Weight loss hay for horses

This inexpensive piece of horse care equipment can tell you how your horse is progressing. Weigh your horse every week or so, maybe even every month, and log it! I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast, much less how much my horse weighed two weeks ago. For more on measuring your horse's weight, read this! Now we can talk about some easy things for helping your horse lose some weight. Your horse should be primarily on forage to lose weight.

For most horses, you will need to drop all of the concentrated grains and fortified feeds - these are calories. You will need to drop all of the treats, too, they are just more calories.

When fresh cut grass turns to hay, many vitamins and minerals are lost. But the horse that gets pasture will need a different one. An Equine Nutritionist can also guide you to the proper types of hay for your horse. High-calorie alfalfa or a low-calorie grass? Or a mix of the two?

Your forage plan and hay types also helps determine the proper vitamin and mineral supplement. Your horse needs to eat all the dang time to lose weight. When horses have meals instead of grazing all day, they can get ulcers, develop vices, and even GAIN weight. Horses that nibble all day long will actually increase their metabolism and lose weight.

If your horse knows he will always have access to hay, even without a slow feeder, he may self regulate his own eating. Your Vet and Equine Nutritionist can help you decide if this works for your horse, or if slow feeders are best. But pasture is not the answer! It's too dense with calories. You may need to change where your horse hangs out? A horse that spends a lot of time in a stall may have a harder time losing weight.

So might the horse that lives on pasture. Dry lots can be excellent for many horses - they allow movement, you can stash slow feeders around, horses can be with their friends, and they are freshly ventilated and easy to clean. Most horses that need to lose weight should come off pasture turnout.

At the bare minimum, grazing muzzles should be used and the amount of time on grass reduced. Horses are well documented in being to learn how long they have on grass, and will speed up their eating to accommodate more grass in a shorter time.

Hence, get your horse a grazing muzzle or switch to dry lots. Your horse needs exercise! Even serviceably sound horses can have an exercise routine.

Your horse may need medications to help him lose weight! They are prescription, and not appropriate for all horses. It can be hard to exercise horses in winter but where possible, exercise should be encouraged to increase energy expenditure. Whether a brisk walk, a lunge, horse-walker exercise or work over poles, ALL exercise is important to help horses go into spring in better body condition. Exercise can also be achieved by creating a track system in the field where the perimeter of the field is fenced off to create a track.

Thinking Outside the Box

The horse is thus encouraged to move around more than they would in a conventional paddock. Many horses are fed unlimited forage in winter. This may result in a horse eating in excess of its daily energy requirements. It is important to consider not only the quality of the forage but also the quantity being fed. It is better to avoid long periods of fasting by using double or tripled fine-mesh haynets to slow feeding, and splitting the daily ration into evenly-spread several portions.

Horse owners worry about gastric ulcers when restricting feed intake, but although if horses are starved for long periods ulcers may develop, fasting overnight or for short periods during the day is not a problem. Be aware that grass will grow when the temperature exceeds 4C. So on a mild winter day, horse may ingest a surprising amount of sugar when turned out. A horse on a grassy pasture will require much less hay, and sunny days and cold nights will cause levels of sugar in grass to rise.

Babe, pictured top before his diet started and above, a year in.

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Pictures courtesy of University of Liverpool. Make low sugar forage the bulk of the diet. Unless in a high level of work, most horses require minimal or no additional concentrate or pelleted feeds, other than a balancer see below. Soaking hay in cold water for 12 hours is recommended. After speaking to your vet or nutritionist, for an overweight horse with no access to pasture and at a low level of exercise, a reasonable starting point is to feed 1. Limit access to pasture.