The Weight Tape

When the Veterinarian Says the Horse is Too Fat

When the veterinarian visited in November to vaccinate, examine, and do dental work on Odin the Mustang, she commented that he was a bit too “fluffy” for his own good. She gave me the weight tape, which estimates weight based on girth measurement, and advised me to replace alfalfa hay for breakfast with local grass hay. He could continue to have alfalfa hay for his evening meal but to check his weight every couple weeks to see if the morning meal adjustment was moving his weight in the correct direction.

When I first used the weight tape, I’m not entirely sure I was using it correctly, as it wouldn’t meet at an actual number; instead the first measurement was at a letter in the phrase “Weight Tape” at the top of the tape.

Oh dear…

The second time I tried, the tape closed at a different letter in the phrase which seemed to indicate that Odin’s weight was going in the correct direction.

By this third measurement, shown in the photo, I noticed that his silhouette seemed a bit slimmer and maybe the fat pads near his shoulders were a little smaller. And it appeared that I definitively figured out how to use the weight tape.

Feeding an overweight horse, also known as an “easy keeper”, is actually harder than feeding a “hard keeper” in my opinion. For a hard keeper, you can add alfalfa pellets, soaked (or not) beet pulp, pelleted rice bran, even vegetable oil to their meals and give them as much hay as they’ll eat. And make sure their teeth are in good shape. The constant intake of food is beneficial as their stomachs produce acid constantly so they need the buffer of food to keep them healthy. Horses have evolved over the last million or so years to graze constantly.

Managing the diet for easy keepers is more difficult because to lose weight and prevent metabolic diseases such as laminitis and others, you’re supposed to restrict their food intake. Which can have digestive as well as psychological implications. Neither make for happy horses.

Exercise can be an important factor as well and this time of year in the Pacific North Wet, the footing is slippery and dangerous plus the weather is less than inspiring. I let my horses have as much space as possible to roam and play.

Fortunately Odin seems to be responding well to a simple replacement of one type of hay so he’s able to get the daily volume required to keep his digestive system happy and fulfills that primal need to graze all day.