Help with exercise and diet pls

[pottamus]

After 5 months off because I injured my back, I am bringing my Welshie D back into work and also need him to loose some weight in a fairly big way!
I was planning on walking him for a couple of weeks up and down our hills (can only hack as no school and no getting away from the hills here). Then introduce some trot gradualy and build up the time out from half an hour to an hour over time. I was thinking of doing this over a period of about 6-8 weeks...does this sound okay to you guys...I don't need or want to rush him.
In terms of feed, he is out during the day and will be in at night from now on as I am worried about his weight and he had a touch of lami for the first time ever recently...gutted

He has no hard feed, just a handful of chaff to put his supplement in and is on year old hay in the stable. I can't soak his hay as I have no water where he is. Does this sound like a good plan for him to loose some weight? I don't want to be letting him go withot food because it just makes him miserable, so his hay is ad lib.

 

[Caty_A]

I have the most fantastic man at saracen help me out. My horse who is 17.1 (eventer) fractured his knee last year and was off for a year, now he did put on some weight and he had a tummy, on his type it looked really exaggerated. Anyway he told me NOT to cut his feed but feed at the maintenance amount which turned out to be 1.5 kg a day which is tiny honestly but it ensured he got the full spectrum on vits and mins and everything he should have. They maintain that if you feed the right amount you should never have to add supplements for these things. Anyway to the tummy he says that you should never worry about the tummy as this is exercise related so in other words you get back to work properly and the tummy will sort itself. Fat apparently stores in lots of other places like the neck, back etc so I was told. Again exercise will get rid of it all, but to sum up he advised me never to cut out the hard feed altogether unless I knew for a fact the nutrition in my hay etc. Your plan sounds just as I did. Walked for one month,then went to trot and by month 3 canter work but he had had a nasty injury so our plan was set by the vet to be over cautious. Hill work is fab!! Good luck xx

 

[cobden99]

Hi I also have a sec D prone to being podgy and I have to watch him for lami. I have been giving him feed at 2% of his bodyweight as advised by Spillers, but feeding half hay and half clean barley straw. It does seem to have worked really well, as he has the bulk to keep him happy but with very little nutritional value. He also has happy hoof and a supplement (top spec.com) to make sure he is getting everything he needs.