How can I weigh him properly? & how can I get him to lose weight?

[Porkie]

Vet said my horse is fat

he has to go on a diet

Trouble is he is 29 and has a very barrel belly. When I weigh tape him he doesn't come up very overweight because his girth area is actually ok!

He is not fat on his shoulders, hips or neck. he has a very small dip on his bum but mainly he has little fat pockets over his ribs - his belly looks huge but some of that is becuase of his age and lack of muscle tone.

He is in a pretty bare paddock with a bit of hay for turnout. He only has a small amount of chaff and nuts and limited hay in the evening.

He is still in light work 5-6 days a week either half hour schooling or up to 1 and a half hours hacking - but at 29 I can't exactly up his work load any more (I think he does pretty well as it is!!)

So, the question is: How the heck do I get him to lose weight??

 

[jaypeebee]

I have a weighbridge near where I live so although I use weight tapes for a general idea of whether they are losing or gaining weight or whether they remain at a stable weight, when I really want to know how much they actually weigh I take them over the weighbridge.

I am not too sure how overweight your horse is. If he is obese then yes you need to try to structure a feed plan for him but if he is just a little portly then I wouldnt be overly bothered about it at his age. He wont live forever and carrying a little extra wont do him great damage. It could also be quite useful to him if, god forbid, he came down with an illness or some other kind of set back.

 

[YorksG]

If you believe your vet and feel that he needs to loose weight, then I would suggest that you substitie some of his with good clean straw, we are doing this with our two very good doers and it is working, all be it slowly. We have had others on this regime in the past and it always works. We also turn out with straw rather than hay, gives them something to do but stops them eating too many calories. The older they are the more stress being overweight puts on the heart and the joints. Good luck