Weight thoughts........

Supertrooper

Supertrooper

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Thoughts on weight....... Desperately trying to get him to loose some, he can only be walked in hand and is out unruggged 24/7, he's just having lite balancer and high fibre haylage (field mate has to have it) but we are probably going to separate them soon.

Please be nice, I am trying!!

P.S his belly fluctuates a lot!
 
It's hard to tell with the fluff :biggrin3: although his bum does appear quite peachy think he's more on the tubby than skinny side.

My NF is looking similar but she's actually reasonably thin under the fluff. I find checking her crest and for ribs under the fluff are the best ways to keep an eye, along with weigh tape of course!

Eta, he is sooooo cute :biggrin3:
 
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The fluff is deceiving I think! Being out unrugged, I wouldn't be too concerned with his weight - yes he's a little tubby, but he doesn't look to be bulging at the seams at the moment :)
 
I think he looks fine!😊 living out un-rugged in December, it will do him no harm to have a bit of extra weight, and he's no obese by any stretch!:)
I like to see the with a bit of weight at this time if year
 
He looks fine to me - horses at grass 24/7 and not it work can always have a grassy belly without being fat imho, as long as the rest of their body looks ok. Normally a few hours off the grass is enough to de-gas mine!
 
Maybe split them up while his mate eats the haylage (out of his view!). There's probably enough grass on that field to keep this one going at the moment from the look of it. I wouldn't worry about him being fat at this time of year so long as he is a bit slimmer in April.
 
He does look rather porky to me, though the pose and camera angle may not be flattering. There looks to be a fair amount of grass in the field, once that is eaten down he should lose weight.

The sooner you can stop feeding him haylage, the better.

It's really hard when you have a good doer who can't be exercised. I'm sure the WHW welfare check will be fine, you're doing a grand job with him.
 
Oat straw or hay would be better than haylage, it's too fattening for little ponies. He will also eat it quicker than hay so it wont keep him occupied for as long
 
It's a tricky one if his companion gets haylage in the field.

He certainly doesn't look like he wants any more weight on him. I know we have all got used to seeing horses carrying more weight than they did a few decades ago and when I was young (40+ years ago) our ponies were a lot slimmer at this time of year. You are doing the right thng in keeping an eye on his weight.
 
its early days re winter yet. He'll loose more weight in the next few weeks and especially in February and early March. I wouldnt worry. Is there any way of removing him for an hour or so whilst his friend has the haylage?
 
Sounds like you are doing everything you can in the circumstances, as the weather gets worse he should lose more weight. At least you are aware of the problem.
 
I think he looks well covered but not obese. I have a similar issue with one of mine - she's a companion so don't want separate her from my other to keep them differently but she's too well! So she's on similar grass to yours, no rug and just waiting for that to be eaten down (which it is) and for the weight to drop (which it did last winter but more toward Jan). I'm going to be hard re rugging and giving hay - no rug (she's very hairy and hardy) and less is more re hay. It's the new grass I'll need to watch more and would think it will be the same off yours. Mine is a rescue too and weight was their only quibble last visit - best of luck.
 
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Photo taken this Sunday and also weigh taped him again today and he's dropped slightly again.

Once Xmas is over his walks in hand will start again in earnest :-)
 
I thought he looked too heavy in the first pic but in the rear-on one thought he looked much better. Agree that if he could be spared the haylege that would be better but if we get some cold weather am sure that will slim him down. Need to watch out for the grass growing season though! (I have 2 fatties so know all about it).
 
His belly goes up and down a lot! Daily in fact and can associate that with the haylage!

I'm happy that he's dropping on weigh tape and he's looking better end on ;-)

Strip grazing will start again in April, he'll be on the same field so the initial patch will be well eaten down!

Only other thing I thought of was clipping him ie giving him a bib clip. Vet suggested this if he wasn't dropping weight but as he is I'll hold off that for now ;-)
 
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