Super Stan gets super fit after EMS diagnosis!
In May 2024 Super Stan was fat; really fat! However, his owner Claire Hirst couldn’t really figure out why as he wasn’t being turned out on the lush spring and summer paddocks just yet due to the wet spring. Claire was riding him as normal, winning a ODE at the end of May, with him looking fat and (not) fabulous, but by midweek after their win her world was spinning as Stan was crippled lame and the vet confirmed Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) with a high insulin level causing laminitis!
“Stan was offered pain relief, had his shoes removed, a big deep bed and confined to his stable where he was fed restricted rations” recalls Claire. “With his diet in mind I spoke to a qualified independent nutritionist to review his rations and management. It turned out that he was receiving additional calories that he just didn’t need and was having way too much hay.”
He weighed 570kg, ISH 16hh and had a fat score of 5 = obese.
Stan’s new diet plan:
- Reduce his hay to a minimum of 1.5% of his body weight – approx. 9kgs, soaked for approx. 4 hours, longer if possible and he’ll eat it, and split into small nets throughout the day, to support digestive health. Add in some straw as lower in calories and keeps him chewing and occupied.
- Bucket feed – two scoops of Dengie Meadow Lite with Herbs split into two feeds plus 1/2 cup of Dengie Alfa-Beet to mix in NAF Optimum Feed Balancer
- No access to grazing / grass.
- Exercise – once sound, controlled exercise – starting with walking in hand, progressing to lunging/long reining and ridden work, if progress is good.
Four weeks later on 26th June Stan weighed 538kgs losing 32kg! On the 12th July he weighed 524kg losing another 14kg! The nutritionist returned to check Stan’s progress and she fat scored him at 3.5-4.
“I’m so pleased with his progress” says Claire. “I’m constantly monitoring him and will continue to do so. I’m fortunate that he’s now sound so getting him fit has been the main priority. I’ve met up with friends riding on the beach, hacking and schooling.”
“What with Stan’s weight loss and EMS I’d left it very last minute to enter Frickley Park Horse Trials, which resulted being on the waitlist. It was torture to watch, to see if we would get to run. We had been quietly working at home trying to perfect this championship dressage test. I think we were ready, I’d learnt all these new letters, knew where they were; it all comes up very quickly when you’re riding the test even though it’s such a long arena!”
“The test was okay, relaxed and responsive which was ironic as I was so nervous and shaking before I went it – Stan was a cool as a cucumber! To my utter delight a friend told us were leading the section! The show jumping was a very twisty course, but Stan’s balance and suppleness has improved so much plus he’s sharper in front, so much so we put in an extra stride in the double, he was not going to touch a pole!”
“I was almost sick with nerves as I moved to the start box for XC, but Stan was ready to go, he was doing this little dance with his back legs as the starter counts us down, which fills me with such joy to see how excited he is! We sailed over fences one and two, fence three was a big upright flower box which he backed off and put a sticky short stride in but we cleared it; I knew then that I had to up my game as we flew down the gallop stretch to fence four the combination. There were lots of questions around the course and he just held my hand and said ‘come on mum!’ At fence 14, a log trailer, he’d just clocked it a mile out and started to back off…I had to ride for it telling him, ‘not now Stan we’ve got this far!’, thank goodness he got the message and cleared it!”
Credit: Julia Shearwood Photography
“Four fences from home and my watch was really starting to shout at me and I started to panic forgetting I always set my watch with 15 seconds to spare, so I opened him up and somehow he goes up a gear saying ‘let’s go!’, we finished ears pricked with big pats and smiles from me!”
“I went back to the lorry and my phone went crazy, friends telling me that Stan and I were BE 90 Regional Championships and that we were heading to Badminton next spring! Stan is my best friend and I treasure everyday I have with him – what a horse!!”
