Don't allow the quantity to drop below that, however, or you risk delivering too few nutrients and creating a malnourished horse. Just as in humans, rapid weight loss is unhealthy and rarely provides lasting results. In hyperlipemia, the body perceives itself to be starving, so it releases large quantities of stored lipids into the bloodstream, generally more than the horse can use. A horse or pony suffering from hyperlipemia might be drowsy, or depressed, and might suffer muscle twitching, incoordination, colic, and diarrhea. Hyperlipidemia causes impaired liver function, which can be life threatening.
Hyperlipemia can appear rapidly and has a high fatality rate.
The Chewing Compulsion One of the challenges of putting an overweight horse on a diet is managing to keep her from chewing the barn down when her abbreviated mealtimes don't satisfy her hunger. Sarah Ralston, VMD, PhD, Diplomate ACVN, equine nutritionist with the Department of Animal Science at Rutgers University in New Jersey, suggests you make your horse work harder for her meals by placing her hay inside two haynets, or even better, a haynet inside a canvas hay-bag. This little strategy will slow down her consumption rate considerably. However, even the straw you offer should be limited. So if you use straw as your bedding, consider switching to something inedible, such as shavings or peat moss.