Help with a lazy horse

K

KellyLou

New User
Joined
13 December 2013
Messages
3
Location
Portsmouth
Visit site
Hi, I bought a 16'2 Irish cob x TB in march from a riding school. He is 17 years young, and was getting worked 6 times a week for an average of 3hrs a day.

Since I bought him his exercise has changed completely. I ride 4/5 times a week for about 45mins a time, light schooling, light jumping and hacking. Lunging on the days I ring it difficult to ride.

He was fed a handful of pony nuts and Alfa-A 2 x a day, but to help weight loss, and stop him napping, I changed to 2 scoops of Alfa-A molasses free with linseed and leisure vit and min supplement 2x a day. He gets approx 3hrs turnout a day and two nets of a Haylage.

My issue is I now have him at optimum weight, but he's become very lazy when ridden and even when walking to the field. The winter has turned him into a bit of a strop, he bites when bored and gives a little flick of a back leg when his rugs are being changed. What can I feed him that will keep him fuller for longer, provide slow release energy so he has abut more oomph when ridden, but doesn't make him loopy or put on weight as he gaines easily! He's a big boy so I don't want to give him any reasons to use his size against people!

if the above exists, or anything close, I'd love to know!
 
I fed my mare trugs of plain oat straw chaff, when she was on a serious diet. She had worked in a RS then gone to a private home, who had continued to feed her hard feed without keeping up her work-load, so she was frankly obese, when I bought her. Now that she is a sensible weight, I still make sure tht she has some chaff available so that she can nibble it when she finishes her haylage. To aid her weigh loss I gave her mag ox but after about 6 weeks she became very lethargic, so I stopped it and she recovered quickly. It did seem to have 'reset' her appetite though.
 
Get him something to maintain a healthy tummy especially over the winter months. Coming from riding school they are not always looked after well with their nutrition with the amount of work they do.
 
Have you thought he may be getting a bit stiff - he’s gone from being ridden several times a day 6 days a week which will have kept him moving and supple. It’s now winter, it’s cold, he’s in the stable a lot more and only lightly ridden. Does he improve once he’s warmed up? Perhaps have a few lessons on him if you don’t already – it’s easy for riders and horses to get into bad habits and it's always useful to have eyes on the ground. Check the obvious too – for instance you say he’s changed shape so does his saddle fit OK. He may be being lazy and trying it on a bit but if he’s also started to become grumpy and biting he may have his reasons so make sure he is not sore somewhere. Perhaps have a chat with his previous owner for some advice too.
 
How much roughage does he actually get? 2 nets of haylage doesn't sound a lot to me, though they could be huge nets.
The most important thing he needs is constant roughage. I would ensure he also has a full net at all times, if necessary of soaked hay or hay in a small holed net.

My 19 year old mare can be a bit meh, these days, I have increased her protein as well as doing a bit more fast work to re-engage her.

Good luck, sounds like your boy landed on his feet coming to you after the school.
 
Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

The grazing is limited at the minute, so I have started feeding a bucket of dampened Baileys Ultra Grass when he comes back in. He gets a full medium net in the day and a full ex large net in an evening, which I double bag in a small holed net to make it last longer, he's feed orientated so wont stop eating until it's gone!

I knew him from the riding school and he was the same then. The lessons were pretty much walk and trot, with. Canter on a straight on each rein . He works much better now, and I've got him out of the 'riding school follower horse' that he was. Lovely transitions and when he has the energy, a nice canter pace, but he just constantly has to be urged on in Walk and Trot. I'm starting to build him up in jumping, as it's what he loves, but he runs out of steam after a couple of rounds over 1 fence.

I got a new saddle and Girth once he got to the shape he needed to be, so I know it's not that.

I'm out of ideas! Lol
 
Oh, and he did star getting stiff when the cold first set in, so his legs are wrapped over night now, I added Linseed to his feeds, and I walk him round for 20mins just before he's stabled for the night, this seems to have done the trick.

Sorry if this is a silly question, but what are these conditions that the blood tests would show?
 
Good you knew him before and sounds like you’re getting on top of things. One other suggestion to get him going forward is to do more work with him on the lunge – I'd include it as a regular part of his schooling not just for the days you can’t ride. Vary the pace with lots of transitions and perhaps include pole work to keep it interesting for him. I found working on voice commands on the lunge helped when riding to reinforce my aids – I had a terrible problem with my position as I was nagging to get him going forward, eventually on the lunge and under saddle his transitions improved and he would just canter along until asked to stop.
Just remember work on the lunge is more intense than ridden work so change the rein frequently, give him breaks to walk and stretch and keep the sessions short to start with. Eventually he will be more forward though it will take time to improve his stamina.
 
Blood test for PPID (formerly known as cushings) only as sometimes lethargy can be mistaken for laziness and i figured that if he has lost weight but still being slow....! Only other thing is check you aren't hugging your horse with your legs too much, he might be used to the old bang bang kick boot from riding school riders and has just switched off :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top