How much to feed horse on box rest...

[BorgRae]

So, my boy is on box rest for the next 4 week as he's got mild damage to his suspensory ligament and digital flexor tendon sheath...

He has had steroid injections on his leg, which is fine, but the vet said to keep an eye on his diet as obvious fears of lami following the injections. She wasn't too concerned, but said he is a little bit over weight, and could do with loosing a few pounds.

He is 15.1, ISH and weighs approx 580 (according to a weigh tape).

So how many Kg's of hay would you feed a day?

Thank you for any advice!!

 

[HappyHooves]

Are you able to soak your hay to remove excess sugars, since you say your horse is a little overweight? Also, high fibre feeds with plenty of unmolassed chaff could be added in to ensure his guts are kept full!

 

[be positive]

I would feed adlib, if he really needs to lose the weight, which if he weighs 580 he does although weigh tapes are not accurate, then soak it to remove the goodness, double net it and/ or top up with straw to keep him happy, give no hard feed unless it is to carry meds, when they are stuck in all the time it is boring and if he gets his forage restricted too much you can end up with other issues.

 

[BorgRae]

I can soak his hay, and will, but am concerned about giving him ad lib as he'll balloon and really don't want to risk lami!!

I've bought some greedy feeder nets and am also putting another regular small holed net over that. This has slowed him down loads, which is great, and is keeping him happily occupied!

I've been told he should be getting around 9kg a day. Is that about right?

 

[be positive]

You want to be giving about 1.5% of his body weight each day so around 9kg is about right for him, if you soak it really will help, I managed to get weight off of a laminitic pony on box rest, despite giving just about adlib in double nets, at times 3, it was soaked for 12 hours, 1 net at a time so one usually was soaked longer than the other, he rarely ran out often having a small amount stuck in the bottom that he struggled to get but it kept him entertained. Having a straw bed meant he could nibble at that for a change from the hay, he had no feed except a token for his meds as anything in a bucket is eaten very quickly.

 

[BorgRae]

Thanks for that

I'll stick to 9kg then, and soak as well.

A friend also mentioned I could give him a big dinner of bran mash to fill him up at night. It's got now calories so figured that could be another option for him to snack on if he's hugry.

He used to get bran and plain chop for his tea previously with his suppliments in, so I was thinking of giving him a plain bran mash for his dinner and plain chop with his supplimets for his breakfast?

Would this be ok?

 

[Goldenstar]

I never let horses on box restbe without forage unless there's a medical reason for it
I give a mixture of forages and find plain chopped straw very useful for the fatter ones and also hay bloks that they have to chew on to eat ( look at the halleys website)