Overweight Horse and how long does it take to lose the weight

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Bengi1991

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Mar 22, 2006
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Hi

Our boy " Big D " is overweight. Partly due to being lame for a long time and the bad winter with hardly any riding due to it ( i know excuses :wub:) Anyhow he is now on a diet with a grazing muzzle on from morning to night and been ridden mostly every day with the odd day off due to heavy rain or other commitments. He is either hacked out for an hour to an hour and a half or schooled on the grass for half an hour . He is not going to be rugged in the winter . How long can I expect to see changes in his weight. It does appear as though he is losing the weight although it is hard to tell with me seeing him every day. Another question do we feed him hard feed in the winter or just hay

Cheers
 
He will lose weight if you muzzle him till late oct/early nov ( the grass still grows till late oct ish) restrict him to hay double netted over winter.Cob types are very good doers mostly and need little extra feed at all just a vitamin supplement in a handful of hi fi light.If he could live out muzzled he would lose the weight easier.
 
It has taken me 6 months to see a real improvement in Storm. I think it has been the exercise that has truly made the most difference. After lengthy discussions with the vet (we agreed she was not being over-fed / over-grazed) the only thing to help was more exercise. This is not possible with our old tb, so he is still rather portly!
It is a long process. Much easier for the weight to pile on with these good doers (just like humans who gain easily!!!).
 
Muzzling day times only is no where near enough for my two - I have literally got them on a patch of mud, and feed them hay.

On a bare area with nettles and blackberries I have managed to get 60kg off madam, but she is still overweight - struggling with this last bit though due to the weather they need more hay.
 
Ed has lost between 30 - 40 kgs in three months and his weight is now 'ideal'. This has been achieved through restricted grazing, just the odd bit of hay when tied up (he had a scoop of Happy Hoof each day with NAF Slimline, Magensium Ox and his joint supplement). He is usually ridden 6 days a week.

For the first three weeks, he was on a bark chip menage by night, with just a small holed hay net and a bit of hedge/weeds (drastic action as he develped a cresty neck). We then put him back on his paddock, but a tiny area to start with and moved the fence every few days.

He's now back on almost half an acre, but it's quite well eaten. He has about half a haynet, when he's being groomed. He has is daily scoop of HH, with a carrrot or two and his supplements..... the NAF Slimline is finished, so he's now back on Pink Powder (as that's what I have left!).

Now got to make sure he doesn't lose anymore before the Winter :unsure::biggrin:
 
I have the problem where I cannot restrict my grazing . I have tried with electric fence to do a starvation paddock it worked for a week then he decided that the electric shock was nothing and trashed the fence night after night so thats why am using a grass muzzle. Its very hard to tell if he is losing weight. I have measured him and he seems to have lost a little but I sat on him last night bareback and he seemed as huge as ever
 
Thank goodness for the sheepies! I have had them out on all our grazing this summer, and they've done a sterling job it must be said! I dread to think how I would have managed without - grazing muzzles all round I guess!
 
Whats the longest you would leave a grazing muzzle on I put his on after he has been ridden which is between 10 and 11 and take it off about 6 at night if not 7
 
I'd be looking at ways to make a muzzle fit comfortably, such as sewing in some sheepskin, and leave a muzzle on 24/7 too.

As for how long it would take to lose the weight, well that would depend on what percentage of bodyfat has to be lost and how much you can restrict grazing and exercise him?

It's not healthy to aim for weightloss too quickly by restricting forage so much the gut isn't kept ticking over but grass tends to be the biggest factor in weight so by restricting that and feeding forage that has very little nutrician in it that will have a great effect.

For real fatties, it wouldn't be unrealistic to get somewhere after a year.
 
Ive found it can take quite a while for it to show...

The only time it happened really quick for my lad is when he had to be stabled 24/7 for a week & a half with just hay. The weight really did just drop of him.

He is now out from 7pm till 10am with a grazing muzzle on with restricted grazing. He is stabled the rest of the time. With an hours worth of excercise 6 out of 7 days.

Its slow progress but hes getting there!

Keep doing what your doing and you should hopefully notice the difference in a few weeks. :)
 
Tia was losing approx 6/7kg per week once she started her diet - more at the beginning though. I have to admit that it came off easier through exercise and dieting rather than from dieting alone.

She lost 120kg over 6 months and is much nearer a healthy weight for her now.

I weightape her at the same time every sunday to keep an eye on her weight because you can't always tell if it's working when you see them every day.
 
Hmmm, now I'm NOT trying to get Harvey to lose weight (but likewise AM trying to treat him like the native he is not the TB he thinks he should be lol) He is has beenout 24/7 on 3 acres of 'ok' grazing with piccolo and has comprehensive 400gram balancer and large scoop of hi-fi lite. Exercised 3-6 days a week. Anyway, he has managed to go from 345kg to 324kg in about two maybe three weeks! (He's still a 'ok' weight but don't want him to drop more!)

Maybe the grass is losing its nutrition already? Piccolo is in the same field and she has gone from (very portly) 275kg to 255kg in the same space of time (but I AM trying to slim her down as she is still fat bearing in mind she's a 11.2hh Dartmoor lol.) and she only gets 200grams of balancer as a feed.
 
LOL I wish our grass would go - I left them out in muzzles for 24hrs... bloated out by 20kg (and vvv itchy and grumpy)... but has left her 10kg up this week :(

But being super strict and mean Ive managed 60kg in 6 weeks :) (now 50 hahahaha)
 
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