Work me an allowance out 800kg horse to diet !

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

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As above..... off the grass - for at least a month, not lamanitic but could go any day = condition score obese, fat pads on shoulder and rear and a huge crest. He is now being ridden in walk for 20 mins morn and night, and on horse walker for 30 mins in mid of the day..... increasing to 30 mins 2xtimes a day from tomorrow.... (killing me to get up at 5am at the moment to get soaked before work and after !)

Taken him of his 8lbs of hunter mix ! per feed and he has the smallest holed hay net I can find.

Now dependent on what site i got to what should he be having roughage wise and concentrate wise to have a steady weight loss. I would rather him just be on plain hay and a handful of hi fi lite or something for when the others get breakie and tead

He is a big horse 17.3 so..... dont want to cut him too short but need a steady weight loss, but want to do it the work way rather than have him kept too short of feed.
 
How about feeding a mixture of half soaked hay and half straw ? I found the best weight loss for my boy happened when he was stable during the day and got his forage in dribs and drabs eg I gave him some soaked hay in the morning, when my friend arrived later in the day she gave him a bucket of chopped straw and then another friend did the same when she arrived mid afternoon. The rest of the time he was out on a very bare field with lots of nettles and hawthorn and straw for munching and a feed of fast fibre every day for his vits and minerals.

I gave frankie 2% of his body weight in forage , possibly a wee bit more and he did very well on this regime.
 
I soak my 8lb haynet overnight for my horse who is in during the day! I know it takes out the nutrients in the hay but he has access to a limited amount of grass overnight and has one scoop of happy hoof per day. He's 17.1 and I've found that despite the abundance of grass this has helped to gradually reduce his weight. I would add that through injury he is only lightly hacked at walk so upping exercise is not an option.

I wasn't sure from your post how much turnout your horse has, but if he is in for part of the day, and with your current exercise regime I would think that soaking his hay, and just giving small feeds as you propose should help him lose weight over a period of months. Don't expect quick results - these don't happen!
 
I would only feed soaked hay and some oat straw if you can get it. How much weightdoes he need to loose? If he should weigh 600 kg then 2% 0f that is 12kg ; so 12 kg of soaked hay a day [24 hrs] say 2/3 of it at night and 1/3 of it during the day.
 
Thanks for all the input.... bit shocked at one of the girls on my yard.... she told me to give him 6 pounds of hay in the day and 6 pounds of hay at night..... now compare that to 24 pounds if he was supposed to be 600kgs or roughly 28 pounds if we are going for 700kgs and where he currently is at 800kgs it works out to roughly 32 pounds of food.

He has done really well today - a good 20 min hack at 6.30, he was lunged for 30 mins at 12 and he has just had another 30 min hack tonight.

He is off the grass completly by the way !
 
Gingerwitch said:
Thanks for all the input.... bit shocked at one of the girls on my yard.... she told me to give him 6 pounds of hay in the day and 6 pounds of hay at night..... now compare that to 24 pounds if he was supposed to be 600kgs or roughly 28 pounds if we are going for 700kgs and where he currently is at 800kgs it works out to roughly 32 pounds of food.

He has done really well today - a good 20 min hack at 6.30, he was lunged for 30 mins at 12 and he has just had another 30 min hack tonight.

He is off the grass completly by the way !
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Diet advice of 6lbs hay in the day and 6lbs overnight was given to my friend by her vet when he saw her very overweight 16.3hh cob. Stabled 24/7, 2x lunge or ride per day and 3 x 2lb haynets during the day + 1 x 6lbs overnight
all soaked for at least 12 hours.
 
I'd give him good straw and handful Hifi light with vits and mins.

He will likely need more work unless he is drastically unfit. 20 -30 mins x 3 walking is nothing, especially if in 24 h

How old is he?
 
I would guess a healthy weight for him would be just under 700kg so I would start by restricting him to 2% of his bodyweight in dry hay per day soaked for 24 hours to reduce sugar content. If his weight doesn't appear to be reducing youca cut this further to 1.5% of his bodweight.

If he must have any bucket feed I'd give him alan and page fast fibre. Hi-fi lite is lightly mollased. he only needs a tiny amount to carry any sups - I'd reccomend you feed magnesium as it will help him metabolise sugars...

Is there anyway he can get turnout on a bare paddock / track and feed some of his hay in here? or put a grazing muzzle on him for turnout...Standing in a stable 24/7 won't be doing a lot for the waistline...

Oh, and don't rug him!! Even in appauling weather. he doesn't need it!

Well done though! Sounds like youre being very sensible about his exercise regime...
 
My dieting Draft horse (who doesn't yet register on the weights on our tape) has her supplements in a bucket of chopped oat straw with a TINY amount of dried grass to get her going. She has lost 5 cms this week.
 
I'd have him on half hay (soaked) and half straw (wel mixed), adlib in a small holed net. He needs to keep eating.

No hardfeed at all (don't understand this beleif that all horses need a bucket feed?!) other than a handful of chaff with a powdered supplement. Have a look at Slimline by NAF as it especially formulated for horses on a very restricted diet. Cimmanon is also an metabolism stimulant and easy and cheaply bought off ebay. I'd add a teaspoon a day to him feed.

I'd also have him out for as many hours a day as you can as it's great constant exercise. It far better for him metally as well. If you don't have a laminitic fatty paddock avalible then think about muzzeling him.

You don't want him to loose weight too dramatically as it's not good for the liver or kindeys. With the extra work, low calorie forage and limited grass he'll loose it slowly but surely. I'd expect it to take at least 3 months to loose most of the weight.
 
I agree with Kallibear, especially if your feeding soaked hay and straw it won't do him any harm to have a bit extra to keep him munching and ensuring he's still got plenty of fibre passing throug him.
 
What kind of hay are you feeding? Rye grass or meadow hay? If you don't know ask the people you buy it off. Meadow hay will be much better for your horse as it has a mixture of plants in it. So if you feeding rye grass remember this can be rich and can do as much harm as being on grass.
 
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