Managing Good Doers in Winter

[AntiPuck]

What things do you usually do to manage good doers in the Winter time?

I've had success since Spring with 24/7 muzzling, cutting out hard feed, and increased work, but in Winter routine will change for 3 months and horse will come in overnight from being out 24/7, so I'm wondering if I need to compensate for that.

I plan to clip probably a bit more off than her workload would suggest needing, and then only rug minimally (she only has a no fill and 50g anyway), she's an ID and doesn't seem to get cold, but then I've only had her since March so haven't seen her in truly bad weather yet. Then trickle nets in the stable - but would you also usually keep muzzling when out through Winter?

 

[meleeka]

I personally don’t, but I’d monitor weight and adjust when necessary.

 

[NeverSurrender]

For my Shetland I keep him on adlib hay (I'm very lucky he's not greedy), his feed stays the same token 6! fibre nuggets so he doesn't create at feed times, and maintain workload where possible. He's also minimally rugged and clipped out but he is a driving pony so this is for his work as much as anything else. He is muzzled through the summer months but not through winter

 

[GreyDot]

One of mine is a good doer, but I really try and stay away from trikckle nets and constant muzzling because I think it is a life of frustration for a grazing animal. And yes, I know laminitis is no joke, but if he's a good doer and not actually obese, then I would concentrate on more high intensity work (cardio style work, interval training etc.), with some fast work once a week. Soak the hay (and weigh before soking so you know how much you are giving), clip and rug minimally, cut out all hard feed, carrots, treats, apples, just a lo-cal balancer and see how he goes. But mainly get the weight down and keep it off with a good workout

 

[spacefaer]

All ours are very good doers and they're "managed" by working them - trickle nets wouldn't last 5 mins with our IDs and muzzles would also be completely unacceptable!
As a breed, they have a tremendous capacity for work on minimal feed intake - and there's nothing worse than a hangry draught ?

 

[ecb89]

My ID has his own microclimate. I clip him out fully and even he spend most of winter in maximum 100g rugs. Only when it’s very cold does he occasionally have a 200g on

 

[SEL]

I don't muzzle but before I was able to source really low NSC hay I had to soak overnight nets. Hated it!

 

[First Frost]

My Connie's are in at night in the winter. They have 12 hour soaked hay and just a balancer. They never wear more than a 100g rug and are fully clipped. They work 6 days a week including drag hunting. One comes out of winter looking nicely lean the other Ok but i would like him leaner.
Neither will accept muzzle. They graze foddage in the winter and never have hay in the field. Their foddage starts to run out in about February.

 

[Abby-Lou]

feed oat straw

 

[Winters100]

The thing that really works for my good-doer is plenty of exercise. He works for 9 or 10 days and then 1 day off, in the morning ridden work at speed, then in the afternoon hacked / lunged or loose schooled. It is not so much in terms of hours, but it works for him, and he is able to have ad lib hay, small hard feeds morning and night, and a token handful at lunchtime. I give treats, but would always give him a slice of carrot rather than a whole one. The main thing that I find is to keep a careful and objective eye on his weight, and if he seems to be gaining to up the intensity of the work before it gets out of hand. He also sometimes gets a third outing if I am hacking my old lady schoolmistress, just coming along in hand. Frankly I dread his retirement, as for sure he will need very careful management if he cannot burn off the calories.

 

[AntiPuck]

All ours are very good doers and they're "managed" by working them - trickle nets wouldn't last 5 mins with our IDs and muzzles would also be completely unacceptable!
As a greed, they have a tremendous capacity for work on minimal feed intake - and there's nothing worse than a hangry draught ?

As a greed, indeed!

Muzzle and trickle nets are working well with mine - horses for courses, I suppose. I'm sure she doesn't like it, but that's a bit tough ?

I definitely plan to keep gradually increasing her work, but just don't want to overdo it with her still being fairly young (just turned 6) and looking as though she has a lot of physical maturing to do.

 

[honetpot]

All but one of mine have been good doers, including young stock, and depending on their weight and work, its feeding straw, not over rugging, and leaving them out as much as possible. If they are clipped they are rugged, just to keep the worst off. Having them out in a group makes them move more so they are not just stood eating their ration.

