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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 307
Location: Florida | I don't know if you would consider this a hard keeper or not but it sure makes my life harder, lol! My mare puts on a grass belly in NO TIME. I swear if I don't keep her up and ride her constantly she will drop her muscle and her belly gets huge! Does anyone else have a horse like this and what if your routine for them?
Thanks!
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Location: Texas | A good grain and restricted grazing. The grain will maintain her muscle and the restriction will keep her belly from getting so big. Do you have a way to keep her stalled at night? |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| Mine doesn't see pasture. She gets alfalfa pellets, Bermuda cubes, a tiny bit of coastal hay at night( to stay busy), and 1 cup of Renew gold 2x a day.
She's eating about 15 lbs of cubes, 3 lbs of alfalfa pellets, and very minimal loose hay. |
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  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
 
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | I've always been told that low quality forage will cause one to have a grass belly.
I've also noticed that I get more weight with good quality alfalfa cubes than I do anything else. I feed Strategy, cubes, rice & flax seed to my riding horses with OK quality mix grass hay as a filler and they look really good. But I have one mare that I don't ride anymore that would look almost preggers and you had to fill her up on more cubes than the rest , and feed less of the grass hay to get rid of the belly. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: USA | One of mine is like that. She can look at a blade of grass and her belly grows. I ride this mare 5-6 times a week, and it's not just a leisurely stroll - she's working and sweaty. We've had a little bit of rain here and actually have some grass and she stays out in the pasture 24/7 so her belly has recently grown a little more. She only gets grained once a day and that's just to get her supplements. She always has a little belly no matter what I do. She spent 2 weeks on the aquatred and it didn't make a difference. Everyone says she's so fat and blah blah blah. Lol it's sometimes embarrassing when I go to barrel races and here I come with Miss Porker while everyone elses horses are all tucked up, but, it's just how she is. I figure once summer fully hits, the grass won't be here anymore since we've been in a drought and I'll get it a little smaller. I'll let her enjoy it while she can though=) |
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Expert
Posts: 1586
Location: west of East Texas | I gave up on mine and learned to love her fluffy self. I tried to 'fix' her but felt like it wasn't helping anything but her looks. I did a grazing muzzle, I kept her stalled, I kept her on a dry lot, changed her diet, treated for ulcers, fed muscle mass, probiotics, etc. This was over the last ten years. Her performance never varied, she's the most consistant animal I've ever owned. Her attitude changed and she just looked so sad and stressed. I would let her be free over the winter months and she just just loved her open pasture, free grazing, and nuzzling buddies. I finally accepted that this was her 'shape' and feed her about 1/10 of normal just to make her feel like all the rest. She's 25 this year and usually runs in the 3D. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: USA | chasendacash - 2015-04-16 1:38 AM I gave up on mine and learned to love her fluffy self. I tried to 'fix' her but felt like it wasn't helping anything but her looks. I did a grazing muzzle, I kept her stalled, I kept her on a dry lot, changed her diet, treated for ulcers, fed muscle mass, probiotics, etc. This was over the last ten years. Her performance never varied, she's the most consistant animal I've ever owned. Her attitude changed and she just looked so sad and stressed. I would let her be free over the winter months and she just just loved her open pasture, free grazing, and nuzzling buddies. I finally accepted that this was her 'shape' and feed her about 1/10 of normal just to make her feel like all the rest. She's 25 this year and usually runs in the 3D.
I've done all that too: kept her stalled, dry lot, grazing muzzle . . . She's so happy being out in the pasture 24/7. I would rather her be happy and "round" than hating life. |
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I Need a Xanax!
Posts: 2774
| I've got one like that too and the only way to keep her from having a huge belly is to keep her on a dry lot and limit her hay. That's really hard and a big pain though because I feed round bales(we do our own hay) so to keep her belly small I have to unroll hay and feed it to her instead of just putting the whole round bale in with her. I don't mind how her big belly looks BUT it makes my cinch work forward as I ride so my saddle ends up toward her neck which she and I both hate, ugh!! She's a short fat 11 year old QH mare and gets fat on air. My other horses get fat all over but she gets a fat belly. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| Horses are made different - just like people.
My older mare has a really wide rib cage, I mean LOW and WIDE. It's how she is made. She is not fat, but is an easy keeper and the way her rib cage is made ... well, at times she can look chunky. I'd much rather have one that is an easy keeper than one I gotta pour the feed into.  |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 307
Location: Florida | Yeah I don't mind the looks I just feel like it HAS to be harder for her to work and I agree, my cinch rides forward. I keep her up during the day and out at night. I feed her a big flake of hay in the morning, just to keep her busy and some alfalfa cubes and 1/2 lb of Renew Gold at night. She loses the "fluff" from just being worked and being up but man if I'm unable to get there for any reason and she is allowed out for even 3-4 days off ehr routine she swells. Dewormed well and its good grass. She's just a butterball I suppose.
It takes a ton more planning and effort but when she is in shape and runs it's worth it! It's like those people that balance plates on chopsticks... one little slip and KABOOM. haha Delicate balance. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2161
Location: NW. Florida | I stall during the day and turn out at night helps mine like that. |
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"Hard Keeper?"