Horse weight loss ideas

Have you thought about trying Metaslim from Simple Systems (its quite palatable) - I used it when the spring grass was making Tal hyper and it did seem to help.

Hope you find a solution x
 
What's worked for my coblet is soaked hay in trickle nets - they really do slow the consumption by about 3 times thereby keeping them trickling away as nature intended.
 
Shes not enormous, but she is overweight. I can feel ribs but I have to prod a bit. This is a flattering pic but the only side on one I have I meant to take some today and forgot!

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These are unflattering pics and shes not quite as fat as she looks here. You can see shes fairly well muscled though. The reality is somewhere between the two photos

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My 13 hand pony has been on a diet since the autumn and has lost weight. It's been hard work so I feel your pain. At the end of last summer he weighed 363 kilos- we had a weighbridge visit- and looked fat. Vet saw him and wanted a lot off - down to just under 350. He said he could go down to 1.2% of body weight in forage and obviously to spread this out over 24 hours. Pony was living out in a fairly bare paddock. I weighed every hay net - he had a quarter of his ration with his breakfast, a quarter at lunchtime and half over night, which was soaked all day. Overnight he also had a tub of Top Spec Zero chaff which he had eaten up by the morning. He did some exercise every day- only having a day off if it was tipping down. This included hacking, lunging, long reining, jumping and best of all being schooled by someone with legs of steel who got him moving! He lacks energy and needed some feed to help. I tried oats but these made no difference and he seemed to put weigh on with them. He now has Pure Feeds Easy which gives him a bit of energy but doesn't seem to pile the weight on. He had a hunter clip and wore the minimum weight rug possible. I've never put a muzzle on him but may try this year as I'd like to try to minimize weight gain over the summer. I wanted to get him reweighed now but unfortunately have had to cancel due to the virus. I monitor his weight with a weigh tape and how easy his girth is to do up.
 
We can swap, my boy is on alfalfa pellets (6 liters per day) + oats + hay, virtually no work and still looking a bit thin.
But I do understand as the shetland welshie cross is a very good doer. The only way to keep her slim is to keep her off the grass, no grain and a mix of hay and straw. I think in your case your mare is probably getting quite a bit of grass and that's what is keeping her looking well.
I'd be tempted to loose the oats and relax the work but swap her to a "starvation" paddock with some hay when Spring kicks in. It's a shame she won't eat straw as it's really useful for good doers but soaked hay should be good too.
 
I had a proper look at the field today, its churned up and muddy but there is grass coming through. Very little of it though, I checked the edges as well in case it was growing and being eaten off straight away. I think the short luminous green shoots are just so sugary its whats tipped the balance. Shes being schooled under saddle once a week and being hacked out to do as much fast work as they can. Another week and it might be dry enough to section her off, but not unless it stops raining!
 
Leo Walker said:
I'd love a big but old carpark for her. One that had some tiny tufts of grass but was mainly grass free!
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The place I am moving to has exactly that, about an acre of hard standing, some concrete, several barns, sheds and bits of grass around the edges, I will only have about an acre of grazing but for 1 sec a, an old pba who is not great in winter but piles on the weight in summer it will be ideal,, the ISH will have to put up with less grass and may be found an alternative once I am there and can do a search.

I am unsure about exactly how I will use it but they should all be able to have shelter, a track of various hard surface, some grass to nibble all of the year and hay provided, from my point of view no mud in winter when they will be mainly on the hard and barns sounds perfect after this winter, I am thinking of turning part into a sand area so they can have a roll and a play with it possibly being big enough to lunge the little one.
 
be positive said:
The place I am moving to has exactly that, about an acre of hard standing, some concrete, several barns, sheds and bits of grass around the edges, I will only have about an acre of grazing but for 1 sec a, an old pba who is not great in winter but piles on the weight in summer it will be ideal,, the ISH will have to put up with less grass and may be found an alternative once I am there and can do a search.

I am unsure about exactly how I will use it but they should all be able to have shelter, a track of various hard surface, some grass to nibble all of the year and hay provided, from my point of view no mud in winter when they will be mainly on the hard and barns sounds perfect after this winter, I am thinking of turning part into a sand area so they can have a roll and a play with it possibly being big enough to lunge the little one.
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That sounds ideal! I am so jealous! I wish more livery yards could set up something similar!
 
RHM said:
That sounds ideal! I am so jealous! I wish more livery yards could set up something similar!
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I was not planning on having any liveries but it did occur to me that taking a short term livery needing restriction for whatever reason may be an option, I really do not want any permanent ones, will not have a school or stables and do not need the hassle, I have not exchanged yet but it should go through within the next few weeks and already have one provisionally booked in for mid May providing I can get the fencing done.

It was a balancing act finding the right place, they either had too much land, too little, too much money, on a main road etc. this is a compromise but one that I think the horses can be happy with, they will have a fairly interesting environment just not as much mud and grass as they are used to.
 
be positive said:
I was not planning on having any liveries but it did occur to me that taking a short term livery needing restriction for whatever reason may be an option, I really do not want any permanent ones, will not have a school or stables and do not need the hassle, I have not exchanged yet but it should go through within the next few weeks and already have one provisionally booked in for mid May providing I can get the fencing done.

