Has anyone clipped to help with weight loss

No - & i don't agree with it either.

I wouldn't expect an overweight person to be stripped to a t-shirt in freezing conditions to loose weight & i wouldn't expect my horse to.

Exercise & correct diet are the key - for people & horses :)
 
forestfantasy said:
No - & i don't agree with it either.

I wouldn't expect an overweight person to be stripped to a t-shirt in freezing conditions to loose weight & i wouldn't expect my horse to.

Exercise & correct diet are the key - for people & horses :)
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This I think it is unfair, up the work, reduce the feed, correct management.
 
I have, can't post a picture as at work but she has a low chaser clip, she is rugged at night if it is freezing like it is at the moment or if it's really raining but the rest of the time shes naked and I think it is slowly working, although not sure how cold she's actually getting as it's not growing out at all

Re exercise and diet, she has no feed apart for a handful of hay and is retired so can't be ridden
 
In some cases I think clipping can be a useful aid in speeding up a horse's metabolism, you don't need them to 'shiver fat off' or to be cold, and many natives have such thick coats that they benefit from a bit of hair off. I know plenty of people with Icelandics clip and leave unrugged and their horses are always warm and comfortable.

Personally I wouldn't do more than a bib or very low belly clip (these parts aren't covered with a rug anyway even in a fully clipped horse.)

Far kinder than suffering from obesity or laminitis imho, and there are plenty of horses that for whatever reason can't be exercised enough to lose weight, through injury or lack of time for the rider etc.
 
She cant be exercised at the moment, has a very thick coat comes in on a night to a handful of feed and not a lot of soaked hay, I cant reduce her feed anymore she is on an outer track of the field to help keep him moving and restrict grazing there is not a lot else I can do hence asking about clipping some of this huge coat of.. I have rugs available for her so wouldn't leave her naked in the freezing wet weather, thanks.
 
A friend once mentioned that someone had recommended clipping an upside down chaser to help with weight loss as the horses would lose heat and shiver to keep warm (she didn't do it!)

I spoke to my farrier and instructor about this as it just didn't seem right to me and both felt it would be a welfare issue to clip the backs off ponies and leave them to shiver fat off and could lead to a whole host of other problems.
 
I do think these posts seem to create images for people of cold shivering ponies.

Physiologically a pony doesn't have to be so cold that it shivers in order for it to be using more energy to keep warm, it will just upregulate parts of its metabolism that generates heat to compensate for the greater heat loss at the surface.

I am not against using it in combination with other methods :).
 
I clipped my Shetland for two reasons, he was sweating just standing in the stable and to help maintain his weight. He was fat going into winter and had a huge wooly coat and I took it all off and gave him a 50g rug on horrible days and a fleece and no fill the rest of the time. He is fed soaked hay in his field everyday and if he had his own coat he would be the size of a house! He's always warm and is happy eating food that he couldn't have otherwise.
 
Yes and I'm all for it.

The key is to understand it correctly. You are NOT leaving the horse unrugged to shiver it's weight off and catch hypothermia. All you are doing is removing an insulating layer. You should still rug the horse suitably for the temperatures, making sure to keep the horse luke-warm to cool at all times. NEVER cold. If the horse is shivering it is too cold.
This forces the horse to burn fat for it's true purpose - to keep warm!

My connie is already in the maximum work I can safetly do in this weather. He is fed minimal feeding of soaked hay, low-cal balancer and chaff. He is fully clipped and out in a medium weight rug. He has never come in shivering, and is a comfortable luke-warm temperature under his rug. And he's never looked better weight wise.

And I invite anyone who judges me to take a look at my management (I'll happily pm you the full details) and tell me where it could be improved, if this is truely cruel. Personally, I think laminitus is crueller.
 
My daughters pony has a bib and belly clip, although strictly speaking I didn't clip for weight loss as he was sweating up quite badly when ridden it has helped. He is a new forest/section A has a very thick coat, is not obese but is fat and lives off fresh air. He is not rugged up but does come in at night with the others and I have never seen him cold however I do think clipping has helped keep his weight down and I feel more comfortable with that than restricting his food down as much as I did last winter.
 
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