How fast is too fast to loose weight/obseity

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Marty

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One of mine is the Goodyear blimp and she's going to blow.

Obsese would be saying it mildly. This gal is just way fat and she's tiny too at 29" so she looks horrid.

It's grass. She did it again on the grass. It's not tyroid or any of that blah blah blah stuff, it's flat out grass.

This is what I did and I want to know if it sounds ok to yalls:

I did not decrease her Purina Omelene grain.

She still gets the same 1 1/2 cup twice a day.

I limited the grass now to 1 hour a day instead of all day which was about 6 hours.

She's in dry lot with a handful of hay and I mean handful. There are grass nubs out there but she has to hunt for those.

I started her on walk trot lunging 10 minutes per day.

Any objections?
 
marty you are cutting her back too fast. I would give her a flake of hay in the am and a small flake at night but not a "handful" also why is she on grain?? i would cut the grain completely. You dont want her losing weight too fast as that leads to hyperlipemia (spelling) Ive seen too many overweight horses get this and its horrible

Most idle mature horses dont need grain especially if they are easy keepers. i think most horses are given grain to make us humans feel good.
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I would leave out the grain also Marty if she is that big.. Just offer her grass hay like burmuda.. That green grass is the culprit, especially if she has been allowed to graze at night. Even cutting out the grain will be a significant help. When the vets came out and saw my obese mare a year ago she was 3 months pregnant. They recommended that her grain be cut out until she reached a later stage of pregnancy,as well as pasture. They also had me give her her minimum amount of hay according to her weight. Maybe you can offer her a determined hay ration 3x a day,since she is used to grazing, to make this a little easier for her. I think just pulling her off of grass and putting her on grass hay will help alot. (those night time grazings can really do in those big girls.) Oh by the way, my big girl is as trim as I have ever seen her. (now 9 months later).... The vets came out the other day and said "she's perfect, dont change a thing. Some day I'll share my maintainence plan with you, thats working so well.
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I was worried about hyperlipemia so that's why I didn't cut out any grain.

Yes our grass is still quite lush. I thought it would have started to croak by now.

I can cut her back on it but I won't like it!
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I'll start today!
 
I think that were it not for the fact that mine get driven everyday they would be litlte butterballs. With all of the roadwork they get (and virtually no grain) they are just on the top edge of being fit. They put on weight so fast is amazes me. When we raised beef cattle I would have wished they gained weight the way minis do !!!!
 
Marty,

You are right....for an obese mare on a diet, hyperlipemia is a concern. Since you've cut back her grass grazing time, ease her slowly off the grain. Keep up the hay amount as was posted by Kay and Margaret.

You want something to be going through her system during large parts of the day, or the stored fat in her body will break down so fast that her liver won't be able to handle it. Do everything gradually.

Good luck.

MA
 
I have the same problem with a lot of my horses, big ones included. We have an Arabian that looks like she is about to foal any minute. And this just happened overnight. She is ridden once or twice a week, and was being put in during the day, out at night. But the last week we have let her stay out 24-7. The third day we looked at her and couldn't believe it. The vet comes next week and is going to have a fit. She told us the last time she was here that Cricket was too big. But that was nothing compared to this. She only gets 1 lb of 10% pellets twice a day (don't forget she's a big horse not a mini). I feel like we have to do something fast. Keeping her off the grass is the main thing I guess.

My gelding is the same way. He ballooned within a week. I only give him one cup of oats AM and PM. And the grass in his pasture is very low, but he has managed to look like he' s in foal. I don't feel I should cut his grain any more. I don't know what to do with him. He seems to gain weight from the air.
 
Yup, I've got 2 full figured girls. One had a baby so she has an excuse but Treasure has none. The paddocks are all eaten up so grass isn't an issue any more so I am cutting back on the feed slow but sure and increasing the hay bit by bit and hopefully I can get them abit trimmer for winter. I like em fluffy for winter but this is ridiculous!
 

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