How is he looking ........ was told he was Fat

Bay_Beasty

Bay_Beasty

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Here is Ginger Jim, pictures taken yesterday. He has had 2 and a half weeks off and it being fed

1 heaped scp happy hoof
1/2 stubbs scoop copra meal
230 grams top spec leisure time

he gets this twice a day

Ad lib hay and hay in field and some hayledge, but he has finished all of this now, it was left over from when I was riding him and used it up.

I think he looks poss a bit tubby round the belly buy he isnt having any work. Well he does look quite fat actually. I am going away for a week and have cut the copra down to 1/3 stubbs scoop so that he doesnt get more off a belly while I am away, but personally I am not too worried. We dont have any grass at home and I will hopefully start lunging him when I get back from a week off. So what do you think??

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and just coz he is so cute

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This is him 3 and a half weeks ago

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So what do you think??
 
He has a good ole hay belly on him, but you can see his ribs and his topline looks fairly lean. So I would say not fat, just has a decent size hay belly. Sure When he starts work it will drop off and he will start to build up his topline again.
 
glosgirl said:
He has a good ole hay belly on him, but you can see his ribs and his topline looks fairly lean. So I would say not fat, just has a decent size hay belly. Sure When he starts work it will drop off and he will start to build up his topline again.
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I agree he has got a big tummy but not fat.
 
That seems a heck of a lot of feed for an animal that is not in work.

Half a scoop of a Stubbs size scoop of Copra meal seems excessive, especially as it is high in protein.

I would be cutting it down by quite a lot with more fibre than protein.
 
Ditto above really to cut down. My fattie was on TS Lite, but I have taken her off that and put her on a powder supplement as the TS lite was giving calories and I believe the leisuretime has even more calories. She is now on a handful or so of happy hoof, powder supplement and restricted grazing and looking good.
 
Gorgeous horse, could do with losing the hay belly and toning up. I'd cut out the Copra Meal as others have suggested and hopefully the belly will come off and the muscle go on when he starts working.

You could always give him to me :D
 
he doesn't look fat to me just yet, but I'd also cut down his feed to prevent it from happening. my boy gets half a scoop of low cal mix twice a day + 10h turnout on poor pasture and he's fine, BUT he's a good doer. just make sure if you cut it down to do it gradually :)
 
mmmm....have you wormed him? He does have a very big belly, agree with everyone else...cut the food right down and give him plenty of fibre.
 
I don't agree that he looks over weight.

He has a pop belly but his ribs are clearly seen and he has no fat/muscle over his topline.

If you reduce the food now going into winter he'll struggle through the cold weather.
 
Wormed, 6 weeks ago, will worm him again when I return. His coat is so shiny I dont think he has worms. He was very poor when I got him, very ribby, very wormy etc, hence the copra which has clearly done its job. I will tell the girl to cut it down even more, I am so pleased that it has worked so well. if that makes sense. I think the balancer is doing good too, and I want to keep him on the recommended amount of that. He was a skinny TB when I got him, just goes to show that they can get fat. :D Thanks for all your help. I hadn't really taken a good look at him for a few days due to other things and it was only when someone pointed out to me that he was a little tubby that I thought, oh yes he is actually quite fat.

tabithakat64, seriously if you want him you can have him and thats not a joke. He will be looking for a new home September/ October time anyway.
 
deicinmerlyn said:
I don't agree that he looks over weight.

He has a pop belly but his ribs are clearly seen and he has no fat/muscle over his topline.

If you reduce the food now going into winter he'll struggle through the cold weather.
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I quite agree, this horse is definately not fat. His grass belly is deceiving. I would not like to see him loose any weight.
 
I would not cut his feed at all he needs to build muscle on his topline but he needs his bulk to help him do this so dont overly cut his feed. He still needs fat to cover his ribs, neck and quarters. He has a little grass belly but its the summer your better to have weight on your poor doer now so he can make it through the winter!!

Lovely little horse but in my opinion he still needs to put on some weight (im not into FAT horses before anyone disagrees I just think he needs more covering and you need to over look his round tummy!!!!)

Good luck!
 
Yes, he has a bit of a belly but you can see his ribs so I wouldn't say he is fat at all.

My TB has a belly cos he's a greedy bugger who stuffs his face with hay all day but it is hard to keep 'condition' on him and you can always see his ribs.
 
I'm normally the first to say a horse is fat, but in this case, although I agree the size of his belly might make him look fat, if you actually look at his topline he certainly isn't fat.
I actually personally wouldn't change what you are feeding, what I would do however is concentrate on working him correctly. By doing that you should hopefully slim down the waistline a bit and increase his topline to make him much more in proportion.
 
He is not fat looking at the last pic, you can see his ribs. He has got a bit off a grass belly but that's it.If he's like mine a couple off days off the grass and belly will go. I would poss just feed the topspec so he's getting the goodness.
 
In the first pic his rump does look quite fat sorry. If he is not in work at the moment I would not give hime a proper feed just a little alfa hi lite and vit and min supplement. Tis a lovely horse tho.
 
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