Hi Everyone,

I would like to compile the top 10 tips to avoid obesity in horses so if you have any tips please share them here and at the end we can compile the top 10 tips and maybe turn into s sticky for the forum. Here is mine

Reduce calories not bulk; all horses should eat a minimum of 2.5% of their bodyweight as food, (includes hay, chaff, and bucket feed, i.e. ANYTHING he consumes!).

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Horse nutritionist specialised in high quality horse feeds and feed related diseases like laminitis.

I know its not nutrition, but I would say a personal excersice plan according to age/health/ability is important

The number of calories they eat must be less than the number of calories it uses. Increasing the amount of work he does borrow a jockey, lung, conduct and lead, if you have 2 horses and the time to ride one.

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Following on from this I have a couple of suggestions:

1) Invest in a weigh tape, although not strictly accurate they give you an idea of your horses size and you can see if the numbers are going up or down! I weigh tape mine weekly and record it so I can see exactly what works and what doesn't in regards to keeping their weight down. Some have the approx. weight and a size guide next to it - I was mortified when I first did it and my 16.1 was "supposed" to be 19hh!! Be careful though as shape does have an impact on this - high or very flat wither will have an effect on the reading.

2) Invest in a set of hanging weigh scales - I picked mine up in a pound shop, they're actually luggage scales! Work out what your horse should be having (see above quote) taking into account age, breed, workload etc and then weigh everything, be very strict about it - yes an extra pound here or there does matter - I have done that myself too busy too faff about but it really worked when I did it properly,I also give mine 3 meals; breakfast, lunch and tea and replaced the lunch net with a very low calorie chaff. I also allow for grazing when he's out - I reckon about a pound an hour given the type of grazing he's on.

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It's best not to annoy a horse - especially when you are in the saddle!

My farrier told me feeding carrots to a horse is like feeding a mars bar! So avoid carrots to kick the sugar rush!

Soak hay before feeding , reducing the cals and nutruitional value also preventing breathing problems caused by dust.