Grass belly?

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Kath0711

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Hi Guys!

I have a 16.2hh TB mare who lives out 24/7 as due to her past history is very anxious when stabled. She's 15 and is in reasonably light work due to injury but is able to do more each month as she gets stronger.

she has been on very small feeds of fast fibre with chaff and supplements all summer as the grass in our 20 acre field is very very long (above knee height in places!)

She currently looks very rounded underneath which I thought was fat. To be more accurate she looks as if she's about to give birth! At Burley Horse trials this weekend I was talking to a rep from Saracen horse feeds that told me her 'grass belly' is not fat but actual grass that she is holding in her hind gut to ferment for longer as she isn't getting enough calories?

He has recommended putting her on Equi-jewel and Re-leve? Last winter she was having fast fibre and calm and condition. She needs no extra energy!!

Some advice would be great please? Is it true that her belly is her way of telling me she needs extra calories and is the Saracen combination a good one for the general type of horse I have?

Thanks xxx




 
How about a probiotic like Protexin to help her break down the fibre more efficiently? And then make sure she is getting enough calories from her feed? A&P calm and condition is a good high calorie feed with no cereal :)
 
Thanks, I will look into the probiotic. I only bought her about 8 months ago and she was quite thin and in a poor condition. I couldn't let her go to yet another bad home and I must admit that after only a couple of weeks on calm and condition she looked like a different horse! I've been reluctant to give her much over summer because of the amount of grass but she's gone from no work at all to 4x weekly walk and trot only. Her girth is now 58" but everyone said don't feed her she's got enough grass! So many opinions! It's hard to know whats best! Xxx
 
I agree that advice is definitely something I've never heard of before. Protexin Gut Balancer is really good for bloating so worth a try, you can't do any harm! x
 
Protexin is bery good, but also very expensive.

A cheaper long term solution might be to put her on pink powder, and also avoid having her out at grass for too long when it is rainy after a period of warm dry days as this is when the grass comes through big style. Although you say she can't be stabled, maybe try strip grazing instead or even a muzzle for these days.
 
I looked into cost when putting my two on a probiotic after a recommendation from the vet. On the concentrated use of PP (which is the only way you'd get enough probios per dose) a 700g tub of PP will last 21 days and the 700g tub of GB will last 40 days. 20p cheaper to feed Protexin per day (geeky I know!!!) and they are definitely better for having it! Good luck with sorting out your girl Kath0711... It is a minefield out there!!!
 
Protexin is excellent and if you can afford to buy the large one it's good value.
Horses do get a grass belly from the bowels being full of grass water and gas it's settles if you bring them off the grass .
When I evented my horses off grass they where stabled with turnout for two nights before the competition some of them could look drastically slimmer in forty eight hours .
Your horse may also have weak back and abdominal muscles which can give the same look.
Not sure how someone could tell without seeing your horse though .
 
Hey thanks for all of your advice! I will definitely get some protexin for her. Price isn't an issue if it means she's more comfortable! As you said 'Morse Horse' it can't do any harm! Stabling really isn't an option. She has been severely beaten in the past and I suspect this has something to do with it. She box walks constantly to a point where she's running around it making lots of noise and poos every few minutes through anxiety although tied up outside she will stand happily for as long as she needs to!

Her back and pelvic muscles are weak as she had numerous problems when I got her and I didn't work her at all for a long time to give everything a chance to settle.

What would you suggest as a good winter feed? There are a lot of balancers out there now and this is my first horse I've had in 10 years so I'm more used to soaking and mixing everything in separately! There are so many and obviously every manufacturer says theirs are the best! I did like the look of TopSpec?

Xxxx
 
Goldenstar was thinking the same about the abdominal muscles, if her back end is week it may just be that she is not using her back so her belly will hang down and look fatter than it really is, what is her top line like? Sounds like its more to do with her posture and week back than a grass belly.

Feed I would maybe try unmolassed sugar beet with a good chaff and some micronised linseed to keep her condition, its mainly fibre and oil and cant really do her any harm if she is not worked.
 
