Thoughts on weight and topline please?

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Jingleballs

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My boy came out of winter looking a bit poorer than usual this year - he's a cob so normally he doesn't struggle at all but due to the poor grazing I found myself having to feed him up for the first time in years.

We moved yards a month ago - new yard has much better grazing and he's now on adlib hay as opposed to 2 nets per night and he's definitely improved - although perhaps a bit too much.

He also had very poor topline coming into winter due to saddle issues last year caused by faulty saddle gullets (grrr!!!).

Saddle fitter was out a few weeks ago and claimed this was the worst he'd ever looked in terms of top line, physio was out a week later and said he actually looked very good in her opinion given how little work he'd done.

He's being lunged with my new equi ami twice a week for the last 3 weeks, hacked out twice a week and schooled on the flat once a week at the moment.

He's being fed a small feed of chaff + literally the juice from the sugar beet pulp + linseed and a basic balancer.

I have just upped the linseed and added a tablespoonful of oil as his coat is looking crap just now - very scurfy!

So - thoughts on weight and topline? I expect he's a bit heavier than he should be coming into spring so I'll have to manage that. It's hard to judge when you look at them every day!

In about 2 weeks time he'll move out 24/7 although will probably be muzzled most of the time and brought in for about 9 hours a day to get off the grass.

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And a lovely photo spoiled only by him flashing his willy!

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He's got quite a bit of weight to lose still IMO but I think the overall picture will look better when his topline improves.

He's got a cute face :)
 
You can add some lysine and methionine to his daily feeds, and it would be best if you fed it in the pure form instead of feeding feeds high on those two amino-acids as then you may have to deal with weight issues.

I think NAF makes a lysine product, but when I need it for my horses I usually either buy from feed manufacturers (its a common additive to feeds) or from cattle farmers.

Lysine and Methionine are the two limiting amino-acids for muscle growth, so supplementing should help build some topline (paired with work, obviously, but it sounds like your already doing that).
 
SCMSL - I've never heard of adding lysine or methionine to feeds. What sort of quantities do you feed? Whete can it be bought and what sort of price is it?
 
3Beasties said:
He's got quite a bit of weight to lose still IMO but I think the overall picture will look better when his topline improves.

He's got a cute face :)
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Thanks 3Beasties. He's a HW cob so I wouldn't say he needs to lose quite a bit - otherwise he'll look too poor but I agree that he does need to muscle up which will hopefully help him shift a bit of weight.

As I mentioned, he's barely getting fed anything other than hay. He's in his own section of a loose barn at the moment with a full bale of hay to himself (the other ponies were bullying the new boy!). I wonder maybe if I should put him in the larger section as he'll then have to share 2 bales with about 4/5 other horses so won't have such free access to the hay.

Now that the clocks have changed, I'll be able to hack out in the evenings - there are lots of nice fast hacks and hills around us to help shift the weight.

SCMSL - thanks very much for that!! I've just bought a giant bag of Linseed but if I find I'm struggling to shift the weight I'll definitely look to try the 2 separate supplements!
 
He looks really cute , but he is too fat I think his top line looks ok for the work he's doing but it's actually very difficult to see the true top line when they are carrying too much wieght .
 
From the second picture it looks like he has an 'apple bum' suggesting he is carrying too much fat, but he doesn't look at all cresty or look to be carrying too much over his ribs.

To be honest, it is very hard to see his weight or topline from the pictures you have taken.
 
CobsGalore said:
From the second picture it looks like he has an 'apple bum' suggesting he is carrying too much fat, but he doesn't look at all cresty or look to be carrying too much over his ribs.

To be honest, it is very hard to see his weight or topline from the pictures you have taken.
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Sorry - trying to get him to stand nice for a picture is difficult!

He does have a slight apple bum but is very poor on his front end this year.

He has little or no crest and you can easily feel his ribs - he just seems to be "bottom heavy" this year - a bit like me :D

I could just chuck him out 24/7 in the field down the road which would cut out his hay intake completely? Or am I best just to up the workload and let that shift the weight?
 
I did mean to answer your PM and will do! I was moving house the week you sent it and it got lost in the insanity. :-)

To be honest, if I didn't know that was C, I wouldn't know it was C. I remember him having a big, cobby arched neck. He also looks undermuscled through the loins and hindquarters. I think getting him working correctly is a good idea and also, make sure he has really good quality hay, as the grazing anywhere will be pants now. I'm no expert in nutrition, but I kept weight and condition on my horse this year simply by making sure yard keeps good hay in front of her most of the day (the yard has good hay; he grows his own and it's excellent) and you'll remember how much she lost over the winter at the other yard and the state she was in (and we were trying loads of stuff to sort it). We haven't done anything more radical or given her anything fancier than hay, plus Speedibeet and chaff for a hard feed.
 
Caol Ila said:
I did mean to answer your PM and will do! I was moving house the week you sent it and it got lost in the insanity. :-)

To be honest, if I didn't know that was C, I wouldn't know it was C. I remember him having a big, cobby arched neck. He also looks undermuscled through the loins and hindquarters. I think getting him working correctly is a good idea and also, make sure he has really good quality hay, as the grazing anywhere will be pants now. I'm no expert in nutrition, but I kept weight and condition on my horse this year simply by making sure yard keeps good hay in front of her most of the day (the yard has good hay; he grows his own and it's excellent) and you'll remember how much she lost over the winter at the other yard and the state she was in (and we were trying loads of stuff to sort it). We haven't done anything more radical or given her anything fancier than hay, plus Speedibeet and chaff for a hard feed.
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Thanks - hope the house move goes well.

He is a very different shape this year compared to previous year - lack of proper work due to the weather, poor grazing and average hay have all attributed to it.

He does have an apple bum but has lost some condition over his hindquarters. Luckily, we have access to lots of steep hills to build it back up and physio says that there are no muscular issues to worry about so it's simply a case of cracking on with things.

Our hay is also very good quality and he has ample supply - it's just trying to get the balance right between building up muscle and adding fat.
 
He is not overweight. He has no fat pads and although he has the peachy bum of a cob he doesn't have rounding through the hips or down to the tail.

He lacks muscle definition and needs working properly over his back to build his top line and stomach muscles.

That said I would not be inclined to feed him more just work him more and dr green will do the rest.
 
**Vanner** said:
He is not overweight. He has no fat pads and although he has the peachy bum of a cob he doesn't have rounding through the hips or down to the tail.

He lacks muscle definition and needs working properly over his back to build his top line and stomach muscles.

That said I would not be inclined to feed him more just work him more and dr green will do the rest.
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Thanks Vanner. He definitely doesn't have any fat pads and I'm planning to keep it that way.

Will keep working on getting him fitter and more muscled :)
 
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