Morbidly Obese Horse not losing weight!!

Thanks, kchfuller and plains drifter. I don't think she's even eating the hay out there anyways but being out on pasture she does have accessibility to grass at all times. So far, the grazing muzzle seems to be the best choice.

She is approx. 14.3hh and is relatively stocky.
I'm not sure about the type of hay or her weight yet but I will ask.

So she is pretty little at 14.3 (in my opinion- mine are all over 16 hands lol) ... id really encourage your friend to cut back her feed. Even if she isn't "eating" the hay when your friend sees her I bet she is eating it at some time during the day... and like you said earlier- she will probably founder with that much grass and being so heavy. So even though she may not like being cut back it is whats best for her

Haha yes she's a little one. I agree, she should definitely be cut back. I will talk to her about maybe putting her in a separate pen with just grass for the time being and maybe using a grazing muzzle in addition to that.
Thanks for the suggestions. :)

Dry-lot! That's my suggestion. Then you can manage her hay from there, this will dramatically help with weight issues, we control our horses weight with our dry lot, although you will need to start with the amount of hay for her current weight, and slowly decrease. Along with exercise, or course.

My 14.1h Arab Gelding is much the same - He is always roly poly. He holds his weight in his pot belly. He was always on 24/7 grazing with a mineral lick but nothing else.

He has been fat the entire time I've had him - I trained and competed in bush races on him, which was a race across country and over jumps that was a few Km's long. That was the fittest he ever was - Training was cantering laps non stop of our biggest paddock with gallops in there too.

He STILL had a pot belly!

We never had the facilities to lock him up. We just kept an eye on him that he didn't founder - He wasn't getting any calories except for grass and most of the time I had him we were in drought.

One other thing that could be a possibility is parasites?

In my reading about health for humans I've read of stories that some parasites will keep people fat. Once they got rid of those parasites the weight began dropping off. To me it seemed like a parasite that lived in the blood. But don't quote me cus it's just something I passed over 10 months ago while reading. And I didn't do much reading on it.

And I wouldn't have a clue if this would also pertain to horses. But if there's some that cause humans to retain fat then I don't see why there wouldn't be some that would do the same to animals.

And I also wouldn't know if it's a parasite that could be found doing a stool test or not.

I'm not much help. But everyone else offered great suggestions and this is one that I could think of. LOL

If the horse is on pasture too then you may consider reading www.safergrass.org The times of day, temperatures, rainfall or drought all affect the nutritional quality of grass.

Shoot.... I just thought of another thing I learned about a couple of weeks ago. Thyroid issues can cause a horse to be fat too. And the thyroid has two halves, one half could be over active and the other half could be under active. And in such a scenario most common tests will show that the thyroid is perfectly fine when it is not.

There's an accupressure point on the neck I believe that will allow you to know if it's the thyroid that's causing the horse to stay fat.

Thank you very much!! That was really helpful.
I've considered parasites before. Though she is utd on all shots and wormer, she could have something else. I will talk to her about it and maybe speak to the vet.
The thyroid issue seems like it could be it too. LOL
I have no idea what's going on with this horse but I will see what she say and maybe we'll have the vet out to take a look and maybe run some tests.

I would talk to the vet on exactly what rations to feed her. She may have to put her in a dry run with no grass and feed her grass type hay (no alfalfa) twice to 3 times a day.

Dry lot or stall and measure every drop she gets.... have her fed small amounts thur out the day ...

A good vitamin/mineral supplement many times help as well as a product liek Remission

What is Remission for?
Sorry, I've never heard of it.
She has access to a mineral block out there if that's what you mean.
I don't think she wants to put her on any other foods unless its something that will assist in the weightloss.
Again, not really something I would do.. but not my horse.

If she was mine, I would put her in the dry lot and feed her periodically, but small amounts of the grass hay. And maybe a performance horse feed with some minerals and possibly other supplements for joints or something.
She does get a lot of work as it is but should she be 'upping' the exercise a little?