Horse too fat? Let it lose weight healthily with Subli Diet Mix

Horses and ponies easily accumulate more fat on the ribs than is good for them. Especially austere breeds such as Fjords, Haflingers, Tinkers, Friesians, Shetlanders and Icelanders can function just fine with fairly little feed. Traditionally, the metabolism of austere breeds works very efficiently and uses nutrients sparingly.

Obesity in horses and ponies: how does it happen and what do you do about it?

You may think that excess weight in horses occurs mostly in the summer months. But make no mistake. Many horses and ponies today also get or stay fat in the winter, and this is true of all breeds.

Do you sometimes give an extra scoop of concentrate as a reward after riding? Often it happens unconsciously, but some horses and ponies ingest much more concentrate than necessary. Add to that high-energy roughage and sometimes a little lack of exercise. Add in the morsels of stable litter and the result is clear: your horse is getting too fat.

Dangers of obesity and overweight

A "well-fed" horse looks strong and healthy in the eyes of many people. Yet there are far more health risks in being overweight than you might think. Overweight horses and ponies are significantly more likely to develop:

1. Osteoarthritis: this is where a severe inflammatory reaction occurs in your horse's hooves. The inflammation leads to a lot of pain and, in severe cases, even a tilt of the hoof bone in the hoof. Chances are that your horse will never be able to stand or walk again without severe pain. Putting it to sleep is often the only way out.
2. Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS): this is a disturbance of metabolism that you see reflected in a variety of symptoms such as energy loss, rapid overheating, reduced fertility, fatty tumors in the abdomen, colic, diabetes, hard fat deposits and laminitis.
3. Insulin resistance: this is an incipient form of diabetes that severely affects your horse's metabolism. Your horse absorbs sugars from the blood with increasing difficulty, which in the short term means severe energy loss. But in the slightly longer term, as a result of insulin resistance in horses, laminitis often develops again.
4. Joint problems: problems in the joints are caused by local overloading due to the many extra pounds of body weight. In many cases, you see the problems come back as the condition osteoarthritis. This is excessive wear and tear of the joint cartilage. Which can be associated with bone overgrowth, pain, stiffness and joint inflammation.

How do I make my horse lose weight?

Want to prevent the unpleasant consequences of obesity in your horse and pony? Then review your animal's situation together with your veterinarian or a specialized nutritionist. Together with them, draw up a treatment plan to help your horse or pony lose weight in a responsible manner. The basis of such a plan generally consists first of all of dietary adjustments. In addition, some changes in the overall management of your horses contribute to healthy horse weight loss.

1. Adjust nutrition

Healthy weight loss is slow in horses. Keep in mind that up to 1% weight loss per week of desired body weight is already an excellent result. And that a well-thought-out nutritional ration prevents deficiencies of essential nutrients during weight loss.

Always start by checking (or having checked) the energy value of your forage, the staple of any horse's menu. Rich hay contains a lot of energy and makes frugal breeds fat quickly. On the other hand, it is best for the well-being and health of all breeds of horses that they receive at least 3 to 4 servings of roughage per 24-hour period. For fat horses and austere breeds, choose a type of forage that has a relatively low nutritional value. Coarse-stemmed hay cut late in the year generally satisfies this best.

Grass in the pasture is also regularly too rich a source of energy, especially in the spring and early summer. Therefore, put fat horses and austere breeds preferably in an almost bare pasture. You can also choose to fence off pieces of pasture, adding a small piece of pasture to your animals every day. Another option is to omit grazing altogether. The energy intake must be limited, and since you cannot control how much the grass intake is, the energy intake must be limited.

2. Stable and pasture management under the microscope.

Changing your feed management is one thing, but getting a fat horse to lose weight in a truly healthy way requires more. Also consider things like:

• Daily extra exercise: think about herding loose, riding, ground work, lunging, walking or jogging and some extra time in a horse walker. Or organize a long outside ride every week with a few stablemates. Always consider your horse's condition when doing so.
• Appropriate bedding in the barn: Avoid straw as bedding. Straw gives your horse almost no extra energy. This can cause it to eat more straw and develop constipation colic. Therefore, use a different bedding such as sawdust or flax.
• Prevent boredom: In nature, horses spend nearly three-quarters of their time grazing. A horse in a stable or bare pasture has fairly little to do by comparison, and boredom and the development of stable vices are lurking. Make sure your horse or pony has at least a few hours of something to do each day in the form of exercise, attention and being physically with peers.
• In addition, the recommendation is to provide unlimited roughage. Is this not possible? Then make sure your horse or pony can take in roughage every 4 hours. Providing feed more often in smaller portions, feeding roughage in special slow feeders, fine mesh hay nets or in special feed toys will also keep your horse occupied longer.

