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  Discussion on Overweight horse with "issues"
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Posted on Friday, Aug 20, 1999 - 1:13 am:

I looked around and couldn't find anything to help me with a problem I am currently having with one of my horses.

He is a 14 year old with about a 3 year history of off-and on lameness problems with diagnoses of navicular synDrOme (mild) and hock arthritis. About a year ago, I finally quit working him regularly and he became a "pleasure horse". I ride him lightly 3 times a week and he really enjoys trail rides. Before this, we were in regular training for dressage and jumping. This meant 4-5 rides a week of moderate work. Most of that time he was boarded at a stable without decent pasture (pretty much dry lot most of the time). He received adequate feed and was "fit".

About a year ago (around the same time his work load was decreased), I moved him to another barn with better pasture. There is snow on the ground in the winter, but from May thru Mid-October, grazing is pretty good.

This past year, he has gained so much weight. I know it is mostly due to the decreased activity, but I don't know exactly how to remedy it.

He is colic prone and seems to do best with all day pasture turnout and grass hay at night in his stall. So, he gets a flake of grass for breakfast before turnout and two flakes at night. This equals about 12.5 pounds of grass hay (he is about 1100 pounds) per day. He also gets 4 pounds of complete feed. He is on Strongid C.

I hate to cut out his complete feed as it has the nutrients that make up for what is lacking in the hay (I think). I can cut it out if it won't make a difference. My brome hay is of excellent quality.

It has been suggested that he be kept on a dry lot, but this would depress and stress him (and me). He does best all around in the pasture with the other horses. Also, with his colic tendencies, I think it is good for him to move forage thru his gut most of the day. It is not the best quality pasture. In fact, the horses that say out there 24/7 with no extra feed are starting to lose weight now (not my horses or anything I can control).

I hate to cut back his hay any more either. I don't like when horses have to stand in their stalls for 12 hours with nothing to do.

What would be a good diet and exercise program for this overweight horse with unsoundness issues and colic problems? He is sound enough to ride in "pleasure mode" but not in "training/performance" mode. Also, in the winter, the indoor arena footing is not suitable for a navicular horse.

Also, does anyone know of a method to slow a horse down when eating his hay to make it last longer? I don't like hay racks or hay bags as I think they promote the inhalation of dust.

I think a little weight loss would be good for both his colic and his soundness problems.

Thanks for any input.

Karen

Posted on Friday, Aug 20, 1999 - 12:37 pm:

Well, like people, for weight management you need to restrict the calories or increase the calorie consumption. The old "eat less, exercise more" is the same for horses.

There are anti- or limited- grazing muzzles available that prevent or slow a horse chowing down in the pasture. The limited ones allow the horse to eat one blade at a time ... they look like wire mesh.

I would think this might be frustrating, though.

I'd probably consider giving smaller amounts of the complete feed. I'd also time how long it took him to eat 2 flakes of hay at night. The horses I know would make fairly short work of that amount hay and would still be bored/hungry most of the night. Perhaps he could do with one flake at night. Or, you could decrease the quality of the hay so it is more filler and less nutrients.

The daily wormer is purported to help the efficiency of the horse's utilization of his food, so yours is an easy keeper that may be a bit easier to keep because of the daily wormer program.

Do you have the time to ride him more frequently on the trails? Will he tolerate the extra work? Are there shoeing modifications that will help him do more work?

There are a couple of interesting web sites about helping horses with navicular and founder by not shoeing them and changing the way they are managed and trimmed. Dr. Hiltrud Strasser and Jaime Jackson seem to be the proponents of this and have books out. You might want to investigate.

Here are the sites.

https://members.screeenz.com/gretchenfathauer/
https://www.alltel.net/~star/index.html

Good luck.

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 24, 1999 - 7:17 am:

Hello All,
I agree with Chris's suggestion: cut the concentrate way down or out. Perhaps start with cutting it in half and monitor for changes, then make the next change accordingly. Usually the biggest issue with solely forage diets is the amount of protein. As long as the grass and hay are of good to excellent quality the protein should be well above the required 9% for mature horses. Good quality pasture or excellent green hay should provide all the nutrients horses need.

