Pictures Week two - filly is fat!

LadyGascoyne

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Well, where week one was a dream, week two did not exactly go to plan.

She was finally turned out with company, having been in her own field for the first few days and was introduced to the company of two retired mares.

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Unfortunately, after only two days, the groom / yard manager decided that her Labrador-puppy-like exuberance was too much for the lame old ladies and so she was duly evicted from the field.

She then went into a new field, a field away from her friends and was turned out with a gelding.

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He’s absolutely lovely and probably a better fit for her as the mares aren’t sound but she found being able to see her friends in the distance very distressing and spent a lot of time racing around like a loon.

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So we just gave her as much space and as little interference as possible. It took a few days of flying around the field like a bat out of hell but she’s actually doing very nicely now, and the thoroughbred follows her around like a big lamb.

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We scrapped goals for the week although we did manage a small achievement in that fly spray now goes on back legs too, but with a sponge. Next week, we will aim to walk out and have a bath.

The only issue is that the new field is full of very green, very lush grass and my formerly sleek arab is now resembling a balloon animal!

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I don’t really want to make any more changes for her by stabling or moving fields, so I’m hoping that walking her out twice a day, in hand, will help to mitigate the grass. On the plus side, it hasn’t rained...

Advice welcome! Anyone else in the fat and unbacked club?
 

Leam_Carrie

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What a beautiful girl :).

My Arab used to have to be on restricted grazing. I guess it’s restricting it, a muzzle or plenty of walks. Sorry not much help.
 

Pc2003

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Yup. My vet was out to my 2yr earlier for something unrelated and asked me if his weight has always been this good 😂😂
 

be positive

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That field is absolutely beautiful but would give me nightmares if I had horses on it, I think you plan to move her somewhere else fairly soon so I suppose doing what you can to get her walking out every day will help but I would be moving to somewhere with less grass ASAP if she were mine, if the move is not going to be fairly soon I would be monitoring her pulses and weight very carefully.
 

LadyGascoyne

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That field is absolutely beautiful but would give me nightmares if I had horses on it, I think you plan to move her somewhere else fairly soon so I suppose doing what you can to get her walking out every day will help but I would be moving to somewhere with less grass ASAP if she were mine, if the move is not going to be fairly soon I would be monitoring her pulses and weight very carefully.

I am having a few nightmares. There are fields where there is much less grass but the groom wants her in that one- and no I couldn’t strip graze or change anything. I could stable her, but that would be it really and potentially she’d be on her own.

My new yard should be available soon, the current occupants are in the process of moving out.
 

LadyGascoyne

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I’ll use the long weekend to keep her out of the field as much as possible and see if there is a marked improvement. There isn’t much control that I can put in place where she is, as the groom runs things her way and I think she feels my filly is more of an inconvenience than anything else.

What I might do is find out whether there is any chance of her moving up to the new yard sooner. The grass there is good in the bottom field but bordering on poor in the second field.
 

be positive

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I suspect she is making a point, she is in control and don't forget it, her yard her rules etc. she may be good at her job but needs to remember the horses welfare must be the priority not her ego, her boss has invited you there because you are a friend so you are a bit in the middle, hopefully you will be able to move and get her settled into the new yard soon..
 

MotherOfChickens

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she is gorgeous and some of that bulk will be wind, but I couldn't put anything of mine out on that field, I'm not sure I'd put anything out there tbh but maybe I've had natives and Iberians for too long! All the arabs I've looked after in the past have been crazy good doers.
 

Pinkvboots

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My Arabs are good doers they live on thin air and are currently also looking like balloons, I am going to split there field this weekend then I just rotate it after the summer, I would just walk her out in hand when you can I did the same with my 2 year old colt years ago his a fantastic hacking horse now he will go anywhere on his own.
 

LadyGascoyne

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Got down this morning with plans to bring her in off the grass, give her some time in the stable while I faffed around cleaning etc, then go for a nice long walk around the village in the sun and finish by giving her a bath. Thought I would spend about 6 hours with her out of her field.

But the grey horse got upset when she left the field and the groom decided to bring him in, and that was the end of that idea.

He wasn’t happy in and was calling for the other horses in the fields so groom stood with him and was clearly waiting for me to finish.

I realised I couldn’t take her out, or take my time so I ended up doing 10 min of groundwork in the school- she was so good to ignore the drama and focus on what I was asking her. And then washing her down with the hose briefly.

Feeling so flat.
 

Pc2003

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Oh dear ☹️
I would have just carried on doing what you were planning to do. The other horse will shout etc but it’s not the end of the world. He will have to get over it.
 

Pinkvboots

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That groom sounds like a pain in the arse you should not be made to feel like that, I would go up tomorrow and do what you planned to do today the other horse is not your problem if it screams let it scream it's not going to come to any harm.
 
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