How much hay for fatty??

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Joyous70

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He is 14.2hh Appy X weighing in a 490kgs :eek: so we need to get some of this excess weight off!

My plan is to bring him & his mate (weightwise he's o.k.) in at night & out during the day.

Im going to soak his hay, so how much should i be feeding? am going to go and buy a set of scales at the weekend.

Finally what would an ideal weight be for a 14.2hh Appy X, who isnt a cob but cobby.
 
Hi, I would be feeding 1.75% of bodyweight over 24 hours for weight loss.

So for a 490kg horse, this equates to 8.5kg / 19lb total intake of forage & feed per 24 hours.

I think as a rough estimate, 12 hours on ok grazing means your horse is probably eating around 4.5 - 5kg/ 9 -11lb grass. Obviously the quality of grazing will alter this up or down.

So for 490kg horse, I'd then be feeding an 8-9lb hay overnight, soaked & in a small-holed net.

I'd also look to add literally half a handful of non-mollased chaff with a powdered GP supplement, like Equivite, especially if you are soaking hay. If you feed a balancer or mix, say 450-500g, you would obviously need to take this into account & reduce grass/haytake accordingly.

I find this works for fatties I've had in the past. Obviously as they slim down, you need to keep weighing and adjust amount fed accordingly. I feed 2-2.5% of bodyweight for maintenance, as a rule.

Plus the bonus of weighing everything (not just for fatties!) means you know they're getting as much as they need without wastage, saves £££ :)

Hope this helps a bit :)

ETA I think there was an article in H&H recently, about reducing intake even further for obese horses/ponies, down to 1 -1.5%?
 
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Ditto everything above :) - wonder if you've had the same training as I have!!

Also exercise exercise exercise!! He's not going to lose much without burning the calories as well.

Oh, and be mean with the rugs, horses can burn off loads of calories by keeping themselves warm.
 
Don't worry about what his ideal weight will be on a weight tape - tapes are great for monitoring whether a horse is losing or gaining weight, but not much good for assessing whether a horse is in correct condition or not, because conformation varies so much. Much better to condition score him - you are aiming to be able to feel his ribs easily, but not see them, and no cresty neck or gutter down his bottom.

Try and space his hay out as much as possible, as if you give him one net when you bring him in, it may be finished in no time! Give him a little bit of soaked hay when he first comes in and then try and arrange for him to have his main net later on in the evening.
 
I have a 15hh welshie who has lost the required weight to the ideal...he is 440kg on a weigh tape. He is on constantly monitored food rations in order to maintain his weight and this year I am leaving his rugs off unless it is due to be wet, cold and windy and then he only has a rain sheet on. I always used to rug by Oct becuse he is a bit of a wimp and felt that he needed to be warm...but he is managing fine this year without and even when the temp has been down to 3 or 4 degrees he is perfectly warm when you look at it and analyse it correctly.
When my lad was put on a diet because he got laminitis the vet said he was to have a strict amount of hay day and night of 1.5 - 2% of his weight and this equated to 3 good or 4 smaller pads of small bale hay at night and the same by day. This did not last long but it allowed him to loose the weight.
He is now out on strip grazed grass by day and in at night on one third of a small bale of hay all year round to maintain his weight.
It is best to measure the amount your horse has and week by week monitor progress...if they are loosing weight too quickly, give a bit more hay, but not so much that they maintain their weight. It takes time and is best that they loose weight gradually. And you may find that even when your horse has lost the excess, you still have to feed about the same amount (reduced rations) from then on in order to maintain their new weight.
As someone mentioned, exercise is great too...loads of hacking up and down hills is great for my lad...even when reduced to winter riding it makes a difference.
 
Mixing the hay with equal amounts of good clean straw is also a great way of letting them have more fodder without putting on extra lbs.
 
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