Overweight cob , best way to

[brighteyes]

Yes, I tried long straw but she got colic. She was obese when I bought her, 16hh Westphalian Draft horse who was used to being fed haylage and cheap coarse mix, loaded with starch and sugar. Her weight was off the tape and and I got it down to 800kg, over a couple of years (loss of about 200kg).
She wasn't a fan of chaff but she ate it when she realised there was nothing else. I hate haynets and will not use them, soaking hay/lage is a complete PITA and it either freezes in cold weather or goes off in hot weather, so for me chaff was the obvious answer.

ETA, I used Honeychop or Halleys oat straw chaff with obsolutely nothing added, I didn't want to encourage her to eat more than she felt that she needed to keep body and soul together. I also gave her Aloe Vera juice in a very few Agrobs Weisencobs to ward offgastric ulcers.

Brave decision to buy a fatty. Have there been any repercussions or were you in time to undo the weight successfully? It takes effort and resolve. Most folks give up in the face of it. I have seen super animals be allowed to get too fat and the owners bemused as to why it happened. They throw EVERY LAST EXCUSE as to why they can't keep them thin - it hates a muzzle and they are cruel, don't want to fence the area off, can't find time to blah blah blah. For someone I know, laminitis is an occupational hazard for their ponies and I despair.

Enough soap-boxing for today. It's a nightmare. I have natives and far too much grass. I am exhausted by the effort and 'outwitting' (problem-solving with the constraints I have) I need to do. But they aren't fat or anything approaching fat.

 

[coblets]

He has ballooned...?
Also, never seen a thin (healthy weight) cob EVER. Prove me wrong and I'll apologise.

'Ballooned' could mean he's a 5 on the condition score, could mean he's a 4 with an owner who likes more flowery language. As for healthy weight cobs, I've seen plenty travellers with slimmer build cobs that'd be a 2.5-3 at best.

 

[brighteyes]

'Ballooned' could mean he's a 5 on the condition score, could mean he's a 4 with an owner who likes more flowery language. As for healthy weight cobs, I've seen plenty travellers with slimmer build cobs that'd be a 2.5-3 at best.

Didn't want to go down *that* road! And they don't ask for or take advice! I'm on about leisure cobs

 

[brighteyes]

Soak the blue horsehage? Do you think that’s better than oat straw chaff?

I do soak our haylage very briefly and feed immediately. I don't let it overheat or stand at all. Commercially sourced oat straw chaff is safe I think but feeding straw as used to be recommended pre 'unadulterated diet-chaff for horses' is fraught with the glyphosate farmers often use to desiccate it, causing insulin resistance.

 

[Gift Horse]

I have a 15.2 LW cob living out with my 16.2 wb/tb. I find it hard to keep both a healthy weight often cob is on the heavy side and the wb on the lean side. Mine are on a track around 3 acres. Wb worked 3-5 days but the cob rarely gets a day off and sometimes gets worked twice a day adding a lunge in the morning before I go to work in the morning. Fast work keeps mine trim. The hacking routes I use include steep hills but it’s the fast work that keeps his weight down. Hope you find a way to manage yours. I’ve never had a good doer before and have found it blooming hard work.

 

[brighteyes]

So hard with good doers. If he’ll tolerate being separate from his herd small paddock and soaked hay probably best. Oat or barley straw if he’s hungry and keep going with the exercise. If he’s restricted then put back out he’ll just gorge to make up for it.

See my other post on farm-sourced straw.

 

[Goldenstar]

I would start by bringing in all day to chopped straw and turning out into a small paddock to eat at night .
You also need to get him moving by giving him some work .
If that does not work do in at night .
I feed my cob his forage a kilo at a time .
Having this type of horse is hard work .

 

[brighteyes]

I’ve never had a good doer before and have found it blooming hard work.

There's evidence to suggest this is down to insulin resistance (IR)

 

[brighteyes]

Thank you he won’t be rugged ! I’m going to start lunging him for 20 mins a day on days I can’t ride. Also hard to find an ideal
Of what he should weigh he is heavyweight/maxi cob a lot of bone (I’m measuring today) and is 15.2. He can get very bloated (bloats out loads when girth done!) and sometimes he looks very round but that same day can look a better shape.

They all inflate and deflate at grass. You need to check his tail head, bum gutter over the croup, behind the shoulder fat pad and crest (most importantly) Go look at a chart if you are unsure where alarm bells should ring. His ribs should be very faintly discernible under a summer coat and 'easily' felt. If not, he's probably overweight. Bone of leg is not a measure of how fat he is permitted to get! It refers to the circumference of the cannon just below the knee. The fat covering over his bones is the measure and I think it varies little across the breeds. You are looking for definition over the three areas and at the joins between the neck and body, body and hindquarters and at specific points in each region to fat-score. You score each area separately and add the three/3. to get the score.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Brave decision to buy a fatty. Have there been any repercussions or were you in time to undo the weight successfully? It takes effort and resolve. Most folks give up in the face of it. I have seen super animals be allowed to get too fat and the owners bemused as to why it happened. They throw EVERY LAST EXCUSE as to why they can't keep them thin - it hates a muzzle and they are cruel, don't want to fence the area off, can't find time to blah blah blah. For someone I know, laminitis is an occupational hazard for their ponies and I despair.

