Bens weightloss diary

Our first weightloss week has gone well. He has been out naked despite the wind and rain and seems to be very happy. He certainly isn't standing by the gate and is still as difficult for the yard staff to catch as he normally is. He does looked very windswept though. Exercise wise hasn't been great. We have done:

Tues 20th - I was very late to the yard so only managed 30 minutes in the school. Very energetic though.
Wed 21st - I came down with a sickness bug so couldn't ride
Thurs 22nd - It was blowing a force 8 gale so decided against it.
Fri 23rd - Our school was totally flooded and really boggy.We did an hour mainly in walk but I managed to get him really walking out and by the end he was flexing and bending - even on our difficult left rein.
Sat 24th - Went for a one hour early morning hack. I was very wet and slippery so we didn't canter, but had lots of nice long slow trots.

I hope that next week is better weather wise.

I weight taped him and he was nearer to 656kg rather than 665kg that he was last week. I think that we are going in the right direction.
 
Thats really good MP - nearly 10kgs in such a short space of time.

Ben will be slimmer of the year if he keeps this up. Probably be more energetic too. Friends cob has lost a fair bit of weight - not by her choice, but because we have hardly any grass. Cob is much keener to be out and about now.
 
sjp1 said:
Thats really good MP - nearly 10kgs in such a short space of time.

Ben will be slimmer of the year if he keeps this up. Probably be more energetic too. Friends cob has lost a fair bit of weight - not by her choice, but because we have hardly any grass. Cob is much keener to be out and about now.
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I don't think that anything will make Ben more energetic and I love his laid back attitude. We have been riding in really strong winds recently and he is just exactly the same as he normally is while no-one else on my yard would even get on their horses. I would like him to be more supple on his left rein - you never know, the weight loss might help with that.
 
Mary Poppins said:
I don't think that anything will make Ben more energetic and I love his laid back attitude. We have been riding in really strong winds recently and he is just exactly the same as he normally is while no-one else on my yard would even get on their horses. I would like him to be more supple on his left rein - you never know, the weight loss might help with that.
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You may be surprised MP - I doubt losing weight will change Bens character but you may well find when he gets thinnner he will have a lot more spring in his step, just generally more energy if that makes sense.
I know Belle has definately got more energetic since she's lost weight but she is still exactly the same temperament as before just seems much happier, more flexible and more enthusiastic in her work now.
We too went out for a hack on Sunday in gale force winds... did she bother? Nope, no different at all :)
 
Well done on the weight loss so far. That's good, particularly with the rubbish weather for riding we have had.

Izzy improved in all ways when he lost weight.

His character stayed the same, still sensible and bold, but more energetic, forward, responsive and much happier in himself. His flexibility went from being stiff as a board to being incredibly supply - obviously that was also due to schooling, not just weightloss.

I think you will find the changes positive ones.
 
Well done on the weightloss so far!

Just a note, our hacking has been hugely restricted and you would be surprised at how much all the horses have dropped fitness and muscle. I think it shows that hacking, hills and interval work really are the best in terms of loosing weight, developing muscle and general fitness. You can school till your blue in the face, but take your horse for a good gallop and you will soon find out how fit he is!

I know it's not easy with the dark nights, but once the brighter nights come back I would suggest swapping a couple of schooling sessions for interval training hacks.
 
Laura_107 said:
Well done on the weightloss so far!

Just a note, our hacking has been hugely restricted and you would be surprised at how much all the horses have dropped fitness and muscle. I think it shows that hacking, hills and interval work really are the best in terms of loosing weight, developing muscle and general fitness. You can school till your blue in the face, but take your horse for a good gallop and you will soon find out how fit he is!

I know it's not easy with the dark nights, but once the brighter nights come back I would suggest swapping a couple of schooling sessions for interval training hacks.
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Can second this. Rubic lost more weight in summer when I was taking her for hacks up hills with lots of trotting, cantering and galloping than she has done in winter when I've been confined to the school but in winter I'm also limited by time and the hacks in summer are always longer than I would usually spend in the school.

Sounds like you and Ben are doing well so far. Don't be disheartened if the weightloss tails off or is worse one week than it was the last too. I used to get upset when Rubic's weight wouldn't go down by much (or at all) but you can't always exercise them as much as you want, the weather and all the other commitments you have make things difficult sometimes and I also think that the further down the weightloss scale you are the more difficult it gets so just take each week as it comes:wink:
 
Thanks for your comments. It's frustrating that am limited to riding in a very boggy school in the evenings. I can't wait until the summer until I can get out hacking and get him moving more.

I have ridden him everyday this week. These have all been schooling sessions involving whatever work I could do in the boggy school. Today is the first time it has dried out enough for me to canter so we had a good canter round which we both enjoyed.

I do feel guilty about putting him out in the freezing cold without a rug, but he seems happy and wouldn't let the yard staff catch him yesterday so he can't be too desperate to come in.
 
No, he can't be desperate to come in at all.

Tobes is pathetic. I only have to say 'here I am' and he comes trotting or cantering over!!!

However, we haven't that much grass, so the thought of supper and haynets is brill - and it isn't that he is cold either because he is well rugged up! So think Ben clearly not cold or hungry.
 
