Weighing Up Weight Management

You may never ask for feeding advice until you perceive you have a problem and very often that relates to a horse’s bodyweight or condition.  This can be a very subjective issue so it pays to ask yourself a few questions to help you decide the right feeding strategy for your horse.

Step One – Assess Body Condition

A numeric Body Condition Scoring (BCS) system aims to make the assessment of body condition more objective.  Basically, we’re generally aiming for a horse whose condition sits in the middle of the scale (moderate condition) – at 5, on a 1 to 9 scale, or 3, on a 1 to 5.  This means the ribs can be felt but not seen and the quarters, top line and neck are rounded rather than angular or hollowed, or carrying fat pads.  Take a look at our Body Condition Scoring page, where you can also download the scoring definitions and illustrations as a PDF. 

Can you see the horse’s ribs?

If ribs are visible, it’s likely the horse is underweight.  Refer to the descriptions and diagrams of a BCS system to assess how underweight.

Can you feel the horse’s ribs?

If ribs can’t be felt, the horse is overweight!  If they can be felt, can they also be seen?  Refer to the descriptions and diagrams of a BCS system to assess how overweight the equine may be.

Does the horse have a generally rounded appearance or is it quite angular?

A horse with a more angular appearance is likely to be underweight and/or lacking in muscle or top line, which indicates an inadequacy with the diet.  Just because a horse has a large belly, doesn’t necessarily mean it is fat or overweight.  If the neck and hind quarters are poor/angular, either due to a diet that is lacking in protein or due to incorrect training, this can emphasise the size of the tummy, which may also be “saggy” due to incorrect training. 

Does the horse have a cresty neck?  Can you see fat pads over the ribs or quarters?

Fat deposits on the crest, ribs and/or quarters should be taken seriously as they can be hormonally active with the potential to cause insulin resistance and Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS), with an increased risk of laminitis.

Step Two – Estimate Workload

This is very often over estimated!  The harder the workload, the higher the horse’s requirements for essential nutrients, like protein, vitamins and minerals, as well as calories.  That said, a good-doer may fuel his work and maintain condition on the calories provided by forage alone, without needing additional calories from a mix or cube.  Balancers are ideal in this situation to provide the necessary nutritional support without unwanted calories.

How many times per week is the horse/pony exercised and for how long?

A horse at rest yet overweight will need some sort of exercise programme, where possible, to encourage weight loss.  If exercise cannot be increased, calorie and forage management can be difficult and may need the input of a trained nutritionist.

What sort of work does that include?

You should have an idea what constitutes light work, medium work and hard work which will indicate the horse’s likely nutritional requirements.  Most compound feeds formulated to promote condition will also contain elevated levels of protein, vitamins and minerals, which will support harder workloads.  Don’t forget to take body condition into account, alongside the workload assessment, in order to establish the horse’s total calorie requirements.  A horse who needs to gain weight, who is also in moderate work, has the calorie requirements of a horse in hard work. 

Step Three – Consider What is Currently Being Fed, Including Forage/Grazing

Looking at what you are currently feeding, including quantities, gives you an idea of where the horse’s current diet is going wrong, if at all. 

What height and type is the horse/what is the known/estimated bodyweight?

If you don’t know your horse’s bodyweight, knowing its height and type will help you make a guestimate.  Since feeding recommendations are based on bodyweight (as well as workload), this will help you assess the current diet and whether correct quantities are being fed.

What feed are you currently feeding? 

Any mix or cube will have a calorie content which may not be appropriate for an overweight equine or good-doer, while fibre feeds, chaffs and leisure feeds are unlikely to be calorific enough to promote serious weight gain. 

How much of each feed are you giving per day/per feed? 

Weigh what your scoop holds of each feed that you use so that you know exactly what you are feeding.  Guidelines are given on every bag of feed so check the feed bag to work out whether minimum guidelines are being met.  If they are not, and the horse is underweight, the first step may be simply to increase the amount fed to meet the manufacturer’s recommendations, within the parameters of manageable meal sizes ie. not more than 0.5kg of feed per 100kg of bodyweight, per meal.

Many horse owners will choose the right sort of feed to promote condition but fail to follow the feeding guidelines and are then disappointed because they don’t get the expected results.  Conditioning mixes and cubes may well be concentrated and highly digestible but they are designed to be fed by the scoop-full not the mug-full! 

Is the horse getting hay or haylage?

Haylage is not necessarily more calorific than hay; time of harvesting is more of an indication of potential nutritional quality.  Some branded forages may have been analysed and carry a nutrient specification on the packaging, which can be useful, while many farm-produced forages do not.

Do they get ad lib hay/haylage or is it restricted/weighed out?