If the quality of either of these falter so that they can get adequate intake but the protein and vitamins may not be all they should be: feed SMALL amounts of high (16% or higher) protein feed and a complete vitamin supplement to conpensate.

I think it would be worth trying the chonDrOitin sulfate nutriceuticals for the chronic lameness.
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 24, 1999 - 10:57 pm:

Chris, thank you for your reply. I looked at the books you suggested and plan to order one of them. I have also just hired a new farrier who I think has more progressive ideas than my old one (a nice guy, but from the "old school"). Hopefully this will help a bit with the soundness.

Dr. O.
Thank you too for your reply. I have him on a glucosamine supplement and it seems to keep his arthritic hock in good shape. He has also had it injected in the past, with very good results (seems to last him 2 years per injection). I suppose the main limit on his soundness is then his navicular problems. I hope to better that with the new farrier.

I began cutting back his concentrate this week. Will get it to where he is getting just a little bit at each feeding so he thinks he is getting something :-) I need to give him some with his supplements anyway.

Also, I just decided I have to devote the extra time it will take to put in a good workout at least twice a week and then maybe three more light rides. I rode him 25 minutes in the ring (mostly trot work) last night and took him on a 20 minute trail ride. Tonight we rode 15 minutes in the ring and went for a 30 minute trail ride with quite a bit of hill work. He seems to tolerate this level well if we don't do it every day. Perhaps every other day on the "harder" work with easy trail rides in between.

Now, if only I could find the energy for myself to work two horses every day!!!

Karen

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 25, 1999 - 1:09 pm:

Karen,

You might want to get a weight tape and keep a log of the changes you make and the weight once every week or two. It is easy to fool the eye if you see the horse often and not realize there are changes.

Good luck. With regular work, you might find he stays more comfortable physically, too. I've seen this happen.

Cheers.

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 25, 1999 - 11:13 pm:

Hi Chris,

I made a little chart today. I am trying to put weight on my TB at the same time i am trying to get weight off my SB. Both of them have the same goal weight of 1100 pounds!!! Maybe they could trade a few. Anyway, I plan to estimate weight once a week and see what happens.

Karen

Posted on Thursday, Aug 26, 1999 - 8:08 pm:

Karen,

As everyone else has said, the key to an overweight horse is restrictive feeding. I know how you feel when you say it can be depressing. A couple of ideas I have given colleagues in the UK are as follows:

If you can restrict the pasture, it is a start, not only do you get to rest it but you are also restricting the horse's grazing. Horse's are by nature browsers, the best form of restrictive grazing that I have found is block grazing, ensure that the horse has enough area to run in if he does. About 0.5 acres is ideal. If you think he will get bored, try a feed ball. This allows the horse something to play with by knocking it round the field, as it is knocked small amounts of concentrate trickle out. You could try feeding the concentrate this way. Horses are better fed little and often so this may make sense. There are a few other tricks, so if you think this won't work let us know.
On the subject of joint problems, there is product on the market that seems to be rising in stature. The product is CORTAFLEX. My eventers have been on it for only a month but it certainly helps with joint problems. It is expensive, but it is effective. It can be fed in powder of liquid form and will last just over a month. If i can find the website I will forward it to you.
The only other advice would be to get frequent farrier checks. Hope this is of use.

Posted on Thursday, Aug 26, 1999 - 11:48 pm:

Craig, Thank you for your reply. The restricted pasture idea won't work as this is a public boarding barn and no such site is available. As far as pasture goes, it is "all or none".

I have decided to bring him in about 2 hours earlier and have cut his concentrate to the bare minimum. Also, I am giving him only 1 flake grass hay when he comes in. The barn is close enough that I can go out about 5 hours later before I go to bed and give him another flake.
Will see how this works. If I give him two flakes at once, they are gone on short notice.

Karen
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