HHO Horse Weightwatchers

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bex1984

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I'm sure I can't be the only one on here with a horse/pony on a major diet, so I wondered if anyone fancies doing a sort of forum Horse Weighwatchers, with weekly weight/condition reports and links to pictures of your horsey and what you've been doing with their diet?

Just thought it might be a good way to motivate each other and share success stories (and share what doesn't work!), and we could perhaps keep it to one weekly post (on a Monday) where we could all report how we're getting on?

Let me know if you're interested and I'll do a weekly post, and start posting replies to this one with your chubby horsey's details!

I will start:
Pony is 14hh and weighs a shocking 538kg on the weight tape (totally shameful)
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Last week he started living out in his piggy paddock, and he has an apple a day.
Target weight is 400 kg (it's going to take a while..)
He is ridden 4-6 times a week.
Latest pic: http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t318/bexboo1984/09062007262.jpg
 
I'll join!! 16.3 Hanoverian gelding. Was 722 kg and is now 702kg. Fon't have a target in mind but will know when he gets there!! Has several issues so is difficult to maintain shall we say. Currently out for 3/4 hgours per day. Handful of feed to mix supplements in. 10lbs hay perday soaked for about 8 hours. Works 6 days for around an hour.
 
Super idea!

Last summer my 14hh NF mare went down with a bad attack of lami. My regular vet & I struggled to get her sound, so in November she was refered to Newmarket. Although I knew Maisie was rather chubby, 430kg on the weight tape, I was quite shocked to be told that it was probably her weight which was keeping her in her laminitic state and that her food would have to be reduced significantly. It was quite difficult to accept the I was actually harming Maisie by letting her have ad-lib hay.

I followed the 'diet' allowed by the Newmarket vets and kept her on box rest for three months. I think the food restriction was harder on me than Maisie - she soon settled and accepted the new regime within a week.

Seven months on from our first visit to Newmarket and Maisie is over her lami and weighs in at a very slim line 350kg. What a transformation! We recently had our (fingers crossed) last visit to the vets at Newmarket and everyone commented on how well she looks.

I think your idea of a support forum is great. There were times I felt like the worst horsey mummy in the world, whilst everyone else on the yard were stuffing their horses with food to keep weight on them I was having to 'starve' mine.

In reality probably alot of owners of 'fatties' over estimate what their horses need to eat - sometimes you have to be 'cruel' to be kind.

Good luck in your pony's weight loss - stick at it, ignore the protests for more food (just think of a toddler having a tantrum over sweets at a supermarket check out!) be realistic over what you are actually feeding - don't guess weights - actually weigh it out. (I bought a spring balance for weighing my hay.)

Keep us updated on your Pony's progress.
 
I'll join.

Frodo is 31" high and according to weigh tape weighs 200kg (not sure how accurate this is as weigh tapes aren't really designed for Shetland proportions).

At the moment his is in 24/7 as has laminitis. He gets 3kg of soaked hay a day and a handful of Happy Hoof twice a day to have his medicine mixed in (this will stop once meds stop)

Not sure what weight he needs to be but I will know when we get there!

No work at the moment but hopefully will be lunged/longreined every day once the lami is given the all clear.

Will get a picture soon.
 
mrsbloggett, do you have a piccie of yours as she is now? Might help give us all something to aim for, and it's really good to hear a success story
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I have a Welsh D who is on a diet. He is currently 513kg on a weight tape and need him to be 495kg or less if possible! He is in a small paddock and I strip graze him by moving the tape 1 foot each day...as per vets instructions. He has last years hay to munch on too and only has a couple of handfuls of Hifi Lite once per day to put his supplements into.
I cannot ride at the moment as I have messed my back up so that is not helping the weight issue one bit! Will get a picture on soon. I can't really lunge him either because my back is too weak and if he messes about I am in big trouble!
 
I'll try to post some before & after pics later this week.

Her diet was rather strict, and I would only recommend this is followed on the advice of a vet. She was fed only 1% of her bodyweight. Per 24 hours - 3.6kg 12hrs soaked hay, 1kg hifi lite and the recommended measure of Formula 4 feet.

Usually the minimum feed recommendations is 1.5% of body weight, but I think in reality to lose weight you need to aim lower than that. Also bear in mind the type of bedding you use if the pony is stabled. Maisie didn't loose weight in the first two weeks as she was eating the 'unpalatable' chopped straw bedding!
 
i'll join!!

