Your horses weight - summer v winter

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shellonabeach

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After some concerns with my horses yard, and the field management, I would like people's advice on horse weights.

At the moment the YO has approx 5 acres for 6 horses divided into 3 fields. One field has been rested since April and is being regularly topped, the others are not picking up after being grazed and so the field they have been in for 6 weeks now has resembled that of a starvation paddock for the last 4 weeks. We are not allowed to put hay out in the field as the YO's horse has a weight problem so sparse grazing suits her!

My worry is the weight loss which is occuring. I always thought that, within reason, horses should put on a bit over the summer and drop off in winter.

However in the 3 horses whose weight is monitored:

14.2hh 17 year old Heinz 57 - was 425kg in Feb, now 405kg
15.2hh 26 year old TB - was 440kg now 405kg
16hh 12 year old IDxcob - was 555kg now 530kg

The horses are obviously hungry in their behaviour, yet the YO won't hear of it. The grass is green but very short and sparse.

Would you be worried? Personally even in work I would have expected them to have put on weight not lost it!

So my question is:

Does your horse weigh more in the summer? And if so by how much? (can't do a poll did try!)
 
mine are always well-covered (not fat) in summer and lean (but not scrawny!) by the end of winter. If you're paying for grazing, you should be getting it! Why can't hers stay in the bare paddock and yours go into the rested bit? I'd be really pushing for this!
 
Yes mine puts on about 30-40 kg in Summer but he is a good doer, also have to give him a small feed every day for supplement reasons. Can't she move her fatty to another field and let you add hay to yours? When our grazing gets low a few of the horses turn really grumpy and can fight thats why I am watchful.

Are you feeding them every day? This may be an idea as 35 kg loss for the 26 year old doesn't sound good.
 
Sorry I dont know how much my horse weighs but yes she definately weighs more in the summer.
The pic in my signature shows her in the summer with a fat belly and in the winter she will lose the weight. I would prefer her to go into the winter a little heavy.
 
Unfortunately YO is not very amenable!

The "now weights" of the 3 horses above are after a 2 week holiday on long - but not rich grazing - provided by the cob's owner.

We went back to the yard on Saturday. ATM my 14.2 and the TB are coming in at nights to have hay and are getting winter sized feeds and breakfast.
 
Mine is around 511kg in winter 540kg in summer. I am constantly fighting to stop her putting on even more. She comes in off the grass from 7am to 6pm. If you can't put hay out for yours could you bring them in during the day to munch? I know ideally you don't want the hassle of extra feeding and mucking out in summer but if you are seriously worried about weight loss maybe thats the answer. However I think most vets would say that most of the horses they see are too fat rather than too thin, so maybe yours are actually ok! Your old boy might be your main worry as he might find it difficult to eat very short grass if his teeth are not so good as they once were.
 
Its not good that your horses have lost so much weight over summer. Most horses are well covered over summer. I aim to send my TB mare into winter a bit on the fat side as she doesn't cope well with keeping weight on over winter.
 
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