The dreaded weight thread...

Pippity

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She's my first cob, after five years of something built pretty TB-ish, and I'm struggling to judge her weight because she seems enormous to me but other people are reassuring me she's fine.

She's fit enough to trot for about half of a one-hour hack and still want to keep going when we get home, and is on a pure forage diet, turned out for about eight hours a day.

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paddi22

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she looks great! you might be trotting a bit longer on hacks when the summer grass kicks in!! but she looks super now
 

Pearlsasinger

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It has been very difficult to slim horses down naturally, this year, because the grass has never really stopped growing. She doesn't look massive in the photo but the best way to tell is run your hand lightly over her ribs. If you can feel them without pressing, or better still, as she is clipped, just see a faint outline of ribs, she is a reasonable weight. Get yourself a weight-tape and monitor her weight regularly. Also check that she doesn't have fat pads over her shoulders, on her neck, or a gutter down her spine. She is meant to be chunky.
 

Hazkirbo

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Over spring/summer Harley is in during the day on properly soaked hay and out at night when the grass is less sugary. Also some of the other liveries eat the spring grass down & he stays in the winter field a bit longer.
 

Pippity

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The consensus seems to be that she's okay-ish now but definitely be careful when the spring grass comes in, which is both reassuring and worrying! I was hoping to be able to kick her out 24/7 over summer, but I don't think that's going to be possible. (She's revolting in her stable and costs me a fortune in shavings.) At least the longer days will make it easier to step her work up.
 

JJS

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I was hoping to be able to kick her out 24/7 over summer, but I don't think that's going to be possible. (She's revolting in her stable and costs me a fortune in shavings.)

I wouldn't rule it out just yet. This was my cob mare last summer. She lives out 24/7 all year round on dairy grazing, but properly managed, her weight doesn't tend to get too out of hand. She does have a slight broodmare belly left over, but we've always been able to avoid fat pads, crestiness, and a rain gutter, despite the fact that she is an exceptionally good doer!

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bubsqueaks

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Yes we too struggle to tell how porky our coblet is! We have ours on a strict February diet using trickle nets, soaked hay, oat straw chaff, & now thank goodness the nights are drawing out upping the exercise. I think ours is carrying fat behind her shoulder but it does seem to hard to tell as she too is thick set!!
 

bluepegasus

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She's gorgeous! I'm the opposite now, used to fat and hairy, now got a ISH and you can see a faint glimmer of ribs and I'm convinced she's starving!! :rolleyes:
 
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