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 Veteran
Posts: 158
 
| I purchased a gelding that came a little chunky, I thought no problem good exercise and feed program and he will be in tip top shape. A month or so later and I'm pretty sure I have put more weight on him! I have always had middle of the road or hard keepers so this is foreign for me... I dont know how much is too much or how little is too little, so please any owners of "fat off of air" horses give me some examples of what type of feed and exercise program you are doing? Clearly mine is not working for him. |
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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| What are you feeding him now? |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
 
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Is he stalled or turned out on pasture during the day or turned out 24/7? |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 595
Location: North Dakota | My gelding put on more weight when I tried to resctrict his feed. He does better being on free choice pasture where he is moving around and doesn't ever feel the need to "stuff" himself. Dry lotting and feeding limited hay was one of the worst decisions for my horse anyways. |
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Veteran
Posts: 158
| He is up for 5-6 hours just during the heat of the day really, during that time I feed him a flake of medium quality grass hay, just something to munch on and then a half flake of alfalfa and he has been getting about 2-3 pounds of strategy a day just to get his supplements in him, I feel like I am just starving him! My others get two flakes of alfalfa and ultium. Ive been trying to rotate him onto the more grazed down pastures. He does stay very active turned out, its not like he puts his head down to eat and doesn't come up for air... but some of our pastures do not have enough shade for me to feel safe keeping one out 24/7 in this heat |
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 I Want a "MAN"
Posts: 3610
Location: MD | gunner07 - 2016-08-10 11:40 AM He is up for 5-6 hours just during the heat of the day really, during that time I feed him a flake of medium quality grass hay, just something to munch on and then a half flake of alfalfa and he has been getting about 2-3 pounds of strategy a day just to get his supplements in him, I feel like I am just starving him! My others get two flakes of alfalfa and ultium. Ive been trying to rotate him onto the more grazed down pastures. He does stay very active turned out, its not like he puts his head down to eat and doesn't come up for air... but some of our pastures do not have enough shade for me to feel safe keeping one out 24/7 in this heat
I have easy keepers too. I would guess it's the alfalfa and too much grain.. I give mine a half pound of triple crown complete and 1-2 flakes of grass hay. They're on a tiny bit of grass at night. |
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Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| gunner07 - 2016-08-10 11:40 AM
He is up for 5-6 hours just during the heat of the day really, during that time I feed him a flake of medium quality grass hay, just something to munch on and then a half flake of alfalfa and he has been getting about 2-3 pounds of strategy a day just to get his supplements in him, I feel like I am just starving him! My others get two flakes of alfalfa and ultium. Ive been trying to rotate him onto the more grazed down pastures. He does stay very active turned out, its not like he puts his head down to eat and doesn't come up for air... but some of our pastures do not have enough shade for me to feel safe keeping one out 24/7 in this heat
You might could try a ration balancer instead of grain, I know purina makes one called enrich. Only a lb or so a day delivers all the nutrients they need. |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12841
| The first thing I would do is a thyroid test. I have one that is an easy keeper and he started actually showing some thyroid signs. I cut his feed down to a pound in the morning and evening with Platinum and Thyro L in the evening. He is out on pasture so no hay. He is slowly starting to trim up. It wasn't too long ago that vet and I were discussing easy keepers and he said that many of them probably had hypothyroid.
You should notice the horse has more energy after being on Thyro L too. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 173
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow | My vet had me put my easy keepers on a Ration Balancer and no more grain. Made a world of difference. No alfalfa. |
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 Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | gunner07 - 2016-08-10 11:40 AM He is up for 5-6 hours just during the heat of the day really, during that time I feed him a flake of medium quality grass hay, just something to munch on and then a half flake of alfalfa and he has been getting about 2-3 pounds of strategy a day just to get his supplements in him, I feel like I am just starving him! My others get two flakes of alfalfa and ultium. Ive been trying to rotate him onto the more grazed down pastures. He does stay very active turned out, its not like he puts his head down to eat and doesn't come up for air... but some of our pastures do not have enough shade for me to feel safe keeping one out 24/7 in this heat
my "hard keeper" gets 3lbs strategy lol. My easy keeper gets 2lb max when working hard. Otherwise, she only gets about 1 lb. |
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 A Barrel Of Monkeys
Posts: 12972
Location: Texas | I have an easy, easy keeper and I feed mine Purina Enrich Plus. You only feed a tiny bit a day. |
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 The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
Location: North Dakota | I feed my easy keeper Heiro, as I believe he has insulin resistance. Google it and read the articles Dr. Reilly has published; lots of really great information in there on how to feed your horse.
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Veteran
Posts: 158
| Ok so stupid question time, (after I can eliminate any possible conditions) do all of you feel like your horses still work well with such a "light" diet? I understand they aren't going to perform in the arena being overweight but do they still seem to be able to fire hard and come back after weekend jackpots with a good amount of energy? |
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