Fat horses - don't know what to do!

[Aquila]

I have three Arabian horses (my only three); my mare, Ruby Fire, is very fat, my stallion, Silver Falcon, is fat, and their foal, Ruby Tiger (a 1 year 3 months filly) is moderately fleshy. They're all in my pasture; Ruby Tiger and Silver Falcon are currently on 35% alfalfa hay, Ruby Fire is on 27% sweet feed.

I'm very new here and these are my first three horses; I'm trying various training regimens, but I don't know what to do. Please help!

[BlackOak2]

I have three Arabian horses (my only three); my mare, Ruby Fire, is very fat, my stallion, Silver Falcon, is fat, and their foal, Ruby Tiger (a 1 year 3 months filly) is moderately fleshy. They're all in my pasture; Ruby Tiger and Silver Falcon are currently on 35% alfalfa hay, Ruby Fire is on 27% sweet feed.

I'm very new here and these are my first three horses; I'm trying various training regimens, but I don't know what to do. Please help!

First, don't fret. Nothing will happen with them being fat. You won't lose them.
The one thing that being overweight affects is competitions.

If you want to practice on maintaining weight (in the future, it could affect more than just competitions), your barn will be the way to go. Aside from that, mowing your pasture regularly will be the way to go.

As a final note, being severally underweight also won't affect anything.

To gain weight, use the pastures and weight gain formula. To loose weight use a barn and keep them under 100%. For training, to loose weight use 95% corn.

You can find additional help topics that cover these feeding issues, in my quicklinks. However, you probably won't need to be visiting them for a little longer. Welcome to the game, please enjoy.

[Aquila]

I have three Arabian horses (my only three); my mare, Ruby Fire, is very fat, my stallion, Silver Falcon, is fat, and their foal, Ruby Tiger (a 1 year 3 months filly) is moderately fleshy. They're all in my pasture; Ruby Tiger and Silver Falcon are currently on 35% alfalfa hay, Ruby Fire is on 27% sweet feed.

I'm very new here and these are my first three horses; I'm trying various training regimens, but I don't know what to do. Please help!

First, don't fret. Nothing will happen with them being fat. You won't lose them.
The one thing that being overweight affects is competitions.

If you want to practice on maintaining weight (in the future, it could affect more than just competitions), your barn will be the way to go. Aside from that, mowing your pasture regularly will be the way to go.

As a final note, being severally underweight also won't affect anything.

To gain weight, use the pastures and weight gain formula. To loose weight use a barn and keep them under 100%. For training, to loose weight use 95% corn.

You can find additional help topics that cover these feeding issues, in my quicklinks. However, you probably won't need to be visiting them for a little longer. Welcome to the game, please enjoy.

Thanks! I unfortunately don't have a barn at the moment, because I'm so new (I just joined last week), and I'm terrible at math; what's the 100% you mentioned? I've already mowed my pasture twice; I probably should mow it more often.

[BlackOak2]

First, don't fret. Nothing will happen with them being fat. You won't lose them.
The one thing that being overweight affects is competitions.

If you want to practice on maintaining weight (in the future, it could affect more than just competitions), your barn will be the way to go. Aside from that, mowing your pasture regularly will be the way to go.

As a final note, being severally underweight also won't affect anything.

To gain weight, use the pastures and weight gain formula. To loose weight use a barn and keep them under 100%. For training, to loose weight use 95% corn.

You can find additional help topics that cover these feeding issues, in my quicklinks. However, you probably won't need to be visiting them for a little longer. Welcome to the game, please enjoy.

Thanks! I unfortunately don't have a barn at the moment, because I'm so new (I just joined last week), and I'm terrible at math; what's the 100% you mentioned? I've already mowed my pasture twice; I probably should mow it more often.

In the same area you add and subtract the food. The 100% is the amount of food that a horse needs to maintain it's weight. If you feed it 100%, the horse should maintain it's weight, with a couple exceptions (under 5 years & pregnancy).

More than 100% and your horse should gain weight and less than 100% and your horse should lose weight.

But you should also keep an eye on the kg in that same area. If your kg turns red, it means you're trying to stuff more down the gullet of the horse than it can eat. Food is fed from the top down. So if you feed your horses a lot of hay, they won't get to any of the weight gain, thus they'll lose weight.

[Aquila]

Thanks! I unfortunately don't have a barn at the moment, because I'm so new (I just joined last week), and I'm terrible at math; what's the 100% you mentioned? I've already mowed my pasture twice; I probably should mow it more often.

In the same area you add and subtract the food. The 100% is the amount of food that a horse needs to maintain it's weight. If you feed it 100%, the horse should maintain it's weight, with a couple exceptions (under 5 years & pregnancy).