We still have loads of grass, and when this field is done they have another field to move into. I have been giving him a small soaked haynet but half the time he doesn't eat it. He certainly eats less of it when it has been soaking for longer.

He worked hard today and was very sweaty when we had finished. I didn't think that we had done that much but he obviously found it harder work than I thought that he would. The vet said that when I need to reclip him then I should do a trace clip (instead of a blanket) and still leave him naked. I was trying to avoid having him clipped again, but after seeing how sweaty he got today, I think that I am going to have to.
 
Bens weight loss is going well I think. I have been weight taping him everyday and have found that the measurements really do fluctuate depending on how much hay he has eaten that day. If he has left all his hay net (as he sometimes does) and has been sleeping in his stable all afternoon, the weight tape shows that he has lost loads of weight. But, if he has been scoffing hay and eating his bed, the weight tape shows he is bigger. The vet warned me that this would happen and that is why I need to 'fat score' him rather than rely on the weight tape for measurements.

I haven't got any new pictures of him because it's either dark when I see him or pouring with rain! I think that his bum is looking smaller but it's difficult to tell when I see him everyday.

The school has dried out enough to be able to canter again, so we have upped our exercise to between 30 and 45 mins of very active schooling in the evenings. He is starting to work very consistently in an outline and we even seem to have cracked our left rein canter lead leg as well.

At the weekend i took him out in our fields and he was so full of beans. He just wanted to canter so we had a proper blast round. I don't understand where all his energy comes from because he isn't fed any food at all apart from a small soaked haynet - which half the time he doesn't eat anyway. If I didn't know better, I would think that someone was feeding him behind my back, but I'm 99.5% sure that this isn't happening.

I need to decide if I should re-do his blanket clip or do a trace clip instead. Our school is hopefully going to have it's drainage problems sorted before Christmas so I'm hoping that we can jump again. He loves this and hopefully it will burn more calories. I am worried about reclipping him with a blanket clip and then turning him out naked when it's really cold. But then again, he never seems cold at all without a rug. On Saturday when it was about -2 when I got to the yard, he was toasty warm in his field. He had frost hanging off his tail, mane and eyelashes, but his body and ears were warm.

It's certainly an education and I am very much to 'odd one out' at the yard. Everyone, however has been very supportive and while I have had the odd 'I'm being cruel' comment, when I explain that it is on vets orders and get people to touch him so they understand that he is actually not freezing cold, they come round.

Hopefully I will get some pictures on Saturday and will post them on here so you can all see how he is getting on 3 weeks on.
 
Hills MP! Get him up and down hills, it's much harder work for them, and brilliant for building muscle.

I dont know what your field is like, but I'm presuming its relatively flat, so cantering him around that is even easier for him that cantering round your school (no tricky corners to have to balance on!). Sorry if it is infact hilly....if it does have sunbstantial hill on it then please do ignore me!

I would do a trace clip on him, if he sweats up too much with that then just turn it into a blanket clip. You can always take more off, you can't stick more back on :wink:

I'm glad everyone at your yard is being understanding. It makes life so much easier for you.

At this rate you are going to have a skinny Minnie come spring (and possibly the fittest horse on the yard!!
 
Laura_107 said:
Hills MP! Get him up and down hills, it's much harder work for them, and brilliant for building muscle.
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We do have some nice hills in our fields and we canter up them whenever we can. The only problem is that I cannot hack during the week as I don't get to the yard until 8pm. I have no choice but to use the school as everywhere else is pitch black.

Ben is pretty fit which makes this all much harder. The vet said that he had good muscle tone and obviously works well, he just has a fat layer as well! I do as much exercise as I can manage, he gets ridden everyday and burns as many calories as I can. I just hope that I'm doing enough.
 
All seems to be going in the right direction.

Proper schooling with A LOT of trotting will also knock the pounds off him - even in the school.

I find I get quite tired as does he, but when we have a lesson with YO, we are both absolutely exhausted - in fact when YO does her late night checks she says on the nights we have lessons he is standing in his bed with his bottom lip drooping, and dozing!!!
 
crinklesb said:
You could try lunging aswell if your school is boggy. You might be able to keep him trotting longer on the lunge than riding him and it will be less difficult on his legs.
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I haven't ever lunged him. I always prefer to ride him if I can. Our school is a huge 40m by 70m so we just have to dodge to boggy bits but still get some decent space to ride in.

We sometimes trot for 30 minutes solid when the school allows. He never seems to get tired trotting, it is the canter work which makes him sweaty. Unfortunately with the school being deep in places I don't like to canter much in there unless it has drained a little. Tonight it was half frozen so it was OK to do faster work.

I rode him bareback tonight - I'm getting much better at cantering bareback and not slipping off him when he goes back into trot. I love how warm he gets, it's like sitting on a hot water bottle.
 
It's now 3 weeks into our weightloss journey. He ate all his hay today and as he was standing nice and quietly I thought that it would be good time to weightape.

3 weeks ago he was 665kg. Today is was 648kg. So thats a drop of 17kg. I'm pleased with that. I don't really have a target weight for him, but if I could get him down to under 600kg then I only need to buy one tube of wormer!
 
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