Preventing your horse from
becoming overweight is very important for its health and there are lots of
things you can do quite easily.
Working out how much to feed your
horse is not easy, especially if it has access to good grazing and you cannot
measure how much it is eating. Some
horses will eat everything you put in front of them, whereas others will only
eat what they need, so don’t think that if it has eaten every scrap, you are
not giving enough.
Horses need to trickle feed, so
if you need to limit the amount of feed, try to split it into as many small
meals as possible.
Just like us – the calories your
horse takes in need to be balanced by the calories used up and if the balance
is wrong the fat just piles on.
It is far kinder to control your
horse’s weight than to allow it to overeat and risk health problems such as
laminitis.
Regular body fat scoring can help
you to monitor your horse’s weight and make the necessary changes should you
find his weight increasing.
Check your horse’s crest,
shoulders, ribs, spine and bottom and use a weigh tape to monitor its overall
weight. Try to do this at the same time of day each time as just like us, its
weight can fluctuate during the day.
Weight
Control Action Plan
- Make a start before the spring grass starts
to grow as it is better to go into spring a little bit leaner
- Review your rugs – could your horse manage
with a lighter one as keeping warm burns calories
- Section your field off for strip-grazing if
possible
- Use a grass muzzle – it will not prevent
grazing – just slow it down a bit
- Build in more exercise by riding or
lunging. Brisk walking is the best form of exercise as it uses
more muscles than the other paces
- Never
put your horse on a starvation diet as it needs regular food going
through its system to avoid complications such as colic. Get advice from
your feed supplier on your
individual situation.
- Soaking hay for 12 hours removes the calories
so you can feed your horse lots of bulk without adding to any weight
problems. Use fresh water each time.
- Feed a low calorie forage replacer for some
of your feed
- Use a small-holed haynet to help slow down
your horse’s eating.
- Don’t feed too many carrots – they are full
of sugar and therefore calories
- Check that you are giving the correct amount
of feed concentrate for the work
your horse is doing
- Weigh your feed and supplements carefully and
find a container/measure that holds the correct amount – a little extra
every day will soon add up
- Make any changes to your horses diet and
exercise gradually and monitor the results