How many poos should a fatty in a diet do

[PollyP99]

Sorry more fatty woes!

Mare is in muzzle overnight out in 3 acres with 2 others, grass is shortish but I thought ok for the muzzle. She is in in the morning with a net of 12 hour soaked hay 6am - 1pm, then ridden for avg 1 hour medium speed hack or lunged trot and canter 20 minutes. After exercise turned out in bare paddock until fed supplements with lo cal chaff, muzzled and out with herd.

Sooo, the question, I'm getting only 1 or 2 poos in the bare paddock and stable, don't know what happens overnight as she's with the others.

The 1 or 2 happen in the period 6 am until say 7pm less exercise.

This seems really low amount as the very first day in her fatty paddock I took half a barrow off.

I'm thinking she is not getting enough through the muzzle so is not eating much for 10 hours she's in it, thoughts?.

 

[PollyP99]

Doh! Sorry see this was asked recently and now I think I will give the muzzle a miss for a while as she is defo not pooing enough

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...ny-poos-to-expect-now-my-horse-wears-a-muzzle

 

[Equi]

The amount of food they eat will indicate how much they poo, a normal horse grazing all day will do about 8. But it also depends why you need her to loose weight, if its endangering her life (i.e. bad lami) then you are better to continue for a few weeks, making sure she gets a balancer/supplement and good feed of hay. If it is shes just a little tubby i would take the muzzle off overnight (i'm not a fan of leaving them on overnight anyway cause of getting caught) but up the exercise to an extra walk a day in hand, or less hay between 6-1.

 

[happyclappy]

how long is a piece of string?

 

[PollyP99]

I know sorry, stupid question right! I'm pretty sure the muzzle us having too much of an effect on her ability to eat as the grass us not quite long enough.

She has never had lami, I've woken up (belatedly) to her expanding waistline and so have gone a bit too far the other way I think.

Taking a step back now and going for fatty paddock by night ( no muzzle) and in by day on soaked hay, will continue to exercise 6/7 days too as I still believe it' s the fairest and most sustainable method for her, I just thought it would be enough and left her with the herd when I should have penned her a month ago - it'll never happen like this again - I feel like an idiot for not seeing it before.

 

[STRIKER]

Remember the cecum of a horse is like the open end of a tube of toothpaste, try squeezing tooth paste out of an empty tube when squeezing from the bottom up, its very hard which is how an empty horses stomach is as the stomach lies down in the belly but the anus is higher up, leads to impaction and colic.

 

[HaffiesRock]

I personally would prefer to keep out 24/7 if you have a fatty paddock, that is genuinely bare. This is how I got the weight off my gelding and he was HUGE when I bought him. Keeping in with hay, restricts the calories in but doesn't allow for any movement to burn calories off. I also fed a mix of hay and straw so he had stuff to eat, but that was low calorie. Happy to share some photos and things I learned if you want me too. Well done for noticing and working on putting things right before it is too late.

 

[PollyP99]

I personally would prefer to keep out 24/7 if you have a fatty paddock, that is genuinely bare. This is how I got the weight off my gelding and he was HUGE when I bought him. Keeping in with hay, restricts the calories in but doesn't allow for any movement to burn calories off. I also fed a mix of hay and straw so he had stuff to eat, but that was low calorie. Happy to share some photos and things I learned if you want me too. Well done for noticing and working on putting things right before it is too late.

Interesting , yes I guess the paddock she's in is not Stoney bare so has some grass, she seems content in for a few hours in the day, I'll only do it with excercise to ensure she's moving enough.

Would love some inspiration before/ after!

 

[Tronk]

Think you have to go with your instinct - they're all different but if mine only did 2 poos in that time span I would probably take the muzzle off. You can always take it off for a few hours then put it on for a bit? I tend to play it by ear with mine as the grass fluctuates- too few poos equals less muzzle and more hay, too many equals more muzzle!