More than 100% and your horse should gain weight and less than 100% and your horse should lose weight.

But you should also keep an eye on the kg in that same area. If your kg turns red, it means you're trying to stuff more down the gullet of the horse than it can eat. Food is fed from the top down. So if you feed your horses a lot of hay, they won't get to any of the weight gain, thus they'll lose weight.

I've seen the red kg, and I wondered what it meant; now I know! I've obviously been feeding my mare and stallion more than they need; my filly, Ruby Tiger, is a year and a half old, give or take. I can't afford a barn at the moment, so I'm limited to mowing the pasture regularly, and adjusting feed. Should I feed my mare and stallion regular hay rather than alfalfa hay? I'd like to compete in endurance with them (and possibly with the filly when she grows up).

[BlackOak2]

In the same area you add and subtract the food. The 100% is the amount of food that a horse needs to maintain it's weight. If you feed it 100%, the horse should maintain it's weight, with a couple exceptions (under 5 years & pregnancy).

More than 100% and your horse should gain weight and less than 100% and your horse should lose weight.

But you should also keep an eye on the kg in that same area. If your kg turns red, it means you're trying to stuff more down the gullet of the horse than it can eat. Food is fed from the top down. So if you feed your horses a lot of hay, they won't get to any of the weight gain, thus they'll lose weight.

I've seen the red kg, and I wondered what it meant; now I know! I've obviously been feeding my mare and stallion more than they need; my filly, Ruby Tiger, is a year and a half old, give or take. I can't afford a barn at the moment, so I'm limited to mowing the pasture regularly, and adjusting feed. Should I feed my mare and stallion regular hay rather than alfalfa hay? I'd like to compete in endurance with them (and possibly with the filly when she grows up).

If I remember right, endurance likes bombproof temperament. Endurance also likes a thin body score. So keep that pasture regularly mowed and feed anything they might be missing, alfalfa cubes. The cubes should be enough to fill in what they need. You'll be able to feed more cubes then alfalfa hay or regular hay.

For now, you may need to feed the filly weight gain, so she doesn't lose too much weight, however, if she's already fat, then her not being able to eat enough would be fine. She'll be able to eat a LOT more on her second birthday and she's almost there.

If you want a small barn, I'd be willing to give you a donation for one. But you'll need to find a horse you don't want so I can buy it and send you the monies. Just let me know.

[Aquila]

I've seen the red kg, and I wondered what it meant; now I know! I've obviously been feeding my mare and stallion more than they need; my filly, Ruby Tiger, is a year and a half old, give or take. I can't afford a barn at the moment, so I'm limited to mowing the pasture regularly, and adjusting feed. Should I feed my mare and stallion regular hay rather than alfalfa hay? I'd like to compete in endurance with them (and possibly with the filly when she grows up).

If I remember right, endurance likes bombproof temperament. Endurance also likes a thin body score. So keep that pasture regularly mowed and feed anything they might be missing, alfalfa cubes. The cubes should be enough to fill in what they need. You'll be able to feed more cubes then alfalfa hay or regular hay.

For now, you may need to feed the filly weight gain, so she doesn't lose too much weight, however, if she's already fat, then her not being able to eat enough would be fine. She'll be able to eat a LOT more on her second birthday and she's almost there.

If you want a small barn, I'd be willing to give you a donation for one. But you'll need to find a horse you don't want so I can buy it and send you the monies. Just let me know.

That's very kind of you, to offer to buy me a barn! Unfortunately, I don't have a horse I don't want at the moment.

I'll definitely keep mowing my regularly, and I'll feed my horses alfalfa cubes; for the filly, I'll keep in mind the weight gain mix, and monitor how she's doing. All of my horses have the bombproof temperament.

Edit:

My stallion is now moderately fleshy, and my mare is now fleshy; however, I feel I'm in a vicious circle of mowing my pasture and having to adjust my horses' feed quantities constantly. Should I feed my horses slightly less than 100% to help them lose weight?

[BlackOak2]

If I remember right, endurance likes bombproof temperament. Endurance also likes a thin body score. So keep that pasture regularly mowed and feed anything they might be missing, alfalfa cubes. The cubes should be enough to fill in what they need. You'll be able to feed more cubes then alfalfa hay or regular hay.

For now, you may need to feed the filly weight gain, so she doesn't lose too much weight, however, if she's already fat, then her not being able to eat enough would be fine. She'll be able to eat a LOT more on her second birthday and she's almost there.

If you want a small barn, I'd be willing to give you a donation for one. But you'll need to find a horse you don't want so I can buy it and send you the monies. Just let me know.

