Horse weight loss ideas

Leo Walker

Leo Walker

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 July 2013
Messages
12,384
Location
Northampton
Visit site
I'm at my wits end with my pony. I cant keep her at a sensible weight. Shes getting soaked hay and straw mixed 60:40, either in a net on the floor or in a hay ball to try and make it last, feed wise shes only getting pink mash and a handful of oats following work. Without the oats shes flat and lacks energy. The handful seems to give her a bit of oomph to do her work. SThe extra effort she puts into work is mitigating the calories from the oats. Shes turned out on a muddy field so not a lot of grass at all, although obvious some. I cant muzzle as its so short and I cant section the field off until it dries up.

Shes in reasonable work. Lunging, driving and hacking out. Shes fit enough to drive 6miles 95% at a trot, but wouldnt be fit enough for driving trials. We were aiming to be there by April, but now its all stopped I'd rather save her legs for another year and keep her at this level of fitness, but right now weight loss is my main aim.

I do pole work and canter work on the lunge and against my better judgement have started using a loose pessoa on her. I'm paying someone to ride her twice a week. Shes doing a session of school work and a hack with faster work where she can. I cant afford or justify paying someone to do it more often. I have lost my backstep as shes moved house and I cant look for another one at the moment with everything going on, so I'm stuck in the school a lot. We do dressage schooling, interval type training and faster obstacle work. She is still too fat.

I cant cut the hay back anymore without serious risk of ulcers. Shes already going without for 5 or 6 hours overnight which I'm not really comfortable with, but accepting as she gets a small net at 6am. She will not touch chopped straw, not even the palatable topspec stuff. I even put aside my hatred of thunderbrooks and bought there herbal chopped hay stuff. Thats a no as well. And she means it. She will starve herself rather than eat it.

I cant think of any sensible way to up the work. The schools deep and really hard work with the carriage, and whilst this is good for fitness and weight loss I am worried shes going to knacker her legs if we do much more.

My health issues really limit walking. I've worked so, so hard to try and get "better" and I am a lot better than I have been previously. But I'm still limited to 500ms or so, drastically less at decent horse walking speed. I used to walk her in the woods on a lunge line and let her jump logs. It worked ok as there were places I could sit until the pain settled and then off we went again. WE moved yards though and arent accessible any more. Someone suggested a mobility scooter or electric trike for me to lead her from.

I've got a tow car and trailer so could box her up to green lanes/bridleways etc. I have no doubt she would lead from one. She puts up with a lot of nonsense from me and just gets on with it. I'm not convinced I can spend £700 on a bike to lead the horse out from though, or if its even really feasible?!

Does anyone else have any suggestions of anything I can do? I'm all out of ideas!
 
Clip right out and nothing more than a sheet.

Option for a track? I’ve got a friend with an ex top level show cob who looks like he was produced on steroids and has EMS. She has rigged a track at home and it’s made a noticeable difference
 
No ideas really. I was also going to suggest clip and out naked. But it's not really cold enough to help much. Good doers are so, so tricky so I really sympathise. But just to side track - why do you hate Thunderbrooks? I don't feed it but keep being told I should!
 
My mum bought a scooter for £430ish and is planning on leading her (small) youngster out a little bit this summer with it. It is limited on rough ground as the wheels are quite small and hard, but can manage reasonably stony with some careful driving. It can go at a fair pace as well (but that does drain the battery quite quick too). I don't know the area you are in at all, never been that side of MK much so can't even begin to suggest anywhere that may be helpful.
I would volunteer to backstep, but I'm not in the UK full time either usually unfortunately (only back due to this current virus concern) and again I'm the other side of MK!
 
How far are you willing to travel? Would it be worth going into MK and using the bridleways/redways there? If you got a bike or scooter or something like that?
 
I feel your pain! Physio politely described the Appy as "stocky" today as she massaged her blubber.

There is hardly any grass (they are coming in ravenous) but I think it must be really sweet. I have muzzled and her crest goes down - but I feel bad because the muzzle is full of mud.
 
Shes fully clipped and out naked. She is fuzzy rather than bald, if she was freshly clipped she'd have to be rugged. So far it seems to have made zero difference!

