Do good doers adjust to a life of restrictions?

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HaffiesRock

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I bought my Haffy 6 months ago. He had been left to his own devices all summer in a 30 acre field as no body could catch him. He was a massive 480kg on the weight tape and the vet almost had a coronary when she saw his size! :eek:

He has been on a diet and exercise plan since August and is now a very health 380kg coming out of winter.

When I first had him he was always breaking out of the field to get into the bigger rested field and was always starving and grumpy! His hay would be wolfed down in minutes and his feed never touched the sides!

Currently he is in a small bare winter paddock and gets hay am and pm and a feed of fast fiber with his supplement in. I put the hay in around 10 small piles spread around the field and put the feed in the middle. A few months ago he would have gobbled the feed like he was about to die of starvation and then hoover up the hay in minutes! Now he just nibbles at the hay and every now and again wanders over and has a bit of feed from the bucket and back to the hay etc.

Is it just that his new thinner body has gotten used to the lesser feed or does he realise that once its gone he has to wait a while until the next feed? I honestly think its the latter, as if I bring him into his stall for a groom, he wolfs down his haynet like he knows its a bit extra and he needs every strand possible, but then goes back to nibbling in the field.

When I take the hay/feed out he prances about shouting like a loony so I know he is ready for it!

Ill just add that he not starved by any stretch of the imagination and gets half a bale of hay, plus some additional straw and 2 scoops of fast fiber each day. This will now be his life forever, restricted grazing with top up hay and lots of exercise. x
 
This is very similar to how I feed my welsh who lives on fresh air and I did say to someone the other day that it is one of nature's ironies that such an animal that needs so few calories has such a large tummy to keep topped up and that perhaps he needs a gastric band!

Kes has been on restricted grazing for nearly a year now, ever since I've had him. His weight is always lovely. But I do think he spends his life on the peckish side. I can usually tell whether he is genuinely hungry, peckish or just being plain greedy. But he does wolf his food down.

Again, the pony gets what he needs and I try to keep roughage going through by reducing the goodness (soaking hay, etc)... but ultimately if he was allowed to eat to his heart's content he would be a very poorly animal.


I actually think it's as expensive feeding a good doer as a poor doer. Because he has to have hay rather than grass, even in the summer (soaked hay and starvation paddock) he costs me a bomb when a TB type would be stuffing its face with grass for 'free'!
 
I would imagine that when he was overweight he would have had some insulin resistance, which makes them hungrier all the time. If that is controlled with diet and exercise then he might well be satisfied with smaller rations. :)
 
I found muzzling mine has been the kindest way to restrict his scoffing. He would get stressed in a starvation paddock on his own. He sulks for a few days when it is put on him, but then he is fine and accepts it.
He also wolfs his food, he has a very small holed haynet and that lasts him about 3 hours. But it's that or laminitis! He does eat fast fibre quite slowly as he's not too keen on it. He also nibbles his straw bad.
But come spring when he lives out the sulky muzzle will be on! I do feel sorry for him, it's not his fault he's such a good doer.
 
I think they start to relax about food once they become confident in a consistent routine. I had to move my pony on to a wood mulch area on a soaked hay diet due to laminitis and after a couple of weeks he started to calm down about not going on the grass and is very happy with his daily routine. I also find that feeding him from a haynet tends to wind him up and he gobbles it until every last strand has gone, whereas putting his hay in piles around the pen on the ground makes him eat it more slowly for some reason, maybe because its more natural, not sure but I hardly ever use haynets anymore.
 
Thank you everyone. The vet said he was a commited grazer which really made me laugh!

He would literally eat himself to death if he was given the chance, he's so greedy.

I'm looking forward to the vet coming back in April to give his jabs as she said she wanted to see him closer to 400kg, which he will be by then when the grass comes through.

Sometimes I think its harder on me seeing his sad little face, pleading for food. BUT, and its a big but, hes now a healthy weight, moves beautifully now he's not carrying an extra 100kg around and I wont worry so much when the grass does start to shoot through as I guarantee he will find and eat EVER blade he finds! Ha ha ha.

And for a comparison, here he is in August at the place I bought him from:

Benji2.jpg


And last weekend. (p.s. I love this picture as he looks so dopey. His feet dont actually turn in, he's just stood in a dawky fashion!)

11289_4986366171410_931367533_n_zpsca83fe7f.jpg
 
He's gorgeous! Has just the same expression as my my good doer cob.
They do adjust for sure, mine has been on a strict diet for well over a year now and he's definitely less food-orientated than he used to be. I found, like WandaMare, that haynets actually seem to make my boy more frantic to get at the hay, and he actually eats slower from the floor, so I too have done away with them.
 
He looks much better now. I do have to add though that if half of these 'good doers' were given proper exercise then they wouldn't need restricting so much.
 
TomH said:
He looks much better now. I do have to add though that if half of these 'good doers' were given proper exercise then they wouldn't need restricting so much.
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I don't disagree, obviously exercise is beneficial, but I think I would have to have my welsh on an Olympian training program to justify him having more access to calories.

I don't think you can say every pony / cob owner fails to work their animal and every lightweight TB type owner has theirs in full work.
 
Haffy's are starving every moment of every day - my boy's life revolves around food - he wont let the others at the hay until he's had his fill.
They are also too smart for their own good, so has probably sussed when its gone its gone. I used to think that mine had been starved a one point in his life because he's sooooo food greedy but now I just think he's just plain greedy :p
 
I also muzzle from March right through the summer, he would just jump the gates to get at the grass in the other field if I didn't. He can do a 5 bar gate no probs
 
TomH said:
He looks much better now. I do have to add though that if half of these 'good doers' were given proper exercise then they wouldn't need restricting so much.
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Yes I used to think that as well until I got one :rolleyes: Mine gets exercised every day and I reckon she just eats more afterwards to make up for it! I had a mare before this who used to put on weight quite easily, but then it would come off after good exercise. I thought she was a 'good doer', now I have a good doer I realise what it actually means :D
 
Mine is always better with exercise but I don't think he has ever looked super slim even when hunting off hay and beet! Unfortunately I don't think most of them were designed to be eating grass at all

I would like to extol the virtues of the paddock paradise/track system if any of you have control of your grazing though. It keeps them moving so much more than starvation paddocks :). We did it last year for the first time over summer as F could not be in proper work and was amazed how much more they moved.
 
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