That's very kind of you, to offer to buy me a barn! Unfortunately, I don't have a horse I don't want at the moment.

I'll definitely keep mowing my regularly, and I'll feed my horses alfalfa cubes; for the filly, I'll keep in mind the weight gain mix, and monitor how she's doing. All of my horses have the bombproof temperament.

Edit:

My stallion is now moderately fleshy, and my mare is now fleshy; however, I feel I'm in a vicious circle of mowing my pasture and having to adjust my horses' feed quantities constantly. Should I feed my horses slightly less than 100% to help them lose weight?

Of course you can!

And, if you have room, you can pick up a horse from the market and put it back up for offers only for us to make this transfer.

Remember that allowing them no food for a few turns won't hurt them. So you can mow the pasture to about 50 percent or so. It'll regrow and your horses will have a number of turns where they'll not be eating enough to maintain weight, in essence, you'll be forcing them onto a diet for a while.

[Aquila]

That's very kind of you, to offer to buy me a barn! Unfortunately, I don't have a horse I don't want at the moment.

I'll definitely keep mowing my regularly, and I'll feed my horses alfalfa cubes; for the filly, I'll keep in mind the weight gain mix, and monitor how she's doing. All of my horses have the bombproof temperament.

Edit:

My stallion is now moderately fleshy, and my mare is now fleshy; however, I feel I'm in a vicious circle of mowing my pasture and having to adjust my horses' feed quantities constantly. Should I feed my horses slightly less than 100% to help them lose weight?

Of course you can!

And, if you have room, you can pick up a horse from the market and put it back up for offers only for us to make this transfer.

Remember that allowing them no food for a few turns won't hurt them. So you can mow the pasture to about 50 percent or so. It'll regrow and your horses will have a number of turns where they'll not be eating enough to maintain weight, in essence, you'll be forcing them onto a diet for a while.

My horses are all moderately thin now; I got there there with the adult horses by feeding them 99% of their energy requirements, and then feeding them 100% of their energy requirements thereafter. I'll keep your dieting arrangements in mind in future I do have room for an extra horse, or I might have to sell my mare and filly, as they have red in the breeder's comments, and I understand one probably shouldn't keep horses like that.

[BlackOak2]

Of course you can!

And, if you have room, you can pick up a horse from the market and put it back up for offers only for us to make this transfer.

Remember that allowing them no food for a few turns won't hurt them. So you can mow the pasture to about 50 percent or so. It'll regrow and your horses will have a number of turns where they'll not be eating enough to maintain weight, in essence, you'll be forcing them onto a diet for a while.

My horses are all moderately thin now; I got there there with the adult horses by feeding them 99% of their energy requirements, and then feeding them 100% of their energy requirements thereafter. I'll keep your dieting arrangements in mind in future I do have room for an extra horse, or I might have to sell my mare and filly, as they have red in the breeder's comments, and I understand one probably shouldn't keep horses like that.

AC horses having red is neither good nor bad. It's just what we see. You can assume that almost all the AC horses have hidden genes that could pop up as red, but didn't. It's up to us to decide which horses are worth it or not. Because what you see as an AC horse with red, we may actually be seeing the lowest that horse has, to pass onward. The resulting foals may never show red at all.

In my experience, it takes about three generations to breed out all of the worst negative stat genes. So for those first three generations, you may see a sprinkling of reds until they're gone.
But it comes down to the breeder and what their plans are. If you have no problems using other peoples' lined horses than go for that. But if you want to create your very own line from scratch, then aim for that instead.

But I have worked with a long line of AC horses and have determined that red in an AC horse is far less important than their overall HGP. And even with HGP, that can be a problem to work with. As long as your AC horses are HGP 31k and upward, then they're as good to start with as any other, red or not. It comes down to what foals they throw. If all of your foals result in HGP's below their parents (the same gender or both together, dependent on how close the HGP of both parents are), then those parents have many more negative genes than average. And as such, will either additional work (and an unknown number of generations more), or they should be culled for other stock.

As such, the only really difficult AC horse breed to work with is shetlands which regularly offer AC stock below 30k HGP (as much as I've seen). Other than that AC breed, I've had a little difficulty with caspians, they tend to grow slowly, which might mean they have as much bad as good; NAB's can be difficult but can also be easy; Forests can be super easy or relatively difficult and I've never been too big a fan with working with Turks. I haven't had much luck with them, but others have.

Arabians are neither difficult or easy. As long as you have a good and appropriate culling program, they'll move along at a steady rate.

Personally, I like crossing arabs and belgians. They make a great mix and a strong base for future disciplines. For some reason it's an excellent combination that progresses seemingly at a faster pace than any other, purebreed or cross. From AC stock.