Advice please feeding shetlands

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Magicmadge

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I have today aquired a very small shetland colt. I've never had such a tiny one before so would apreciate some advice re feed. He is 9 months old, on the slim side, poo very dry. Tried him with a handful of chaff, beet and youngstock mix but he wasn't bothered and the chickens ate most of it. Not sure if he's had hard feed before! He has some nice hay and i mixed that with a bit of good haylage for the night. Any suggestions?
 
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They don't really need any feed - just make sure he has hay available to nibble until the grass starts to come through as its importan to keep his gut moving- they really do exist on nothing.

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I was going to post along the same lines - they don't need hard feed at all, or chaff really, just give a vit/min rockie block and feed stalky hay mixed with a little straw - these ponies are designed to thrive off rough scrubland....
 
If hes alitle under weight i personally would feed a handful of chop eg. happy hoof and get some baileys lo cal with ad lib hay. Once he was upto weight id just give the lo cal.
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I'd echo the lo-cal as he will almost certainly need additional vits and mins. Not sure if a growing youngster needs additional calcium or anything like that? Try in breeding too x
 
We have three mini shets. They seem to be able to live off thin air but I would be very worried if any of them actually refused a feed. Given the chance of a bucket of anything going they are like vacuum cleaners and woof up the lot as fast as they can! And a thin shet is something of a rarity. I think I'd get him checked for worms etc.
 
As long as he's just a little underweight I'd hold off trying to stuff him too much until the grass starts coming through as I think you'll find he'll gain condition back very well indeed - watch he doesn't do too well in fact! What is his condition score?

I'd agree with having a worm count done as a matter of course for a new pony anyway.
 
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