It was a balancing act finding the right place, they either had too much land, too little, too much money, on a main road etc. this is a compromise but one that I think the horses can be happy with, they will have a fairly interesting environment just not as much mud and grass as they are used to.
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You definitely should consider taking on rehab liveries on a full livery basis, speaking from experience people are very much prepared to pay for this! You can also look forward to winters mud free, sounds completely blissful!

Me and my OH will hopefully be looking for something similar next year and the thought of being able to manage his weight myself makes me want to cry with happiness ?
 
She bounced around 11kms today including a long uphill stretch of 2kms at least. She trotted 95% of it and didnt break a sweat. She was really lively and forward and had a marvellous time. She was just tiring as we got home and we walked the last kilometre, but she still had enough left in the tank that she'd have gone round again.

I think upping the fast work is all I can do now. I'm paying someone to hack and school her so hopefully it stays dryish and they can get her really cantering out on the bridleways etc. Nothing else I do is making any difference!
 
I've got the option of turning her out into a pen, roughly 10m x 10m which has longer grass so she can be muzzled or she can continue to go into the bigger field where the grass is too short to muzzle. WWYD as I cant decide whats best at this point!
 
She is not as bad as some cobs I see around at the moment! You are definitely do the best you can by the sounds of it.

Bigger field is probably best as she will have more space to move, maybe trot and canter about if she feels like it.

Personally I would still test for EMS as the vet could then possibly help and you might get the needed results from her.

A Before and After each season picture from now on will definitely make you feel better though!
 
There isnt really any point in testing for EMS. Theres no miracle treatment option. If she ever gets to the cresty neck/fat pad stage then I'll reassess. I'm not sure the bigger field and moving about more theory works in reality, it jsut gives her access to lots more short, sweet grass. I'm not overly keen on her being penned up either though so I'm just not sure what to do for the best!
 
Until recently, I've always had horses that are a challenge to keep weight on and complained about the feed bill. I currently have 2 cobs who are very good doers (not sure where I went wrong and how that happened???) Seriously it's such hard work. No season works or helps. They are constantly hungry... even when they look like baby hippos they can eat their own body weight in hay and still break into the feed room for more. They could live on a horse walker and still be "large". They can literally eat their way through a muzzle to ensure they hoover up 2 acres of grass in a night and still come in looking for more. I wish there was an answer to have a fit, slim cob type. Sadly there is no solution - just shop for a normal horse...

P.S I think I'm the human equivalent of a cob... send chocolate and wine, I really need it or i'll suffer
 
Hah I think I’m a human cob too! Mine is muzzled but boy can he still eat with it on (green guard which fits better but isn’t as restrictive as the shires bucket one). They are going out overnight soon. I’m worried about that and not sure I want him in a muzzle overnight without anyone keeping an eye on him. Is that silly?
 
Bernster said:
Hah I think I’m a human cob too! Mine is muzzled but boy can he still eat with it on (green guard which fits better but isn’t as restrictive as the shires bucket one). They are going out overnight soon. I’m worried about that and not sure I want him in a muzzle overnight without anyone keeping an eye on him. Is that silly?
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I used to have to strap mine on under a headcollar etc and he still got it off, so I wouldnt worry. They are designed to break free in the event of an accident.
 
100% change your hay nets to nibble nets (or similar) You might have already tried but honestly how much it slows them down is incredible. I dont like haynets but i really do get the point of these slow feeder ones. They make the shires greedy feeder ones look pointless! I was able to half his intake when i thought he was a bit tubby and didnt worry that he was going hungry as it took him so long.
 
Do you think someone is feeding her behind your back . When I feel my horse is getting fat I just under rug her and because She is clipped the weight will fall off her . I started it last week and now my horse is gone back to average weight.
 
AUB said:
Couldn’t you find someone that would hack her out a few times a week without you paying them?
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Someone was coming to see her tomorrow but I think I will have to cancel now sadly. But she is definitely looking slimmer today! I could feel her ribs a bit more easily. She has done a ridiculous amount of work over the last week. Shes still not really broken a sweat but its clearly having an effect.

Shes moving to a bare paddock for night time turnout from tomorrow night as well, which will definitely help!

And poor Bobs, I've just realised where I take the photos is on a slope and shes stood in a dip so she looks hideously bum high and like she has no front, which isnt the case at all!

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I rode Polly last night for the first time in a while and I couldn’t believe how much weight she’s lost! Couldn’t get my girth up any tighter and reckon I could have slipped my head through the gap! Saddle needed padding out and I will have to go down a couple of gullets at least. She needed to, so I’m absolutely ecstatic, but then I looked at Millie on the same routine, feed etc, yet regular work and she’s just enormous. I honestly think Millie has a fat gene or something!
 
Bobbie definitely does. My YM just rang me to say its frosty on a morning again so Bobbies back on day time turnout. She is going in a small much barer paddock though, so I'm hoping thats enough to make a difference. I was so thrilled when I took the pictures yesterday and could finally see a difference!
 
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