As a rule, good-doers and those needing to lose weight will need their overall calorie intake controlling, and that includes forage, while poorer-doers and horses in moderate work and above should ideally be given ad lib forage. 

How much time do they spend at grass?

This may need restricting for the overweight equine.

What is the perceived quality of the forage and grazing?

It is hard to know the nutritional value of forage or pasture without having it tested but, as a guide, coarser, stalkier later-cut hay or haylage is generally less nutritious and less digestible than softer, leafier, earlier-cut forage, which is more suited to the poorer-doer with higher calorie requirements.

Does the horse eat all the hay/haylage it is given?

Even the best conditioning feed will not be as effective as it could be, if the horse’s gut function and digestive efficiency are compromised due to insufficient forage/fibre intake.  A minimum of the equivalent of 1.5% of the equine’s bodyweight, in forage (on a dry matter basis), should be consumed per day so, if the horse is a poor forage eater and needs to gain weight, alternative fibre sources may be needed to ensure the horse is kept chewing and to promote healthy gut function. 

To provide extra calories as well, choose alfalfa chaffs, especially those with added oil, like Alfalfa Plus Oil, and soakable alfalfa/beet combinations, like Fibre-Beet.  These can be fed in a separate bucket from any hard feed and left in the stable alongside hay or haylage to provide a choice of forages.

Step Four – Consider the Horse’s Temperament

This is another very subjective area as one rider’s idea of a lively horse may be completely different from another’s but deciding whether you want the horse to be calmer or livelier than it currently is, is a good start!

Is the horse laid back/lazy?

This can be in the horse’s nature but can also be an indication of an imbalanced or inadequate diet.

Is the horse stressy?

Stressy horses are prone to Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) and should be fed and managed accordingly.

Step Five - Feeding Recommendations

As a guide, the total feed per day (hard feed + forage), for horses or ponies at rest through to light /moderate work, should be 1.5 - 2% of bodyweight and for those in moderate to hard work can be 2 - 2.5% of bodyweight.  Those needing to lose weight should be fed the lower of these percentages and those needing to gain weight, the higher percentage.

Good-Doers and the Overweight

If a horse is in moderate condition and considered a good-doer, a feed balancer, like Lo-Cal or Performance Balancer, alongside forage, is most appropriate.  These can be selected according to workload and, like all fortified/fully balanced feeds, they must be fed at recommended quantities to ensure the horse is receiving a fully balanced diet.

All balancers can be considered non-heating as they contribute such negligible calorie levels to the overall diet.  For horses who were previously on little to no hard feed, however, they should be introduced very gradually as the improvement in the nutrient (not calorie) content of the diet can be significant.  Horses who are also lazy or overly laid back, may get their “mojo” back, if their diet was previously lacking, perhaps because they were getting no hard feed at all or just a handful of mix or cubes.

The overweight equine should also be fed a balancer as a simple way to deliver the correct balance of essential nutrients, without the calories associated with a traditional mix or cube.  In order to lose weight, forage intake will also need to be controlled, while still maintaining fibre intake and maximising the horse’s chew time.  Soaking hay, to “wash out” calories, can be helpful, and feeding it in small-holed nets will extend eating time.  Overweight animals should never be starved so it’s worth consulting a feed company help line or independent nutritionist for help in formulating a safe weight loss programme.

Poorer-Doers and the Underweight

Horses getting the recommended amount of a low energy feed, but who need to gain weight, will benefit from stepping up to a conditioning feed, like Top Line Conditioning Mix or Cubes.  Likewise, if you’re adding a plethora of straights, like barley, flaked maize, beet pulp or linseed, to a mix or cube, you’re likely to get better results from a specially formulated mix or cube.  A home-made combination approach is highly unlikely to provide a balanced diet, with all the vitamins, minerals and protein the horse needs to thrive.

Choose slow release energy sources, like superfibres and oil, for those deemed too lively and/or stressy, and go for the low starch approach (Ease & Excel mix or Cubes) for those who may be prone to EGUS.  Ensure that meal sizes are kept manageable, as too much feed in one go will only overload the system and is likely to pass through without being effectively digested, which can cause upsets and discomfort. 

Divide the recommended amount of feed in to as many small meals, per day, as possible and, if the horse needs to gain serious weight, you will need to look for the most calorie/energy dense options (highest Digestible Energy DE)) to provide more per scoop.  Outshine high oil supplement is useful as it can be added to an existing balanced diet (the recommended amount of mix, cube or balancer for the horse’s workload) to provide extra concentrated slow-release calories in a small volume.

If in Doubt ….

Contact our Nutrition Team direct of check out our Feed Finder, which follows a similar pattern of questions to what we have discussed here, and will give feed and feeding recommendations based on the answers given.