1. All horses need regular exercise and you cannot rely on them to exercise themselves. Exercise is the single biggest strategy to prevent weight gain and metabolic problems. It also relieves boredom and depression.
2. Always use slow feeders to regulate their intake of hay. We prefer non-rope vinyl which is durable, easy on the mouth and easy to fill.
3. Do not let your slow feeders run out of hay not even for an hour. Running out of food creates major stress for horses and has adverse effects on the digestive enzymes as well as the stress hormones. This slows down weight loss by slowing down the metabolism
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And yes, they may really go to town on the food for the first couple of weeks but once they realize that the food is always there they will regulate themselves.
4. Feed low sugar hay with WSC's below 12% and fructans less than 3-4%.
5. Do not allow easy keepers, or any horse for that matter, unlimited grass grazing. Grass grazers need a lot of exercise to metabolize those sugars. And if they don't get it grass grazers will become laminitic.
6. Never starve an overweight horse. This is a cruel practice and creates a whole other set of problems.
7. Do not feed any type of grains - raw or commercial. Horses acquire all of their energy from fibre - not from high sugar feeds or proteins such as alfalfa.
8. Do not feed easy keepers or Insulin Resistant horses any type of glucosamine products. Glucosamine is contraindicated in all metabolic conditions. It is a sugar which interferes with insulin production.
9. Give Pro-Colon probiotics once daily for 3-4 weeks two-three times per year. A healthy hindgut improves the metabolism, the immune system and fermentation which helps to prevent colic.
10. If your horse already has fat pads and a crested neck administer the homeopathic Blood Sugar Formula once daily for 21 days. And add 1 tsp of Vitamin B6. This program will help regulate appetite, balance blood sugar levels and encourage weight loss.
