Hay belly again -how much time to get rid of

[circlesinthesand]

Ok so the two boys came with hay bellies and I took the advice provided here and upped the protein in their diet. The one boy is looking alot better, he still has a tiny bit of belly but it's been shrinking and I can live with what he has. The other still has a good bit of a belly and really doesn't look that much different. They both are in good flesh, with nice full hips. They've been wormed and will be wormed again.

Now to be fair, he's also the shorter backed horse and may always look this way but I'm wondering how long I should worry over it or if I should be changing his diet even more? I've had them since mid April, and probably really got the diet changed over at the end of April, so only 2 months of higher protein.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

I would do a fecal and make absolutely sure if you are dealing with worms or not. Not hard to do and pretty cheap.

 

[circlesinthesand]

They are on a quality complete 14% pelleted grain that is milled locally with alfalfa hay cubes. Alfalfa hay will mildew fast here, I've never been able to keep alfalfa hay, it just goes bad before I can feed it because of the moisture in the air. The cubes just last alot longer. and free choice really nice quality Bermuda hay which he (the belly boy) really seems to prefer over the grain and cubes but he usually gets fed with the hay right there, while the other is fed in the stall without it. He'll finish his grain and cubes but he takes bites of hay in between so it takes him 2x as long to eat it. He's also the first one to snatch at the hay when I hang the bag, he really really likes his hay, he always has his nose in it. And when I say free choice I truly mean free choice, the bag is never empty.

They are also turned out in a larger paddock for a few hours on a native grass/bermuda/bahia field each afternoon but I don't really count that as a significant part of their diet as most of the time they're playing.

The only thing I add to their grain is a probiotic that I've been giving daily to combat the wormer killing off anything good in the belly. I always feed probiotics after worming. They were supposedly wormed with ivermectin right before I brought them home and I just put them in on the rotation with Strongid being given about a month ago. I was thinking to do the powerpac next just to make sure all that is taken care of. I can get a fecal done, but it just seemed odd that one is loosing the belly and the other isn't. They're kept in the same paddock and eat out the same hay bag. The only thing I do is separate them for their meals 2x a day. In size they're roughly the same height, in length the other is much longer.

I'm almost thinking I'm giving him too much to eat :/ He looks like he'll be a bit of a chunk one day. No decent pics because the camera's broke. My cell phone blurs and glares pretty badly when I do try, I end up with headless, feetless horses

 

[HGFarm]

Sounds like they may just be getting too much food? Or the one that is too fat anyhow. Like people, I am sure that horses have different metabolism and may utilize their food or wear it off faster than another one. How much excercise are they getting? Driving? Longing? Grass is great for making big hay bellies, so would reduce the grass on the hefty one.

 

[Marty]

I recently made a drastic change for two of my horses. They are my tiny ones with short backs and simply cannot handle what everyone else's program is. Hate to admit it but the fact was I am allowing too much hay/pasture and too much hay in the stalls as well. For these two fatsos, I have increased their food (Purina Miniature Horse and Pony ) and changed them over from grass hay to alfalfa.

I see you cannot store alfalfa bales well, but what I did was to buy a compressed bale just for those two from Tractor Supply. I am keeping it in my tack room and dumped it into a container with no lid. It should last them a good month and takes up no space. You may want to try that. Best wishes!