My horse is obese

[FFAQ]

I had to move yards in April as the farmer at previous yard retired and sold the farm. Anyway, new place is also a farm and the grass is basically lard to the horses! I do have VERY good doers. The shire is holding her weight nicely and is spot on. Coblet is a little overweight, but is dropping nicely now he's coming in over night on soaked hay. Blobby cobby however is ginormous! The vet and I suspect EMS although he's come back negative on all tests. It's been tricky to restrict him as it's taken all this time to get shelters up so I can have somewhere to get him off the grass.
Anyway, shelters are up and I have a weight loss plan in mind - track and shelter with soaked hay and ad lib honey chop oat straw. I reckon he's got 150kg to lose (yes, I am ashamed). Unfortunately I was unable to ride for several months this year, but that's on its way to sorted and I've found a rider now.
So the reason for this post is moral support! Please tell me your weight-loss stories and share any tips! How much did your horse lose and how long did it take? I was assuming one notch of the weigh tape would be a good rate of loss each week? That would mean just under 6 months to get to ideal weight.
I'd like to point out that he hasn't put on 150kg in a few months! It's gradually crept up over the years, but riding and management at previous yard was helping to slow down the gain I see now.

 

[BenvardenRach2]

Hi FFAQ,

I was in the same boat as you last December - my old horse was offered back to us as his owner had lost confidence and turned him away for over a year. He was kept in a lush big field with a TB broodmare and the yard owner was feeding him the exact same feed as her twice a day all through the year (he is a connie x ISH lives off fresh air) So when he was delivered back to us in Dec he was the size of a house i am not even joking... I'll submit pic below! I had to slowly bring him back into work after him having such a long time off he struggled with 5 mins of walk a day at first. He was on soaked hay, shavings so he couldn't eat his bed, a tiny handful of hifi light for his supplements. I made sure i worked him 5/6 days a week without fail and slowly increased work load. Exercise is of the upmost importance he will not loose it if he's stood in a field/stable all day - some days we both really couldn't be bothered to ride/lunge - you know what it's like! But i made sure i tacked up for his sake!!
He reached his ideal weight in July so took around 7 months. Picture shows December & July. There is a light at the end of the tunnel just keep riding x

 

[meleeka]

Mine lost 100kgs in a month while on box rest (measured on vets weighbridge). He loved box rest as he got to eat all day! He had soaked hay in a teeny holed net pretty much adlib and a large Shires net of straw. He did get a small amount of hay on the floor to satisfy his hunger and a feed of balancer and low calorie chaff too.

I think you’ll find a track will help enormously. I was amazed the first year I tried it at how trim it kept my natives.

I’ve found that my cob puts on weight overnight on grass, but he does lose it quickly too.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

When I bought my Draft mare she was obese, having put a massive amount of weight on in her previous home, even though she was only there for 9 months!

I got her weight down by 200kg by following a similar programme to yours, although I didn't soak her hay and some of the time she had haylage. She came in over night in winter and i gave her small amounts of hay at 3 different times of the evening, while she had ad-lib oat straw chaff.

 

[ester]

This was Frankie when I bought him, he had arrived at a neighbouring yard in the March fit as a flea, by June he'd had about a month off on herd turnout because the new owner decided she didn't like him.
At vetting vet told me he wasn't as unfit as he looked so to crack on. Unfortunately it was so long ago that the facebook pics don't have the right dates on them to give any sort of timeline but he didn't stay like that for long and that was all exercised based he wasn't particularly restricted feed wise.

He spent the rest of his life looking more like this though he always looks better on the move with some ab engagement as he does have a big rib cage so the belly always looked more significant than it was especially as he got older.

He's now old, out of work and suspected metabolic but keeping him on a track seems to keep him at a point where I'm not worrying too much about him. Though it's still strange seeing him looking a bit old and soft!

 

[Chinchilla]

Weightloss...first pictures are early/mid summer 2017; second pictures are late summer/early autumn 2017; third pictures are early this year, about March.
In summer they were on restricted grazing with muzzles on during the day and strip grazed, and were exercised as often as possible. In winter the weight came off because the heaviest rugs they had on were 100g ones when it was -6.5 C (It makes me sound evil lol!)
But sadly now they have gained a lot again because I took my eye of the ball around May this year. I ought to have put the muzzles back on and made them an almost bare paddock about the time of the third photos to prevent them gaining weight again, but I didn't, so the weight gain's my fault (oops).

I'm not actually sure how many KG either of them lost but it was quite a lot: at her heaviest the fewspot was over 500kg and the New Forest was over 300 kg. :eek3:
NF is suspected EMS though and both are basically always treated as if severely laminitic (despite not being so) to manage their weight. I need to exercise them more though.

Unfortunately around where I keep mine the grazing is designed for cattle; formerly it was used for a dairy herd, then raising steers for beef. Not great for horses, particularly good doers, at all! But getting the weight off is doable, so best of luck We have too much of the rich grass too. (Obviously, need more equines to eat it all! :lol: )

Loving these befores and afters btw. Inspire me to get off my arse and to some work with mine so they look as good as some of the other beasties on here!

 

[Mule]

My farrier puts his very overweight ones in a dry lot or sand ring and just gives them restricted hay. The rich grass comes out of their system and they trim up fairly quickly.

