Following on from our Physio saying Charlie was Chunky a few small changes have been put in place. I should add that I had already noticed the floor feeding was affecting his waistline and that measuring his hay by placing it in a wheelbarrow, decanting it into his stable and then kicking it may not have been accurate.
The steps taken are:
Only use his zero fill turnout rug (dont worry I havent switched from 450g I was putting a 70g on if I felt cold) he is quite a warm chap.
Weigh all his hay and if I give him some tied on the yard it has to come from his weighed ration. I am not of the school that thinks a horse should be in a hungry stable but I am pleased to note that he only has a few wisps left on the floor am and on In days what I give him is no longer walked around his bed.
Added to this he eats his small bowl of porridge and Equifeast CCC enthusiastically of a morning and when turned out doeant wait for his slice of Apple. We give them a little hay in the field.
Fat scoring - well this seems a bit of a science so here goes.
Divide the horse into 3 areas and take the average. Here goes :
Neck - fairly firm not really a crest more muscle than fat = 3.5
Back and Ribs - Ribs covered less of a gutter along spine can feel processes some fat on shoulder = 4
Pelvis - Gutter soft fat (but not as bad as it was in summer = 4
That makes our average 3.8. Weigh tape which is a bit flakey says 595kg but I go by saddle and girthing up and he has definitely lost some around his barrel since the beginning of winter.
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