What do you think?

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Kalico

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Vet says she is overweight. YM says she looks fine for going into winter. Horse friend with 50y + of experience says she looks fine....

She's 14 2 and weight tape says she weighs 465kg.

What do you all think?

Last week


2y ago when she arrived
 
agree with yo and friend, looks ok to me but maybe her neck is a little bit cresty(may just be the pic), so keep an eye on that......perhaps your vet has been dealing with laminitis cases and is being a bit cautious....
 
What a difference you have made in the time you have had her. Personally I would want more weight off but I struggle with mine so I'm not criticizing :)
 
Awww thanks all.

Her neck is a bit cresty. There's a couple of podgy bits too. We've drawn up an exercise plan for her over winter with help of friend and ym - so hopefully with that and new feed she'll look even better.

We're going to feed her this...
http://www.allenandpage.com/Products/Rest-and-Light-Work/Fast-Fibre.aspx

She was a poor looking soul when we first got her. The burns she had were awful. How could anyone do that :(
 
She looks OK to me, although I would personally want to see a little more off TBH. I wouldn't give her any hard feed at all if she were mine, no need. She isn't poor so it's just extra calories she doesn't need.
 
I can easily give no feed. I was only thinking to give her half a scoop once a day in the depth of winter. We plan on using the weight tape monthy so will keep a close eye on her.
 
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As someone who battles constantly with an eating machine that puts on weight at the drop of a blade of grass, I would say more exercise and no feed.

A weight tape is a great tool for comparisons, in other words how big she is now compered to how big she was. I weight tape my lad once a month, and have a record going back six years, for that they are brilliant, for accurate weight measurement, they are utterly useless, so go on what you can see.

She is a little cresty and her bottom has a little too much weight. On the plus side her tummy looks good.

If possible (and believe me I KNOW how hard this is), more work, more often and further.

She does look like an absolute sweetie though.
 
Firstly she looks absolutely lovely, what a sweetheart. She is a little bit cresty and she does have a good backside on her, I agree with NeilM she doesn't seem to be as weighty around her tummy - this does look good. My mare is another that puts weight on on fresh air! More work is the answer, I'm working on this for my mare (and me too!) :)
 
Thank you - she is a total sweetheart <3 She has an apple bum going on and that crest. She really does seem to be such a good doer that looking at food makes her gain! We've been approached by several people asking to loan her for them/their children. However we are all sorted between my daughter and my friend.
 
Kalico said:
She has an apple bum going on and that crest. She really does seem to be such a good doer that looking at food makes her gain!
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In that case, she definitely doesn't need any hard feed. And I would be restricting her grazing if possible too. I don't know what your grazing is like but I wouldn't give her free access to huge fields of lush grass. Mine has never been a good doer until this year and I'm now having to restrict him. He is in a big field but has a smallish patch that he grazes down, then I strip graze the better grass, and move him around the field at bit at a time. Also more work, as much as you can give her. Lots of purposeful hacking and making sure she works properly in the school, not just pottering around.
 
The grass is pretty low now, I can put a tape over to restrict her though. I wasn't sure whether to do this or wait and see how she fares over winter. I have a grass muzzle for next spring. I'll hold off hard feed.

Thank you all. So glad I found this forum :)
 
It depends whether you are going to let winter do its job really. If you are going to maintain at that weight going into spring, yes too fat. If you are going to allow her to steadily drop weight over winter, then I wouldn't be concerned.
 
samlf said:
It depends whether you are going to let winter do its job really. If you are going to maintain at that weight going into spring, yes too fat. If you are going to allow her to steadily drop weight over winter, then I wouldn't be concerned.
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We're hoping to do the latter.
 
Kalico said:
Vet says she is overweight. YM says she looks fine for going into winter. Horse friend with 50y + of experience says she looks fine....

She's 14 2 and weight tape says she weighs 465kg.

What do you all think?
Click to expand...

She sort of looks fine going into winter, but as some have said she is a little crests in her neck, so she is definitely bordering on overweight.
 
Good news :) Sally has lost 10kg, her crest where it joins her body is softer and she's working hard. She's being walked at a good pace up a hill and is doing lunge work and road walking. Everything looks tighter :)
 
Kalico said:
Good news :) Sally has lost 10kg, her crest where it joins her body is softer and she's working hard. She's being walked at a good pace up a hill and is doing lunge work and road walking. Everything looks tighter :)
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Sounds good and I should be joining her in her walking to lose weight! No bikinis for me this year! :D
 
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