my horses are overweight

My horses are overweight and I do not know what to do about it they get fed about

1 pound 12% sweet feed and in the winter about 1 and a half pounds of the same thing and one flake of hay.

The other thing is the r not broke and not the best at the halter either so it is hard to excircise them.i was wondering if you guys had any suggestions on what I could do.

They r an appalosa gelding and an appalosa qh mare

So if you have any suggestions I would really be greatful

I can't give specific suggestions, because I don't have a horse of my own. But in general, you need to either cut down their food or increase their exercise, or both, to lose weight. Can you get them used to being handled so you can work them?

Good luck!

Has your vet made any feed recomendations?

Apart from what kansas said, have you ever thought of breaking them in? Im assuming if you have a gelding that he would be old enough to be broken but I can't comment on the mare. Is she old enough to be broken in??

Apart from chasing them around the paddock, which obviously isnt a suitable idea, breaking them in and working them could be the only thing I can think of. Just like people, if we don't exercise yet keep eating we will get fat and the only thing to counteract that would be exercise.

Aside from a health issue, lack of exercise would be the only thing I would consider as being a cure for this. It doesnt sound like they get overfed. Maybe you could cut out the hard feed and just give them their roughage as we know, horses only need roughage. Their hard feed is only something we give them to help them along a bit :) if they are already overweight I would consider dropping the hard feed.

This is what I would do after ensuring that there are no health issues at hand but considering there are two horses showing this fatness I would lead more towards not enough exercise :)

Just curious, are they "fat" or do they have big bellys? If its a big belly it could be parasites. There are some worms that cause bloating. When was the last time they were wormed?

tis funny...i was just coming in here to suggest that...didnt even think about it before

Also, grass bellies can be mistaken for fat, which I guess they are to a degree. Under normal circumstances a grass belly could be worked into muscle through trotting exercise etc this would lift the fat from the belly and turn into nice muscle

They r just plan old fat the vet says and my dad thinks they r getting fat on air.yes they r old enough to break it is just we r trying to find a used saddle and r not having luck so as soon as we get one they r going to be worked with everyday it is just the saddle thing.i am pretty sure I can catch them and try to work with them I will try that this afternoon it is just they r turkeys and we r getting them used to doing what we say when they r suppose to and not when they want to.i would be glad to here any more suggestion

Aren't there some pretty easy ways to exercise without a saddle, such as a lunge line?

I never though about a lunge line.i forgot to mention the wormer they get wormed right when they r supposed to.the vet was here on friday and said that they r just fat and what we r feeding them is the right amout and stuff.the problem is to get them seperated actually the mare is younger and she has been with the gelding since she was weaned if not younger so they r tough to seperate.although I think I could seperate them in the corral and have it so they could at least see each other.thanx keep anymore ideas coming.

You don't need a saddle to start them. Do ground work, yielding exercises and round pen or lunge them while you teach them all they need to know on the ground. Only after they are well behaved should you attempt to saddle and finally ride them. I don't know how old they are so this is just general info.