Keeping Horse Healthy & Trim

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Dyllymoo

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J is a 15.2hh 5 year old coblet. He is not in a great deal of work but I am aiming to hack 4 times a week for around 45 mins (currently 20 mins but he is getting fitter). According to the weigh tape he is around 577kg.

He has a handful of Thunderbrooks Chaff twice a day with a balancer supplement added.

He has around 10kg of soaked hay in a haycube overnight (7pm - 6.30am) and is turned out from 7.30am - 3.30pm every day. He has a slice of hay when he comes in as I cant get there until around 6pm.

He was clipped when I got him but I haven't clipped yet, I don't know whether to full clip (legs left on) like he was as after a 20 minute walk hack on Sunday (where he was a bit full of it!) he was a bit sweaty.

He isn't really overugged, in a 50g standard neck if the weather is rainy and cold and overnight. If its sunny I normally take his rug off.

His hay has gone by the morning and I don't really want to give him any more so I am thinking of giving him some oat straw chaff in a bucket that he can pick at. He had the Topspec Zero Chaff stuff and refused to touch it, so I moved to Thunderbrooks for his supplement. Do you think the Efeeds one is better and do you just give them a set amount and take that away from the hay amount or just have it as an extra as he is finishing it.

He is a bit on the porky side but I wouldn't say fat, however I am aware that I don't want him coming out of winter fat. Anything else I should consider doing? I cant up his workload as I don't have the daylight unfortunately.
 
If he's unclipped, I'd be tempted to drop the rug when turned out and just use a no fill on very wet or horrific days if required.

Do you soak your hay? If not, I'd start and then fouble or triple net. By soaking hay, I'm able to feed ad-lib hay.
 
I would not rug unless you give him a fairly substantial clip.
Hay cubes are very easy to eat from, no work involved at all not even hoovering it up.
I would reduce hay and mix straw in with it.
6kg of hay and 4 of straw and see if he has any left, even if you put a couple of boards across the corner of thw stable and mix the hay and stay in there it will take a lot more effort than a hay cube.
If he is turned out all day and not obscenely obese I would expect him to be able to start at 45 hacking 4 times a week rather than having to build up to it. That is a very small amount of work.
 
MuddyMonster said:
If he's unclipped, I'd be tempted to drop the rug when turned out and just use a no fill on very wet or horrific days if required.

Do you soak your hay? If not, I'd start and then fouble or triple net. By soaking hay, I'm able to feed ad-lib hay.
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Thank you. I do tend to only rug if it is below 5 degrees and one of the following - bitter cold wind, or raining or a mixture of all 3 as there is no natural shelter in his field.

Yes I soak his hay :)
 
I would get up to that forty five minutes exercise pronto . I would get straight to thirty minutes for three exercises and then to the 45 .
if he’s getting sweaty I would clip him again .
If he needs to eat the top chop zero he will .
so if he’s truly getting porky I would reduce the hay by two kilos and see if he starts eating the straw .
 
twiggy2 said:
I would not rug unless you give him a fairly substantial clip.
Hay cubes are very easy to eat from, no work involved at all not even hoovering it up.
I would reduce hay and mix straw in with it.
6kg of hay and 4 of straw and see if he has any left, even if you put a couple of boards across the corner of thw stable and mix the hay amd stay in there it will take a lot more effort than a hay cube.
If he is turned out all day and not obscenely obese I would expect hom to be able to start at 45 hacking 4 times a week rather than having to build up to it. That is a very small amount of work.
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Thank you. Yes I did get the haycube as I really dislike haynets, I have read that you can secure a haynet inside the haycube but I am unsure how this would work. His stable is smaller than 12 x 12 so not much more room to put anything in.

We aren't allowed straw on site unfortunately which is why I was thinking of the chaff.

I understand what you say but unfortunately it is also about who I can hack out with and how long they want to go out for. I am hoping he will be more confident soon and able to hack out on his own which is when we can increase the time :)
 
Goldenstar said:
I would get up to that forty five minutes exercise pronto . I would get straight to thirty minutes for three exercises and then to the 45 .
if he’s getting sweaty I would clip him again .
If he needs to eat the top chop zero he will .
so if he’s truly getting porky I would reduce the hay by two kilos and see if he starts eating the straw .
Click to expand...

Thank you. As mentioned above its about who we can hack out with and how long they can go out for. I am starting to hack with someone else next week so we will be upping the hacking time for definite and then I am hoping his confidence will grow and we can go solo which will be much easier.

I will look to get someone to clip him shortly then I think.

:)
 
They are all different, but 5º isn't that cold and mine has been out partially clipped in minus figures.

When you say he doesn't like haynets, what does he do? Mine would rather eat loose hay than a haynet - but just because it'a easier for him.

An you start taking him out inhand, for extra work? I appreciate it's difficult as I had to teach mine to hack alone - but all the little tings do make a difference and it is so much easier to get rid of weight now, than in the Spring.
 
