Hi Linda No Leisha is still a fatty think she is like me just has to look at food and puts weight on bless!!! I have changed her bed today to shavings and put her on hay nothing like what i was giving her she loose schools really well and lunges well so this is what i have been doing but dont think i have been doing it long enough!!!!!!
I know how you feel I am having to near starve mine hes only getting a section of hay handful of feed and and 8 till 5 on grass and hes still huge. Fingers crossed for lots of sun to dry up the grass!!!!!
i know its mad as i just dont really know what length of time i should loose school her for and/or lunge she looked at me last night after her mouthful of happy hoof as if to say and.......next please i just have to be cruel to be kind now thanks linda he is lovely natured but a bag of bones bless him so i am sure i can get the weeight on him gradually he is going out to grass as much as i can get him out, dont think he really likes being in and this lush grass will do him the world of good as he is not a big hay/haylage eater at all
Hi Tracy I just looked trough my book of feeding horses. It says that am amount of hay (1,5-2% of the horses bodywaight) is enough to cover the horse basal needs as well as a healthy stomac, on top of that you have to give vitamins/minerals. And if you can reduce the time on grass to 2-4 hours a day, this will help to. As well as exercise off course :)
Traceyjoanne, your farrier will be able to tell you if your mare is showing signs of laminitus when he comes to trim/shoe your horse... to be honest if she is just fat (and no other problems) I would agree with everyone else - excersise is the way!! have you tried long-reining? Although, there is no real substitute for riding as carrying the rider burns more calories than anything!
I would suggest speaking to a nutritionalist... the one at Blue Chip is great and they do a balancer specifically designed for laminitus prone horses.
Personally I would bever suggested starvation or muzzling as I feel this is very stressful for the horse... my boy does not overeat now he is fit (although he used to be a bit of a porker)
Good luck i'm sure you'll work out something that suits you and your horse!
P.S. There are a couple of good articles out at the moment in Horse and Rider / Your Horse re feeding and diet. Apparently haylage is almost 50% water and you should actually feed more of this than hay.
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Posted - 13 May 2006 : 7:15:20 PM
