Horse lost condition over loin. Help!

H

HettieTheHorse8

New User
Joined
15 August 2016
Messages
3
Visit site
I've had my 16.2hh 8 year old grey ISH mare for a year now and over summer she developed a grass belly. Now that the grass is limited now, I have cut down her haylage to try and get rid of the belly. Now with that said, she got a week out in the field as I was on holiday which actually seemed to get rid of the belly since there isn't that much grass anymore. But now I've noticed that she looks like she's lost condition over her loin. You can start to see the ribs that are there and she's starting to look sunken in at her hip. She hasn't been like this since I bought her as a scrawny underweight broodmare! No criticism please, it's just a simple question and any help is appreciated! Thanks :)
 
Sounds to me as though she needs work to develop top line and the correct food to enable her to develop muscle.
I have one who is prone to lose weight over his top line as well as his ribs, and no amount of grass/worming/correct work improves it so long as he has insufficient protein in his diet. He is an extreme case but I do have to keep him on what we call his bodybuilder diet - protein rich food as well as supplementing amino acids. Like yours, he spent some time underweight so I always feel that affected his metabolism.
 
HettieTheHorse8 said:
I've had my 16.2hh 8 year old grey ISH mare for a year now and over summer she developed a grass belly. Now that the grass is limited now, I have cut down her haylage to try and get rid of the belly. Now with that said, she got a week out in the field as I was on holiday which actually seemed to get rid of the belly since there isn't that much grass anymore. But now I've noticed that she looks like she's lost condition over her loin. You can start to see the ribs that are there and she's starting to look sunken in at her hip. She hasn't been like this since I bought her as a scrawny underweight broodmare! No criticism please, it's just a simple question and any help is appreciated! Thanks :)
Click to expand...
my horse looks fat due to the gas from the grass and the good quality hay we are using but cut down on either for two or three days and the effect can look very drastic
 
JillA said:
Sounds to me as though she needs work to develop top line and the correct food to enable her to develop muscle.
I have one who is prone to lose weight over his top line as well as his ribs, and no amount of grass/worming/correct work improves it so long as he has insufficient protein in his diet. He is an extreme case but I do have to keep him on what we call his bodybuilder diet - protein rich food as well as supplementing amino acids. Like yours, he spent some time underweight so I always feel that affected his metabolism.
Click to expand...

Hi JillA what feeds are you feeding out of interest for high protein?

Thanks
 
MontysKeeper said:
Hi JillA what feeds are you feeding out of interest for high protein?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I feed straights as much as I can, soaked soya hulls (or if I have to Rowan Barbery High Fibre Mash which is mainly soya hulls) with soya meal added, plus Grazeon plain grass chop, grass pellets, micronized linseed and bran. I also add a mix of methionine and lysine, both amino acids, and a range of mineral supplements to remedy any deficiencies we have identified. There is plenty of fibre in there, and a very low percentage overall in the way of sugars or starch.
Label analysis reading is a favourite pastime lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top