Slimming a retired native!

pistolpete

pistolpete

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So difficult! My 18 year old retired highland has been weighed today and is 531kgs. He’s only 13.2 and is body score 4/5.
I have not be allowed to restrict him. Strange yard owner!Until now.
I have been allowed to fence him a large pen about 50 metres x 20metres. He is getting barley straw and meagre hay ration. About 3kgs. Ideal weight would be around 460kgs.
I’m not allowed to put more fencing up so track is out. He can’t be exercised. Stifle issue. I’d live to help him slim some more but struggling for ideas. He was 580kgs two years ago so could be worse!
 

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Can he be walked in hand, replicating what he'd be doing if he were on a track?
Is his hay soaked?

There comes a point with retired horses with ongoing health problems when you have to be pragmatic - the quality of life v quantity thing - and just do your best with what you've got without making things too miserable for them
 
He’s not a fan of in hand walking and I think I’d struggle to get him very far! I think you’re right his quality of life is ok at the moment. I don’t want to make him miserable!
 

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God it is HARD isn't it. I have a retired 19 year old Welsh Cob who's larger than I'd like, but with minimal exercise. even with very restricted food it's taking a long time to come off. He lives with my fit Connie, which makes it even harder because the Connie gets hangry!

I've created a bit of a track for them and have a large patch of grass that they go on a few hours a day and the retired fat one is muzzled. Little bits of hay through the day that have been soaked and hard food is only some chaff to get his bute in.

Now the ground is softer, he's a bit more comfortable and will trot around a bit and play more, and I can also long reing him more too.

Like others have said - it's a balance, but realistically they'r enot going to go on forever and ever so ensure quality time, over quantity at this stage in their life. xx
 
pistolpete said:
While I don’t think I’ll slim him very successfully he does seem content. He lets me know when he’s not!
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That's why I went down the drug route.

Shutting her away in a stable every day wouldn't be good for her body nor her mind and she's made it very clear that ridden work is uncomfortable so either she gets so enormous she explodes (or catastrophic laminitis) or she goes on human weight loss drugs at great expense to her long suffering human.
 
SEL said:
That's why I went down the drug route.
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I've used ertugliflozin before for my cob who just WOULD not shift the weight no matter how much exercise, hay soaking, restricted grazing we did. He could only cope with a half dose but it was nothing short of magical. He was on it for three months. That was about three years ago and it seemed to act as a system re-set. It's only been in the past month or so that his weight has begun stubbornly creeping up again, so I'm hoping to blood test next week and put him back on it for a couple of months if necessary. Like @SEL , I feel that his welfare would be too compromised by stabling and keeping off turnout.

I would definitely say it's worth a chat with your vet. My horse was stuck in a bit of a "metabolic rut", so to speak, and it sounds like yours might be similar - the ertugliflozin seemed to kick him out of it. I'm sure it won't work that well for every single horse but it is a useful option to consider.
 
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