Agh fat pony! Vit & min licks? Clip?

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MagicMelon

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My young sons dartmoor is still too fat for my liking, I like my horses slim and she still isn't despite me expecting her to loose weight when I got her purely because I dont have much land so she gets limited grass. She's out with my other 2 horses and they have permanent access to a round hay bale (to supplement the lack of grass and obviously its still winter) but she doesnt stand and munch on it all day due to my mare telling her where to go frequently. She is ridden but only on the lead-rein so not exactly much exercise, and I try to lunge her whenever I have time. I gave her a trace clip a few months ago and she's out unrugged yet still no weight has been shed. Im not happy with her going into spring already too chunky as Im very concerned about her laminitis risk. I plan to section off a corner of my field on the trashed bit (so really only tiny bits of grass) and intend to give her a small holed haynet filled with half hay and half straw. But Im worried she'll lack vits & mins so wondering if there's such a thing as a non-molassed lick which might provide this? Our local feed company makes one but literally the horses wont touch it. If not, I'll go down the balancer route I guess. Also, Im wondering if I should give her a bit more of a clip like a hunter clip to try and get her using her energy for warmth even more...

Ive had natives in the past but wow this pony really does exist on air.
 
I'm afraid to say it's the ad lib hay - natives just don't need it. Can she be muzzled? That would slow her intake and you could avoid fencing her off and trashing her field.
 
Agree about the ad lib hay. One year I had very sparse 24/7 grazing on a windy hillside, trace clip, lightweight rug through the worst of winter, with 1 haynet of straw daily and it took until January to get the weight off.

Equimins used to make their Original vit/min supplement in a pellet form, don't know if they still do. Feedmark have Slimaid I think which is a similar thing. You feed literally 1 ordinary-sized supplement scoop daily so a small palmful of pellets, far less than you'd feed with a balancer.

It's hell trying to get the weight off when they're already fat, that layer of fat seems to keep them so warm. Mine got fat following injury. I'd previously worked the weight off over winter and work helped keep it down in summer. I full clipped mine and admittedly he was stabled most of the time on that yard, but he went through the whole winter in a cotton sheet and was warm even in that, I only put it on because of all the "you can't leave that clipped horse naked" people. If yours is out 24/7 you might risk rain scald with a full clip and unrugged though, and even a lightweight rug is 2 layers of fabric. If you decide to try with a full clip and rug I'd definitely get a no-neck one and take it off on dry days.

Any chance you could find an extra rider? Even if it's just someone for the summer to try to stop the pony piling on even more weight then.
 
Think about it this way. If she was a wild horse, living on dartmoor, would she have adlib hay winter and summer? No. I know horses are grazers..but naturally they won't have rugs (including warm UK weather through this winter!!!) and feed...so they will graze all summer, get fat, and starve through winter and get thin.
 
Goldenstar said:
You can't let most natives have access to abb lib hay without them getting fat .
Click to expand...

^ This!

More ridden work (tho not too fit if small children riding off lead, unless pony is good when fit), add a grazing muzzle at least overnight, make a long thin strip up the side of a well grazed field so pony HAS to keep moving for pickings but can be next to the big ones. Add perhaps a small net of soaked hay if you really have to.

Good luck in downsizing pony's belly!
 
Thing is she doesn't really get ab lib hay as I rarely see her on the hay bale because my other 2 horses shoo her off it and they pretty much park up at it most of the time (if they aren't eating, the mare who she's scared of is usually sleeping very near it so still she wont approach). Id say she probably gets roughly an hours worth of hay in total a day. And we really dont have grass right now. Obviously the tiny amount of hay is still too much though!

So hard to give her more ridden work as my son is very much on the lead and will be for some time and Id crush her if I sat on her ;) We live in the middle of nowhere so not even a small enough rider anywhere nearby who could work her, hence I lunge her. I'll have a look at muzzles, just never had success with them years ago with another native, they always managed to get it off.
 
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