Soooooo fat!!!!!!!

sleepykitten

sleepykitten

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Some of you have been following the saga of my mare who has been out of work for two years due to a suspensory ligament injury. I am due to bring her back into work and was planning on having a sit on her and plod round the yard for five mins today.

Trouble is, she has the hugest, most disgusting grass belly. Her ribs are visible and she has no crest on her neck or any fat pads anywhere, but in a previous life, she has been used as a broodmare so her ribcage has dropped anyway.

she is grazed in a bare paddock with my gelding who I have to turnout into a bigger paddock for a couple of hours a day or he will waste away.

She has always been a good doer, and I used to strip graze her paddock before I bought hoss no. 2.

Question is, does anyone have any tips for getting a grass belly off a horse without having to do any strenuous work? she obviously can't be ridden much yet, and am bound to 5-10 mins of walk work gradually building up over 6 weeks or so.

any tips? I'm embarrasssed to look at her :eek:
 
Why not try long reinging (sp) her or lunging her for a few weeks first? I would be inclined not to sit on her yet being as she has had 2years off, that's rather a long time?
 
Pole work.

Put them in a straight row (maybe just three for now).

Raise alternate ends - not a lot, no more than a house brick height for now.

Walk her nice and steady over them a few times, with a break to just walk normally between each go.

It helps to tighten up the stomach area :)

Good luck. Hope all goes well :)
 
TBH I wouldn't do anything apart form walk her in hand to start off with 10 mins a day then increasing daily then as you get up to an hour start ridden hacknig out; Patience is the key, it may take 6 months, but better than getting her injured again through unfitness
 
We've already done four months of hand walking, building up from 5 mins to 40 mins to get her fit and strong enough to be turned out in a paddock, then the paddock got bigger and bigger. Tbh, the way she gallops round in there some days, bucking and squealing, five mins of walking under saddle aint gonna harm her! Plus i have the vets blessing to climb aboard as he gave her a thorough examination on friday.
 
If she has a grass belly, feed her yeasacc. I did this with mine over winter as he was exactly like your mare, and the belly dropped off after a couple of weeks. Pole work also excellent to help.
 
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