How To Help Your Horse Lose Weight

How To Help Your Horse To Lose Weight – Image To Repin / Share
Photo – © Elenathewise – Fotolia.com

Our friends at Classic Equine showed us a few tips on how to help your horse lose weight. The link follows after our introduction / commentary.

If your horse is too fat, it’s going to be vulnerable to a lot of health issues. If you’re sure that the animal doesn’t have any underlying medical condition, it is important that you help it get in shape.

How do you know if your horse needs to get in shape? Well, an expert in horses will be able to tell just by looking at the animal – but you can assess your horse with the use of a conditioning score. Here is a sample chart: http://www.wikihow.com/Sample/Condition-Score-Chart-for-Horses

If you want to use this guide to assess your horse, you have to have a hands on approach. You can’t “feel” it with your eyes and you may need to have someone to assist you while you’re assessing so that the horse is kept calm.

Take a look at the horse and examine its neck, withers, shoulders, ribs, back and quarters. Try to see if it’s too fleshy, or if you can easily see and feel the bones. Give each area a score and then add them up to get the total sum and then divide the sum by 6. The normal score for this test is between 5 and 6 1/2. If the score is below 5, you may need to increase the animal’s weight. If the score is higher, you likely have to help him lose weight.

There’s a common misconception when it comes to feeding your horses. Some people can overestimate how much these animals can actually do. If it is fed according to how much work they’re doing instead of how much work they can actually carry out, chances are it’s being overfed. If the horse is not involved in racing or any high energy work, then it doesn’t need to be fed as much.

If it’s your first time to assess your horse, try to ask for advice from an expert. Coordinate with your vet for any diet changes and exercise routines that may need to be implemented.

Ok here’s the link to the list of tips that will help keep your horse in shape!

http://blog.classic-equine.com/2013/09/helping-your-horse-to-lose-weight/

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