I can put a track up a soon as it dries up a bit and thats the plan. Right now its too wet and would wreck the field which would get me in hot water!
 
crazyandme said:
How far are you willing to travel? Would it be worth going into MK and using the bridleways/redways there? If you got a bike or scooter or something like that?
Click to expand...

I'm just the other side of Stony, so it was MK I was thinking of. Theres lots of flat surfaced rides. I've got a triple trailer as well, so no issue fitting in a bike or similar in the place the carriage goes. I think my OH might kill me if I spent that sort of money at the mintue given the global recession we are heading into! But if it would work then I can keep an eye on ebay etc and see whats about. Its not something I can sort out overnight though.
 
Is she turned out with others? It sounds like you're doing everything you can with the feed so the only way is to up exercise, and a couple of lively field companions is the easiest way to do that ime
 
I think you're doing about all you can really, I know that's not a helpful answer!! I've never used oats myself, maybe someone else could suggest something that has a similar effect but lower calorie? Or switch the pink mash to something like fast fibre? Would dropping the mash totally and just giving the oats be an option?

I think the warm weather this winter has kept most of the horses on my yard looking pretty well covered still. Even the ones that usually go ribby haven't at all this year.
 
Leo Walker said:
I'm just the other side of Stony, so it was MK I was thinking of. Theres lots of flat surfaced rides. I've got a triple trailer as well, so no issue fitting in a bike or similar in the place the carriage goes. I think my OH might kill me if I spent that sort of money at the mintue given the global recession we are heading into! But if it would work then I can keep an eye on ebay etc and see whats about. Its not something I can sort out overnight though.
Click to expand...

What about Woburn Woods? That's just down the A5, and is all sandy tracks and trees, and you could incorporate hill work on a lunge there too. Most of it is ok to cycle on too, aside from a couple of deeper sand tracks

But MK would be ideal, I've spent many years riding with friends around the city. But definitely keep an eye out, if you think Bobbie would be sensible with it it certainly would be worth a try!
 
HobleytheTB said:
I think you're doing about all you can really, I know that's not a helpful answer!! I've never used oats myself, maybe someone else could suggest something that has a similar effect but lower calorie? Or switch the pink mash to something like fast fibre? Would dropping the mash totally and just giving the oats be an option?
Click to expand...

I think I probably am as well, but sometimes people on here have ideas I've never even dreamed off, so worth asking :) pink mash is 0.5% sugar and less than 3% starch. Its the lowest calorie feed I've ever found. She has it to carry a supplement. I'm loathe to stop it as with resricted and soaked forage she needs something.

Shes out with another horse. I'd be tempted to chuck her in with the bab highland and his fell friends but they have decent grass so no chance!
 
I feel your pain - I broke my boy trying to exercise the weight off him, got him tested and he was metabolic (ems) one of the symptoms is lack of energy, I too was feeding oats to give him energy to do the extra work - it’s a horrible vicious circle ? I swapped oats for feedmark energise supplement when the weight wasn’t coming off and noticed a difference until he broke (recurrent psd issues due to conformation and a fractured splint on the front from all the roadwork ?) when I was rehabbing his psd he was on weighed soaked hay, honeychop lite and healthy and spillers lite and lean balancer as recommended by the laminitis site. The biggest difference was a track set up on his paddock. I strip grazed him onto it and once it was eaten down so he had use of all of it it made a real difference and didn’t need to use his muzzle ??
 
I'm as sure as I can be she doesnt have EMS. Shes got no fat pads at all. Shes just got this super smooth layer of fat all over her. If she was bigger she'd be a cracking fat show cob! Shes also very sparky and full of herself, but until I added the oats she was running out of steam mid-session. Now shes finishing feeling keen. She towed me round 6 miles the other day like a small pony shaped steam train!

I am worried about breaking her. Driving is hard on the legs as it is, and while I'm trying to be careful, I'm always pushing her for more. She rarely breaks a sweat nowadays though as shes at the level of fitness that its hard to do enough of the sort of work that gets her sweating while I'm in the school.
 
Are you weighing her forage? Maybe you can give her less but in trickle nets/split times? My boy hardly ever broke a sweat too but that again was another symptom of insulin dysregulation ?‍♀️
Having always had horses that needed feeding previously he has been the hardest to manage ? still hoping to reverse it though ??
I booked him in for lameness work up and blood tests, when we got to the vets I got a snidy ‘what are you feeding him?’ remark from the yard manager - I replied ‘nothing, that’s why I want you to do tests!’ He was off the scale for ems which then prompted all my research and made sense of everything - maybe worth a blood test?
 
