Advice On Fat Two Year Old Please

I'm really worried Jesses way to fat and the problems growing to fast and pressure on undeveloped joints.... but being a two year old I'm worried about restricting him too when he clearly has alot of growing to do. He came off the Forest last Augest and always been 'bloted' which the vets just think is due the change from moorland to richer paddocks. I'm rather generous with the wormers so it's not that.

Would it be a bad idea to put a muzzle on him? He has to be turned out 24/7 in a five acre field with my skinny tb and it's pretty rich so this is about the only thing I can think of. I've go the vet at the yard Monday so would see what he thought too...

Advice/expereince please!

Jesse a few weeks ago now...

DSCN00252.jpg
 
I wouldn't say he is fat either but It would do no harm to 'manage' him by either muzzle or section off a bit of the paddock to graze down.

at 2 years old their growth has slowed somewhat so don't be worried about lack of nutrients and our grass is plenty rich enough to support growing youngsters without supplementation so again, another reason not to worry...
 
I would love him to be either on a smaller paddock or with rubbish grass but I need to him out with my tb who clearly needs the grassing. I'm not sure even if he was on one acre he would eat just as much, I mean theres a limit to how much a pony can eat, the paddock would have to be pretty tiny to reduce his intake.

I'm so paranoid about ponies getting over weight! I swear I have one of the slimmest Shetland ponies!
 
I don't think he's looking too bad. If you could up his long lining etc then that should keep him looking good.
 
I think he looks ok, just keep an eye on him, looks to be a mix of grasses form what is shown in that pic, some coarser ones docks (?) so maybe not as rich as you think (although can't see all the field obviously). I wouldn't worry yoursef too much
 
Good to see you are at least considering the possibility and its effect on joints etc. Pictures are notoriously difficult to judge from but I'd say he's not looking overweight yet. If you are really worried, then use a muzzle or mow a small area, leave the grass to recover (the stalks keft are high in grass sugars so allow 'leaf' to reappear) and graze that.
smile.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top