How are your horses looking coming out of winter?

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LouisCat

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So with the weather on the up how are all of your horses looking?

Mine is looking a bit skinnier than I would like if I'm honest. Can see more ribs than I'd like ?

We just need a bit of Dr Green to do his job now I think!

So, how are your's doing?
 
Mine are looking better than expected. The cob looked awful a few weeks ago. His coat looked like a woolly mammoth, he was filthy and he was fat. Fast forward and he almost has his summer coat, it seems to have self cleaned and he’s actually much slimmer than I thought. The linseed I fed over the winter has made his coat glen.
The only one that was stabled at night is a bit porky but as she’s old I’ll forgive her :)
 
Mine are looking good. Both oldies and have wintered just right. Not too over done with somewhere for spring grass to go.
 
Welsh is a bit too well but she's been only in partial work due to rehabbing, she's upped to full work now so I think we're OK.
TB has picked up in the last month or so and looks ideal.
The oldies - one will benefit when the grass comes through and the other is her usual round self.
The WB in foal, this one is difficult for me to judge as she has super round ribs but to me looks a bit light. Trying to keep her just about right is tricky. I think when the grass comes through it will be easier, no more squabbling over who has the best hay pile.
 
A week ago I was happy. She was working hard and out on a bareish paddock only eating soaked hay and straw. Shes since had a week off and I'm worried she will have put weight on :( I'd still like a little bit more off, but shes very muscular so that doesn't help! Shes never going to get much thinner than she in the picture without being hammered into the ground and/or starved and I don't want to do that.

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Grey mare - I can easily feel her ribs which is probably the slimmest she's ever been as she's a good doer and also a greedy so and so. The challenge will be to keep her at this weight - or close to it - when the grass flushes. I've been eyeing up the electric fencing already. ;)

Chestnut gelding - just right for coming out of winter IMO. He really is in fine fettle. :D

Chestnut mare - needs a bit more weight, but not bad for her coming out of winter as I've stuffed her with every calorie that she would consume (the frustrating factor with her is that she sometimes won't eat her food :() and kept her well rugged with ad-lib forage. Nothing that a bit of grass won't fix. :)

I wish that I could give a bit of the grey's greediness to CM as then they would both be easier to keep.
 
criso said:
This year's been more difficult than last as the hay wasn't quite as rich - good hay just 2018 crop was amazing but could be worse.
Taken last weekend.


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My TB would look like this if he was clipped out. I'm very happy with that with grass about to go wild.

The appyx is very slightly more covered but nicely in the range i want for this time of year.

Both refusing to eat anything now, and not getting haylage either, so there's already enough in the grass even though we are 3 or 4 weeks behind up here.

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Fat, frankly. The retired one just eats! His winter coat is coming off in sheets and he has a lot of Mallenders/Sallenders/mud fever and is very sore on one side so I can’t get the scabs off. Baby oil it is!
 
ycbm said:
My TB would look like this if he was clipped out. I'm very happy with that with grass about to go wild.


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We were a little more covered in January, I noticed he dropped a bit hence the picture as I find it easier to get an objective look from a photo and can compare to other years. but not worried, they will go onto summer fields next month and that's 3 fields with lots of grass and everyone else trying to restrict.
 
Holding onto more belly than I would like, though she has had 8 weeks off due to sarcoid surgery. Prior to this she was fit as a fiddle and now has ballooned :( At least she is coming back into work now so hopefully I'm able to shift it before too much of the grass comes through
 
A mix. My mare is looking too well so is now on restricted, mornings only grazing. The ones that always get a bit skinny are a bit skinny - I wish she was more like them! Some have pretty much finished losing their winter coats but the ones that got really hairy have only just started. Just shows, they all react differently to the same environmental conditions
 
They are all a little porky except for the ridden one who is spot on!

bare paddocks and hoping spring doesn't explode onto the scene
 
Suitably slim, the ponies went into winter rather too fat so I am not sorry seeing them a bit lean. Lots of wet weather has helped them lose weight this winter. Pea who is 29 has been rugged up and fed hard feed through the winter is looking well but is just starting to look old. As long as I can keep an eye on them as far as grass intake is concerned we should be ok.
 
