Help with fat horse and lameness

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Ambypamby

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Ok i have a horse at the moment who is pretty fat! she is Shire x ID she has been out of work for a long time. She is my Aunties horse and i have her on loan for a while to get her fit she has not been in proper work for over a year as my aunt couldnt ride her any more due to heath problems and she just went around the block every now and then. She has not been out on the feild since october. She has just been turned out daily in the indoor school.

Yesterday my friend rode her and said she did not feel sound on the left rein in trot for a few strides every now and then. On the right rein she is completley fine and she is also fine in walk and canter on both reins.

Could this be lameness or just the fact that she is too overweight and unfit and very unbalanced. Her left rein seems to be her weak rein anyway.

anyone have any ideas? thanks
 
The weight I'm sure will not be helping. I would have your farrier and vet out to get her lameness looked at, the vet can also advise you on diet info.
Is there a reason she hasn't been turned out in the field? If it were me I would be inclined to turn her out onto a fatty paddock 24/7 so that she is always moving around. Trying to get weight off without exercise is pretty much impossible.
 
Trot her up in hand on a smooth, flat surface on the straight with an experienced person watching.

It is possible that the rider was pushing her off balance as she is unfit.

Please don't go calling a vet in just because you think she might be lame - get a knowledgeable person to assess first if you can and save your money!

I assume you meant "she has not been out of the field since October"? Get her on a diet - no hard feed. Is she wearing a rug? If so, how heavy is it? She might not need quite such a heavy rug - bit of shivering might do her good, but the exercise you are going to give her will be her best trimming workout!

Good luck and enjoy!
 
She sounds lovely!

I'm no Vet or anything and it's difficult to guess without seeing really- could be maybe a strength thing from being a bit unfit, and weak- as she gets fitter and more built up she will get stronger in her frame and more able to take the work. Maybe just take it really slowly, lots of walking out hacking and hill work, slow steady work will get them to tone up and burn off the calories. Loads of hacking may be the key! then some canter work is good for cardio- when she is fitter school work will get her working gymnastically to tone up the muscles and built up so the muscles carry her rather than the joints. Just a few things I've thought of that I've done to get mine fit in the past when they ate too many mince pies!

What feed/amounts is she on? are the teeth and shoeing/foot balance/saddle fit all ok?

See how she goes and go from there and see what your vet/farrier can suggest for you if it carries on as they will know the horse.

Good luck with her!
 
Taking the lameness aside, as she is only just coming back into work I would keep her in walk for a few weeks to build her muscles up, then introduce trot, then work up to canter. You need to start gently with her or she might end up injuring herself anyway.

To give you an idea, where I used to ride in the city would turn their horses away for four weeks every summer, and when they came back they would only walk for the first week of riding, with short trots introduced in the second week only. These were school horses so were used to being ridden regularly before their holiday, and had had far less time off than your auntie's horse, but they still needed to be brought back into work gradually rather than all at once.:)

Obviously you need to be sure she is sound before doing any of this, it may just be that she was a bit sore after such a long time off. As well as trotting her up I would also keep a close eye on her feet, as being overweight is a risk factor for laminitis as we know.
 
Spudlet said:
Taking the lameness aside, as she is only just coming back into work I would keep her in walk for a few weeks to build her muscles up, then introduce trot, then work up to canter. You need to start gently with her or she might end up injuring herself anyway.

To give you an idea, where I used to ride in the city would turn their horses away for four weeks every summer, and when they came back they would only walk for the first week of riding, with short trots introduced in the second week only. These were school horses so were used to being ridden regularly before their holiday, and had had far less time off than your auntie's horse, but they still needed to be brought back into work gradually rather than all at once.:)

Obviously you need to be sure she is sound before doing any of this, it may just be that she was a bit sore after such a long time off. As well as trotting her up I would also keep a close eye on her feet, as being overweight is a risk factor for laminitis as we know.
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Agree with this. Keep things slow don't rush and please don't be trotting her around or cantering quite yet
 
I'd echo the above advice on

a) getting an experienced person / people to have a look at her action before you go calling a vet.

and b) review her fittening programme. It is one thing being unfit - in which case I'd follow a 6-8 week programme - walk for 2 weeks, introduce trot over a further two weeks and then canter over the next two weeks, but to be Fat as well and she needs to spend much longer at walk only - a good power walk, not dawdling along!

I am getting the impression she's spending a lot of time stabled - correct me if I'm wrong. but this won't be benefiting her fitness or weightloss so again, time needs adding to her programme.
 
Thanks for all you suggestions. The plan of action is we are going to take it really slow and just get her walking out every day onto the hills for a good few weeks before we do any trotting. My Farrier is coming out to assess her feet and put a new set of shoes on her as i found out she is very overdue. she had gone 16 weeks (eeeeekkkkkk!!) you honestly would never have guessed it the farrier was even shocked it was that long as they didnt look bad! she used to get 2 big meals a day and nearly a standard bale of hay. I have cut her down to a handful of chaff on a morning and evening with a bit of oil and vitamin suppliment. She only gets one haylege net in the day i put one inside the other so its really difficult to get the hay out and one on an evening.

She is also going to be turned out onto a field this weekend and as we are in a valley the field will be slightly hilly. She is having a section to herself so she cant just stuff her face and get even fatter!

after a few weeks we will trot her on a circle and see if there is any improvement. Im thinking as i ride her if there is some kind of minor injury there it will stay the same or become more apparent and then we can get the vet.

She has had her back done recently as she had a foal.


What do you think?
 
Yikes, no wonder she was fat on all that food!!
Are you able to give her soaked hay instead of hayledge? Also I would loose the oil from her feed and give her the smallest amount poss of chaff with her vits and minerals. Is it possible for her to go out 24/7? The increased movement will def help her.
Her poor feet! Glad the farrier has seen them, sure that will help her to feel alot more comfortable.
 
She has hay but its in a haylege net so she cant wolf it all at once. I will start soaking it though. Yeah she can go out 24/7 once i sort the field i just would feel a bit bad for her as she is getting clipped this weekend and although she has a nice toasty rug i dont like them being out all the time. If it is better for her her i may just have to get over it!

I hope she comes right I love her to pieces.
 
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