and he lost a further 15kg in 2.5 weeks. I've had him weighed at the vets so it is accurate. He wore a grazing muzzle for one day and had a hole in his chin so that was no go.
Longer term I think Tiger Tails advice is sound and that's what I plan to do next year as always too much in the summer but not enough in the winter. So will save his paddock for the winter when the grass is less rich.
Stacy_W
Well-Known Member
This is my finding too. Moomin, if it's down to exercise displacing gas, how come the girth can be tightened again immediately after mounting, when no exercise has yet been had? Just because you believe something is incorrect, it doesn't make your opinion fact and you should be careful when issuing advice based on your opinion.
Leo Walker
Well-Known Member
Mine blows up when you go to do the girth up. A legacy of past owners! I put the saddle on, do the girth, put the bridle on, do the girth more, go and get my hat, do the girth more, lead to the mounting block, do the girth more, etc, etc. It start on the first holes and ends on the 4th and 5th! However the OP does seem novicey and has posted some pretty dubious advice on posts today, so I too think its unlikely the horse is losing significant weight in the space of one ride.
If I stabled mine mostly and he would not lose weight. He has to be out moving about, and when hes in he has 24 hour soaked hay. He isnt on a starvation paddock, just a huge field with barely average grass. Hes also worked as much as possible. Not hard or for long, but just getting his feet moving.
If I stabled mine mostly and he would not lose weight. He has to be out moving about, and when hes in he has 24 hour soaked hay. He isnt on a starvation paddock, just a huge field with barely average grass. Hes also worked as much as possible. Not hard or for long, but just getting his feet moving.
windand rain
Well-Known Member
Ok OP how big is your Welsh section C and have you had her weighed on a weighbridge She should weight between 300 and 350kgs should be able to easily feel the last rib and should be able to walk trot and canter without groaning. She is obviously under 13.2 and a chunky pony if she fits her breed standard She needs 1.5% of her weight in forage daily to lose weight 2% to maintain it or very close to. My solution to her weight would be to get her out 24/7 on poor grazing preferably on a track so she keeps moving all day and night and put her water at one end of the track and the feed/hay you want to feed at the furthest point from the water so she has to move between the two. Dont rug her until you really have to to keep her dry and when you do use a light weight/middle weight so she is dry to ride and warm enough not to shiver. If possible ride daily with one day off a week and she should be puffing after exercise so like humans you have to get her heart rate and breathing rate up so she is burning the fat dawdling around for half an hour is not exercise so a brisk trot for a minimum of half an hour or better still a brisk walk and trot up and down hills if possible. We all have to work within the realms of our situations and if the only thing you have control over is her exercise make sure she works hard enough to be out of breath and possibly sweating for a minimum of 30 minutes 6 days a week, I am not a fan of rugs but sometimes they are needed so you can ride at all as a wet muddy horse will not be comfortable in tack and you will be more tempted not to bother if they need drying off for hours before you can ride
Good luck at least you will have winter on your side soon and the quality of grass will fall off in a month or two
Good luck at least you will have winter on your side soon and the quality of grass will fall off in a month or two
Ms.Cameo.22
Active Member
Thankyou! I have tried putting her out with a grazing muzzle but she keeps braking it!