Ceriann
Well-Known Member
and i was suitably chastised by the rep who came out to see her yesterday - she's not obese or problematic now (and most people tell me she's fine for going into winter) but i need to get weight off before next Spring (which to be fair i dont diagree with). Now comes the dilemma - how to do it.
She's a 14.3 coloured cob type who lives out all year with my IDx (she pretty much never rugged and has no hard feed) - she's 6 and currently only a companion (though she has been mouthed and sat on this year and took to it very well). Rep encouraged me to keep her on sparse grazing and give only token hay over winter - this is fine but my IDx cant be kept quite that mean and as we are on clay some of the grazing over winter is dictated by how much they poach. I also have biggish paddocks (I had 3 horses until recently and the mare i lost was an older eating machine who tended to even things out) so sparse grazing is never starvation paddock sparse!
I am committed to getting her leaner so plan to:
- keep them on the sparsest field for the next month or so (no hay in the field but will bring them in most days for an hour or two to ride my other mare and she can also then get some hay). Little cob will get small amount double hay netted when she comes in;
- move onto winter field for winter - this is circa 2.5 acres of okish grazing (not sparse but not lush and has the odd dock etc). I can strip graze this and perhaps, once strip has been grazed, let my riding mare onto the better bits and leave cob on sparse OR i will have (by that time), a small section of hard standing that i can put her on with a double netted bag either for parts of the day or overnight
- start lunging her (would two/three times a week of walk trot lunging make a difference?)
In addition I can also look to get her backed - i've considered this a few times and have a girl 2 mins up the road that can do this (has a school so fact we are going into winter makes no odds). This will exercise her 4/5 times a week - not hard but again it all helps!
I really dont want to keep them too mean - particularly with my rding mare in mind.
Any suggestions, useful tips very much appreciated!
She's a 14.3 coloured cob type who lives out all year with my IDx (she pretty much never rugged and has no hard feed) - she's 6 and currently only a companion (though she has been mouthed and sat on this year and took to it very well). Rep encouraged me to keep her on sparse grazing and give only token hay over winter - this is fine but my IDx cant be kept quite that mean and as we are on clay some of the grazing over winter is dictated by how much they poach. I also have biggish paddocks (I had 3 horses until recently and the mare i lost was an older eating machine who tended to even things out) so sparse grazing is never starvation paddock sparse!
I am committed to getting her leaner so plan to:
- keep them on the sparsest field for the next month or so (no hay in the field but will bring them in most days for an hour or two to ride my other mare and she can also then get some hay). Little cob will get small amount double hay netted when she comes in;
- move onto winter field for winter - this is circa 2.5 acres of okish grazing (not sparse but not lush and has the odd dock etc). I can strip graze this and perhaps, once strip has been grazed, let my riding mare onto the better bits and leave cob on sparse OR i will have (by that time), a small section of hard standing that i can put her on with a double netted bag either for parts of the day or overnight
- start lunging her (would two/three times a week of walk trot lunging make a difference?)
In addition I can also look to get her backed - i've considered this a few times and have a girl 2 mins up the road that can do this (has a school so fact we are going into winter makes no odds). This will exercise her 4/5 times a week - not hard but again it all helps!
I really dont want to keep them too mean - particularly with my rding mare in mind.
Any suggestions, useful tips very much appreciated!