I have a section B who was slightly porky when I got him, he stands at 12.2.

i can't be too accurate with his starting weight (i did mark it on weight tape but someone on the yard has walked with it!)

i'm at work atm (shh) so will put piccies up later! he didn't look too bad when I first got him but then he put an awful lot of weight on, his neck was very cresty, there was no definition bewteen his shoulder and belly - just a mass! and he had a lot of "fat ridges" especially on his bum, ribs - everywhere! they were referred to as wonka's "cellulite patches".

he has been on his diet now for about 3 weeks. he has baileys lo-cal (gets his supplements in him) small haynet if he is staying in over night (he stays in 4 nights a week) and he now has a grazing muzzle to shift the last fatty bits. He is lunged (as not yet rideable!) or long reined 5 times a week.

it appears to be working and i had 3 compliments about him on saturday
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, but he still has a ways to go.

i think this thread is fab! i seem to find that it is harder on us than it is on them!
 
well done lovely idea !!!!

my pony wears a grazing muzzle 4/5 days a week and is on a controlled hard feed diet and works hard 5 days a week.

when i bought her she weighed 370kgs (13.1hh) i need to re-weigh her but a few moths ago she was 360kgs - she doesnt so much drop weight from her girth area but she changes shape and condition or atleast i think so

last year willow got a very cresty neck all of a sudden and i went into panick mode especially as she is a pony i just thought dear god please dont get lammi, that was my wake up call that i have to be more careful with her - so i bought a muzzle and since then its been much better.

i bought a book - getting horses fit by carolyn henderson - it is REALLY good and ive found some advice in there very very helpful indeed

some pics of last year pre-muzzle spring time and now

before
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/vicki1986/willow/P1010004.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/vicki1986/willow/10thjune1.jpg

now
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/vicki1986/willow/sponsride.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/vicki1986/Showing/wills15-4-7a.jpg
 
hi thanks bex1984, this is a great idea. finally somewhere with people who actually UNDERSTAND how hard it is to keep weight off them! (unlike so many of these guys http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/2123105/page/0/fpart/1/vc/1)

anyway, major is a 15hh pure welsh sec d, 16 years old now. rescued form a riding school i worked at for years as he was too "unmanageable" and he was going to be "gotten rid of" so the softy i am stepped in and got stuck with him :P

i'm not entirely sure of his current weight as my weigh tape got nicked but i'd guess at 550 (ish) until i get a new one? never very good at guessing so i'm probably wrong! he really isn't enormous but as you will see from the link i have been trying to lose weight off him for a while and the more support the better!

he's currently gone into a small paddock with 4 other ponies as he wasn't handling being stabled for 12 hours a day very well and was doing himself more damage by stressing.

lets hope the paddock helps us a bit! if anything he'll lose weight flirting with all the mares in his field
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im sorry but I think that is rather uncalled for. the link you provided doesnt work, but if it refers to the "dont rush to report people to ILPH thread" then its not that any of "us" dont understand how hard it is to keep weight off but we were commenting on the situation of the ILPH/SSPCA.

I have a lammi pony who is prone to weight gain but I manage her correctly and I currently have her at a happy weight. It probably isnt the way she would like to be as she is muzzled 24/7 but if it means that she is healthy then im sorry but she has to be put up with being muzzled rather than stabled.
 
Wow Vicki - there is an impressive difference between the two sets of pics! Well done
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. She looks a much prettier and fitter pony for the diet as well!
 
thanks very much TGM she is my pride and joy, i hope anyone who's at the stage i was at last year realises you can get there but god i cant recommend muzzles enough - oh and skin hardening gel for the rubs!!

there seems to be a lot of posts on here lately with people trying muzzles and giving up quickly through despair with horses giving them a guilt trip i remember now my pony pawing the ground alot but sticking with it really is worth it in the long run
 
She does look great Vicki1986...I am trying the piggy paddock approach with mine and he's very happy in there, but I do have a muzzle for him which I would be using if I couldn't have restricted grazing.
 
yes i was lucky enough to have a weight watchers paddock last year that my pony shared with another "big boned" individual but now she is out in a grassy field although i am lucky she has got over the initial bucket tantrum and wears it well now apart from a few rubs now and then
 
Vicki, the difference in the photos of your horse are truly amazing - she looks fantastic now, she really does.

I agree with you that people are too quick to give up on grazing muzzles sometimes.
 
haha well done F&D !! which one do you use?? does anyone else find there horse gets a bit hot underneath it? my horse gets sweaty ears!

we have been discussing finding lost muzzle techniques at our yard, we need to attach those keyrings that you can whistle at and they buzz as so many ponies at our yard manage to wriggle out of theirs!!! i think its so much better to have them muzzled and out with their friends my horse got a bit depressed when she was on restricted as she was only with one other pony and then she started getting very clingy with her which was a nightmare!!
 
well done F&D! One of the reasons I'm trying the piggy paddock at the mo is that my pony gets SO sweaty in the muzzle. Just hoping the piggy paddock works...
 
hmm, niche in the market there Vicki1986, maybe you should design a fly mask/grazing muzzle device out of some special non-sweaty cooling material that doesn't rub and can be easily found in a field?!
 
funny you should say that i have thought about it several times over the last 6 months as its ridiculous putting both on poor horses must think they have so much head gear on but id have no idea how to go about it! the fly fringe types are better but i prefer masks i think they are more effective
 
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