He's too fat!

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doodle

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He eats lots of hay over night, huge amounts in fact. He gets it in small holed nets. I won't have a horse go without something to eat over night. He is fed half scoop hifi molasses free in the mornings, tha same at night with half rations topspec lite and formula for feet. Poor grass while out in the day. He has done no work for 2 months, but now cOming back I to work. Help!
 
Do you soak hay? If not, I would start as this reduces a lot of sugar & calories.

You can also mix hay with straw, to help reduce calories intake.

Half a scoop of chaff sounds a lot twice a day - my good doer literally just gets a small handful in each feed. I'd look at reducing this down.

Is he rugged? If so, I'd look at reducing rugs or taking off completely - not so much that he's cold, but just so he has to work a little harder to keep warm. Especially when they are out in the day, as they can move around to help warm up.

Exercise has been the biggest factor in slimming down my boy though, so hopefully bringing him into work will help.

Good luck - managing a good doer is never easy!
 
Do you weigh the hay? A typical horse needs only 2% of their body weight in dry matter to sustain their weight - so for a typical 500kg horse, this would be a total of 10kg - this includes grass, hay and the chaff.

Drop the amount of hay to 1.5% of his current bodyweight to slowly reduce his weight. With a reintroduction of exercise, the weight should come off slowly and steadily.
 
What is his condition score / how overweight is he?

I would certainly think about cutting down on his hay and upping his exercise. Maybe try double netting his and splitting it between a number of nets that can be hung in different parts of his stable so that he has to work harder to get this ration. Laminitis is a horrible thing to have to deal with.

I know everyone wants their horse to have ad-lib hay but studies have shown that four hours is about the maximum you should leave a horse without feed in order to avoid the risk of ulcers.
 
Ad lib hay is a lovely theory, but unfortunately often results in porky horses. You will have to either cut the calories or up the exercise.
 
Read an interesting article the other day saying that although ad lib is a wonderful idea a horse will never lose weight if it has access to food all the time.

Agree with the no rugging or under rugging so they feel the cold. This makes them use their metabolism as they should do.

Soak the hay and any chaff you are feeding needs to be not coated in molasses or oil. You want a combined sugar & starch content of below 10%

Lastly don't panic if the weight loss is slow, I find it's noticeable around Feb/March time
 
Oh and weigh tape weekly, it's not accurate but will show you trends. Try and do it the same time of day and make sure he's always standing the same way. Also get your hands on him and photograph him side on once a month.

Can you tell I'm obsessed!!
 
I'm no feeding expert but surely cut out the hard feed? I have a good doer native and he gets zilch, zero, nada, nothing in terms of hard feed; that and work 6 days a week keeps on top of it.
 
Get rid of the hi-fi and the topspec, the f4f is a very nutrient dense balancer that can be fed alone.. he doesn't need the other stuff.
Is it possible for him to live out? If he's unclipped I wouldn't rug apart from a rainsheet for turn out if necessary.
Hay I would soak or mix with straw and continue with the small holed nets.
 
I would definitely soak the hay for as long as you possibly can- as others have said. Using small holed nets is great but I would then also double net as this will slow down eating even more. Cut out anything other than a handful of chaff and his supplement. Then it is a case of getting him fit! Obviously you need to build it up but when you can lots of trotting and hill work will see him shed the weight quite quickly.
 
Thanks all. I will cut down his hay and look away when it's empty in the morning! I'm not sure how much he is getting but when I stuffed the net before and weighed it was 10kg. He gets 2 nets about 2/3 full each, which leaves a little in each net in the morning. He is about 640kg and is a 16.2 warmblood. I don't really know his condition score. I will cut out the top spec. I was giving him 2 feeds as he was on sarc-ex which they say to feed twice daily and he was eventing. I give him hifi molasses free but is there something else better? I could drop his morning feed. Like I say he has had 2 months off. I am a little restricted to his work due to him still having shoes off but started working him again yesterday. I really noticed his weight when I stood back and looked at him lunging. He is not clipped and current in 200grm rugs but will probably clip him soon. Can't leave him out as he would be only one out and there is literally no shelter in his field.
 
I'd cut the feed and just give the bare minimum of a good mineral supplement. In order to get results with my easy-doer we had to have MAJOR changes in life, as just shaving off a bit of the extra is not going to get a hose to drop weight. You have to be really tough. This is the regime she needs just to maintain a healthy weight:

Forage: 11kg hay split into 4 potions, fed throughout the day (more if it's under -5C)
Feed: no feed, just 120g mineral pellets 1x daily (and the occasional carrot)
Exercise: currently I only see her weekends, so one day is a 2 hour hack, the other 1 hour of schooling
Other: No rugging. As much turnout time as possible. Repeatedly telling everyone to stop slipping her extra food.

Good luck OP, it's along road ahead but absolutely necessary.
 
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