JackDaniels1
Well-Known Member
What do you do with an overweight cob who is on restricted grazing - do you still feed hay? No grass left in small paddock.
What do you do with an overweight cob who is on restricted grazing - do you still feed hay? No grass left in small paddock.
Ditto. Take him off for a couple of days and you'll soon see what he is eating.Don't forget that the grass is growing and he is eating whatever would have shown as growth. He isn't getting nothing unless he is standing there without nibbling. If he isn't losing weight he's getting food from somewhere. I would stop feeding him in the stable and see if he loses weight then, and then you know you need to feed hay in the paddock regularly to keep his gut moving.
Restricted grazing is fine but the only way to really get the weight off is constant exercise working in conjunction with the restricted grazing.
Good luck.
Horses and ponies are trickle feeders. It's a good idea to keep an eye on what's coming out if you can't see what's going in
Agree with previous posts regarding grass coming through and exercise, but as an aside, if I were to need to feed forage I would feed straw rather than hay to provide forage with fewer kcals.
I think it might be the raised insulin that inflames the lamina. I read part of a study recently with that probable conclusion but can't find it atm. I've put out an sos and will post the link when I get it.Also if a horse think its got nothing to eat, this creates frustration and stress, which releases the stress hormone cortisol, when cortisol rises insulin rises, when insulin rises the body will not burn fat, when insulin rises the horse perceives its in starvation mode and it thinks it needs to hold onto fat, its not going to be losing weight with this going on. This is also going to have an impact on hooves, but cant for the life of me work out why cortisol, inflames the laminae
Straw can be high in sugars and doesn't provide much in the way of nutrition. It can be a great way to add bulk but it might still be adding calories as well...
It's called a project not study. There's a pdf to download which I haven't read fully so not sure how scientific it is but thought it was a interesting. https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/11-116I think it might be the raised insulin that inflames the lamina. I read part of a study recently with that probable conclusion but can't find it atm. I've put out an sos and will post the link when I get it.
I wasn't aware that straw had a consistent calorific value. It is contraindicated for bedding horses in acute laminitis on because of the risk of them eating it.Straw (5.8-6.2 Mj/kg) is normally lower energy and less sugary than unsoaked hay (8-8.5Mj/kg)and hay soaked for a short period.
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