Hi,

I am getting ready to bring home a horse that is overweight and has shivers. I would like to get him on the right diet, but am nervous that the added fat in his food will only make him fatter. He will be out 24/7 and will be worked lightly. He is currently getting very good quality hay and nothing else. He is a wicked easy keeper.

Thanks for your help.

Jean

Now here's a bit of a challenge. The turnout situation sounds great, especially if he has other horses to help keep him moving around. Try to work him as much as you can. You still want to aim for a high fat diet, but for an easy keeper you want to add fat to as close to pure fiber as you can, such as to alfalfa pellets, cubes, other hay products, or beet pulp. You can reduce hay intake by the pounds of forage you put in his bucket. Start adding oil at 1/4 cup per feeding and aim, to start, for about half the EPSM "dose" of fat, that is 1 cup oil per 1000 lbs of horse per day. If you can get him eating this without gaining weight, start to increase the fat as much as you can. Hopefully he'll get more energetic on a fat supplemented diet and start exercising himself more. Good luck, and definitely let us know how things go!

Tink has always been an easy keeper and was very fat when I started her on oil, but it seemed like she started to build muscle instead of getting any more blubbery. (I also started making her wear a grazing muzzle, though. She balloons on grass.) Hopefully your horse will do the same, start building muscle instead of laying on more fat.