How to put a horse on a diet?

Question

My mare is obese. I think she gained a lot of weight as a result of eating whenever she wanted (ALWAYS) i think her previous owners kept her in a stall of barn and fed her limited food, and now that I have her there is no stalls to keep her in so she can't over eat.

I give her treats occasionally but always healthy ones like carrots or apples.

Does anyone know of a way i can slim her down so i can run barrels on her?

Thanks to all

Answer 1

Best to consult a vet and see if it is some other underlying problem. She may even be pregnant. You can always feed bag her to allow her to obtain required nutrients. Never limit her accessibility to water.

Answer 2

First of all, in response to another answer, do not minimize her water consumption! This is incredibly important to a horse, maybe more so than any other animal.
Common sense; diet and exercise will take weight off a horse.
I would suggest switching feeds. Nutrena has a new product called "Lite Balance", which targets overweight horses.
I've had great results with Purina and would suggest Purina Mills Mare & Maintenance. Don't be fooled by the name, its not something you would only give lactating mares. Its a feed you can allow a small ration of while assuring she will still be getting the vitamins and nutrients she needs. Don't skimp on the feed by giving her something like straight oats. She'll need the fat and calories for work.

Answer 3

Begin conditioning her.

I am a barrel racer of 6 years. I recently got on a fat, over-weight gelding. He is on the pasture 24/7 except when riding.
1) In the beginning I rode him 15 minutes, or until he began breathing slightly heavily. I would walk a few laps around the arena, then slowly jog him. Once he began breathing heavily I'd walk to cool him out.
2)Once he could ride 15 minutes. I rode 30 minutes. Walked a few more laps than normal, jogged til he breathed heavily. Walked to cool out.
3) Once he could walk/jog for 30 minutes I started "work". I walked 5 minutes. Jogged 10 minutes. Loped 5 minutes. Jogged 10 minutes, walked to cool out. I was riding the same amount of time, but it was harder work. Remember when loping, make sure you go both directions or you will over work or under work one side, thus opening up possibilities of pulling cold muscles.
4)After he could handle the workout, I'd do that workout. Train for 20 minutes. Then walk/jog for 15 minutes to cool out.

Also, trail riding is a great way to condition. You don't have to do this conditioning routine in an arena. You could do the same routine on a trail.

My belief is that a working horse needs food. Cut her feed back, but not by much. If she's getting a full scoop of feed, cut her back to 3/4 of a scoop. Right now she's eating more than shes burning. Once you notice shes dropped enough weight, or at least gained muscle mass, up her feed a little bit so she doesn't continue to loose weight.

I love talking horses and barrels. I've got 1 gelding, and he's the second I've trained for barrels. If you want to talk more, just ask!

Answer 4

It sounds as though your mare is on decent pasture pretty much full time. You might want to try using a grazing muzzle, which will allow her to graze but not eat as much. Of course, you'll want to start out slow with her work, but if you're currently feeding her grain and/or alfalfa, cut it way back. My gelding is an easy keeper and doesn't get much work. My pasture is only an acre and it's not worth beans in the summer, only in the spring. Most of the year, he gets 4 flakes of grass hay per day, with an extra flake or two if it's cold, plus a scoop of oat hay pellets and a handful of senior horse food. He's also getting various Dynamite vitamin/mineral supplement and free feed salts.

Answer 5

Is she on sweet feed? That is so fatten. I would exericise her plenty, put her on high vitiman pellets(cut back on her pellets by a 1/4 each feeding), two flakes of hay a day (one in the morning and one at night) with her feed and work her hard enough that she doesn't have time to graze in pasture. Treats on occassions is fine. A lot of show horses' owners will tell you that treats are bad and spoils the horse. RUBBISH!

Those are the same people who polish their horses hoofs black and set them under lamps in the winter time so they won't grow a winter coat.

Basically, just work work work. Just like you or I, these animals need exercise.

If you have to get up at 4 a.m. and do some exercising, then cool down, then feed, do it. Be sure to go back in the afternoon when you can and exercise, cool down and feed in the evening.

It works good with race horses and jumpers.

Further, make sure her tummy isn't just big from worms. She may need to be wormed. I just thought I would throw that in, just incase.

Good Luck and Take Care

Answer 6

Firstly, consult your vet to chek she hasn't got any medical problems etc.

If the vet gives the all clear, start exercising her reguarly.

Limit her food, if it is possible to put her in a hard yard, do so. This will give you more control over her food intake, but if she is used to grazing let her feed in the paddock once or twice a week.

best of luck.

Answer 7

you never restict ur horses intake to water that is not the problem.u did not say what breed ur mare is.some are "easy keepers"than others.meaning they eat less but gain easier.what feed is your mare on?how many pounds a day do u feed her?might want to cut down on the grain.also it very dangerous to let horses eat as much as they want they will get sick and colic.is she on hay and pasture?u need to work back slowly to lose the weight.

Answer 8

when changing your horse's weight or health in general, always consult a vet so can examin and give proper diet process for your individual mare.

carrots are carbs for horses. Limit carrot intake.

Consult your vet on placing on half alfalfa and half oat hay Equal to one equal flake or just decreasing, slowly, the amount of food intake and increasing slowly physical activity. (shaping up).

Answer 9

Grazing muzzle it attaches to the halter and will limit her grass intake so she can not eat as much.
They work I put one on our mare every morning before turning her out on pasture and we ride her every night or lunge her for 30 minutes she has lost over 100 pounds.

Answer 10

you can buy like a muzzle which stops the horse from eating large amounts in the field also when stabled put your hard mix in a horse ball again this stops the horse from eating too quick and is good for preventing vices in the stable. Exercise if she carnt be ridden at the moment long rein good exercise for you too

Answer 11

I've had this problem many times. Just grazing on grass isn't going to make a mare obesse. What else is she being fed? Definentially no beet pulp or sweet feed. How much feed and/or grain? Alfalfa or grass hay?? How old is she?