Weight gain when stabled in winter?

[littlen]

My overweight horse has been told he must come in at night by order of the vet due to mud fever (2nd year running, last year it was horrendus and nothing worked, so he must come in to be dry)

The problem is that he is quite overweight still, despite 24/7 turnout and im worried that bringing him in will only make the problem worse. Does anyone else find that their horse piles on the weight when in at night? Is there anything I can do about it?

He is turned out now from about 8am until about 4-5 with a meduim weight rug on. He is also ridden max 2 times a week during winter, but i hope to fitten him up in the spring! He has no hard feed bar a handful of happy hoof at night and he hasnt really lost any weight since august!!

 

[BobbyMondeo]

Cant you see if there is anyone willing to ride him for you a bit more over the winter? I know if someone asked me to ride their horse for them id jump at the chance, even in this weather as mine is broken and i miss it so much.
Or put a thinner rug on him out in the field? Also is absolutely no way you couldlunge him for 15-20 mins on some days you cant ride? that would probably start helping to get the weight off.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

You could soak his hay to remove some of the calories or you could do what we are doing at the moment. Our hay is very good stuff and we like them to have access to ad lib forage so we are giving them a couple of packs of clean oat straw to stop them piling weight on. If you want him to actually lose weight, take his rug off. Then he will use energy keeping warm.

 

[bex1984]

Soak hay for 24 hours and feed loads of it (feeding small amounts of hay only makes them hang on to the weight), make sure you under-rug him (or don't rug him if not clipped), and add some vits and mins to his happy hoof (D&H equibites are really good as you could just feed them on their own and not feed the happy hoof).

When you ride him get him walking - really marching on thought, not dithering!