So... who's horse is on a diet? :D

Damnation

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As title really. Is your horse dieted already? What breed are they and what do you feed them in terms of hay/hayledge and hard feed.
I am just curious really :D
I have a 16.1 DWB mare. Was told she was a bad doer through the winter but she is still as fat as when I bought her!
She gets fed half a scoop of Hi Fi lite and 1/4 scoop of bran with some linseed oil, garlic, and seaweed suppliments for her skin and feet. Just gets that fed once a day now.
She gets Hayledge overnight and has started being turned out again.
I would say she is light/medium work. She will be hacking out twice a week and schooled for half an hour (at least) 4 times a week. With the aim for competing :D
 
Not a diet perhaps, more a permanent careful eye on their weights! They are both good doers so keeping a close eye helps us avoid having to loose the weight if we get too far down the line without noticing!
They are both on soaked hay overnight, with a token tea of a handful of topspec topchop lite with a home mixed suppplement. Out naked in the day in fairly bare fields - these will be strip grazed in about a weeks time.
One is worked 6 days a week - an hours schooling or a couple of hours fast hack each day, competing every fortnight. The other is worked prob about 4 days a week, 40 mins of schooling, same hacks as the one above and one lunging session a week. I am happy with their weights currently but wouldn't want them to put a spec more on as I am extra wary in the spring. Workload will increase for them both and fields will be strip grazed to help with this.
 
I am keeping an eye on the weight of my 3, they always look good in the winter and balloon in the summer:(, last year wasn't too bad so hopefully this year will be better as they will all be in work and we managed the field (rotating 3 parts) quite well last year.
I'v got a Irish sports pony, Traditional cob and Dales pony. Its the last two that really gain weight more than the first :rolleyes:
 
Mine is, He is a welsh D. Hes not looking bad at the min(can feel ribs, doesnt have a table for a back or an apple for a bum etc)

BUT as we are at this time of year he gets restricted now so he doesnt balloon when the grass comes through.

He is currently still in at night and on hayledge but will soon be on hay at night.
When they go out his field will then be split so he has 1/4 of it. Where he will stay all summer and then strip graze into the rest of it coming back into the winter.

He is on a token amount of 16plus with hifi lite and a vit and min supplement, and is unfortunetly still in light work but that will be increasing soon :)
 
Ditto above really. Not a diet but always very aware of his work load and feed.

I'd be hard pushed to up his work level anymore but I'm very happy with how he's looking on pretty much ad lib 12hour soaked hay, restricted turnout and his hard feed.
 
My tb is looking a bit porky, he gets 2 haynets of haylage, a scoop of nuts with some chaff and sugar beet twice a day. Not in work at the mo but we will begin next week.
 
She is on a permanent diet! Came to me looking 'well' in October and due to having no saddle that fit until Jan and being stuck in with hayledge at various points she got up to 567kg when the saddler came out. (she's a 14.3 cob so was v chunky - doesn't get hard feed though), stuck her out at the end of jan and the weight has dropped off, now down to 490 (can you tell i'm pleased) and got to get the saddler back out cos her saddle is too big!

Dreading the spring grass coming through, already armed with the grazing muzzle!
 
My section A is another one who's on a permanent diet. She wintered out 24/7 with no rugs and lost some weight (these ponies are too bl00dy hardy!) all I gave her was a handful of hifi lite to give her vits and mins and a slice and a bit of hay. So after getting the weight off her the whole cycle begins again with grazing muzzle, lunging etc- oh the joys of a native :rolleyes:
 
Mine is! An "Irish" type 16h1" medium weight hunter type that used to event. After trying to get his weight down the casual way, with no success I went scientific via Blue Cross fat horse thin method which worked a treat. But you absolutely have to weigh everything. He now gets 12 kg of dry hay ( used to soak it, but is now at a good weight) and 2kg of hard feed which is 1/3 low energy chaff, & 2/3 of a riding horse II type mix, which has more protein and oil than carbs. I just switched to this about 3 weeks ago, so we will see how he goes. Is in fields a.m. only and they are poor. I put him on 10kg hay & 1.5kg low energy chaff plus vitamins (basically flavoured sawdust!) when he had to go for an op and box rest this autumn, so a good time to reduce food intake as he was not working at all or going out. Moved to the slightly more energy producing feed in late February. It seems way to easy to over-feed and over-supplement horses, just look at all the adverts!
 
Yup, I'm going to be getting a grazing muzzle for the fat one! She won't do strip grazing as she always breaks out to the greener grass, so muzzle it'll have to be!
She's an appy X Some sort of cob and is out 24/7 and doesn't get any hard feed or hay/ hayledge!
Generally she is ridden 5/6 times a week, hacking for at least an hour with lots of trotting and hill work, with 3 or 4 rides being sessions in the school or jumping! With the lighter evenings soon to come I'm thinking of doing some lunge work as well as riding on some days!!
I generally worry more about her than my others, I find keeping weight on pretty easy, but keeping the weight off her seems to be mission impossible!!
 
Yep! My grey girl is always on a diet, even more so since she had to be retired. She is a 16hh, 10 year old WB and has 500gms of Bailey's lo cal, 300gm of dengie good doer, and v v restricted grazing. She's still put on weight in the last month though, doh!
 