The power of Subli Diet Mix

For expert advice on nutritional values of equine diet foods, Subli is the right place. Years of horse experience and listening to your own practical story provides you with a wealth of information through Subli. Use this well and add it to the treatment plan for a fat horse together with your veterinarian.

The Subli Diet Mix for example, is a concentrated feed specially formulated for austere breeds and obese horses. The special feature of this feed is:

• No grains and grain by-products
• Complete daily allowance of vitamins, minerals and trace elements
• Very low sugar, starch and energy content
• Prevents muscle breakdown when combined with labor
• High crude fiber content

By giving Subli Diet Mix, you ensure that your horse gets little fattening energy from the concentrate feed. This is because it contains no grains, grain by-products and molasses. However, the feed is rich in fiber and contains all the essential vitamins, minerals and trace elements for daily light work.

Feed advice from Subli

Coming up with a good and feasible treatment plan for a fat horse is sometimes quite difficult. The experience experts at Subli know this better than anyone else. That is why they are happy to assist you with advice and tips for daily practice. Tell us what is bothering you or what you encounter on a daily basis with your stable or feed management. We can even advise you on manure. Our experts are happy to think along with you in a practical way to find answers to all your equine questions.

Would you also like personalized advice on weight management for your horses and ponies? Then contact Subli's customer service team at our phone number 0317-499 595. Would you rather email? Then send your questions to info@subli.nl or fill out the contact form in on the website.

Horse feed advice for late summer and fall

In late summer and fall, the quality of the grass becomes lower. Often even to the point that you already have to supplement your horse with both roughage and concentrate feed. Every horse is different, of course, which is why there are different types of feeds. Depending on the breed, size, work, sex, age of the horse and the type of roughage you already feed, you choose the corresponding concentrate feed.

For frugal breeds and sugar-sensitive horses, you can choose the Subli Pony Chunk+ or Subli Diet Mix. For recreational horse ponies, the Subli Basic Broth or Subli Basic Muesli suffice. For older horses, horses with dental problems or horses that you want a bit fuller is the Subli Seniores Priores an extremely suitable product at this time of year.

Foals weaning

This falls around the same time of year (late summer and fall). Extra attention to nutrition is important in these young animals to prevent weaning dip. Unlimited easily digestible roughage (less coarse-stemmed ) and 2 to 3 kg of foal pellets for a foal of a large horse. For a pony foal, you can adjust this down. Start giving the pellet before weaning so they are already somewhat accustomed to this.

More common problems around autumn

Sand eating, acorns, fruit, beechnut eating and shedding can also cause some problems.

Horses & sand eating

Reduced grass growth increases the risk of sand ingestion and this can cause problems in the gastrointestinal tract. It may therefore be wise to give your horse or pony a psyllium loaf cure. This is often made from the husks of fleawort, and it ensures that any accumulated sand is removed.

Eating acorns, fruits and beechnuts

Acorns, beechnuts and fruit also fall from the trees again and if horses eat too much of these they can get sick (intestinal inflammation, diarrhea and colic). Should you have these trees in the pasture, provide plenty of roughage so they have plenty of distractions and, if necessary, cordon off the trees so the horses cannot get too close.

Horse & shedding

Adequate nutrients are needed for proper shedding because it requires energy from your horse. Vitamins, minerals, trace elements, fatty acids and proteins are important components here. You can supplement this with roughage and concentrate because of the lower quality of grass.

A number of articles from Subli are perfect for this purpose:
Subli Omega 369 mix
Subli Pony Chunk+
Subli Mare Broth

Registration Subli Competition 2022 opened

On May 1, the Subli Competition Young Dressage Horses for four- and five-year-old horses will start again. Subli Paardenvoeders has again done its best to select beautiful locations with good grounds. The first selection competition will take place in Helden this year.

Participants for the selection competition on May 1 in Helden can still register until April 22. The Subli Competition is organized for four- and five-year-old horses to gain competition experience. The competition is open to horses of all studbooks. It promises to be a beautiful competition as of old.

Nine selection matches

This year the Subli Competition consists of nine selection competitions, a semifinal and a final. The three highest results obtained during the competition count for participation in the semi-finals. The fifteen best horses in each age group will be invited to the semi-finals and the best five horses in each age group will be invited to the finals.

Final Jumping Amsterdam

Remco Zuidam of Subli is very pleased that this year's finals can take place again as usual during Jumping Amsterdam on January 26, 2023. "Last year we had to move to Tolbert because of all the corona measures. Although we also put down a wonderful final there during the Subtop Dressage Meerdaagse, I am very happy that this year it can take place again in tradition during Jumping Amsterdam. It is the dream of every rider to be able to ride there. With the Subli Competition we can offer this unique opportunity."

