New horse weight loss

[Axi17]

Hi everyone! Looking for advice or ideas? I purchased a new horse 2 weeks ago. She's a 10yo 15hh cob. She is ridiculously fat, like I've never seen a cob quite as fat as her. The biggest crest & bum, fat pads everywhere, no wither. I've got my work cut out to get her down to a healthy weight. Ideally I'd have her completely off the grass & just on soaked hay but my dilemma is that the yard I am at, I don't have that option. There is only 4 horses including her & they all rotate round paddocks throughout the year so she will always have grass & I'm worried I'll be fighting a battle in getting the weight off her whilst she has the grass. They all live out 24/7 for the majority of the year until the worst months of winter when they are then stabled over night. I had to move her on to a new paddock last week which had lots of long grass & I am having to strip graze her which is fine & I did try a greenguard muzzle but it rubbed her chin raw so gave up with that. She is being exercised 5 days a week which I know will help massively & she is having no feed, only a vit/min supplement but I'm just worried that everything I am doing is not going to be enough to get her drop some weight. Does anyone have any ideas on anything else I can be doing to help her please?

 

[Gloi]

A trace or chaser clip will help her use a few more of her calories keeping warm. Keeping her out through the winter on the winter grass alone will make a bit of an inroad into her weight especially if you ride her as much as you can.

 

[Axi17]

She is fully clipped & I intend to keep her that way. Hopefully with winter grass & coming off at night plus lots of riding will help. Thank you for your advice.

 

[Lurfy]

When they rotate paddocks can you keep her back in the grazed out paddock for a week to avoid the best grass in the new paddock. Let the other 3 eat down the new paddock a bit before she goes in.
You can line the muzzle with sheepskin to prevent rubbing.

 

[AUB]

After my mares injury she needed to loose some weight too. I cut back her feed to a minimum (fed her as a pony - she is a 170 cm trakehner) and fed her as if she had EMS - very low in sugar and starch. I also cut her hay back a bit, but have kept her on a nice field with plenty grass. And then I made myself a promise: to exercise her daily for at least 1 hour. Even if I didn’t feel up to it, I would tack up and just do 1 hour in walk in the forrest, or not even tack up and just take her for a 1 hour walk by hand. If I lunged her for 30 mins, I’d walk her by hand for 30 mins afterwards.
Even though she’s dropped almost 100 kg since our new fitness-regime began and I’ve since put her back on hard feed with a bit more energy in it I still try to abide by my 1 hour rule. And she looks good! Not only has she dropped weight, but the many walks also helps building topline.

 

[Red-1]

I'm not sure it is possible when they have access to grazing with no muzzle. You may make inroads over winter, but come spring you will see her ballooning again.

Is it possible to make her a corral in the field, maybe a 30m circle or square in a corner? Lay down some hard core and you have a dry lot situation?

My new one is a similar size, he has to have 8kg hay in total for weight loss and 9kg in total for weight to stay the same. The vet advised it is not really possible to gauge when eating grass as well. The hay is soaked, and he gets Top Chop Zero, which is basically clean straw, as a tummy filler twice a day too. He gets 2 nets at a time, one with holes and one Tricklenet. So, he can fill up some and then pick for a bit longer.

I suspect you will manage over winter, especially if you are also working her, but will have to have a bigger plan for spring. Maybe, if winter isn't too wet, you could just corral some off without having to lay anything to stop it from churning up. That way, she could have a few hours a day in with her mates, with a muzzle, and longer in a corral within the same field.

 

[scats]

Good grazing will be your nemesis here unfortunately. Muzzle wise, I highly recommend the flexible filly.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Try a different muzzle and/or sheepskin. The Flexible Filly gets good reviews.

Exercise, exercise, exercise! It's the only way my gelding can afford to be on grass. Although, we've been "fortunate" to have dry summers and sparse grazing/over grazed fields for him.

Otherwise, it sounds like you have a decent plan thus far and it should yield some results. Good luck!

 

[ycbm]

Good grazing will be your nemesis here unfortunately. Muzzle wise, I highly recommend the flexible filly.

Me too, mine was rubbed raw in days in a greenguard but the only thing I have to do with the flexible filly is put a bit of fleece over the top of the nose.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I would substitute some of the hay with plain oat straw chaff, let him fill up on that. Horses that feel hungry will gorge when they get the chance. Keeping them feeling full if the answer to the problem, imo. Horses that are allowed ad-lib access to forage learn to regulate themselves, our job is to provide forage that won't add to the weight problem. I wouldn't use top Chop Zero, though, there is something about it which makes them wolf it down. Try Halley's or Honeychop.

 

[pixie]

Mine wears a fleecy shires 24/7 to keep his weight down. He is a welshy with EMS and the vet commented last week on how good he looks weight-wise.

 

[Goldenstar]

I think if the yard can’t accommodate the needs of a horse you need to move to one that does.
This needs to be a thing you consider when you buy a horse I would not a bought an obese cob in your situation .
See what the yard owner is prepared to do to help if they won’t move .

 

[Axi17]

When they rotate paddocks can you keep her back in the grazed out paddock for a week to avoid the best grass in the new paddock. Let the other 3 eat down the new paddock a bit before she goes in.
You can line the muzzle with sheepskin to prevent rubbing.