Enough soap-boxing for today. It's a nightmare. I have natives and far too much grass. I am exhausted by the effort and 'outwitting' (problem-solving with the constraints I have) I need to do. But they aren't fat or anything approaching fat.

She was perfect for what I wanted in every other way. We viewed her ridden along a busy 'A' road in Bradford, with double-deck buses and motorbikes whizzing past without turning ahair but it was the sheep transporter going past that clinched it. Farrier was sceptical when he met her but we took her back shoes off and when we had to have her pts aged 23, (Cushings but no laminitis) he was very complimentary about her, saying that we had done well to keep her to a good age for her size/type,

 

[Goldenstar]

After Fatty I said I would not buy another very very fat horse but sometimes you see a special horse and if it’s fat you have to buy it and deal with it
I knew Blue would join our team the moment he looked at me you get a shiver of awareness when you meet a special horse so with skin issues and fat home he came
It’s hard and you have to be on it all the time .
I have three ID’s and Blue a Clydesdale /ID and so it’s a year round issue working on it
Mine stand in all day getting tiny portions of forage every three hours I don’t leave them with straw because they waste it and I need them to understand standing with nothing to eat is part of life .
I have really lovely large stables and in summer they come in to a mug of soaked grass cubes and a sprinkle of oats and whatever supplements they get these in more work with get alfalfa if they need more
They then work when works finished they all get a sprinkle of Timothy haylege and classic fm on within forty mins they are all asleep .
If they work late in the day they always get a forage snack forty five minutes before .
However dysfunctional in the stable they are when they arrive at the end of the first summer with me they regard the stable as a haven of comfort and quiet companionship .
They stand at the gate in correct order to come in .
I have no horses who won’t stay in or out alone they all end up the same .
I have have enough Labour and time for the kilo snack regime to not as easy for everyone .
I don’t ever use muzzles I tried and after a couple of dangerous incidents I consider them not worth the risk I also think they can frustrate the horse I use work and regulating intake of food .
What I notice is work is key with these types the moment you stop work they will start getting fatter .
You have to act at once .

 

[SEL]

I've found faster work the best way of keeping the blubber down. Having had to take a v v good doer off work because of a leg injury I swear I can see her grow before my eyes. Vet is stunned that she is fed so little yet still so big. I even gave them a tour of my track to prove fatty wasn't on grass! Just now able to introduce some trot thankfully.

 

[Goldenstar]

I agree about faster work cantering up hill is really good you can walk walk walk but nothing much happens unless you get their heart rate right up regularly.
Although I do think an good hours brisk walking does keep metabolic issues at bay it’s just not best for weight loss .

 

[Gloi]

OK.

For context mine did just over 100 miles in walk and trot in March and that just about kept on top of the weight gain from spring grass intake.

Yes, I was pretty surprised when I read 35 miles and came to 'a month' , doing that a week would be better and easily done even riding on 3 days.
Sorry just saw you'd changed it to week in a later post.

 

[brighteyes]

After Fatty I said I would not buy another very very fat horse but sometimes you see a special horse and if it’s fat you have to buy it and deal with it
I knew Blue would join our team the moment he looked at me you get a shiver of awareness when you meet a special horse so with skin issues and fat home he came
It’s hard and you have to be on it all the time .
I have three ID’s and Blue a Clydesdale /ID and so it’s a year round issue working on it
Mine stand in all day getting tiny portions of forage every three hours I don’t leave them with straw because they waste it and I need them to understand standing with nothing to eat is part of life .
I have really lovely large stables and in summer they come in to a mug of soaked grass cubes and a sprinkle of oats and whatever supplements they get these in more work with get alfalfa if they need more
They then work when works finished they all get a sprinkle of Timothy haylege and classic fm on within forty mins they are all asleep .
If they work late in the day they always get a forage snack forty five minutes before .
However dysfunctional in the stable they are when they arrive at the end of the first summer with me they regard the stable as a haven of comfort and quiet companionship .
They stand at the gate in correct order to come in .
I have no horses who won’t stay in or out alone they all end up the same .
I have have enough Labour and time for the kilo snack regime to not as easy for everyone .
I don’t ever use muzzles I tried and after a couple of dangerous incidents I consider them not worth the risk I also think they can frustrate the horse I use work and regulating intake of food .
What I notice is work is key with these types the moment you stop work they will start getting fatter .
You have to act at once .

All this - and I find ponies most suitable for muzzles. Horses, IME not so much. If you can add them to the list of help, then all the better. I think if you are doing it properly you need a routine and calcullations and a lot of effort. I am lucky in that I can see to the drip-feeding a lot of the time and that's key to avoiding other issues associated with restricted intake. It gets hard if you livery and have little time OR the horse or pony can't be worked. Those situations really do test one's determination, ingenuity and success.