 

[SEL]

The thing that really works for my good-doer is plenty of exercise. He works for 9 or 10 days and then 1 day off, in the morning ridden work at speed, then in the afternoon hacked / lunged or loose schooled. It is not so much in terms of hours, but it works for him, and he is able to have ad lib hay, small hard feeds morning and night, and a token handful at lunchtime. I give treats, but would always give him a slice of carrot rather than a whole one. The main thing that I find is to keep a careful and objective eye on his weight, and if he seems to be gaining to up the intensity of the work before it gets out of hand. He also sometimes gets a third outing if I am hacking my old lady schoolmistress, just coming along in hand. Frankly I dread his retirement, as for sure he will need very careful management if he cannot burn off the calories.

Do you manage to keep up that level of work in winter? I really struggle then with lack of light and bad ground.

 

[Winters100]

Do you manage to keep up that level of work in winter? I really struggle then with lack of light and bad ground.

Yes, I am lucky that we have an indoor arena, a lit outdoor arena, and a lunging pen. In winter I ride very early when the indoor arena is quiet (actually usually empty), because otherwise it is hard to give 'active' work, without these facilities I agree that it would be impossible.

 

[Widgeon]

I also struggle with lack of light and bad weather in the winter - my good-doer is usually out 24/7, blanket clipped in a 50g or no fill rug. I soak his hay for 24 hours before feeding (it doesn't go disgusting because it's cold in winter) and if he has to come in over night, I feed half and half straw and hay. I was quite surprised by how much of a difference soaking the hay makes. All of that together seems to do the trick.

 

[spacefaer]

I tried smaller holed haynets once. They made them large holed nets in one night ?

 

[Boulty]

I muzzle during spring / summer but don't tend to in winter. I do weigh out hay to an amount roughly worked out on tricklenets forage calculator to promote weight loss (think it goes off 1.5% bodyweight Inc an estimate of how much grass is likely being eaten) & then use a mix of hay ball, trickle nets, nibbleze nets & double netted nibbleze to make it last all night (I vary what I'm using depending on how quick it's being eaten & always have at least 2 options so he can go between them). I've tried mixing in straw & it didn't go well & I don't have the setup to soak hay without knackering my back & angering my hayfever but it can be very effective if they aren't losing without it. Field isn't hayed unless snow on the ground but there's generally more than enough for them to keep picking at.

I've experimented with both leaving unrugged & bib or blanket clipping & fully clipping & using nothing above a 50g rug unless weather is foul. The latter seems to work better for my horse as he grows a coat like a yak so it has to be very cold for him to use energy keeping warm even with clipped bits (plus he's cleaner / dryer for riding purposes). He's only been backed this year but even so I'm not expecting to be able to work him more than 4-5 times a week in winter.

Last few years I've managed to get 50-80kg off over winter but even with a muzzle in summer I have struggled to fully maintain that loss.

 

[ycbm]

I used feed straw and bought low sugar haylage. Several suppliers do small bale Timothy, but there can be protein defecit with it needing to be made up with more bucket food. I muzzled except for November, December and January but lower down the hill i would have needed to muzzle nearly all winter i think. Baillies deliver old parkland meadow, low calories very mixed in species, big bale, nationwide.

I'm hoping never to have another good doer in my life!
.

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

In winter mine live out 24/7 which helps, I clip appropriately & rug at the bare minimum. This affords me to give them good quality un-soaked hay in the field without stressing they'll pile on, if they do, I adjust rug weight & hay amount as needed.

 

[MuddyMonster]

In no particular order: soaked hay in trickle haynet, feeding straw mixed with soaked hay, clipping & not rugging where possible, muzzled at the start of winter when on new field and consistent exercise over winter.

It's tough & fairly certain I have horrified plenty of people over the years but I'm also fairly convinced a summer body is made over winter.

 

[Gloi]

Strip graze the foggage making it last for as long as possible. Feed hay when it is all gone.

 

[scruffyponies]

Out 24/7. No hay, rug or feed until the first of them dropping weight more than is good for them. Then I rotate fields.
Good doers stay on the old grass a week or two after the ones who need it have first bite of the new.
Somehow they still find something to eat, even when it's not obvious what.

Hay is a last resort since they really benefit socially and psycologically from moving around looking for scarce food, rather than grimacing at each other and fighting over hay piles.