Loved by big names

The Subli Competition is a popular competition for young dressage horses and is also loved by big names such as Arlando, Capri Sonne Jr, Johnny Depp, Keano RS2 and Sir Fashion. In 2021, first place in the four-year-olds went to Amber Hage with Mercurius ACM (by Dream Boy). The 5-year-olds' competition was won by Beni Pachl with Hexagons Luxuriouzz (by Johnson).

Subscribe

On our Subli Competition 2022 page is the overview of the selection competitions and the regulations. You can also read here how registration for the various selection competitions works.

Amber Hage and Beni Pachl win convincingly Subli Competition 2021

Thursday evening, January 13, the all-decisive final of the Subli Competition for young dressage horses 2021 was held in Tolbert. The big winner in the four-year-olds was Amber Hage who achieved an overwhelming score of 91.6 with her homebred stallion Mercurius ACM. In the five-year-olds, the win went convincingly to Beni Pachl who scored 85.6 with his Hexagons Luxuriouzz.

For both classes five competitors had selected themselves for this final through the previous selection competitions and the semi-final on December 11 in Harmelen. Traditionally, the final of the Subli Competition takes place every year at Jumping Amsterdam, but due to all the coronamation measures this event could not take place so a good alternative for the final was sought. This was found at the Subtop Dressage Days in the beautiful accommodation of the HJC Manege in Tolbert. Everything in Tolbert was taken care of down to the last detail so that the participants could ride a final worthy competition. Something that was very much appreciated by all participants and the judges.

Clear winner in the four-year-olds
Both classes were judged by judges Patricia Wolters and Monique Peutz who were full of praise for the finalists who appeared in the lane. Patricia Wolters said afterwards, "As judges we really enjoyed this great competition with an awful lot of quality horses. It was actually a pity that there were not more. In the four-year-olds there was one combination that stood out for us head and shoulders: Amber Hage with the stallion Mercurius ACM. This stallion is really exceptionally good, you would almost forget that he is only four years old. He has a lot of balance, beautiful scope and a nice constant touch. His switchability is also great and we rewarded him with a ten. Just like his trot for that matter. He was also very well worked by Amber and showed no tension at all. A pleasure to watch.

Amber herself also looks back with pride at the achievements of her homebred stallion. She says, "Mercury is a dream come true for me. He is so great, really special to experience. He also has a very sweet character and always does his best. When I ask him forward it's like he takes off, really a bizarre feeling. And when going back in pace, all I have to do is think about it and he already comes back. His switching ability is really amazingly good. It's so nice to be able to experience this with him and win this competition. It's all first time for him of course, but for me too and that's just super fun. We're going to see what the future brings us all. Our goal for this year is to work towards the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses, which I think is really great. We're already in the pipeline for the pre-selection, so I'm curious to see how he picks up on that.

Second place in the four-year-olds was taken by Beni Pachl with Hexagons Gorgeous Black Art. Judge Patricia Wolters: "This combination came into the ring first and we were immediately impressed by the high level. This stallion also has three very good gaits with a beautiful uphill canter. The scope was a bit sparing and could have been shown a bit more clearly, but otherwise a beautiful test of a beautiful combination.

Impressive winner five-year-olds
Also in the five-year-olds, Beni Pachl was back in the results list, this time at the very top with Hexagons Luxuriouzz. The Hungarian-born rider has been working as a stable rider at Stal Hexagon for over two years now and continues to score with the impressive chestnut stallion Hexagons Luxuriouzz. Judge Patricia says about this combination: "This stallion has a lot of power and power. He was nicely presented by Beni and showed good movements. He showed beautiful uphill movements and definitely shows a lot of quality and talent for the future. The same goes for number two, Bart Veeze with Supreme. This stallion was also very well presented and showed a lot of suppleness. In the scope the difference could only be shown a little clearer. Just behind Bart Veeze, Jill Bogers with Lennox US finished third. With this combination there was clearly some tension at the beginning of the test. Lennox was not quite at ease, but during the canter and certainly afterwards it got much better and you could see a clear difference. Then the qualities of the horse really came to the fore.

Five competitors were selected for the class for five-year-olds, only four appear in the final results. Patricia explains: 'Eline van Egmond rode the wrong test with Leonardo Da Silica and could not show us the correct test. So unfortunately we had to call her out, which of course is very unfortunate for a final.'

