Fat horse!!!!!!!!!!!?

Question

Okay so my horse Sunny is a halflinger and is extremely fat. I know their breed is supposed to be a little fat but she has gotten out of control!

She is inside every day and I ride her as much as I can but its pertty hot here so its hard. She was wearing a grazing mussle and she was losing weight but it gave her terrible cuts. It hurt her so bad that she jumped the fence! She was going crazy. So needless to say she isnt wearing that anymore. She gets NO grain and only one flake of hay in the morning for when she is inside. Any advice?

p.s. dont say just keep her inside all of the time because thats mean.

Answer 1

I had a horse that wore one of the grazing muzzles since he wa sa bit on the chunky side, he was 1/2 haflinger pony so i know the stress of keeping her weight down. I would put the muzzle back on, BUT i would put vet wrap or something around the area that was rubbing her and see if that will help keep the rubs down.  Other than that there isnt much that you can do to prevent the chubby pony syndrome lol. hope this helps

Answer 2

First only feed grass hay.  No brome, no alfalfa, just cheap stuff but not moldy, stemmy or anything.  You want filler not calories.  If she gets grazing it is OK to cut the hay out completely but she may graze more if you do so a cheap hay acts to fill her up.

Next limit grazing time.  You could dry lot her part of the time.

Last exercise.  Get out early in the morning before it gets too hot and put her to work.  Body clip her if you have to to keep her cooler and work her.  And yes she will get more exercise if you pasture her with other horses.

Answer 3

hey, i have a fat arab, aswell as another who keeps her weight well,

she is kept in a paddock with limited grass, i would cut back the hay completely,

exercise her as much as you can, if you have not enough time to ride, lunge her, do this on a daily basis and you will see improvement.

Answer 4

If you can find a piece of land with practically no grass on it but with some shade from the heat and a good water supply I would fence that off either with fencing or electric fencing (test regularly) and pt her in there.  It does not need to be a large size, just bare and large enough for her to have to move about to look for succulent bits.

I went to a rescue centre a couple of weeks ago and most of the horses with laminitis were turned out into the all weather arenas so they could romp about and stand at will, but not receive anything to eat!

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Is there any way you could turn her out with other horses without having her on grass? You find that if you don't have time to excersise your horse, or that it's too hot, when you put them out with other horses they'll run around and get some excersise themselves.

But of course the main thing you'd have to do is excersise her, and thats really the only natural solution. A horse usually travels about 15 miles per day in the wild, so you have to imagine that what we do to them is extremely restricting. It can also lead to a horse gaining weight. My hoorse had the same problem when I had lyme disease and mono, and every amount of food restricting didn't help him, in the end it took me getting better and getting into a strict riding routine that helped him.

Answer 6

Normally I'd say cut the grain out, but you have already done that...

Has the vet tested her, for insulin resistance perhaps?  She needs some bloodwork done ASAP, if all she's getting is a little hay and some grass.  She does need a grazing muzzle, though, before she founders.  There are lots of types out there and through trial and error you should be able to find one that fits.  You may need a sheepskin or fleece liner for the muzzle to protect her skin.  Try this link:

http://www.bestfriendequine.com/horse-mu...

Answer 7

Have you talked to your vet? Honestly I don't know much about horses. I would say she just needs more exercize.

Answer 8

could she have a thyroid problem. Some horses that have this cannot keep weight on or take it off. It does not seems like she is getting that much food to be that fat. Ask your vet about this when he comes out, otherwise there is not much more I can think of. You certainly don't want to cut down on the hay. Best of Luck

Answer 9

Actually, my advice is the opposite.  TURN HER OUTSIDE!  If you have a long, lush pasture - mow it.  Hopefully you have other horses for her to romp and play with.

Horses kept on pasture have less problems with colic, obesity, and laminitis.  They have less personality problems and vices.  Horses in the wild are meant to be grazing (on low quality roughage) for 18 hours a day and travel approximately 6 miles a day.  To have a happy, healthy horse we need to do our best to duplicate this.

Also, have you had a veterinarian do a physical exam?  It's possible that she needs thyroid medication.  You can have your veterinarian run a T4 on her to test her thyroid.

Best wishes!

Answer 10

Are you giving a flake of grass hay or alfalfa? If its alfalfa consider cutting that out for awhile or replacing with grass hay since alfalfa is pretty rich.

I would have the vet do a thyroid test.

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...