Please condition score my horse

The side in view she looks well. Behind view she definitely has a rounder apple bottom and you can see she is carrying weight across her quarters and neck, so that could go if possible. Always difficult when they can't be worked.

Fwiw as a comparison, Belgian warm blood, 16hh, 18 years old doing medium to hard work 5/6 days a week weight tapes at 513kg. I wouldn't say your mare is overweight considering she's on box rest so cannot be worked..
 
What may help her now is a really good massage, she has the look of a horse that has held herself, braced against discomfort and the fat pads are in those areas, a massage can help them loosen up and they start to hold themselves in a more relaxed way.
My pony had a couple of gentle physio sessions when he looked similar to your mare it helped make him more relaxed and the fat pads especially the ones over his loins changed shape, with the month he had on metformin they have gone and 18 months later have not come back.
 
RiderLizzie said:
The side in view she looks well. Behind view she definitely has a rounder apple bottom and you can see she is carrying weight across her quarters and neck, so that could go if possible. Always difficult when they can't be worked.

Fwiw as a comparison, Belgian warm blood, 16hh, 18 years old doing medium to hard work 5/6 days a week weight tapes at 513kg. I wouldn't say your mare is overweight considering she's on box rest so cannot be worked..
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Thanks. I am hoping that when the meds kick in, it will start to be a great deal easier. If she continues to improve, I am hoping to be able to start gentle exercise in a couple of week. Fingers crossed.
 
be positive said:
What may help her now is a really good massage, she has the look of a horse that has held herself, braced against discomfort and the fat pads are in those areas, a massage can help them loosen up and they start to hold themselves in a more relaxed way.
My pony had a couple of gentle physio sessions when he looked similar to your mare it helped make him more relaxed and the fat pads especially the ones over his loins changed shape, with the month he had on metformin they have gone and 18 months later have not come back.
Click to expand...

Wow. That's amazing. I hadn't even thought of getting the physio out to her. Thank you. :)
 
This was her at what I consider to be perfect weight, in medium work as a ten year old. Obviously, the fresh clip is quite slimming.

tenyearold.jpg
 
I have to agree with others, good over the middle but them bum coyuld do with a bit more off, especially comparing it to the photo of how she used to look.

blummin' stunning tho! fine stamp of a horse. hope you figure it out :)
 
Brimmers said:
I have to agree with others, good over the middle but them bum coyuld do with a bit more off, especially comparing it to the photo of how she used to look.

blummin' stunning tho! fine stamp of a horse. hope you figure it out :)
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Thank you! Yes, it was digging out that photo that has made me realise how her fat distribution has changed. I'm determined to get her through this.
 
I skipped straight to the picture without reading the thread first and my very first thought was ' is she EMS?'

She is absolutely classic EMS/cushings and therefore cannot be condition scored in the normal way.

Her hormones have gone hirewire and her body thinks it's starving, whilst the fatty bits are pumping out the laminitis-inducing toxins. I bet she feels cold really easily? It's part of her loss of control in fat and thermo-regulation.

It is really really hard to get them look 'normal'. Her body has no idea the fatty patches are there and hence keeps trying to add more and more on. It also makes it really difficult to loose them as it all comes off the 'normal' rib area first.

She needs to loose more weight but she will look very ribby once she does. Not much you can do about it other than Cushings medication. Also look at her diet and go for a 'barefoot' diet and pay real attention to minerals, esp magnesium. If you can get it right, it will help her fat distribution significantly.
 
My lad had a 30day course of Metformin August this yr after coming down with Lami but at a good weight (confirmed by farriers/vets) tested positive for EMS/Insulin Resistant.

His shape was unrecognisable after it to be honest and as yours is, he was on box rest the entire time so hang in there and watch the fat pads dissolve, it helps to have someone else see her now for you and then in a couple of wks look again, i couldn't see it myself until someone else pointed it out to me, i'd got so used to seeing his fat pads.

He has maintained the shape so far off the drugs but it is hard work balancing the grass/sugar intake as he lives out 24/7 and work is only at w.ends for him now.

I tried everything to get his meds down him and resorted the last week to actually poking them down his throat then holding his head up until he swallowed......... taste them yourself, vile like paracetemol, i had to try them to see what the fuss was about - LOL
 
I'm agreeing with ihatework here. To be honest she needs more protein, not calories. But here's the problem, balancers are full of stuff detrimental to lami type horses. I don't care what big feed companies tell you. So you need protein without carbs. I have had past experiences with whey protein powder. But I got the horsie one in the states. People ones are tricky as you want just the whey protein powder. It was 2 tablespoons per day. Worked a treat.

