How to get horse to lose weight

[Cariad1997]

Hi, I'm new here. That being said, I have a mare that's very overweight. I'm wondering how do I get her to lose weight? She's also pregnant (not very far along) if that makes a difference.

[BlackOak2]

Hi, I'm new here. That being said, I have a mare that's very overweight. I'm wondering how do I get her to lose weight? She's also pregnant (not very far along) if that makes a difference.

At the moment, weight doesn't affect too much beyond competitions (although that I'm sure will be changing in the near future, I'm sure). A lot of us try to keep the horses at better weights (for me it's practice for when weight does affect a lot).
Ways to trim fat:
Put your horse in a barn - this is probably the fastest way to trim weight. By feeding your horse nothing over a couple days will quickly drop the fat from your mare, although it can be difficult to balance her feed intake with the amount of total feed she can ingest.
Mow the pasture - this is an option to help limit how much grass she can eat in a given day. Grass takes time to regrow, but also doesn't completely strip ALL of her food that she can eat. As a general rule, a horse can ingest more grass than offered food (so a foal can get fat on ripe pastures whereas if you attempt to feed them in a barn, they don't really gain weight)
Put other horses into the pasture with her - If you choose big eaters (drafts or other tall horses) they will effectively eat the grass away in the pasture, limiting ALL of their intakes. However, the seasons do affect the growth rate of grass (and I have a sneaking suspicion that the seasons also affect how much a horse will eat versus expenditure of energy, using more energy for warmth during winter, but not eating additional grass to compensate)
There are some difficult keepers and also some easy keepers. This may or may not be linked to the fact that our feeding system seems to still be slightly off (we have some horses that pop up that either can never gain weight or can never loose weight). These are bugs and our admin does seem to be continuing to work on this problem. At least, last time I checked, nothing had yet changed.

Hope this helps and good luck.

[BlackOak2]

Right, I forgot to add one additional thing.
Experience for me does tell me that being pregnant DOES affect weight gain and weight loss. My horses do require more than the 100% to keep their weight steady. Sometimes it's only 5 to 7 percent more, but I've had a couple mares that require as much as 25 to 30 percent more.
I do not know if this is also related to the feeding system 'bugs' or not.

[Nate]

Not related to the bugs. The amount of feed is, in general, directly related to the weight of the horse. A pregnant mare gets heavier as her pregnancy progresses. Ideally she would require a lot more energy than simply the extra food to maintain her heavier weight since growing a baby is a monumental investment of energy, but I dont know if that is implemented.

[JadeMoon14]

Hi, I am new to the game. My stallion is very fat, and I do not know how to get his weight to drop, so he is not overweight.

[Soaring Hooves]

Feed him less food than he needs for 100% energy

Hi, I am new to the game. My stallion is very fat, and I do not know how to get his weight to drop, so he is not overweight.

[prplebird20]

Hi, I'm new here. one of my mares gave birth and then she stayed fat. Is this normal?

[BlackOak2]

Hi, I'm new here. one of my mares gave birth and then she stayed fat. Is this normal?

Yes'um! Very normal.
Don't worry too much with obese or starving horses. They won't die from that.
Weight right now only affects competitions. So as you learn the game, you can be less concerned with correct feeding right now.

Let us know if you have anything further!

[Ashlandic]

I am having a similar issue, i have mare that wont lose anything at all, even without food for many turns. has both been pregnant and not. but nothing seems to work...
bug perhaps?

[BlackOak2]

I am having a similar issue, i have mare that wont lose anything at all, even without food for many turns. has both been pregnant and not. but nothing seems to work...
bug perhaps?

Sadly, it does sound like that. Check out this topic for in-depth reading (including how to catch it early enough to 'set-weight' for those all important competition horses).

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