Unnecessarily fat?

Why are these horses so fat? I am not anti-fat (at least not until it gets to a much more serious point) but I do not understand this. There is no grass and has really not been any to speak of in months due to the drought. They are on round bales which admittedly, they are blowing through like they are air, and only one feeding a day. Snap is even nursing, and still packing this big tummy. She has a shadow of rib oddly, but I think she is bigger now at 3 months in foal than she was at full-term with Cricket. If you do not know how slight she is in real life, you might not get the full effect of this photo, but for those of you that know her, you can probably see what I mean. (Julie, this is the one you rode on Memorial Day last year that you kept parking upside down on the hill when she wanted to join the crowd against your will) Posting all these pics gives me a good reference point for the changes, which is why I keep doing it (that and there is nothing on TV tonight).

Slygirl has been home from the trainer less than a month and looked great when she got here but she has blown up like a ballpark frank. I guess I probably did not need to order that tiny girth after all! They are dewormed religiously, and with temps of over 100 degrees practically every day for weeks, many of the horses are really struggling. But not all of them, obviously!

I wish they were more like machines---feed them this, get this result. Add this, this happens. Take that away, it will fix this. The only thing that works universally on all of them is good lush pasture and it is the one thing we have not had this year and that no amount of money can get us. It makes me crazy to see these two and others like them, then look across the driveway to the seniors' pasture where they are really struggling, no matter how much senior, beet pulp and oil I pour to them every day. I feel like I am failing them, even though I know better.

Such is life at Onn-A-Wym Farms--always something to be tweaked, scrapped or rejuvenated!