So for those that know Lizzy and her story she is now what I am calling fat. She looks pregnant and her neck is huge now. You have to push to feel ribs. Now obviously she still needs muscle as its kinda hard to build muscle on a skinny horse, that is our next project.
But here is my problem, she has gained significant weight in just a week. She was on stall rest for a week due to a slight accident where she decided it was best to trip over a snow mound and drop us into the road. So she banged up her knee a bit, being old the swelling took a bit to go down and with it being so icy but everything melting she stayed in until swelling was completely gone. So she is back out now but shes fat.
I won't be able to do some good riding until all the snow and ice melts which could be a good two weeks yet. So do I cut back on her feed now or wait until we start riding a lot?
She gets about 2lbs of alfalfa pellets, 1oz of her vitamin/min supp, msm, and then about 3-4oz of canola oil and this is all fed twice per day (so double everything for daily value).
Obviously I will be cutting back on the oil. But should I cut back her alfalfa? She otherwise only gets semi-ok grass hay basically free choice. She is stalled from 5pm until about 8am every night until May 1 then she will be out 24/7. Since it is getting pretty darn muddy I don't want her standing in mud all the time so I'm keeping her in the stall at night so her feet can dry out.
And now for pictures. Taken yesterday. Some are some weird angles, she has to watch me all the time so getting her square isn't happening.
But here is my problem, she has gained significant weight in just a week. She was on stall rest for a week due to a slight accident where she decided it was best to trip over a snow mound and drop us into the road. So she banged up her knee a bit, being old the swelling took a bit to go down and with it being so icy but everything melting she stayed in until swelling was completely gone. So she is back out now but shes fat.
I won't be able to do some good riding until all the snow and ice melts which could be a good two weeks yet. So do I cut back on her feed now or wait until we start riding a lot?
She gets about 2lbs of alfalfa pellets, 1oz of her vitamin/min supp, msm, and then about 3-4oz of canola oil and this is all fed twice per day (so double everything for daily value).
Obviously I will be cutting back on the oil. But should I cut back her alfalfa? She otherwise only gets semi-ok grass hay basically free choice. She is stalled from 5pm until about 8am every night until May 1 then she will be out 24/7. Since it is getting pretty darn muddy I don't want her standing in mud all the time so I'm keeping her in the stall at night so her feet can dry out.
And now for pictures. Taken yesterday. Some are some weird angles, she has to watch me all the time so getting her square isn't happening.