MuddyMonster said:
They are all different, but 5º isn't that cold and mine has been out partially clipped in minus figures.

When you say he doesn't like haynets, what does he do? Mine would rather eat loose hay than a haynet - but just because it'a easier for him.

An you start taking him out inhand, for extra work? I appreciate it's difficult as I had to teach mine to hack alone - but all the little tings do make a difference and it is so much easier to get rid of weight now, than in the Spring.
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Its not that he doesn't like them (he probably doesn't as he cant eat quick enough!) I don't like them and have never really liked using them.

No unfortunately the daylight is against me and I am much better riding him than in hand.

Yep I completely agree which is why I am really looking at it now and not when he is a bit overweight and spring is looming. I would much rather try and sort it now but unfortunately daylight and working full time is against me so I am doing the most I can in that respect :)
 
I have just ordered a haycube as I was wasting a lot of hay getting mixed up with the bed, a couple of friends have them and told me the lip is big enough that the haynet generally stays in, they just put the cube on the wall with the bracket and put a breeze block inside to weigh it down so I am planning on doing the same.

I have been leaving my cob naked as I let his coat grow whilst he's been unridden due to lameness, feels cruel sometimes when its been really cold or a bit rainy but he hasn't been bothered. He's being clipped this weekend but even then will stay in less than 100g as he's a hot beast.

I do find exercise the only way to get the weight off though, my boy looked his best last summer when we were on the stubble fields 4-5 times a week having a good canter but I appreciate its winter and it is hard. My vet told me even a few minutes of getting his heart rate up would help and sorry if i missed this but do you have an arena you could work him in? I'm not advocating hours of cantering around but could you do some work in there too just to mix it up? I can only hack on weekends now but try to go in the arena and do some poles and in hand stuff during the week.
 
If he's fundamentally fine with haynets, I'd start using them ASAP. They will make his hay last longer (which is so important for them, even the fatties ...! ). You could alwats start by splitting the hay between haynets & the hay cube.

I have a very good doer too & did find I had to toughen up a bit ;) It's done him the world of good.

I completely understand the difficulty of full time work and winter as I'm in the same boat. I can only ride at weekends through winter, so it makes the day to day management even more important.
 
I also know your pain. My carthorse is unlevel and his weight is a major factor. I have managed to source 2 hestons of 2017 hay which I will soak well. Surely the calories in it will be minimal ? I am thinking of double netting but have concerns for neck and teeth issues.
 
Keeping horses is almost always a question old trying to balance conflicting needs .
in your case it’s a no brainer to use a small holed hay net.
the other thing to do is to arrange it so you can hang the net so it’s not against a wall This slows the horse down a lot there’s also some up to date work on the importance of browsing at height to neck and back health which putting a net like this is good for
I would give some hay in his cube and some in the free hanging net .
and some chopped straw in a bowl .
its worth remembering if he’s truly hungry he will eat straw he’s only not eating it because you are giving more than he needs of something nicer .
You know he’s getting more food than he needs because he’s gaining weight .
I have an ID hunting on low energy haylege hes hunting two days a week I am still having to restrict his forage .Hes now looking a healthy body score and he will be super slim by spring
its tough owning good doers it’s much more fun owning those you need to feed .
you have to use winter to get good doers to a really healthy size because trying in summer is a nightmare .
 
Dyllymoo said:
Thank you. I do tend to only rug if it is below 5 degrees and one of the following - bitter cold wind, or raining or a mixture of all 3 as there is no natural shelter in his field.

Yes I soak his hay :)
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Even without natural shelter, he shouldn't need rugging just because it's cold. His own coat is meant to protect him from the cold. If you don't want to clip him out, I would give him a bib clip and treat him as unclipped. Ours are out today with no shelter from the east wind, they are not clipped and are unrugged and are absolutely fine. When it is very wet and cold, ours will have a rug.

I would NOT use a haynet, they can be dangerous and cause all sorts of muscle development problems, particularly in the neck.

I bought a Draft horse who was obese - she was off the weight tape. I got her weight down to 800kg on the tape by feeding hay/dry haylage and plenty of oat straw chaff, so that she was never without something to nibble, as she was also prone to ulcer symptoms. Soaking hay has its own problems (I know, I've done for a dust allergy horse), especially in winter when it can be freezing, so I prefert o avoid that if there is another way..
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Even without natural shelter, he shouldn't need rugging just because it's cold. His own coat is meant to protect him from the cold. If you don't want to clip him out, I would give him a bib clip and treat him as unclipped. Ours are out today with no shelter from the east wind, they are not clipped and are unrugged and are absolutely fine. When it is very wet and cold, ours will have a rug.

I would NOT use a haynet, they can be dangerous and cause all sorts of muscle development problems, particularly in the neck.

