does anyone else have overweight ponies??

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sallypops

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sometimes i feel like i'm the only on with a very fat pony
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does anyone else??

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u can just see the start of her tummy in this pic

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thanks
 
Its not just you, I have to have a very strict regime with my pony, she's had laminitis before so I'm permanently watching her weight, although she's ok now, it wouldn't take long for her to put it back on if I weren't careful.
 
I have a welsh cob who is in better condition than I would like
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however as its now going into winter Im quite happy for her to keep the weight on - she's not on lush grass and I've only had her for 3 weeks
I had a haflinger mare who was in 'show condition' most of the time. There wasnt the facilities at the yard for restricted grazing (or anything much else really..) so I just made sure she was worked most days and not given any hard feed - her suppliments were mixed with a teensy amount of happy hoof.
 
YES!! my pony is rather fine as well so it looks terrible. I am trying my best by bringing her in half the day or night every day! Thats one good thing about winter she can shift some pounds!!
 
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She looks like a Highland and they are very hard to keep the weight off.

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I totally agree they are a chunky breed, so they either need to be on very poor rations (not the fairly lush grass in the picture) or worked very hard.

I would be extremely worried if my pony was that size.
 
Goodness, yes she is incredibly fat isn't she. I would be rather worried if any of my horses looked like that. She looks like a lovely horse too but a diet and way more exercise would not be out of order.

No none of mine are ever kept fat - I like slim but highly muscled horses..
 
Yes, but mine are on a very strict diet, they are on practically no grass and no hard feed. This is my boy, still with about 40kgs to get rid of.
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she is highland and literally gets fats on thin air, she is on a field with barly no grass like none! and a grazing muzzle she gets walked out but she can't be ridden at the moment as her feet are really bad again. its just so disheartning when you try so hard to keep it off but people make it out to be such a horrible disgusting thing like you want your pony to be like that. i have to say tho i much prefer a chunky horse than a thin one
 
I have struggled terribly with the weight of both my horses (no not native ponies) simply because we have had so much grass this year and it is so lush. I have managed to turn a small part of one of the fields into a starvation paddock and they come in all day as well - but they are still fatter than they should be but now I will start getting them hunting fit so hopefully they will return to what they used to be!
 
Mine is huge, she's not a native pony but is an ID x. She naturally has a big barrel but has been on box rest since February, and now on grass rest since July. She's been on very good grazing all the while as I literally didn't have anywhere else to put her (other than stable her 24/7). She is now in eight acres of hay field with a grazing muzzle on and I'm hoping she'll lose a lot of it in the winter (she loses condition easily, although not necessarily the pot belly). I can't work her as she's recovering from her injury so there's little else I can do, I just hope that people walking past on the footpath don't a) call the RSPCA and tell them she's been neglected as she's far too fat, or b) take her muzzle off! In my defence there was literally nothing I could do to stop her getting fat in the first place, she wasn;t allowed a muzzle on to start with as I wasn't allowed to risk her running around (she's got a tendon injury). I check her feet for heat, swelling and a digital pulse twice a day and *touch wood* there's been nothing nasty. Fingers crossed this muzzle works.
 
Not harsh if you have experienced the killer that is laminitis I'm afraid.

What is wrong with her feet? Why can't you ride her?
 
Christ yes! I think it's scottish ponies in general, they have a fat gene
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My children's pony came to us weighing 265. That's for a 9.3hh shetland
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. Not having owned a shetland before I had no idea what I'd let myself in for.
People DO think it's disgusting to have a fat pony, and feel it's their right to make comments. I do wonder if they'd make the same comments to a parent about their child? Constructive criticism is what's needed, good old solid advice.

Hughlands are well built but sorry sallypops, that ponio is plain overweight...
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IMHO walking a pony out is no good. I traipsed miles before I realised he wasnt losing any weight. I had leg muscles like boulders though!
Lungeing is the way to go. Walking round and round in circles will do your Highland more good than anything you could ever do.
Either :
get that field sectioned off. Give her a small area to herself, and let her trample the lot into the ground on a rainy day till she has nothing left. Then feed her soaked hay (NOT ad lib!! a bit every few hours will do)
Or put a muzzle on her in the day and bring her in at night.
or put a muzzle on 24/7.

trust me, it all works! from this: 265kg

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to this: (3 months later) 220 kg
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and this is the paddock we did it in:

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now you have a shetland too, time to make yourself a proper piggy paddock. get some sheep, some electric fencing and get that field reduced down. If the farmer will let you perhaps section a bit off and put bark chip down, then you can use this in the day, feed hay, and let them onto the grass at night with their muzzles on. A shetland will pile the lbs on and come down with laminitis at the drop of a hat.
 