1 Stubbs scoop a day is too much, IMO. But I'm not a vet nor nutritionist. I have horses in work that aren't getting that a day in a combo of beet, oats, chaff, flax. They all look very well and ribs are easily felt but not seen. It has taken me ages to get to this point. The point in which overweight is not the correct weight. It's difficult.

But check out whey protein powder for horses. Google and gather some info for yourself. Could help her you where she needs to be. Pure powder now, not milk pellets.

All the best,
Terri
 
Forgot to say what my lad ate whilst on box rest split into 2 feeds, it barely covered the bottom of the smallest tubtrug you can get now, i don't use scoops thou.

I coffee cup of Baileys Lo-Cal which is around 250g
I small handful of TopSpec Lite Chaff so about 1 coffee cupful
MagOx
Agnus Castus

Around 2% of 12hr soaked hay split into 3 triple netted portions.

He is now on

1 cup Lo-Cal
MagOx
Micronised Linseed
Brewers Yeast

And out at grass 24/7, 12hrs in his field and 12hrs in the starvy patch, he swaps round with one of my others who is obese but won't keep a muzzle on.
 
Kallibear said:
I skipped straight to the picture without reading the thread first and my very first thought was ' is she EMS?'

She is absolutely classic EMS/cushings and therefore cannot be condition scored in the normal way.

Her hormones have gone hirewire and her body thinks it's starving, whilst the fatty bits are pumping out the laminitis-inducing toxins. I bet she feels cold really easily? It's part of her loss of control in fat and thermo-regulation.

It is really really hard to get them look 'normal'. Her body has no idea the fatty patches are there and hence keeps trying to add more and more on. It also makes it really difficult to loose them as it all comes off the 'normal' rib area first.

She needs to loose more weight but she will look very ribby once she does. Not much you can do about it other than Cushings medication. Also look at her diet and go for a 'barefoot' diet and pay real attention to minerals, esp magnesium. If you can get it right, it will help her fat distribution significantly.
Click to expand...

Thank you. That is really useful information. She is already on a barefoot diet. I forgot to mention the micronised linseed. I only feed half a mug of it as I know it is fattening. She is on 1 scoop Pure feeds Easy (molasses and cereal free), Half mug of micronised linseed, one scoop of pro hoof, one tablet of prascend, and 26 tablets of metformin split between two feeds.

Boysy said:
My lad had a 30day course of Metformin August this yr after coming down with Lami but at a good weight (confirmed by farriers/vets) tested positive for EMS/Insulin Resistant.

His shape was unrecognisable after it to be honest and as yours is, he was on box rest the entire time so hang in there and watch the fat pads dissolve, it helps to have someone else see her now for you and then in a couple of wks look again, i couldn't see it myself until someone else pointed it out to me, i'd got so used to seeing his fat pads.

He has maintained the shape so far off the drugs but it is hard work balancing the grass/sugar intake as he lives out 24/7 and work is only at w.ends for him now.

I tried everything to get his meds down him and resorted the last week to actually poking them down his throat then holding his head up until he swallowed......... taste them yourself, vile like paracetemol, i had to try them to see what the fuss was about - LOL
Click to expand...

Lol, that's what I did after she had spat them out over her stable door. They are foul! Really encouraging to hear your story. There is hope for her yet!

Equilibrium Ireland said:
I'm agreeing with ihatework here. To be honest she needs more protein, not calories. But here's the problem, balancers are full of stuff detrimental to lami type horses. I don't care what big feed companies tell you. So you need protein without carbs. I have had past experiences with whey protein powder. But I got the horsie one in the states. People ones are tricky as you want just the whey protein powder. It was 2 tablespoons per day. Worked a treat.

1 Stubbs scoop a day is too much, IMO. But I'm not a vet nor nutritionist. I have horses in work that aren't getting that a day in a combo of beet, oats, chaff, flax. They all look very well and ribs are easily felt but not seen. It has taken me ages to get to this point. The point in which overweight is not the correct weight. It's difficult.

But check out whey protein powder for horses. Google and gather some info for yourself. Could help her you where she needs to be. Pure powder now, not milk pellets.

All the best,
Terri
Click to expand...

Thank you. The pure feeds easy is intended for laminitics and horses on box rest so it isn't really any more fattening than chaff. Will check out the whey protein. :)
 
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