[VTMorgan06]

I went to a nutrition seminar this fall and the speaker said a great way to get extra pounds off is to not blanket them. In cold weather they will burn more calories staying warm. Use your judgement so she's not shivering and freezing, but being a little cold and losing some weight might be good!

[deltawave]

Rockford . . . next week! I am coming to find you at the hospital!

[deltawave]

I went to a nutrition seminar this fall and the speaker said a great way to get extra pounds off is to not blanket them. In cold weather they will burn more calories staying warm. Use your judgement so she's not shivering and freezing, but being a little cold and losing some weight might be good!

Same philosophy as partially clipping them. Works very well!

[Cashela]

Well I started hand walking last night, brrrrr. Slippery but we survived.

[rockfordbuckeye]

Well I started hand walking last night, brrrrr. Slippery but we survived.

Good for you! It's hard and believe me, I empathize. I have arthritis and the cold literally hurts at times. But it has kept my stall rest horse "safe" and she is at a good weight (slightly below to be honest, but I'm leaving her there because extra weight off her joints etc. while healing isn't necessarily a bad thing). I think all cultures equate food with love and it's very hard sometimes to see that not giving food is actually more loving and life prolonging. Pushing exercise etc. is even harder because the benefits are gradual and the road is long. You will work hard for every step you take but in the end you will have a healthier horse and that is selfless of you and loving.

[trubandloki]

I would encourage hand walking and no excuses. It's negative something here today and I hand walked mine (very fresh, very spooky, very big) for 45 minutes. If you love your horse, put on some warm clothes and get moving.

I just want to say that sometimes it is not an excuse but a real reason. If you have no place to safely hand walk then you truly can not hand walk. It has nothing to do with not loving your horse.

[Jocelynne]

I'm not one to cut their hay down. I have a "fatty" too. Granted she does come in to a stall at night and I do have an indoor. I have her eating with a small hole hay net as well.

Have you looked at your hay? Perhaps it's a bit rich for her? Maybe you could try and find a couple of "garbage" bales for lack of a better word (maybe last years hay, or more grassy etc NOT dusty, mouldy etc) for her to eat so she is still consuming fiber and roughage for her digestive system but without some of the extra calories?

I don't like to cut down hay in the winter.

Could you soak just her hay so some of the sugars are gone before you feed it to her?

Another thing is exercise, though I know it's hard with the ground frozen etc.

[merrygoround]

Is there a grazing muzzle that is better then others or are they pretty much all the same?

I've found the Good Friends grazing muzzle works well, and although it's more expensive the deluxe is worth the extra. It just seems to fit better.

[trubandloki]

Cashela, just a heads up for you, the Good Friends muzzles are great but they run a little large. If you are debating on size do not size up.
The brand you can buy at Tractor Supply (forgot brand name) runs a little small.

[rockfordbuckeye]

I just want to say that sometimes it is not an excuse but a real reason. If you have no place to safely hand walk then you truly can not hand walk. It has nothing to do with not loving your horse.

How can you not have a safe place to walk a horse? Does your horse have no pasture? If they can walk around safe, so can you...? Sorry - I'm not trying to be rude but I did not envision this as a possible response.

[RedMare01]

How can you not have a safe place to walk a horse? Does your horse have no pasture? If they can walk around safe, so can you...? Sorry - I'm not trying to be rude but I did not envision this as a possible response.

Ice, deep snow, frozen rutted ground, deep mud in places? I can think of quite a few reasons that might affect hand walking ability this time of year.

[Jocelynne]

Another one to affect hand walking would be your work schedule. If one doesn't get home till it's getting dark, then has to bring in/finish up the chores there may be no light left to hand walk safely...

If you are going to use a grazing muzzle I would only use it for part of the time if your horses are out 24/7. I still think there are other options before you go to the grazing muzzle in winter. I tried it on my pony and it didn't work out as I had expected (works get in the summer!).

[trubandloki]

Thank you Redmare and Jocelynne, those are exactly the issues.
No indoor ring or barn aisle (that can be walked in).
Driveway that is a sheet of ice that is almost impossible for me to walk on so I am certainly not taking my horse out there. (When it is not ice it is gravel that is not something my horse willingly walks on.)
Paddocks are either icy, frozen huge ruts, or mud.
Road has lots of traffic and no shoulders (snow banks).
Leave in the morning before it gets light out and get home at night after it gets dark.
And as silly as it sounds to horse owners, the lawn is something I respect as something the hubby likes and the only time I take my horse on it is when he says it is OK. Right now (even if I wanted to walk in the snow) he says no way.