I'm not sure what the answer is I'm afraid as I have a similar issue with madam, although her exercise is limited due to being in rehab.
I know it sounds a bit bonkers, but bear with me.
If highland pony field has horses in that are likely to keep her moving, can you muzzle her and put her out there? Mine actually does better on long grass with a muzzle than short grass with no muzzle and she will just be eating any fresh grass as it comes through full of sugar in her current field.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JJS
I feel your pain. Millie is the same. Despite pretty much identical feed and routine to Polly (yet Millie works and Polly wouldn’t know what proper work was), Polly has come out of winter lean and looking great and Millie looks like she’s swallowed a hippo...
 
Another thought ☺️ my fellas son’s traditional mare goes flat in work without a red cell tonic to boost her. She’s a show cob so not on a restrictive diet but still needs something extra for oomph. The energise supplement has same sort of ingredients in - iron/b12 etc.....?
 
Over the past six months my pony has lost around 80kg following a EMS diagnosis. He was diagnosed following a series of infections so did present a little oddly also! The way I did it was to turn him out 24/7 with no rugs on rough grazing, and let his metabolism do the work for me. Obviously this will be much harder coming into spring! He then also went for 5 weeks water treadmill which resulted in the last 30kg loss and built up some more muscle. From what I have read movement really is the key and I will go against the grain here and say leaving them in the box is counter productive. If your yard allows I would extend the amount of time she has out, but turn out for the longer period overnight as there is less sugars in the grass and it will be colder. My pony also wouldn’t eat top spec straw to begin with but then began when he got hungry enough. Sounds like a good idea with the bike if she will be sensible! Good luck with it! It can be a absolute slog!
 
  • Like
Reactions: JJS
I'm weighing her haynets begrudgingly as I hate haynets and weighing them with a passion, but needs must. EVen if she has EMS the only treatment is her management, which I'm currently doing anyway, so there doesnt seem any point. They can go out 24/7 as soon as it dries up a bit and she will be out overnight muzzled t first, on a track, well long L shaped strip with water at one end and any grass at the other. I cant put a pull square track up due to sharing the field, but it wont be far off.

I'm just sick of it TBH. When I first got her she lost tons of weight easily, but that was keeping her out 24/7 in a very small bare paddock. Its a miserable life for them living like that. I was hoping the work needed to get and keep her fit enough for driving trials would make things better, but it hasnt really. I think if she was at full fitness, so doing 15 to 20k 3 or 4 times a week as well as fast interval work, then it would work. And then along came Corona Virus just as my backstep moved, so its put a huge spanner in the works!

She really wont touch the straw. There was a massive screw up at the last yard and she was left in for 15 hours with 2kgs of hay and a bucket of topchop. She ate the hay and still left the straw and she must have had no food for more than 12 hours. She is very fussy with bucket feed for something so greedy!
 
Is it possible to turn out overnight yet? that would increase her time moving, it would allow you to bring in and work, ideally twice a day, without cutting into her time out, her hay ration can be split into am for while she is in and pm to go out with and cut back over the next week or so until she has none when out.
 
Not at the minute. Its normally unrestricted turnout but this year has been restricted. I am allowed to tunrout overnight but she would be totally alone and out of sight or even smell of other horses, so I think its too big an ask right now. I'll have a chat with the yard manager today see if she has any ideas though. A week of dry weather will have everything out 24/7 I imagine so wont be an issue then.
 
Leo Walker said:
Not at the minute. Its normally unrestricted turnout but this year has been restricted. I am allowed to tunrout overnight but she would be totally alone and out of sight or even smell of other horses, so I think its too big an ask right now. I'll have a chat with the yard manager today see if she has any ideas though. A week of dry weather will have everything out 24/7 I imagine so wont be an issue then.
Click to expand...

