Losing weight but keeping energy

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Gorgeoushorses

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My pony is quite fat (if you stand behing her, her belly is much too big) n im trying to get her to lose weight, she used to have 1 big scoop of hifi original and one bit scoop of mix but i have cut it dwn to a much smaller scoop of each about half the size of what she used to have, but she doesnt seem to be losing much weight. My problem is that she is starting to not be as energetic and im not sure if this may be something to do with not havin much feed.

She is also being ridden much more than she used to be but was still a bit lazy before that so it isnt anything to do with being ridden more. It is very unusual for her to be lazy cosidering what she used to be like.

Ive been thinkin about using baileys lo-cal but not really sure what else to try, any suggestions? thanks
 
My friend has battled with getting a horse to loose weight and he has not had much energy.
He has been kept off grass in the day (has a slice of hay) and at grass at night and wasn't loosing much weight, she recently has been giving him feedmark slim aid (so he is getting all vits & mins he needs) with a little bit of chaff and a small handfull of oats (to give him energy he is loosing) a day and he is looking really good. :)
 
okay thankyou, thats my only problem i cant control how much hay she has because she is field kept, what do you think on the baileys lo-cal with a small scoop of hifi and a small scoop of mix ?
 
personally I would have cut out all feed and just fed a token feed with supplements. I have 2 good do-ers. In winter they are both fed happy hoof (similar to hi-fi lite) with top spec lite. This year I am going to feed happy hoof with pink powder instead. All summer they have had a powder supplement to make sure they are getting everything they need with just a few handfuls of happy hoof. So I cut out all feed, which I did with mine. They all live out and they have a track system in their field, this helps keep the weight off and they are so far looking good. Is yours on restricted grazing at all? Bearing in mind winter is coming now though. I am not sure about feeling lazy, someone more knowledgeable than me may help but I would say a slimmer horse would be ooxing energy anyway, perhaps?
 
No she isnt on restricted grazing which i think is what makes it hard to judge her weight as i dont know how much she eats at night, there is just one of the huge bails of hay that goes in her field between all the horses living out.. When i first got her she was really forward going and when asked for canter it wld b really fast and i have calmed her dwn just maybe a bit too much cos she has got a bit too slow and i now have to use a schooling whip and i think this may be because of her having such a small feed, she isnt really really slow but jus not nowhere near as forward going
 
All summer has she been on grass (not restricted) and hay and feed? I dont mean to sound rude in the slightest but this alone would make any horse fat. If your horse is fat and also not a good do-er and grass isnt restricted they will become overweight. It is hard to say as I do not know much about your situation, but I would say your horse has got lazy as it is fat.
 
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So long as horse receives adequate feed to provide enregy for work, it should not put on weight. energy and calories are the same thing. A horse will get fat if receiveing too many calories needed for its work.

I think a balancer is a good idea. If your horse then loses weight in winter you can just add some Alfalfa or Sugarbeet, sticking with the balancer.
 
In reply to one of your messages she hasnt had any grass at all, only hay out in the field n feed wen i bring her in bu have sorted it now spoken to someone n we are going to experiment with a different idea which hopefully will work, thanks anyway
 
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