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My mare has a grass belly and a lot of it is due to lack of muscle. Physio gave us steches and lifts to do and said work long and low over raised poles helps. Pessoas also meant to be good but depends if you like the concept of using them. As a feed additive, fennel works well with an old boy we have who is rather erhummm gassy...

Pinkvboots said:
Goldenstar was thinking the same about the abdominal muscles, if her back end is week it may just be that she is not using her back so her belly will hang down and look fatter than it really is, what is her top line like? Sounds like its more to do with her posture and week back than a grass belly.

Feed I would maybe try unmolassed sugar beet with a good chaff and some micronised linseed to keep her condition, its mainly fibre and oil and cant really do her any harm if she is not worked.
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My mare developed a very bloated tummy, she was very uncomfortable with it and I felt she was only one step away from colic. I tried her on various supplements - charcoal, fennel, protexin and found pronutrin to be the best (but expensive). But what has made the greatest difference is changing where I keep her. She had been kept on ex-dairy pasture which had been fertilised, with separate summer and winter grazing. She just couldn't cope with the summer grazing which caused the bloating. I moved livery yards, onto grass managed for horses where she stays on the same field all year, and the bloating completely disappeared within a week with no reoccurrence.
 
I'm hoping to move to my own yard before next summer so I'm hoping I can prevent it next year. She has now been on protexin for 2 days so over the next week or two I'll hopefully see a difference! If its working is it a noticeable reduction in belly size? She doesn't appear uncomfortable but she has been very reluctant to be mounted all summer? Once on she stands still and works well. I assumed she was worried it would be painful. A memory of the past but maybe bloating could be the cause? I'm certainly reluctant to do exercise when I'm bloated! Xxx
 
Horses at grass get grass bellies because.........they're full of grass, it's quite simple. If they eat too much grass their bellies get big (just like us, really). I would only worry if there was a huge belly and you could see ribs &/or the top line was very poor, in that case then maybe worming would be in order. The advice of the feed rep was nonsense (if anything, horses on grass have faster transit times through the bowel), but then their job is to sell you stuff, isn't it. I'm not sure why you are feeding a supplement, is she poor or suffering from some ailment? The best thing to do if a horse has an expanded belly is to restrict the grazing (strip grazing works for mine) and up the work.
 
Morse Horse said:
I looked into cost when putting my two on a probiotic after a recommendation from the vet. On the concentrated use of PP (which is the only way you'd get enough probios per dose) a 700g tub of PP will last 21 days and the 700g tub of GB will last 40 days. 20p cheaper to feed Protexin per day (geeky I know!!!) and they are definitely better for having it! Good luck with sorting out your girl Kath0711... It is a minefield out there!!!
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~Agree with your calculations, but my horse has been on it for four years consistently so he only has two scoops a day, or three when the grass is coming through or he is colicky which has so far been four times in the last month.

And horses that are bloated need to be ridden/lunged or horse walked to get rid of the bloating and gas.
 
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I have been in the same situation. I moved my new horse horse (which is worse when they are new as its the unknown) into a paddock full of clover, ex dairy pasture. I live on a farm and unfortunately that's all I have at the moment apart from the small orchard field that he went in when he first arrived (now that's bare) I thought he was on the verge of colic. His grass belly appeared after 2 days. He looked so uncomfortable. I started to use protexin immediately and ride as often as I can. Which has made a lot of difference. But when we bought him, he was so unfit. So it's all coming together as he gets fitter. So we can banish the bloating when out riding. Have you got a small area with a lot less grass that your horse could go into at night. I have found putting my boy out in grassy field during day. Then back into the bare paddock at night has helped a lot. He has one feed of hifi lite chaff, protexin, superflex, fibre nuts. I also give him a few mounds of hay around to find at night and his grass belly is defo going down. Without having to put him in a stable. It's worked for him.
 
Just a thought, but I see you haven't had the mare long. Has she had any foals?

