Overfeeding a COB

[PegasusMP]

Hi,

I am Hugely concerned for a friends Cob as I believe he is being massively overfed by his owner.

He is 15.1 and 21 years old. He has suffered badly with Laminitis in the past and even when she has been advised to keep him stabled to help him heal she has still been taking him out for fresh grass everyday AND giving him haynets. My concern has now grown as about 6 weeks ago he was diagnosed with Arthritis and the vet has said he has to be exercised everyday without fail for 20-30 mins minimum and his diet monitored.

When she asks someone else to ride him he has a minimum of 30 minutes, mainly in walk and trot but he does canter when out hacking (by his own choice I hasten to add!) However, when she rides him it's a snails pace crawl around the school for no more than 10 minutes, she refuses to take him out will often leave him without being ridden for days on end. On average he is ridden for 20 minutes no more then 4 times a week.

As with most Cob's he has a mind and pace of his own but when pushed a little works well and responds to his rider as expected. She has him boarded at a riding school under the proviso he will be used for beginner lessons when required but as yet he hasn't been needed due to him being ill and now presently no requirement for him. it breaks my heart to see him when he's not being ridden as he stiffens so badly and you can see it even when he is walked in from the field.

My concern is that she is now giving him a morning and evening feed which has doubled in size within the last week, happy hoof, half a sachet of meds which will stop in the next few days and always apples and carrots. We discovered yesterday she is also giving him hay at night as his field has little to no grass in it but also giving him hay in the morning with is morning feed THEN turning him out into the next field so he can graze all day long. He isn't rugged as the weather has been so mild thus far but my concern is this is too much and will begin to effect his health to a massively detrimental effect.

Am i right in thinking this is too much? any help or guidance given is much appreciated as i am concerned she is killing him with kindness and once his meds are fully out of his system he will become ill again If this happens he will potentially be asked to leave the yard he is on as they wont be able to use him.

 

[thatsmygirl]

Talk to your friend if your concerned, other then that there isn't a lot you can do just try to educate her a bit.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

What is the YO doing about this?

They have a duty of care to the horse while it is on their yard and especially if the horse was meant to be on some kind of working livery.

In the past, I have rung Redwings and asked them to come out to educate the owner of a horse which was not being managed appropriately. Although they didn't get back to me with any follow-up, the management of the horse changed. Perhaps you could approach them.

 

[Princess Rosie]

I agree with pearlsasinger, the YO needs to get involved and depending on where you are based a charity is a good option, something we have done in the past is to organise a nutritionalist for one of the major feed companies to come to our yard and have a chat to all owners about feeding and supplements etc, they are really good and can help discretely sort out owners who are over feeding/under feeding without causing any upset/bad feeling for anyone. Maybe speak to your YO about organising such a visit (if your YO doesn't want to get involved with the issue as some don't - something I can never get my head around!) and maybe get tea and cake and make a few hours of it. x

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Really the large hard feeds plus apples and carrots should be stopped. He could have a small, low calorie feed that's just big enough for his medication while he's still on that.

You say that the field has little to no grass in it, so giving hay in that field seems sensible (soaked hay would be ideal here - no horse should have no forage for hours on end).

If the YO stops him from being turned out in the lush field during the day, that would be wise.

I think the YO needs to talk to the owner and if the owner isn't going to ride him enough and the school aren't using him, he might be better off staying turned out in the low/no grass field with soaked hay.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

The WHW are very good, formerly ILPH and this keeps YO in neutral/supervision role, people can be prosecuted for this!

 

[stilltrying]

Is the horse actually over weight? I dont have an issue with feeding plenty of forgage, Ok lush grass is not good for a lami prone horse, but plenty of hay is fine. I've seen overweight horses on yards before and the owner thinks the answer is to give a tiny haynet at night. Hate seeing horses without anything.

 

[touchstone]

Is the horse actually over weight? I dont have an issue with feeding plenty of forgage, Ok lush grass is not good for a lami prone horse, but plenty of hay is fine. I've seen overweight horses on yards before and the owner thinks the answer is to give a tiny haynet at night. Hate seeing horses without anything.

I'd tend to agree with this, I have a native that needs diet monitoring, but anyone watching would think I overfed as I lug nets of soaked hay or high fibre haylage across to her, along with huge feeds of just high fibre chaff - same calorific value as poor hay and lower in sugar, but she still only gets 1.5% of bodyweight in total per day.

The grass and apples/carrots are the things that need stopping, but the horse needs plenty of high fibre forage, cob or not! If the cob is overweight then suggesting a muzzle or keeping him in the sparse paddock with soaked hay is probably the way forwards.

Other than that, unless the animal is obese I don't think the welfare agencies will be too worried tbh.

On the exercise front it is no good just using the horse occasionally and expecting it to be going at all paces, this is one way to injuries and will probably make any stiffness worse afterwards; steady gentle exercise is far better, gradually building up.

 

[fatpiggy]

You should have seen the cob type I came across at the weekend when I was out walking. There was quite a bit of grass on the field and they could lean over the fence and graze the verge too which was pretty lush. It was VAST with a neck like the Berlin Wall and enough bum cleavage to rival Cheddar Gorge. Its feet could have down with some attention too. We had a drop of rain last month and two weeks of nice sunshine since so the grass is really growing well. I can't understand how so many owners are blind to animal obesity. Its field companions were all shires and they can take the extra calories but a pony type cob just can't, end of.