Yes that is what I plan to try & do, unfortunately there is only 1 horse that can pre graze, the other 2 are also restricted so it's not a quick process. I did have a track up in her paddock but with the recent rain it turned into a bog very quickly. I think I'm going to go back down the grazing muzzle route & try & make it comfortable for her.

 

[Axi17]

I think if the yard can’t accommodate the needs of a horse you need to move to one that does.
This needs to be a thing you consider when you buy a horse I would not a bought an obese cob in your situation .
See what the yard owner is prepared to do to help if they won’t move .

The yard owners are very accomadating luckily & are trying to think of a few options for me but there is just not anywhere I can put her without grass. It's also not as easy as just upping & moving to another yard unfortunately.

 

[Widgeon]

Yes that is what I plan to try & do....

Hey Axi, I just wanted to say, you're not alone - my 15.1 eleven year old cob has also absolutely ballooned over the summer since I bought him, I have never seen another horse as efficient at converting stalky nasty grass to fat as he is. I'm planning to keep him clipped out and in a no-fill rug for as long as possible, and keep him in the same paddock so he runs out of grass. Then I'll soak his hay when he starts to need some. I'm praying that will work for us...perhaps we should start a H&H fatty winter bootcamp thread?! Very best of luck.

 

[Axi17]

Hey Axi, I just wanted to say, you're not alone - my 15.1 eleven year old cob has also absolutely ballooned over the summer since I bought him, I have never seen another horse as efficient at converting stalky nasty grass to fat as he is. I'm planning to keep him clipped out and in a no-fill rug for as long as possible, and keep him in the same paddock so he runs out of grass. Then I'll soak his hay when he starts to need some. I'm praying that will work for us...perhaps we should start a H&H fatty winter bootcamp thread?! Very best of luck.

Hiya. Thank you for your comment. In an ideal world I would keep my girl on the same paddock all year round & hay when the grass is gone but my yard has 10 acres of land all split in to individual paddocks so the owners like to rotate the horses round the paddocks. If I don't move her with the other horses she would end up alone & I don't think that's fair for her. I would like her to share a fence line with another horse at all times really for her happiness more then anything. My girl is fully clipped & out naked unless raining & cold. I'm hoping I'll start to see some improvements in the new year but it would be so much easier with no access to grass. I'm just having to make the best out of a bad situation. Good luck with the weight loss for your horsey also x

 

[Dexter]

whats your long term plan? You will not be able to manage this horse rotating round paddocks of grass. Winter should get some weight off, but not much if you have lots of land to swap onto. So spring will come with an already overweight pony, and you will have huge problems

 

[saalsk]

I feel your pain ! I am very lucky and have my own grazing, but I like to make like tough for myself, so I have an arab who can eat what he likes, but isn't greedy, and although I shovel food into him at every opportunity, he never gets fat. I have to work hard to keep the weight on him. Then I also have a welsh cob who gets fat on air. The arab is rugged (appropriately), given hard feed all year round, haylage in winter, and is out 24/7 (field shelters available). Pudge has a grazing muzzle (flex filly with fleece wrapping), chopped straw for when they are in and I give haylage to the arab, and non-sugar chaff with a soaked grass pellet type thing for when I give hard feed. I also make him a small pen in the centre of the main field they are in at the time, with zingy electric strands, so he can be with the arab, but not have all the grass, so he doesn't have to have the muzzle on all the time. With muzzle, he can be in the whole field, then has muzzle free time in the StarvationPenOfDoom, which I move to effectively strip graze the grass every few days. With moveable poles, and the battery and zapper unit in a covered plastic box, with a hole on the side for the various wires, it is easy to move, and small enough in length of tape, that the zap is strong enough to stop him leaving. He also has a no fill sheet for winter rain ( I am in Wales, afterall ! ) and if his weight goes up, fur is removed accordingly - bib, low trace, high trace, hunter etc, depending on what shape he gets. For me ( and just my own opinion ) clipping is a thing I do when I have tried most other things - but that is mainly due to weather issues - I am up on a big hill, and the chill factor from wind, on a wet, clipped pony, is an issue. So far, with the pen and muzzle, I have only had to bib clip him. He pootles alongside my arab, on a lead rein, for hacks, so he does get quite a bit of exercise too. I also have the advantage of having them visible from the house, so although I am sure he feels it is a coincidence that he is always at the furthest part of the field when I go to get them in for feeding etc, so he has to canter the length of the field to get to the gate for his small piece of carrot treat, it isn't !

 

[Axi17]

whats your long term plan? You will not be able to manage this horse rotating round paddocks of grass. Winter should get some weight off, but not much if you have lots of land to swap onto. So spring will come with an already overweight pony, and you will have huge problems

My long term plan will to be rotate round the paddocks after they have been pre grazed by one of the other horses & then strip graze & muzzle her, that is the only option I have plus 5 days a week exercise! I have the option to stable her & take her off the grass of a night as well. We will manage just fine. The reason for my thread was to ask for any further advice on how else to get weight off.. Not criticism!

 

[sollimum]

The only thing that I would add is to go for a larger sized grazing muzzle. I have always gone a size or two up and that means no rubbing.