[Cashela]

Well I scored a Best Friends deluxe grazing muzzle in the Dover bargain section last night, it was $10, so I bought it. I'm not quite sure I want to go that route just yet. If I do I might just put it on during the day and take it off at night. I am worrying about her not drinking enough water with a muzzle on and that would be detrimental in this cold or any time for that matter.

I hand walked her again in the super windy freezing cold last night and surprisingly she didn't kill me, just lots of snorting at things in the dark. Getting out of the gate is pretty slick right now We had snow, then a thaw and more snow and super cold temps which is making a lot of the footing really icy in the parts that they have packed down.

I do not have a real barn. I have a 3 stall shed row that doesn't have doors that opens up into a big corral. They do whatever they want (and aside from having one fat horse, I think they are so much healthier for it). They get their hay in double bagged small hole hay nets to keep them busy all day and make it last longer.

Anyway, hopefully our nightly walks in the brisk temperatures will get us to both lose weight as well as a hay reduction and I might see what happens with the muzzle this weekend when I am home to watch her.

[deltawave]

I would also urge you to do even just a little bib clip on her, or take off her blankets if she wears them. Helps my Shetland a LOT. I leave the fur on her back, just clip the belly, chest, and neck. We had a mini-thaw yesterday (didn't warm up but the sun was out) and now she has icicles hanging down from her "fur blanket" so I know darn well that mat of hair is truly superior insulation! Even the parts I clipped have grown back with what I would consider NORMAL fur for any other horse. She could stand to be clipped again, actually . . .

[CrowneDragon]

I would not use a grazing muzzle in the winter. I have heard stories of them freezing to the horse's skin or freezing full of ice after drinking, if it is cold enough, and I'm guessing that in NH it gets pretty darn cold. With small hole hay nets and a grazing muzzle I'm guessing she won't be able to eat more than a handful all day, so I think it's a good plan if you take it off at night. I would be on the lookout for ulcer type issues, because if she isn't super-determined, she may not eat at all, all day.

[Cashela]

Thanks for the info on freezing, I was wondering if that might happen.

If I used the muzzle on her I would put hay down out of the bags for her and leave hay in the bags for my other two. She is the alpha of the herd so I know she would keep the hay on the ground all to herself, I have no doubt in my mind

I'm not going to starve her to death, I just want her to lose some weight as I don't want a fat horse for obvious reasons. She isn't so grossly over weight that she has a cresty neck and fat pads etc. She mostly has a fat stomach. I'm also going to try Quiessence, maybe it will help calm her although I don't hold out much hope with that as I have given her MagOx before and it hasn't helped.

Thank you everyone for all of the suggestions

[Laurierace]

Don't you wish we looked as good when we are a bit plump like horses do? I know it isn't good for them but I admit I love a butter ball! Even when I was at the track I didn't ever want to see a hint of a rib.

[Win1]

I would encourage hand walking and no excuses. It's negative something here today and I hand walked mine (very fresh, very spooky, very big) for 45 minutes. If you love your horse, put on some warm clothes and get moving.

Just an FYI, I admire your devotion but it's fair to note that not everyone is able to get out in the extreme cold to do extra. For example, there are days that I have to take breaks out of the cold just doing normal chores (5 stalls, feed, water) because if I didn't, I would end up in the ER with a breathing treatment. Suggesting that everyone bundle up and get out there is awesome motivation, but truly not the best idea for some with conditions that make it unsafe at best. We don't know OP's situation, there's no reason to make her feel like she doesn't love her horse if she doesn't hand walk when she feels it's just too plain cold.

rockford is right, exercise is huge, but for now you've got some really good ideas for changes to make along with the exercise when you can get out there

[Cashela]

LOL so you can see where Kit gets her size from...This is Kit with her mom in some place West Virginia before I bought her 2 years later and had her shipped to New England way back when. Holy smoke she is 14 this year.

http://www.oocities.org/eureka/plaza/9615/eve12.jpg

http://www.oocities.org/eureka/plaza/9615/eve11.jpg

and this face says it all
http://www.oocities.org/eureka/plaza/9615/eve6.jpg

and this is my little hunk of a horse in 2011when we braved riding her in the cold
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...kitjan2011.jpg