Much better than last year but it’s my second winter with him so I ‘know’ him better.

March 2019
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Feb 2020

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Now everything is off for the foreseeable he’s turned out 24/7 on a hill and off of hard feed and so far keeping himself ok. He was meant to be having an intense early season run of it with 3x fortnightly stay away shows including 1 abroad starting right now so I wanted the cover. 6 weeks before the next event I’ll bring him back to work but I’m keen to preserve him!
 
My sister's two laminitics have come out of winter slimmer than usual and she hopes to keep them that way. The old brood mare I am looking after who still has her foal with her has suddenly dropped weight and is looking poor. The dry weather has really knocked our grass back and it's showing. Will be upping her feed considerably.
 
The coblets are looking a little bigger than I’d like, although they always appear noticeably fatter pre-shed compared to post, so it’s hard to know how much of it is hair.

The 27 year old, on the other hand, is looking fantastic after a very challenging winter, with colic on New Year’s Day and having to make the decision to switch him to total hay replacers in lieu of his usual haynet and hard feed. It’s cost a fortune to maintain him through the last few months, but it’s been worth every penny to see how he’s looking now ??
 
Looking great :) . However I've had to put him on full livery while I isolate. Hopefully He will still look good and not like a beach ball when I next see him. Fortunately friends at the yard are sending pictures. This was going to be the year we started doing more things, had just started getting a regular trainer in having dressage lessons. Last year started well but then I had a stroke and he stayed in the field so when I got back to riding he was a bit of a pudding.
 
Ok. They have lost a bit over winter, especially the mares. But not thin enough really. Not much grass up here yet though. I was soft and gave them hay this last couple of days due to the weather going madly cold. They're not getting any more now it's due to warm up... I can see me putting a track in soon but want to wait until the sycamore seedlings stop coming up!

Mostly they are filthy and completely feral and unfit and with the Covid situation that's unlikely to change anytime soon!
 
1. Big lad looks okay really..bit undermuscled but at 20yo in light work it can be forgiven a little.
2. Stallion looks like he might look fabulous under all his fluff...shame all the shows are cancelled because i have no need to clip him now to see what i have :(
3. Gelding looks smashing from what i can tell under his trace. Lost a lot of weight in a good way!
4. 4yo mare looks a bit belly plump but under muscled...not in any work but that will change this summer
5. 17yo mare is flabby but did loose good weight over winter...will be getting restricted from now and possibly bloods after this pandemic
6. 21yo mare is morbidly obese and did not loose any weight this winter. vet has agreed i can pick up some medication without bloods because she is a real risk of further issues if we can't get her weight down.
 
Ones a bit to round for my liking but he never seems to change shape.

Other one is picking up nicely now so spring grass is definitely starting to Coming through with us.
 
Fat Cob has lost approx 350kg so is getting there but still fat (in his slight defence he does have very well sprung ribs and weight tapes arent accurate (650kg!!)). You can now easily feel ribs through his woolly mammoth coat but he's still on fat horse rations (ie soaked hay) and exercise will commence as soon as the fields dry a little <crossing everything>

Neurotic TB has been up and down with weight. Not wildly but we've had zero grass and he's not a greedy horse. I think we've cracked it with @milliepops recommendation of Baileys Ease & Excel mix.

The Perfect One, the QH, is just that. He's maybe a smidge light but that's where I want him in case theres a miraculous heatwave and the grass comes shooting through.

It's been so hard going since the rain started last august and hasnt stopped since. Everything flooded, fields were trashed and grass destroyed. In the rare moments that it stops raining it is so frigging cold that any peep of green shoots go back. A lot of hay has been consumed!!
 
Mare is fat. Vet said I might like to consider soaking her hay.....I've been weighing and soaking it since Oct, but she's been in minimal work and I think the grass has kept growing between the mud.

Gelding was perfect but he's been my lawn mower for the past 2 days and has come in stuffed from the tiny patch I fenced off in the rested field. Retired so can't pile it on but I swear I can see the grass growing faster than he can eat it.
 
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