Weight watchers expert needed

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kimky

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Recently moved yards and my mare is one of two horse in a lovely 3.5 ache (sp?) full of lush grass, so my mare been her self has well and truly stuffed her face! even though she is been rode a good hour a day the weight is not going anywhere. Shes in at 5 and now muzzled, not fed and on one small hay net ? How else can i get it to shift ?
 
Can't you section the field? If you can invest in some electric tape and posts, and strip graze, starting from a small paddock.

Do you school or hack? They need to be sweating to show they are doing some work!
 
I would strip graze or muzzle during the time she is out and when in, give her plenty of hay to last the full day but soak it first. And as per above, aim for some sweat to appear when worked...the horse, not you! I have managed my native like this through the entire summer out 24/7 by having him on an area of paddock previously eaten right down in winter and he has stayed on that with his field shelter and ad lib hay throughout the day and night. He has gradually lost 30bs and is staying at a constant weight now with plenty of exercise and hacking up hills and down dale.
 
My shetland gave me a lami scare recently. He was previously out all day on good grazing, but wearing a muzzle. 6pm to 7am he was in his stable with a section of hay.

I spoke to my vet about this and now he is in a small section of the big field, still wearing his muzzle all day, so he is eating the grass down. At night he is in an outdoor coral with no grass and I weigh the hay he gets and he only gets 1kg. In one month the weight tape says he has lost 25kg, I don't think it is accurate, but it does indicate a decent loss in weight.

I think the important thing is to weigh the food they get. A shetland weighing approx 300kg needs 3kg of forage to keep him going, so if he gets to eat grass all day, giving him a 3kg section of hay at night, is still way too much grub.
 
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