childs pony advice please

[ellis9905]

Hi,
im looking for some advice please. we bought my daughter a 11hh childs first ridden/LR pony. Ziggy is great and is giving my daughter lots of confidence.
However Ziggy is very overweight, ( although very fortunatly doesnt get lami) although in the 2 months we've owned him the weight has started to slowly come off.

Could someone suggest a suitable weight loss/ fitness regime for him- hes a typical welsh sec a - very greedy and lives off fresh air- he gets no feed.

we dont have fab facitlities where we are, however i do have a fenced off " school" in a section of field to work in.

My 7 yr old daughter daughter usually rides 3/4 times a week currently in walk and trot. i can lunge, and once children back at school can walk him out around the village. He has his own stable so can and does come in off the grass, he also has turn out in a paddock with next to nothing growing.

im kinda hoping someone more experienced could suggest a plan that will not only lose weight but also keep his work varied and prevent boredom such as on monday lunge for x time in x paces, stable for x hours a day and x hours out at grass in bare paddock. on tuesday do x for x time etc......

thanks in advance.

 

[MissSBird]

Best piece of advice I've ever been given is to take weekly comparison photos. If you see him every day, you'll often not realise how much weight is being lost because the changes happen gradually. A visual comparison is often the best way of keeping track, as it will take a very long time to bring him down properly.

Sounds like you're doing all the right things. I know some people on here have recently had sucess going for runs with their lead rein ponies (like you see people doing with dogs). Do you have your own horse? If they'll behave ponying the LR out on hacks would be an option for long excursions without exhausting yourself.

If you can exercise him every morning, and then your daughter ride him in the afternoon, I think you'll see a huge difference.

I aim to have my fatties in during the day for 12 hours and then out at night for 12 hours. Never quite works that way but usually they come in between 8 and 9am and then go out between 7 and 8pm, so it's almost there.

With their work I have a little pattern I work through to try and keep the work varied. I work down the list then go back to the top and start again, instead of restricting myself to doing certain things on certain days.

Schooling
Jumping
Hack on roads
Schooling in the fields
Jumping exerise (poles or gridwork)
Hack in the fields
Show schooling (practising next dressage test, including some inhand work etc)
WH jumping (getting lazy me to lug the heavier hunter fillers out)
Fast field work (longer canters etc)

Obviously that isn't a lead rein friendly schedule, but it might give you some ideas.

Hope that's of some help!

 

[Magicmillbrook]

Beware bare paddocks - If the pony has its head down it is grazing something! Can you split the paddock in hald to restrict him further. I would however keep his fibre intake up with soaked to death hay or some nice clean straw - Mine are on a bare padock with a doubled hay net (of straw) morning and evening. I dont bring them in because then they are standing around instead of marching round the field in search of a blade of grass.

As far as work goes try and get the horse working daily. Lunge or go for a walk/run on the days your kids dont ride. when your daughter does ride see if she will ride for longer or go for longer hacks. To prevent boredom (in pony and rider) try introducing some poles to walk and trot over and around. Try making a pole corridor or maze to walk thorugh. Get them to stop 1/2 way over a pole etc to make things more varied.

Also try gymkhana games. She doesnt have to be cantering for many of these, there is a good pictoral guide -try looking it up online. Games are great because children get so absorbed in the game they relax and ride more naturaly.

Before you know it your daughter will be cantering, but dont underestimate how much excersise a good brisk walk or trot will hgive.

Also - have you considered advertising for an older child or small adult to perhaps ride for you once or twice a week. If you are a smaller adult could you hop on? Sec A's are sturdier than you think