Chunky_Monkey
Well-Known Member
Hi all
I'm trying to get some weight off my very own 'chunky monkey', but he's insulin resistant and has Metabolic Syndrome (which makes him an exceeeeeeedingly good doer!) so it's not an easy job!!!
He's recovering well from his first ever episode of laminitis
so I'm on a mission with the weight loss regime. He lost a lot of weight (about 45kg) very quickly when he was on box-rest, as he simply would not eat anything, no matter what I tried and how much I tried to tempt him - he was so stressed by being cooped up - but obviously it isn't good for his health to lose weight so quickly!
So I've been doing my research.........I understand that every horse should consume 2.5% of their bodyweight per day to maintain body weight, and to lose weight that should be reduced to 2% or 1.5% at a very minimum, so that the gut keeps working properly.
So, I'm working on him having between 1.5 - 2% of his bodyweight per day. He's about 640kg at the moment, which means he should be consuming between 9.6kg and 12.8kg per day.
He grazes on a strip grazed paddock for 9 hours per day (there is very little grass on the part he's grazing), and he comes in overnight.
His night-time haynet weighs 4 or 5 kg (and is soaked for at least an hour to get rid of most of the sugar). His 'bucket feed' is a scoop of HiFi Lite (which adds very little in weight, but I count it as half a kilo) and this is only to add his supplements.
I am ok with the weight of the haynet and the bucket feed, but it's harder to calculate the volume of grass he's consuming - can anyone help? I found an old horsey magazine recently, and there was a feeding guide in it - the guide said that on average, a horse will graze half a kilo per hour. Does anyone know if this is correct?
Sorry if I sound like a feed-nerd! But for his health, I really want to get this cracked!
I'm trying to get some weight off my very own 'chunky monkey', but he's insulin resistant and has Metabolic Syndrome (which makes him an exceeeeeeedingly good doer!) so it's not an easy job!!!
He's recovering well from his first ever episode of laminitis
So I've been doing my research.........I understand that every horse should consume 2.5% of their bodyweight per day to maintain body weight, and to lose weight that should be reduced to 2% or 1.5% at a very minimum, so that the gut keeps working properly.
So, I'm working on him having between 1.5 - 2% of his bodyweight per day. He's about 640kg at the moment, which means he should be consuming between 9.6kg and 12.8kg per day.
He grazes on a strip grazed paddock for 9 hours per day (there is very little grass on the part he's grazing), and he comes in overnight.
His night-time haynet weighs 4 or 5 kg (and is soaked for at least an hour to get rid of most of the sugar). His 'bucket feed' is a scoop of HiFi Lite (which adds very little in weight, but I count it as half a kilo) and this is only to add his supplements.
I am ok with the weight of the haynet and the bucket feed, but it's harder to calculate the volume of grass he's consuming - can anyone help? I found an old horsey magazine recently, and there was a feeding guide in it - the guide said that on average, a horse will graze half a kilo per hour. Does anyone know if this is correct?
Sorry if I sound like a feed-nerd! But for his health, I really want to get this cracked!