 

[FFAQ]

Thanks everyone! Really inspiring. Live the before and after pics! There is light at the end of the tunnel then.
As with a few of you, all our local grazing has been for beef/dairy cattle- terrible for good doers!

 

[poiuytrewq]

I struggle with the weight of my retired horse too, its really tough. It sounds like you've taken this really seriously though and done far more than many owners would have (shelters and setting up a track) so I'm sure you'll get there!
The track system is brilliant. I did it last year and it was amazing how more active it kept them. Sadly it didnt really work for me as we had no mains and a brat of a pony who seems not to give a stuff about battery electric fencing and in the end i decided it was safer for the others (as pony is never the one who gets injured, he just leaves devastation to damage the others!) to take it down. gutted because i loved it, Its also incredibly easy to poo pick a track which is an added bonus!

 

[ester]

Thanks everyone! Really inspiring. Live the before and after pics! There is light at the end of the tunnel then.
As with a few of you, all our local grazing has been for beef/dairy cattle- terrible for good doers!

we're on non-fertilised low lying clay on the somerset levels. The field has been in the family forever and definitely hasn't had any fertiliser on it in my 35 years. But we grow grass like billyo, even though we only 3.5ish acres for two we do sometimes get sheep in as well as make hay.

On livery in wilts on chalk/limestone with limited soil depth it was pathetic in comparison despite regular fertiliser. It was really interesting to see how much difference it made as there was much more species variety in wilts too.

 

[FFAQ]

We need a 'like' button!

 

[oldie48]

The vet saw my sect A rescue pony last week and we discussed diet as despite being muzzled for several months, little Fatty is still a little Fatty. Vet said he was designed to live on stones, well the green stuff that sticks to stones, which made me laugh. It is so difficult keeping these good doers at a proper weight!

 

[Equi]

Frankly im burying my head in the sand at the mo cause its so close to winter. My horse came to me so skinny i thought he was a poor doer - two years wintering and he took a LOT of feeding to stay a good weight. Coming out of this winter though his body decided it was no longer being starved and that it could be its natural self...now i have a maxi cob with no cob! Hes not even on that much grass lol

This winter i will use the cold/no grass to really get him back in shape. I miss my ISH/hunter looking chap.

On the weightloss front though, again i used winter to get this mare from this to this - she came to me in about june and i didn't know snot about minis and frankly i let her get dangerously overweight through pure ignorance. Thankfully i know more now! But i was very cruel to her, she had a full body clip and a light rain sheet on in winter for about two years. Now shes about 20 she has started to self regulate a litte, she came out of winter last year a little poor so this year i have done nothing with her, shes let be.

 

[Mule]

Frankly im burying my head in the sand at the mo cause its so close to winter. My horse came to me so skinny i thought he was a poor doer - two years wintering and he took a LOT of feeding to stay a good weight. Coming out of this winter though his body decided it was no longer being starved and that it could be its natural self...now i have a maxi cob with no cob! Hes not even on that much grass lol

This winter i will use the cold/no grass to really get him back in shape. I miss my ISH/hunter looking chap.

On the weightloss front though, again i used winter to get this mare from this to this - she came to me in about june and i didn't know snot about minis and frankly i let her get dangerously overweight through pure ignorance. Thankfully i know more now! But i was very cruel to her, she had a full body clip and a light rain sheet on in winter for about two years. Now shes about 20 she has started to self regulate a litte, she came out of winter last year a little poor so this year i have done nothing with her, shes let be.

That's very impressive weight loss. It's a worry this year with the sugar content being so high in grass.

 

[Equi]

Yeah its quite high but im doing okay really, the grass didnt grow for so long, and i had the fatties on a small pen which quickly turned to dirt so theyve been okay. Ive also been doing a 24hrs in, 24hrs out thing cause im rotating the boys being out and the girls in just to avoid any mishaps with the fence (even though its double fence + eletric, minis are crafty!)

must get some new photos of this mare, since she was retired shes not had much love bar a groom now and then lol

 

[FFAQ]

Just a little update - Barny has been on his diet for nearly two weeks and has lost 41kg! I think quite a bit of that was bloat, but the good news is that he's losing and actually has settled into the regime quite well. He gets 1.5% of his body weight in hay and some honey chop oat straw for gut fill. The hay is divided in to 3 nets twice a day - one is his football net (small holes) that he has on the ground, one dangles from a beam in the shelter to simulate browsing from trees head position, and one is hung on the opposite side of the gate on his track to encourage him to lift his chest as he stretches over, so his hay has become his physio too! His track runs alongside the paddock so he can mutually groom over the fence and he has plenty of room to move.

 

[Mule]

Just a little update - Barny has been on his diet for nearly two weeks and has lost 41kg! I think quite a bit of that was bloat, but the good news is that he's losing and actually has settled into the regime quite well. He gets 1.5% of his body weight in hay and some honey chop oat straw for gut fill. The hay is divided in to 3 nets twice a day - one is his football net (small holes) that he has on the ground, one dangles from a beam in the shelter to simulate browsing from trees head position, and one is hung on the opposite side of the gate on his track to encourage him to lift his chest as he stretches over, so his hay has become his physio too! His track runs alongside the paddock so he can mutually groom over the fence and he has plenty of room to move.

Brilliant, well done, that's a lot if weight. It's such a relief when they get down to a healthy weight.