I bought a Draft horse who was obese - she was off the weight tape. I got her weight down to 800kg on the tape by feeding hay/dry haylage and plenty of oat straw chaff, so that she was never without something to nibble, as she was also prone to ulcer symptoms. Soaking hay has its own problems (I know, I've done for a dust allergy horse), especially in winter when it can be freezing, so I prefert o avoid that if there is another way..
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That's the reason I don't want to use a haynet, seeing how he attacks the one he has when waiting to be turned out (he is tied on the yard) I don't want that for him for however many hours.

Why do you prefer to avoid soaking hay? I do it in the haycube and then empty of an evening before he goes to bed.

I was looking at a bib clip as well so will think that plus less rugging would be good as well as upping his work when I can :)
 
MuddyMonster said:
If he's fundamentally fine with haynets, I'd start using them ASAP. They will make his hay last longer (which is so important for them, even the fatties ...! ). You could alwats start by splitting the hay between haynets & the hay cube.

I have a very good doer too & did find I had to toughen up a bit ;) It's done him the world of good.

I completely understand the difficulty of full time work and winter as I'm in the same boat. I can only ride at weekends through winter, so it makes the day to day management even more important.
Click to expand...

No unfortunately I wont use the small holed nets let alone normal nets. Thank you for your suggestion though.

I will just have to up his work now and go from there :)
 
Dyllymoo said:
That's the reason I don't want to use a haynet, seeing how he attacks the one he has when waiting to be turned out (he is tied on the yard) I don't want that for him for however many hours.

Why do you prefer to avoid soaking hay? I do it in the haycube and then empty of an evening before he goes to bed.

I was looking at a bib clip as well so will think that plus less rugging would be good as well as upping his work when I can :)
Click to expand...

I don't like soaking hay because of all the water involved and the fact that in cold weather it might freeze. I must admit that I have never used a haycube so it might not be quite so bad in that.
 
Goldenstar said:
Keeping horses is almost always a question old trying to balance conflicting needs .
in your case it’s a no brainer to use a small holed hay net.
the other thing to do is to arrange it so you can hang the net so it’s not against a wall This slows the horse down a lot there’s also some up to date work on the importance of browsing at height to neck and back health which putting a net like this is good for
I would give some hay in his cube and some in the free hanging net .
and some chopped straw in a bowl .
its worth remembering if he’s truly hungry he will eat straw he’s only not eating it because you are giving more than he needs of something nicer .
You know he’s getting more food than he needs because he’s gaining weight .
I have an ID hunting on low energy haylege hes hunting two days a week I am still having to restrict his forage .Hes now looking a healthy body score and he will be super slim by spring
its tough owning good doers it’s much more fun owning those you need to feed .
you have to use winter to get good doers to a really healthy size because trying in summer is a nightmare .
Click to expand...

Thank you for your post. A few things though that I feel I need to point out. I will definitely not be using a net, small holed or otherwise. I don't like the action he does when he eats from it. I am unable to hang one away from a wall anyway as his stable wont accommodate it. I will definitely look at the chopped straw though as that could replace some of the hay for definite.

I didn't say he is gaining weight, I said he was porky. He wasn't really ridden much before I got him which is why I am upping his fitness, and due to his age and how green he is I have been doing this slowly. Coupled with the fact we have ordered a saddle and its not arrived yet so I am riding in a bareback pad, I cant do too much work at the minute. Definitely agree about getting his weight to the level I want in winter which is why I am looking to address the situation before we get to spring :)
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I don't like soaking hay because of all the water involved and the fact that in cold weather it might freeze. I must admit that I have never used a haycube so it might not be quite so bad in that.
Click to expand...
Ahhhh ok, to be honest I don't think it will freeze during the day due to the temperatures not getting that cold where we are, but its definitely something to bear in mind :)
 
Mine is a nightmare in the summer, even when she was doing fairly hard work she got fat on grass. I find her no real issue in the winter though. Shes fully clipped and in a 300gm as she gets hysterical if shes cold. She had about 8 weeks off and has been back in work nearly a month. Shes trotting most of 5 to 6 miles 3 times a week and doing 2 small sessions of lunging and/or groundwork. The lunging isn't about schooling. She goes out on a huge circle and trots and canters till shes puffing.

Shes currently eating half a builders bag of hay over night, is out in the day and has one feed of 400gms of releve, 300gms of grass nuts and a big double handful of grass and hay chaff. I find she needs the feed or shes flat as a pancake. I feed enough hay so that there is loads left. I wont use haynets either! I am lucky that shes not hugely piggy with hay, certainly not the way she is with grass anyway!

The weight drops off when shes working. But you must keep the intensity up. We do a mix of cardio work where shes puffing and blowing, and very slow work that involves her using different muscles. We do raised poles on the lunge sometimes, but more often in hand so I can make her do it very slowly and really use her whole body.

Summer is a very different story and sadly for her I don't think she will ever be allowed 24/7 turnout on decent grass, no matter the work load. Once the grass drops off reasonable work is enough to keep her slim
 
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