Rugging - living out - needs to lose weight

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mjm5020

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Hi. Just looking for some opinions on this...

My cob (ID X) is living out, with ad lib haylage and doing extremely well on it. Do you think I would be cruel to reduce his rug to a rainsheet so he uses his calories keeping warm?

He's got a chaser clip and a real teddy bear coat. He is overweight - no question about it - can't have him going into spring like this.

Reducing his haylage isn't an option. I'm very limited re riding opportunities just now as well. Only alternative would be stabling to curtail his food but that would be difficult for me.

But he is 20 - what do you think?
 
Ad lib haylage??No wonder he is overweight
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Sorry but i dont understand why reducing haylage isnt an option,as it is the most sensible option??is he out with others with a bale in the field or something?
Tbh if he was that fat and i was that worried then if the only option i had was to bring him in and reduce what he gets then that would be exactly what i would be doing,only a month or so and the spring grass on its way,so dosnt leave you with much time to get any weight off him!
 
I guess a lot depends on whether he feels the cold or not. Our two natives live out 24/7, 365. My lad is carrying a little too much and so is currently in just a rain sheet and is fine. My OH's mare is 17 and she is a finer build than H so she has a slightly heavier rug.

I would be inclined to put him in a lightweight rug and see how he gets on. You'll soon know if he's not happy.

When it warmed up for a few days, I left H with no rug at all over the weekend, oh boy did he love that. I didn't love grooming all the mud off
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He's out with many others and ad lib haylage is the livery deal. I have no choice/say. Like I said, stabling is my only way to curtail his eating but my working life makes that difficult.

He's definitely a middleweight and quite tough.

Honestly, he was fatter last year but I don't want to repeat those mistakes. That's why I wondered if I could help him use the energy in keeping warm. But don't want to be cruel...
 
My WB lives out, on nothing but forage and balancer. I took her rug off a couple of weeks ago to get her slimmed down for Spring, (and hopefully lose some energy too
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). She is coping just fine!
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You could try it it...with a rain sheet to protect him from the elements he should be fine(im assuming he has some sort of cover to hide from the wind which is what causes real chills).....with food inside him he will make his own heat.

Im assuming there is a reason he has ad lib haylage?
id also consider a grazing muzzle if he is in a field with other horses and sharing feed.

What is his body score?

However what you really need to do is up his exercise.
Could try lunging in the field or something along those lines? if you dont have access to facilities ...exercise is the safest and most reliable way to control and decrease excess weight...
 
Tbh if he has a rug on that purely keeps out the wind and rain and he is that chunky he should be able to keep himself very warm,plus walking around as they do when living out will keep him warm anyway
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Give it a shot and if it dosnt work try and work round the stabling option,could you muzzle him?Works with grass so should work with a haylage bale,you could then leave his rugs as is?
 
Oh and if it make you feel better we were advised that naked horse,slash rainsheet if clipped, as a way to keep the pounds off by our collage lecturer,who's a vet himself.
.... and warned that not all owners would appreciate the suggestion
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Laminitis is crueler,particularly where management could have prevented it....

Id keep him out though,more exercise.
You do need to curtail his access to extra food now that the spring grass is coming up..removing the rug will not make that dramatic of a change in his weight.

Intake of food versus output of exercise.
So either cut down food or up the exercise....
 
I would probably leave him nakid in the day and put the sheet on at night so he will benifit a little more wen the temp drops he sounds hardy enough to cope and hopefully lose a few extra pounds ...good luck xx
 
I'd definately reduce/ take off rugs! Its not cruel as he's still eating as much as he wants but his body'll work to insulate him!

Off Off Off! lol!
 
I would remove the rug, leave him naked.

Boxing him and starving is worse than a little cold in the field- if he is cold he will walk faster!!
 
One of the feed companies told when I was enquiring about feed for my fatty to leave him naked, give him crap hay, scoop of chaff based feed with vits and more exercise ie long reining etc as he is nearly 4 and just backed. It has worked and he has lost a lot of weight. Still on his diet though as he has more to loose before spring. I feel guilty about no rug but he loves it and comes in covered in mud.
 
Take the rug off - or stick a rainsheet on if you are worried.

You need to get the weight off before the spring starts - or he will be really overweight then!

An old boy at our yard lives out without a rug - he's in his 30's. He does look like a giant teddy bear!
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There's also a couple of others who are rug-less and doing fine.
x
 
My horse (who is 20 years old) lives out and needs to lose weight before the spring, so Ive de-rugged him now, he has had his last huge roll of hay, and is back to bales

The weathers not so bad now, so I would definitely take your horses rug off, but leave him out - if he feels cold, he will exercise more to keep warm
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Stick a rainsheet on if required, if not, let him go naked and keep him out - at least he'll be getting some exercise.

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Ditto this. Years ago when all we had were leakey canvas New Zealands the ponies always dropped weight in the winter before putting it back on again when the spring grass came through. With the modern rugs the horses do not have to expend so much of their own energy keeping warm and so tend to get fat. We've got a number of horses living out that have been unrugged all winter although they do have good shelter. We wanted them to lose some weight and it has worked.
 
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