Results Final Subli Competition for Young Dressage Horses 2021

Four-year-olds
1. Amber Hage - Mercury ACM (by Dream Boy) - 91.6
2. Beni Pachl - Hexagons Gorgeous Black Art (by Toto jr) - 87.0
3. Renate van Uytert-Vliet - My Blue Horse Santiano (by Sezuan) 79.6
4. Sharon van Dijk - Montreux (by Gunner KS) - 78.2
5. Femke de Laat - Mission (by Eye Catcher) - 77.8.

Five-year-olds
1. Beni Pachl -Hexagons Luxuriouzz (by Johnson) - 85.6
2. Bart Veeze -Supreme (by Sezuan) - 81.2
3. Jill Bogers - Lennox US (by Grand Galaxy) 80.8
4. Dirk-Jan van de Water - Denton RMD (by Dream Boy) 75.4

Subli Smikkels have been renewed!

Our familiar and super tasty horse snacks have been renewed. Subli Smikkels are not only in a new look, but also the taste and composition have been improved. There are four flavors available: Natural, Herbs, Apple & Carrot and Grain-Free.

Smikkels now even tastier and healthier

Subli's healthy horse treats have been improved in composition and taste. The sugar and starch content has been brought down. But that doesn't mean the Treats are any less tasty! The flavors have been improved by the addition of even more ingredients.

What's New?

1.5 kg resealable container

Subli Smikkels have received a metamorphosis. The Smikkels are now in a handy 1.5 kg bag. So it fits easily in the (back) bag. Thanks to the resealable strip, you can store the Smikkels after opening and keep them fresh for a long time without clips or rubber bands. Is the bag empty? Then the bag can be put in the PMD waste so that the material can be recycled.

Four flavors

Natural
Tasty and simple. The flavor natural is a classic among the Smikkels.

Apple & Carrot

This fresh flavor Smikkels contains real apple and carrot. Deliciously pure nature.

Herbs

This unique Smikkel contains fenugreek and garlic. The spicy fragrance makes this one of the favorites of many horses and ponies.

Grain-free

Is your horse sensitive to grains? Then you can choose the grain-free variety. In addition, it contains an even lower sugar and starch content than the other flavors.

>View the updated assortment of Subli Smikkels.

 

 

Ordering online through My Feedmasters

Subli is a leading horse feed brand with many points of sale and delivery options throughout the Netherlands. With 'Mijn Voermeesters' we offer our customers, in addition to the trusted points of sale, the possibility to order Subli products safely and securely online at any time and place. Through 'My Voermeesters' you can order our bulk and bagged product range and have it in house within 1 to 2 working days (bulk orders please order 3 days before desired delivery date). So sign up for 'My Feedmasters' soon at www.subli.nl or by phone at 0317-499595. Please note: no delivery charges from 300 kg bagged goods and 2 tons bulk

Q&A

Create Account

How do I create an account in My Subli?
To do this, go to www.subli.nl and click on the My Feed Masters button.
The 'My Subli' button is in the top right of the screen. You can then choose to sign up for an account only or also place an order. In both cases the contact details will be checked before we send the login details by e-mail. You can also register by phone at 0317-499 595.

Ordering/delivery/delivery times/prices

When will I receive my order?
Once your order has been submitted to us we will put it in front of you as soon as possible. Bulk orders we like to receive at least 3 days before the desired delivery date. Bulk orders received before 1:00 p.m. will be delivered on one of the next two business days. Although we strive to deliver by the deadline, delays may occur due to unexpected situations. If the order is not delivered by the referenced deadline, please contact us at 0317-499 595.

I did not receive all the items or the wrong product.
We find it annoying that the order was not fully/correctly delivered and would of course like to solve this for you. Please contact us within 7 days after delivery by phone tel: 0317-499 595 (office hours) or by mail at info@voermeesters.nl. Our customer service will contact you to send you the missing or correct product. In case of a wrong delivery it will be picked up by mutual agreement.

What are the shipping costs?
Bulk orders of 2 tons or more have no additional surcharges and/or shipping costs. Even better v.a. 3 tons, Subli gives a discount on the bulk price. Bulk orders under 2 tons have a surcharge of € 1.00/100 kg.
Bagged goods orders from 300kg also have no additional surcharges and/or shipping costs. Again, an additional discount applies for larger orders. From 500kg onwards, Subli offers additional discounts on the bagged goods price. Bagged goods orders between 100-299kg have an order surcharge of €15.00 per order.

How do I know if my order went through properly?
Once the order has reached us, you will receive an order confirmation by email. Should you not receive this, please contact us tel: 0317-499595 or by email at info@subli.nl.

What do Subli's products cost?
Because we will supply directly, the prices are very competitive compared to other suppliers. In addition, there is a discount scale based on the purchase quantity. If you want advice and/or to know exactly what your desired products cost, please contact one of our feed consultants.