Maybe as soon as possible, I hope to be able to get mine out next weekend, the ones out 24/7 are having hay reduced and are now naked, grass is growing and the ground is drying up gradually, never had such a long winter, they came in earlier than normal, my old boy who has wintered mainly out has been in at night since Jan 1st and loving being spoilt.
 
myfatty is now so slim he looks like a model, but took 6 months, and everyone has noticed the difference, he has no fat only muscle

riding schooling, 3 x times a week, 1 x week normal lunging in a circle, 1 x 2 x week pole work loose in the arena, 3 x raised poles i work him for max 30 mins, starting slowly, 4 circuit one way then change direction, when warmer i get him to canter sans poles, around me, then do walk trot and canter at different places, all this loose with the aid of polos, i do feel though that the biggest factor is the CANTER work, it raises the heart rate, he must do several miles and at the end is totally dry and not puffing. also road work when poss.

well its worked for me, i thought it was impossible, but i am careful how much they eat, they have very good hay, interestingly he is slimmer yet is wider in the saddle fit, a saddle that was too low on him now fits nicely.

i do understand the frustration and worry, ifelt the same, but am now a happy bunny, in fact i am thrilled, its like huge load lifted from me to see him look so good


but i am hot on slow warm ups, it takes a while to reach boiling point when i put the pressure on, i put my mind in slow relaxed mode, letting him flop around and be a horse for a while, then he changes, ok he can get naughty but mostly loves it, its bought home in importance of starting off a session in the right way cause he is on fire when i start the warm down process
 
Fat cob has lost over 300kg this winter. Yes he really was that obese ?

Unridden cob with "issues" that mum took on as the companion so zero exercise. Our pasture was mainly clover (all underwater now!). Fields were stripped and he was often segregated in a bare/dry earth paddock with soaked hay.

Hes hairy as and unclipped. The plan was to give him a clip of some sort to freeze some weight off him but I didnt get around to it ??

Anyway hes in overnight with adlib soaked hay, handful of mind mash to get Peogressive earth pro balance minerals and out on no grass with hay.

Initially he was very greedy. Mums previous horse was like this too; because they were "good doers" previous owners severely rationed hay.

With both horses we let them have adlib and after a couple of weeks they calmed down and pretty much halved the amount of hay they were eating. It was like they realised it was never going to run out.

Fat cob gets soaked hay, its soaked approx 8-10hrs. He now o ly gets 3 sections a night and theres always some left in the morning.

He was too big to weight tape when he arrived and ended up the vet had a bugger tape. He was measured around October time by the vet and was 1 tonne!!! Fat cob is like 14.2/14.3!!!

He's now, using my weight tape, under 700kg (cant remember exactly) so still a bit to go. His body condition is much better; fat pads are gone, you can easily feel ribs and no gulley on his quarters. He still looks fairly awful because hes in no work and has no muscle tone or abs.

Everything is under water so have nowhere to do groundwork but the plan is to start him (not sure how that's going to go as a "professional" screwed his head up) so that hes in some sort of work to get him fit.

So probably not much help to you as ypire already doing 100x more than fat cob is.

Can you soak Bobbies hay? Sorry cant remember if you said that you were.

Can you leave her with lo cal straw chop? Shes got forgave available so she cant be hungry/needing it if not eating?

If theres no underlying issue (fat cob was checked for IR, EMS etc) then it just a deficit of calories in vs out?
 
I’m not going to be much help but I feel your pain. Very worried about going into spring. One of mine has a net about 5pm (2.5kg of mixed hay and straw) and the same about 9pm. Soaked for 10 ish hours. I hang them from the middle of the stable to make it harder work. You are doing all the things I would suggest ☹️
 
They are hard to work out, lots of mentally draining things to think about and I think we get stressed thinking about the summer if they haven’t lost what we hoped in winter. I know you say it’s a deceptively slimming photo of her on the coming out of winter thread, but she really doesn’t look bad at all, she’s lovely ? obviously a lot fitter than many cobs out there. Your doing all the right things and it maybe just a very slow process. I’d carry on with what your doing and just keep an eye on the weight tape/take a photo occasionally and if her weight starts to creep up then address it - she may surprise you and keep losing ??
 
Mine always lose weight naturally once I put the track up. I strip graze it at first. I’m a bit of a feeder in the winter and they probably get far more hay than they need.
 
Hopefully everything will dry up for you soon and it gives you more options! Would the baby highland be able to go with her at night? He might pester her a bit so she doesn’t just stuff her face when out!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top