Weight management

Does anyone have information on how to help a severely overwieght horse lose weight in a safe manner? Any stories?
The lovely horse that I am considering buying (she's under my care so I'm in charge of her food and such) is quite overwieght. Over the last 3 weeks her weight has slowly been coming down, she still has quite a bit more to lose but she's on the right track.
She's been getting 2 largeish flakes of soaked (her pasture buddy is recovering from laminitis and according to their owner, soaking the hay helps) grass hay per day, morning and evening. I've been lunging her, walk and trot, atleast twice a day for 20ish minutes (basically until she starts breathing really hard) and we've been ridng her atleast once a day at a walk. We also have her on a dry lot.
Any ideas about this? Is this the right sort of program to help her lose the wieght?
Will I most likely have to watch her for obesity for the rest of her life or do Arabians keep themselves a healthy wieght most of the time?
Thanks!

Well, it sounds like you are doing everything right. Does she get any grain? How much? I would cut back or even cut out the grain.

Another thought. Have you had her thryoid checked? If she is hypothryoid she could have trouble keeping the weight off.

It shouldn't be a constant problem once she's lost the weight but you could get her checked by a vet to be sure.
A lot of arabs I know are easy to keep weight on but at the same time they can be really hard to keep the weight on because most are built lightly. I think with the right balance of exercise and diet she should be fine. Keep on doing what you are doing if it is working. It may take a long tiime but it's better to loose the weight slowly than really quick.

Even though you are looking to lose the weight be sure you dont' deny the nutrition in the process

Look into a good vitamin mineral supplement Smartpack as thier smartvit line which also have the pre/pro bios as well as amino acids

Or you could look into a ration balancer ... which is low NSC and high nutrtioin ...

You can also try MgOx which will help with the processing of the glucose in the horse's system which causes many horses to stay obese

^^^ good point!

Thanks for the helpful answers!
I will definitely be getting her vet checked if I do decide to get her, so I'll make sure to have her thyroid checked. =)
Those are good ideas about supplements! I will look into that.
She isn't getting any grain at the moment, except for maybe a small handful, very rarely, as a "good girl" treat.

Sounds like you are on the right track! I think getting weight off a horse is most of the time harder than putting it back on!

Were dealing with an overweight pony. It is definitely harder to get the weight off than to putting it on.

Now that you've been working her for a bit, you need to keep her heart rate up for longer and longer. Their no different than us, you need to tax the heart to burn some calories. Good old cardio!

I second getting her checked out, thyroid and I/R ( insulin resistance).

Unless your hay is superior in quality, a supplement may be in order.