[Gidget]

Hello-

I just a new horse. She is clearly overweight and I am in a rut because she is in a pasture with a pregnant mare. So my horse will eat her half flake(it's a big flake still) and we give the other mare 2 flakes. My horse will steal some of the pregnant horse's food but she usually lets my horse know to back off. Anyways, I don't know what I can do to make her lose weight. She is eating alfalfa because it's cold weather. I tried giving her just grass hay tonight but she looked at me like "what the heck?" haha.


I ride her everyday. There might be a day or two that I don't but other than that I ride. And there isn't much for her to eat in the pasture.


Let me know if there is anything I can do.
I want her to stay in the pasture with my mom's horse so we can ride together. I would hate to stable her.

 

[kassierae]

Separate them when you feed, and wait until they are both done. Are you feeding any grain? Or just hay? They don't necessarily need alfalfa just because it's winter. Mine are all on a grass mix and do just fine.

 

[paint gurl 23]

There isnt a whole lot you can do unless you seperate them so she isnt stealing the other ones hay. You could feed her the grass hay and cut them back on the alfalfa...it isnt good for any animal to be obese, especially horses. It basically comes down to how much you want her to lose weight, you may have to seperate them until she is at an appropriate weight and/or ride or work her longer.

 

[Gidget]

Well the thing is that they are in a pasture.I live in an apartment and they are on some family property. I feed them in the evening(they get fed in the morning by my mom's husband) and I don't have a place to really seperate her off unless I have her standing in a lot of mud.

I'm not feeding her grain. Just alfalfa. I thought about just buying grass hay but she would end up stealing my mom's horse's alfalfa.


I guess I just need to lunge her a lot or something.

 

[paint gurl 23]

ya then the only thing you can really do is just up her exercise. Lunge then ride or do lots of trotting when you ride etc...

 

[paint gurl 23]

Nice paint in your profile pic btw

 

[Gidget]

Thats my horse in the profile picture.
She's my little fatty.

I do worry about her cause she is overweight and she is only 14.2 hands.
She loves to run so once I get a new saddle I am making her run and I will do extra lunging as well.

I heard you shouldn't feed horses right after a work out..is that true?

Maybe

 

[IslandWave]

You could tie her while the other mare is eating. But I think you'll see the most improvement by setting up a gradual workout schedule for her. I wouldn't lunge her for longer than 30 minutes since small circles can be hard on a horse.

EDIT:: (I didn't see that you had posted again, sorry. )

Be sure not to run her too hard, especially if she isn't used to hard work. With the fatty that I started conditioning in spring 2009, I started off with only walk and trot for half an hour and gradually built up our rides.

Just be sure to cool her off before feeding. What that means for me is that the horse's skin is warm or cool to the touch (I usally feel the chest area) and that they are breathing normally, as opposed to flaring their nostrils for breath.

 

[Gidget]

oops I accidently pushed the send button!

anyways what i was going to say is that maybe I should stable her?
I would HATE to do that.

I guess I can clear out the mud and seperate her off. We have to water troughs....she needs to lose weight.


She's the fattest horse I've ever seen in person.


I still love her.

We are going to the arena tomorrow morning so she will be working out

 

[Gidget]

Thank you very much

I will start doing a workout schedule for her.
I imagine at one time she was in shape because she use to be a gaming horse...or maybe she was still fat,haha.

 

[luvs2ride1979]

Is there a way you can separate her from the pregnant mare? She needs to be on just grass hay with more riding and/or working. A supplement with magnesium and chromium will help her metabolize her foood a bit better.

 

[paintluver]

I have been fighting the fatness in a couple of my horses too.
Horses on the NEED A DIET list right now at my barn are:
Kodee
PintoBean
the horses on the could use some less weight
Demi
Romeo

Romeo was about 300 pounds overweight when I got him, it has taken a lot of excersize to get him down to almost normal horse size.

 

[Vidaloco]

I have never fed alfalfa. Even when my mares were pregnant they all got grass hay. Can you put them both on grass hay but add a pregnant mare supplement in a feeder separated from Gidget? Maybe get alfalfa cubes to supplement your moms horse.

 

[Snowkicker]

We separate our fatty out. He gets a couple chunks of carrots, an apple cut in half, and a wee taste of grain so he doesn't feel left out. While my baby and my skinnier horse get alfalfa cubes and supplements. We keep them all on grass hay.

 

[sillybunny11486]

I would give the pregnant mare alf pellets/cubes if need be, and give them less rich grass.

Id love to see a picture of her. Some people mistake "fat" for just stocky bred horses.

 

[Gidget]

Here is Gidgit---you see my user name and I accidently put Giget,haha--


I will do the supplements to see if that helps my fatty out. Little does she know we are going to the arena today She likes to run so she shouldn't mind.

Here are some pictures of my horse

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2701/4291876303_9e8ee7dbd2_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2738/4292587038_341238a2f0_o.jpg that's me with her

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4291405284_b5140416a3_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4291845599_0c37ee7aed_b.jpg


she is shaken it out in the last picture.

 

[justsambam08]

I dont think shes "obese" at all. Her topline could use some definite work, which makes her look more sunken in, and thus heavier, than she is, but I also personally think she looks pregnant. I've never seen "fat deposits" that lopsided (like in your profile album) unless they aren't really fat deposits! Of course, I'm no mare expert, so I wouldn't be suprised if someone disagreed with me. How old is she?

 

[Gidget]

My horse isn't pregnant and she is 7 years old. She is a solid girl. I don't think she has fat deposits. I will get better pictures.


I just bought her some supplements today.
Hopefully it will help a bit.

 

[luvs2ride1979]

Are you sure she's not pregnant? When did you buy her? Her stomach just looks really low and "off". My mare gets fat too, but her belly is almost never that low and big on just one side.