Nice to know mine isn't the only one on a diet.
I was told she was a bad doer too but I am now worried that having lost no weight over the winter she is going to balloon so I am trying to get her a bit more on the leaner side of things.
I might for the first time in my life have to invest in a grazing muzzle.. I will see how she goes.
My last little TB just put weight on to a certain point then stayed that size! I have a feeling this new one will expand as much as her skin will let her and that is a no go in my books. The weight has to come off!
 
Bruce is on a permanent healthy eating plan! Gets fat off thin air...

He's back in full work at mo, and has lost A LOT of weight recently....so with the combination of exercise and weight loss; we're really hoping he can have a muzzle free (but still area restricted) summer.
 
Mine's on a permanent diet/careful eye.

No feed.

Soaked hay ( 2 sections at night)

Goes out 3 times a week (ish) in winter turnout for a few hours.

Muzzled most of the time in the Summer.

Ridden 5-6 times a week- light work however as we have no saddle and limited brakes and the two don't go well together.

She is still overweight despite all the above though so need to be extra careful when the grass comes through.
 
I have a lusitano/welsh little horse and at the moment he is still in at night, not much grazing so he has a big feed (only Mollichaff calmer and fibre cubes) and 3 segments of hay, not for much longer, in a couple of months it will be on restricted grazin. I manage to maintain the same weight on him throughout the year give or take the odd 10 kilos. :eek:
 
Yep mine is - upped her workload, cut down her feed and will hopefully remove the rugs overnight over the next couple of weeks if shes out and it stays mild. Shes looking far too well for my liking at this time of year but then she always does come out of winter fatter than she went in as she always seems to wangle some time off!
 
Poor Fany is permanently on a diet! She is an Ardennes ( Trait Ardennais) ( a type of draft horse) and when we got her she was obese. She is built big but this was ridiculous. She is on haylage only, no hard feed at all. She has a box lick and a salt lick and gets the odd carrot or parsnip and that is it. Mind you there are times when she still gets a bit fat and has to go on straw and haylage mixed. :eek::rolleyes: I swear she gets fat on fresh air!

She is unrugged and has been all winter, even when out in the snow.

Her face is a picture when she see her brother's bucket, he is a poor doer and gets 2 biggish buckets a day.:p

She is not in work at present due to being a patchy horse, she has itchy skin and rubbed herself. She will work hard over the spring and summer as she is going to be shown and has to look her best, not fat though. Luckily the show drafts tend not to fat the way other show horses are.

FDC
 
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My andalusian x native is still a heffalump!!! Despite 2 slices soaked hay overnight, 2 handfuls of chaff and supplement, no rugs aside from a rainsheet through the entire winter... He is getting his Greenguard put on tomorrow and work increased from next week when the light nights start...
 
My 'Westphalian' ( not convinced she is, although has papers) came to us at the beginning of Feb. She is 16 hh and ENORMOUS, we weight-taped her recently and she was off the scale! We estimate that she must be about 800kg. She is definitely on a diet. She has a tiny feed of approx 6 grassnuts and a small handful of Graze-on, so that she can have PinkPowder, glucosamine and biotin. Her forage is a mix of haylage and barley straw, which we feed ad-lib. She was clipped out by her previous owners and has been out during the day this week with no rug. In very cold/wet weather she has a no-fill turnout rug. She is looking a bit better but it is going to be long, slow process.
 
I have a section a, a (very good doer) of an arab mare who is heavilly pregnant and a veteran arab x gelding.

I am pleased to report that all have come out of winter at condition score 2.5-3 out of 5 so I am happy. Long may it continue........

(have a feeling the section A will be on a diet before long, the arab will only stay at a correct weight because of her foal, and I will be shoveling feed down the veteran all summer as usual!)
 
Mine..more or less a year round weight watch programme...at times with more success than at others. Cutting down his haylage at the moment as they will go out on new fields in about 4 weeks time and the fields are huge. As we can't restrict grazing where I am he will be in at nights for the first couple of months til the worst of the grass has gone. At least now the light and weather is improving riding more is no problem.
 
My lad is not on a diet as such but has his food, hay and grass monitored all year round to keep his weight down. He has come out of winter a nice slim weight and any excess will go now that I ride him in the mornings before work. I left his rugs off this winter and strip grazed his grass every day and this has helped to keep him the same weight (within 6kg) as it was in summer last year.
My lad is stabled at night all year round and on short grazing in the day - enough to nibble on and keep him happy but not able to stuff his face. This helps to keep his weight down and he does not have to have the bother of muzzles.
 
I have a 13.1hh NF Cushings sufferer, recovering from a Laminitis bout, bit meaty in places - slight fat patches on neck and hind, as spring is approaching his rations have been cut, small handful Dengie Good doer morning and night, pink powder, garlic, milk thistle and Cushylife, along with a handful hay in morning in field, and a net of a evening.
 
I would like to join the Permanent Diet Club. Mine is a 14hh Welsh D who's been in all winter, works 7 days a week (hacking, jumping, schooling, going cross country next week, 1-2 hours a day) and right now is looking pretty good. She gets two cups of lami light, a handful of hi-fi light (to hide her glucosamine supplement - she's 20) and a couple of sections of meadow hay at night. I've just started putting her out in her starvation paddock in the daytime - there is way too much rich grass out in the main field. Years ago I tried muzzling her but she just took it off so I think restricted grazing is the way to go for us!
 
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