I had a mare here, bred a foal from her (her second?), and she was exactly the same size after foaling as she was when heavily pregnant! I sent some photographs to my equine vet and he suggested she might have ruptured ligaments during a previous foaling and wanted to do a full internal/external investigation.

She wasn't really suitable as a brood mare anyway as he conformation was not ideal so we broke her and sold her as a riding pony. Her new owner does not intend to breed and is delighted with her so it all ended well.

So that is another possible explanation for you.
 
My mare often looks pregnant, but definitely isn't! After exercise she looks completely normal (in fact she looks pretty good at the moment as she has been in work all spring and summer and has decent muscle). It's just gas. Some horses seem more prone to it. My old YO has a mare who you would swear was in foal and he even had her scanned once as two of the new liveries just wouldn't believe she could be that shape normally. However he did make it a bet; the loser paid the vet's fee.
 
OP if you haven't had a horse for a long time you might be interested in this free online course:https://www.coursera.org/course/equinenutrition
It's run by the university of Edinburgh vet school and is coming around again next january. I did it last time and found it interesting, flexible and not too demanding time-wise.
Interestingly - they had an online forum where you could ask questions of the tutors and the subject of grass belly came up. Their explanation was that it was due to 'lousy groceries' ie if the grazing is poor for horses, the material is retained for longer in the hindgut in order to extract the maximum nutritional value from it. On saying that - low nutritional value does not necessarily mean lacking in calories does it? You could be giving a high calorie feed, but if the horse is on poor grazing, then theoretically grass belly could still occur. Just my thoughts. I might ask that question when I do the course again!
I would agree with what pinkyboots said on feeding btw.

It sounds like your poor mare has had an horrific time! I'm glad that she is now getting the care she deserves. Good luck with her!
 
My mare (and to some extent some of our other horses) gets grass bellies pretty badly. She is in the same situation in that she has been off for a while, and not been properly fit for years. We also have lots of grass, although have restricted it in previous years with muzzles and now have sheep in with them to keep the grass short. Our grazing is not seeded grazing, just meadow grass, but we live in a wet area, so it is lush and green - can't say I would term it as particularly good or bad grazing, so don't agree with either theory on the grass quality (will be interesting to discuss this as I have enrolled for the online feeding course this year). In winter they live on a hard standing with decent, but not ridiculously top class, haylage. I have taken them to a weigh bridge and equine nutritionalist session this summer, and they seconded my opinion that they are not particularly fat, but rather soft and unfit. I have had my mare eight years, and have found that the only thing that gets rid of the grass belly is work - it only goes when she is really fit. Hopefully you will find that it goes as she comes back into work and starts doing more..
 
I have a very good doer gelding and we've moved to a yard with much less grass which is what he's needed and while he's already shifting some weight he's holding onto his belly - but like others have said I think a combination of being a larger size for some time though much of his belly would deflate overnight as was just water and gas and so the main thing I think is needing to use himself properly and tighten up his stomach muscles which I'm trying to work on now. He's never been one for expending the energy he should. He does need something as on so little grass so beyond soaked hay when in, he's now on a lite balancer for all his vits and mins which has something in it also to help hindgut which he has with an unmollassed chaff as I also give him a maintenance joint and breathing supplement.
 
Cortez said:
Horses at grass get grass bellies because.........they're full of grass, it's quite simple. If they eat too much grass their bellies get big (just like us, really). I would only worry if there was a huge belly and you could see ribs &/or the top line was very poor, in that case then maybe worming would be in order. The advice of the feed rep was nonsense (if anything, horses on grass have faster transit times through the bowel), but then their job is to sell you stuff, isn't it. I'm not sure why you are feeding a supplement, is she poor or suffering from some ailment? The best thing to do if a horse has an expanded belly is to restrict the grazing (strip grazing works for mine) and up the work.
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This seems to make good sense. Of course the feed rep was doing their job in that they were trying to sell you the most expensive thing and blind you with science into the bargain.
 
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