My horse is a really easy keeper. He gets 2 cups of Ration Balancer 2x/day, 3.5 lbs of Timothy 2x/day and 2-3 hrs of turn out. His belly is huge. He is in regular work 5+ days/wk at least 30 mins/day walk trot canter to the point he’s in a decent sweat at the end of each ride… but I can’t get rid of the belly. He has not come back positive for any metabolic issues and is wormed every 6 weeks. I really worry about his weight though. He will even have a bit of ribs showing but yet his belly looks like he is due to foal any time. Ideas or concerns? He is 15 hh probably 1000 lbs. he is foundation appaloosa and his parents have big bellies too, but his certainly takes the cake.
You need to do work that will tighten his abs. You could try slow lateral work in hand or saddle. Trotting cavaletti. Getting him to engage his hindquarters. You might also want to check his hay. If it’s very coarse he may be gassy.
I would not worm a horse every six weeks. Twice a year is fine.
If he is ribby with a pot belly ID do an overhaul of his whole nutrition and diet. Does he get enough protein, does he get enough vitamins and minerals, what’s in the ration balancer?
Is he also on pasture or just getting 7 lbs of hay a day? That can’t be. My very easy keeper gets 15 lbs. Normal horses get 20 lbs a day.
Ration balancer is for easy keepers with very low NSC. It is basically only protein, minerals and vitamins. He is on turn out (very lush FL pastures) 1.5 hrs am and pm (about 3-4 hrs total/day) and gets 3.5 # hay when comes in from turn out am and pm. It is fairly course Timothy.
During his turnout, put a grazing muzzle on him.
Agree with targeting workouts that strengthen his core. Walking up hills is great, and you can add in some lateral work to your hill workouts to increase the difficulty.
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More cardio work. Trail riding or hacking out (as I see you are in Fl and we don’t have hills LOL). Add work at speed. I agree, the new protocol for worming in Florida is twice a year with
Quest Plus.
Hard work 6 days a week make him sweat. Feed less feed, feed less hay. I’d cut out all hard feed ,only hay or grass.
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Agree with the suggestions above, but will also add that I would make sure the hay he’s getting is high enough quality. I had a horse move here from a boarding barn that bought hay as cheaply as they possibly could. And then the BO disliked this guy and so she always gave him the chaff from the floor (often musty and/or moldy). He had the biggest “hay belly” I’d ever seen. It took a couple of weeks (maybe a month?) on quality orchard grass (same type of hay he’d always gotten) and his hay belly went away completely. No change in exercise or supplements/grains had ever made a change for this guy, but the difference in hay sure did.
Beyond that I will also add that some horses are built a bit that way. I have a mare who looks rotund even when she has ribs showing. It’s not a “hay belly” or “pot belly,” just that she has a very widesprung ribcage and is kind of “pear shaped” from the front. I always have to be careful about how I’m gauging her weight because depending on how I’m looking at her she often looks “too fat” even when she has ribs showing.
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Horse has ribs plus pot belly. That to me sounds like poor quality forage and missing nutrients. Interestingly belly size is not a factor in the Henneke weight scale. They look more at fat deposits on the topline. That’s because you can have a malnourished horse, old broodmare, wormy youngster, gassy pasture horse, that is underweight but has a distended belly.
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I would be curious as to what he actually looks like. How is his topline? Often I see people think their horse is fat because of the big belly, but they actually need MORE calories(particular protein and fat) to build proper muscling to hold the back and abs together.
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Agree with Scribbler above- Poor nutrition shows up as distended belly. Improve his hard feed quality and give him
better hay. Sounds like a malnourished horse.
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I agree with what is being said about the quality and nutrition level of what you are feeding him. Perhaps not enough protein and more of a high sugar hay that won’t build muscle. Also, you mention worming every 6 weeks but have you had a fecal count done? there may be a load of parasites that you aren’t treating with the right protocol. Rotational deworming regularly doesn’t ensure an accurate program for the horses’ needs.
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It might just be how he’s standing, but there’s something funky about the line of his back here. It looks roach backed. Can you set him up square for a proper conformation shot in daylight against a contrasting background?
From the photo he looks to me overweight overall and undermuscled. I would expect a stock horse type in work to have much more defined muscles on the forearms and “pants muscles.”
Are you familiar with the Henneke body score charts? Look up the test points and see if he has fat pockets above the tail head, behind the elbows, over the shoulders, etc.
Anyhow from this picture i’d say he needs total forage reduced, attention to protein and minerals in his diet, more excersize including sustained trots sets on trails, excersize to build his back, and maybe investigate if he is developing any metabolic issues.
My 16 hand Paint mare is muscled up like a lady bodybuilder 
and tapes 1270 lbs, but she is on a permanent slimming diet of 15 lbs of good hay a day. Im lucky if she hovers between Henneke 5 and 6 on that. It’s really easy to make a stock horse obese.
That’s a FAT horse who needs serious work and wet saddle blankets. No hard feed needed minimal hay or pasture. Far from malnourished no bones can be seen.
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Yes, looks quite fat. I’d muzzle for turnout (they can learn to tolerate it), or turn out on a dry lot with only soaked hay. You can soak his indoor hay too to reduce sugar. Increase exercise. Assuming he’s already in full work 6 days/week, add 15 minutes of marching walk to the end of every ride.
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I won’t weigh in on weight - but he is cute as a button!!!
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He’s on a Ration Balancer and I would NOT cut that out. Ration Balancers are designed for horses like him who need the nutrients but not the calories.
OP - what brand RB is he on?
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That’s about what I was thinking… which is why I was so confused when people started commenting that he must be malnourished. in the sunlight, a little side rib is visible but I don’t think I can reasonably worry about that as the main concern is his enormous tummy. I will happily add some additional time and more laterals to our work outs… and stop feeling guilty about limiting his forage so much.
Thank you for the soaking advice, all our horses get hay soaked for at least 30 minutes to pull out the sugar.
does anyone know the best hay to feed for his “condition” ? I have been feeding him Timothy while our less rotund horses get soaked orchard and a bit of Timothy on the side, and the one hard keeper gets a bit of alfalfa.
Can you put him in a dry lot with no grass and switch the RB to a vitamin/mineral supplement? The V/M supplement will address the nutritional needs, but without the added protein and calories of the RB.
Also, which RB are you feeding and are you feeding the correct amount - by weight, not cups?
Nutrena Ration Balancer. 2 cups, twice a day. Normally I don’t feed nutrena products but it was veterinary recommended…?
The weight is about .6 lbs. twice a day which is just over the stall rest/maintenance suggested amount. So I could cut that back a little if it might help?
unfortunantly I don’t have a dry lot. Not even a little. And the theatrics when the muzzle goes on are boarderline dangerous. Galloping, leaping, bucking and rearing and after the last attempt he came in with his muzzle all bloody. It would be possible to limit turn out even more to 30 mins-45 mins 2x/day
