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  Discussion on Fat warmblood mare
Author Message
New Member:
cathyb1

Posted on Monday, Jan 29, 2007 - 1:36 am:

I live in Australia, where we are having a severe DrOught. There is no feed in the paddocks, so we are hand feeding totally. My 7 yo warmblood mare is very fat. I work her at Medium level dressage (not sure what that corresponds to in US dressage levels) 6 days a week for 40 minutes each time. I feed her 2 kgs of barley straw and 1 kg of oaten chaff (enough to mix her joint supplements and vitamins into!), and a small handful of sunflower seeds in the morning, and at night, she gets another barely 1 kg oaten chaff, plus 3 kg of oaten hay. She is a big mare, about 16.3-17hh, solid but not chunky. I am afraid to reduce her feed any more than this, in case she developes gastric ulcers or some other digestive problem. But I would like her a bit leaner! She looks healthy, works well, and acts normally. Is it safe to reduce her feed any more? Should she receive a protein supplement?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jan 29, 2007 - 6:37 am:

Hello Cathy,
Can you explain what your barley straw and oaten chaff looks like?
DrO
Member:
liliana

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 31, 2007 - 11:11 am:

Dr. O chaff means chopped, and would I be right in thinking that maybe the mare is retaining liquid due to the feed she is having?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 31, 2007 - 5:51 pm:

I was interested in what its stage of maturity when mown, color, odor etc.. to get some idea of the nutrient content. Liquid retention seems unlikely Liliana.
DrO
New Member:
cathyb1

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 31, 2007 - 6:24 pm:

Hi Dr O,
The oaten chaff is usually made from oaten hay that is cut when the grains
are at the "milky" stage - ie, soft and with a milky juice that oozes out
when you squeeze them between your fingernails. It is cured like normal
hay, then put through a mill that chops it into pieces about 5mm long. It
smells sweet, and is current season's chaff. I only feed the chaff so that
I can mix in her vitamin and mineral mix (seeing as there is no grass
available for her to graze on), and a joint supplement.
The oaten hay that we are feeding was cut at the stage described above, so
that the grains are not fully ripened, and there is nutrient still stored in
the leaves and stems.
The barley straw has been through the combine harvester, so that there are
only a few small grains still in the heads. It is soft, golden and has no
weather damage. (It doesn't rain here any more!)
The mare doesn't look like she has fluid retention - in fact, she is rather
magnificent, and well muscled. I just wouldn't mind her being a bit leaner,
and fitter, as I reckon the extra weight would make it harder for her to do
the work she has to do as a dressage horse. My concern is, too, that in my
efforts to stop her becoming too fat, she is not receiving enough fibre, and
may develope ulcers, if she hasn't already.
Cheers, Cathy
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Feb 1, 2007 - 6:20 am:

Got it, what would you estimate your horse's body condition score at (if you don't have one there is a link to a scale on the nutrition meny)?

Of course one of the best things you can do, considering your goals, would be to increase the exercise and if you don't you may fail with simple downward adjustments of hay.

With respect to decreasing caloric intake, you should begin to switch out the oat chaff over to the barley straw on a weight for weight basis. This will have other advantages too. One of the primary buffers to the stomach is saliva. The increased chewing time of the hay over the oat chaff will further help prevent ulcers.

You may need to use a high protein supplement to replace that lost by your switch. But it always surprises me how little protein efficient horses stay healthy on. I can't guess how your horse will react but if after the switch he losses a bit of gloss you would calculate the estimated protein loss for the decrease in chaff, subtract that added back by the increased barley straw and from there calculate how much very high protein supplement you may need to add back. If we assume the oat chaff is 10% protein and the barley straw 7% that means you need to add back .03(weight of exchange) of protein.
DrO
Member:
paardex

Posted on Thursday, Feb 1, 2007 - 6:48 am:

Cathy, most warmblood dressage horses who work at medium to high level dressage over here[Holland Germany France] are put in the treadmill for at least an hour a day[walk mostly]perhaps adding this exercise would get your horse in a more suitable condition?
Jos
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