Concern over livery....

[SusieT]

Ok, to be fair if t's ribs are showing I think your plan is very sensible, any weight loss further is unnecessary and should be addressed, let us know how you get on/the weight does. Then all of you will have a good idea of what and where the pony is eating/stands.

 

[Natch]

I've manged to find the link about 1% being fed, http://www.equinescienceupdate.co.uk/wlrhd.htm
...
I know after looking after poor/average doers it was a real shock to the system to find out just how little a native needs, but it is a balancing act making sure that the horses have sufficient to occupy/prevent boredom/illness and not enough to promote weight gain.

Just resurrecting the thread because I've had time to look at this link and had some more thoughts on the matter of feeding horses smaller amounts of forage.

I did a case study on micronutrients in relation to a horse's feed ration recently. The findings were really suprising to me, in that at a ration of 2% BW grass, and a maintenance level of broad spectrum vit and mineral supplementation, the horse was falling under the recommended dose of quite a few minerals. Increasing the supplementation to the highest recommended dose didn't even solve the problem, but providing haylage in partial replacement of the grass did (since haylage has a higher % of micronutrients than grass oweing to moisture content). Providing forage at 2% BW (for this horse) was providing a serious chronic undersupply of some micronutrients, never mind at 1.5 or 1%.

From what I can see of the article summary, they didn't study supply of micro nutrients, (I'm not even sure if they studied macro?) and they state the horses weren't exercised, as it was a controlled experiment. We know from studies on equine insulin resistance (as well as knowledge of human physiology) that exercise improves metabolism and can promote weight loss.I recall watching a TV programme about a morbidly obese person, where one of the consultants said that its a cruel fact that the less the person is able to burn off calories through movement, the (dramatically) less calories they need for maintenance, thus creating a vicious circle. If the same applies to equines then I can see the results of the study makes sense - weight loss in an inactive equine can only be achieved through severe restriction of calorie intake.

I'll be studying the supply of macronutrients from forage next year, and this is an interesting starting point.