Good ways to help my horse loose weight!!

Question

Im 13 years old and riding for about 2 and a half to four hours everyday, being summer holidays, and when a got my horse she was fat. Now Ive had her for about 3 weeks, she seems happier and she seems to have lost a bit of weight through our walks,trots, and canters, but how can she loose weight faster?

Notes:

*She will only go in the stable in winter so the stables a no no (but i can put her in it for an hour or to just not over night)

*Shes out in a field 24/7 when im not with her, like I said she wont go in stables in summer , she doesnt like it and kicks the door but in winter shes fine because the woman who had her said.

*Im not using one of those things that stops her eating grass

* I control the amount of treats i give her

* Im using the obvious points e.g not as much feed/no feed

Help haha x

Answer 1

Dry lot the horse and feed it hay, no pasture and no alfalfa or clover, and switch to a calorie controlled lite feed formulated for overweight horses and easy keepers and supplement the horse's daily diet with an organic vitamin and mineral feed supplement, something like ABC Plus. With that add a regular daily exercise schedule and then gradually switch back to a normal feed formula and return the horse to pasture when it reaches it's ideal weight. And your goal should be to take the weight off the way it went on... Slowly!

*Edit Note: purple is wrong! Taking the weight off too quickly is something to worry about. If weight loss is too rapid it will deplete potassium faster than it can be replenished and that can cause a very rapid heart rate and serious heart rhythm problems which can be long lasting or permanent and can even cause sudden death. There are other well known reasons for taking weight off slowly but the bullet that can kill in rapid weight loss is potassium if a normal blood potassium level is not sustained.

Answer 2

keep excersing her and give her less hay to eat

Answer 3

Well you can't rush her losing weight you just need to work her..lunge her,ride her...she will lose weight but don't cut her back off of feed and grass all at once at least..if you have a dry lot or a paddock with less grass you might should try that and still give her grain and a flake or 2 of hay once or twice a day won't hurt! And during the winter you want her to be good and healthy kinda fat!! l0l!! To keep herself warm! Good luck!

Answer 4

You have only had her 3 weeks so it sounds like you are doing well to see results already.

In terms of management if you dont want to use a grazing muzzle could you not section off part of the paddock she has? Electric fencing is great to do this with. Or if there is a paddock with less grass in maybe you could graze her in there for the majority of the time.

If you need to manage her weight quickly these are the best options and it is important is she suffers or is prone to laminitis. Have you moved her to a new paddock with lots of grass in? If so it may well be a good idea to ration the amount of grazing she has.

It sounds like you are riding her a lot and this will help. You can increase the workload through lunging. However, if her fitness is not so great then by you riding her you may be giving her exactly the right amount of exercise right now. If she is sweating loads and seems knackered I probably wouldnt worry too much about exhausting her out everyday as well. But if she has loads of energy then try lunging before riding.  It sounds like you are doing everything right now and that her past management had meant that she had put on the weight. So long as she is happy and not too overweight I would carry on how you are and just wait for the results! You can monitor her with weigh tape and see how she progresses.

You say you are riding everyday, maybe you could try doing some different routines such as jumping, competitions (summer shows) x country, long distance rides etc. Or even having some riding lessons if you dont already so you can work on a certain aspect of your riding.  

Answer 5

by the sounds of it you are doing what ever you can already, but i would just suggest lunging before you ride just for 5-10 minutes on each leg. this will increase her fittness and get her to listen to you. my tb suddenly put on alot of weight when she was on the fresh grass and i found this really helped!

you dont say what breed your horse is so if she is a heavier type.....

http://www.goldhillswelsh.com/taffycolor...

then i would do lots of faster/ extended work as they find it harder work as they arent really built for speed!

but on the other hand if you have a finer type.......

http://www.mikanipark.com/bondie.jpg

then i would do lots of collected work as they find this harder.

i would also do abit of galloping and jumping as this really improves their stamina, but please only do this if you feel confident and both you AND your horse are able to do both of these things- i would also have an adult with you as horses (of all types and breeds) tend to forget their rider (especially with galloping) and ignore any aids as they just get so excited! but it really depends on your horse and you know her way more than me!

i hope i have helped but remember it does take time getting a horse fit!

good luck!

Answer 6

why would you want her to lose weight? horses are supposed to be fat. but if you want her to lose excess fat, then ride her harder and longer.  

Answer 7

I think the best thing you can do is to keep exercising her. Also cut back on the amount of hay and grass she gets and don't keep giving her treats for a while.

Answer 8

I think the best thing is to just ride her and keep exercising her as much as poss , but my pony is the same he is fat even tho i keep him off as much food as a poss and i ride and take him to shows most weekends , maybe it's just the way she is ?

Answer 9

You don;t have to use a muzzle, just partition the paddock using electric fence. The only other thing I can think of is that maybe you are feeding her a feed which is too high in energy for the amount of work she is doing, or that you are weighing out too much for her. If she is a hardy type of horse, eg cobby or has a native breed in her, then she will not need as much.

I would say she is in light work at the moment, it's not like she's training, or jumping lots, it's just general leisurely stuff. Allen and page have a large range of feeds for different kinds of horses doing different kinds and levels of work. A hacking mix might be suitable, or a lower energy one such as high fibre feed.

Answer 10

maybe its best to just ride her for an hour at a time unless you are hacking lol although i dont know wht your doing wit her so i dont want to judge.lol it really depends on wht you put in her feed say if you put one scoop of chop and ponynuts in just put half in or if you put half a scoop in put a qaurter of a scoop init may seem cruel but it helps really it does you can also get feeds tht help weight loss i cant recomend any now because i horse has never been over weight as i have to watch wht i give her as she is a thoroghbred it can also depend on wht breed she is and whta suppliments you give her and have you tried to put her in a sectioned off paddok so she doesnt get as much sweet grass it might be worth doing and only letting her in an open field a coupl oif hours its also worth asking your feed supplier what to put in her feed and what to change and any good food supplier should have this knowledge hop all goes well.x p.s if you give her carrots cut down as they are full of sugar try oats to give her her energy.xand also bring the changes to her feed gradually.x*x

Answer 11

other then lessening the feed, just exercise the horse as much as possible. there are also supplements to help control her weight.

but hey, whats wrong with a plump horse? no need for her to be obese, but hey, ribs aren't attractive either. get her to a weight thats okay for her size. and as long as shes fit and not out of shape, its fine

Answer 12

Sounds like exercise is going to have the best result for you, but could you limit the amount of grass she has by dividing your field into smaller strips with electric fencing?

Answer 13

personally i think you are doing whats very good for your horse. being exercise. i would just cut down on her grain[if she has it]. and then you are doing just about everything you can do! i wouldn't rush it. it takes time for humans to lose weight too. just be patient and wail.

Answer 14

As long as the excess is coming off I wouldn't worry about it coming off to quickly.

Lunging or jumping her in addition to what you normally do should accelerate the weight loss.

Answer 15

i would say besides riding her, lunge her at a trot 20 times each way. if you dont lunge your horses then trot a lot when riding her. Trotting helps horses tone their bodies the most. It will replace her extra fat with muslce. Next i would say lay off on the treats for a while but if you can't resist limit her to 2 a day. Good luck!