 

[hock]

As an over weight cob I feel qualified to answer this ?.
Ive put the fattest ones this year on a horse shoe track system with very scrubby grass. I feed hay at one end and then the water is at the other so they have to keep walking backwards and forwards. It worked brilliantly with one of them, even my vet was shocked at how much he’d toned up.
I also like the idea of filling them up on straw but would rather they were out moving about.
I do sympathise as I am a feeder naturally and hate to think of them hungry.

 

[tristar]

I have come on here for advice and guidance not a ticking off. I am acting fast he is currently in during the day on horse hage blue in a nibbleze. I will lunge him on days he is not ridden.

I am not ignorant and doing nothing about it I’m trying to do what is best.

i`m on my first cob, this is his routine, 12 pm lunchtime he comes in to a small grab of hay with a half a handful of oats, he has inedible bedding, 3.30pm small feed of hay, then ridden at 4 ish, small feed of hay at 6 ish, 7.30 goes out for the night on two small paddocks fairly bare but green, then has feed of hay, fast fibre linseed oil, salt, sometimes vits.

the hay is soaked for several hours, the field is bare but the grass is growing, if you look at him, all of them they are always grazing, never standing resting, or rarely, morning he has a feed of hay 8 am

they work to get the grass, the two paddocks he is in, well there is really three, but dont use the third ,too much grass, are grazable and he is on the move all the time, open and shut the paddocks according to weather and grass growth

he looks well, but not too well if you know what i mean, is very lively, i lunge and ride him 3 to 5 times a week, he is getting very forward going and responsive just now, he is recently backed and puts energy into his work, and has a balance of energy and fitness coming through cause he`s not too fat

you need to act quick as in autumn the grass increases

honestly i would be to frit to ever feed straw, always used hay with no probs

 

[motherof2beasts!]

Thank you all had a very long hack this afternoon ! He will be in from 6am till 5ish with a nibbleze net and worked daily. I have not had a cob before I had hoped with 6 on 2 acres we would be safe, I thought wrong ?.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

As an over weight cob I feel qualified to answer this ?.

It's always nice to read the horse's point of view.

 

[maya2008]

We just stick a muzzle on if they are gaining weight. Works a treat, almost no extra effort!

 

[motherof2beasts!]

He is very very good at disposing of muzzles/fly masks etc.

this sounds thick but I’ve not heard of feeding oat straw feeds instead of hay/horsehage. Someone mentioned no hay or haylage but trugs of straw chaff, someone also mentioned hifi molasses free. Currently he has a very small handful of hifi molasses free a day and wolfs it down so if I did leave trugs of it he would 100% eat it all. Is there one that’s less tasty than hifi molasses free and how much do you leave in stable ?!

 

[windand rain]

Topchop zero ossichaff cool hoof are two I use

 

[blitznbobs]

We just stick a muzzle on if they are gaining weight. Works a treat, almost no extra effort!

Til they get p’d off and start smashing thru fences, or is that just my fatso?

 

[motherof2beasts!]

Topchop zero ossichaff cool hoof are two I use

how much do you leave ?!

 

[PapaverFollis]

Would it be possible to make the times he's off the field from later morning to later evening at all? If so it would be better to do that. Sugar content in the grass is highest in the mid to late afternoon so putting him back out, hungry, at 5pm might not be the best thing as he may then gorge on high sugar grass. When mine are on a fresh bit of field with rested grass, I shut them off the grass at about 10 or 11am and let them back out at about 9pm for this reason.

If not then don't worry, it's just something to consider.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

In during the day, out for a limited time at night if possible. Is there anywhere he can go that isn’t grass so you can control his intake? I think upping work and having a calorific deficit is the only solution, same as us on a diet.

He has ballooned...?
Also, never seen a thin (healthy weight) cob EVER. Prove me wrong and I'll apologise.

I was told off by the saddler for ’allowing him’ to lose so much weight over winter. He’s not thin here, but he’s a healthy weight, IMO, not rugged over winter unless fully clipped.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

He is very very good at disposing of muzzles/fly masks etc.

this sounds thick but I’ve not heard of feeding oat straw feeds instead of hay/horsehage. Someone mentioned no hay or haylage but trugs of straw chaff

Mine had this for a while when not well. Top Chop Zero as Shils mentioned. I would give soaked hay. Mine won’t keep on a muzzle either or will stand sulking and not trying to eat.

 

[motherof2beasts!]

Mine had this for a while when not well. Top Chop Zero as Shils mentioned. I would give soaked hay. Mine won’t keep on a muzzle either or will stand sulking and not trying to eat.

How much top chop would you leave in stable ?!

 

[Cinnamontoast]

How much top chop would you leave in stable ?!

2 full trugs, with about 4kg of soaked hay. Do you weigh your hay? It’s key, I find.

 

[babymare]

I have come on here for advice and guidance not a ticking off. I am acting fast he is currently in during the day on horse hage blue in a nibbleze. I will lunge him on days he is not ridden.

I am not ignorant and doing nothing about it I’m trying to do what is best.

No one is ticking you off. People are talking from experience to help. X