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Not me. Plough your field. That'll stop it eating grass.

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OR put it out in the rain and come back to find this
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our ponio ploughs his own!!
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I had to fence it off and re seed it before YO saw it
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people make it out to be such a horrible disgusting thing like you want your pony to be like that. i have to say tho i much prefer a chunky horse than a thin one

[/ QUOTE ] I totally disagree - the health risks of a pony being overweight are so great that I would prefer them to be a little bit on the thin size rather than fat. As a farrier's wife I often speak to people who have had attitudes like yours and ended up with a laminitic horse.

As xxKatyxx has said, you need to get a small paddock sectioned off for her so you can get her weight back under control.

You may think I am being harsh but this is a serious welfare issue and changes need to be made to this pony's management if it isn't to suffer in the long run.
 
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people make it out to be such a horrible disgusting thing like you want your pony to be like that. i have to say tho i much prefer a chunky horse than a thin one

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thats because watching an overweight pony struggle with the pain and anguish of lammi until it's PTS is IMO disgusting.

there is no excuse for a horse/pony to be overweight.

the problem is well known, well talked about and well publicised.

it has been said on here MANY MANY times that it just comes down to good paddock/feed management....easy really
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i know fine well she is well overweight, i am just making a point of sayin that she doesn't have any health issue other than her crumbly feet which she has had for ages thats why she had to come off work. the last time she had any symptoms of laminitus was over 3 years ago now and touch wood it won't come back. she shares her field with sheep and an other horse and the filed is grazed on by the sheep 24/7 all year round, her grazing muzzle does seems to be helping tho. that pic was taken quite a few months ago. we are about to start lunging twice a day for 15-30 mins fast walking and trotting,it has to be off by winter i have set myself that target lol!
 
I have a hideously overweight ponio. I got him in March, which is just the worst time of year to buy an overweight native, they really need to come into spring slim. Started weightaping him in June, he was 538kg (he's 14.1hh!!!) and last saturday weighed 490kg - still a long way to go but we're getting there.

I tried a grazing muzzle (he removed it) and a starvation paddock (worked really well until we had all that wet weather and it got muddy and he got the begginings of mud fever....) and now he is out with all the others but there is very little grass, and he is worked 5 or 6 days a week most weeks to keep his weight down.

It is a contant battle, but you just have to do it.
 
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we are about to start lunging twice a day for 15-30 mins fast walking and trotting,it has to be off by winter i have set myself that target lol!

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Great to have a target, and plan of action. But I would strongly recommend that lunging your overweight mare is not the way forward.

Get on her and walk her little legs off. Start with 20mins a day and build it up to an hour and half by week four.

Lunging any overweight horse puts considerable strain on their legs, and you could cause some serious damage.
 
i am so determined now me an pop are goona get this weight off, infact i could do with looseing some so we can do it together, it is an ongoing battle, and your right we just need to do it for our ponies sakes
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good luck bex 1984 u seem to be doing really well too
 
Not a fat pony but I had a fat horse!

Lance was 680kg when I took him on:

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He is now 580kg and that is as fat as I would like him, but it is summer. This is now, and ideally I want 10kg off:

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There was also a 14.1 at our yard who was 565kg!! Last winter!
She should have been 400kg!

Sadly it took my friend losing her connemara to laminitis this year to make them gt the weight off, but the pony is nice and slim now, in a starvation paddock with the shetland permanently.

you must get your pony in a starvation paddock.
 
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i know fine well she is well overweight, i am just making a point of sayin that she doesn't have any health issue other than her crumbly feet which she has had for ages thats why she had to come off work. the last time she had any symptoms of laminitus was over 3 years ago

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Sorry to say it but she does have health issues - shes overweight, if she had sypmtoms over 3 years ago.. prevention is better than cure..
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Once a horse or pony has had laminitic symptoms, it should always be treated as a laminitic.

Her shelter? Really you want her moving around outside burning a few more calories off! Cant you fence off a bit of a field, let something else graze it down to nothing, and give her last years hay.
 
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