Does he need any food???

[louise1967]

My daughters Welsh Sec A, 15 years old, is in a starvation paddock as he was getting rather fat. He goes into his paddock for 5 hrs per day and at night I give him 1 flap of hay, does he need any feed for nutrients. In the winter I was giving him a little bit of Happy Hoof and a scoop of Top Spec Anti-Lam. I am not too experienced on keeping ponies,I have only ever had horses, any advice welcome.

 

[MillionDollar]

I have 2 NFs and I had a Welsh A until recently. They always go into a starvation paddock in the summer with no hard feed (unless in very hard work and the NFs are in-foal so are fed now) and would only have a bit of hay like yours. But they were out 24/7.
IMO I would give him a haynet with 5 slices of hay in soaked for 2 hours. There is no need for hard feed.

 

[Paint it Lucky]

I agree he probably doesn't need hard feed. I would give him some soaked hay as Claire said when he's in, try and spread it out though if possible as its not good for horses (even fat ones!) to go without food for long periods (more than 8 hours). He should get some nutrients from the grass and so long as he looks healthy shouldn't need anything else.

 

[Christmas_Kate]

[ QUOTE ]
I have 2 NFs and I had a Welsh A until recently. They always go into a starvation paddock in the summer with no hard feed (unless in very hard work and the NFs are in-foal so are fed now) and would only have a bit of hay like yours. But they were out 24/7.
IMO I would give him a haynet with 5 slices of hay in soaked for 2 hours. There is no need for hard feed.

[/ QUOTE ]

How many slices??? When ours was in 22 hours a day he only ate 3 slices tops.....

 

[SpruceRI]

5 of my hay bale slices = 3/4's of a bale??

My Shettie lives out in a summer paddock - don't like to call it starvation, but I suppose that's what it is!!

It has a modicum of grass growing in it all summer which keeps him fed but his weight off, so he doesn't get any hard feed or hay.

Last year gave him a mineral lick - one of those black looking things in a bucket - unmollassed, just vits and mins. Kept him amused for hours but didn't put any extra weight on. Will probably buy another this year to keep him happy.

 

[MillionDollar]

Yeh but i give hay ad lib, its so bad for horses not to have anything to eat. Soaking it takes away unwanted calories and it won't do any harm.

 

[Christmas_Kate]

yep, I'm a firm believer in that, but even ad lib mine doesnt eat anything more than 3 slices, and that's been soaked for 12 hours. AND he's a complete guts!!

 

[MillionDollar]

Woah your bales are small, all of our small bales have at least 12 slices.

I don't see why everyone is having a go anyway. I feed soaked hay ad lib as it doesn't do any harm.

 

[Weezy]

Crumbs, my 16.2hh WB doesn't get 5 sections of hay a night

 

[MillionDollar]

Why is it such a big deal. Prehaps its because I live on a farm so hay is free, but my horses get 6 slices each when they are in and the NFs get about 5 slices each and its all gone in the morning. Welshie would eat about 4 slices.

 

[smellsofhorse]

Horses are grazers! They are naturally suposed to eat little and often almost continually.
I would give him a small feed of say happy hoof and use a broad spectrum vitimin and mineral suplement ( a good one is equivite) to insure he gets all of the nutrients.

There worse thing you can do is starve him, he will just gorge when he does see food.

Give a low calorie food say hay mixed with straw in a small holed haynet so it takes him longer to eat.

 

[juliebrewer]

I prefer to keep any fat pony out on very short grass and small paddock. This way they eat the little bit of grass growth throughout the day, I give a bit of hay if the grass doesnt grow (dry weather). No you shouldnt starve a pony as it can damage them .. something to do with there liver and toxidity.. metabolic disorder...

 

[MagicMelon]

I would personally give him a very small daily feed. Like lovegeegees says - a little Happy Hoof and an all round vit & min supplement as he wont be getting the necessary vits & mins from a diet of hardly any grass and soaked hay.

2 of mine are in their summer paddock (not much grass at all). I give them 3 (smll holed) haynets a day (morning, lunch and evening) of not-best quality hay (it's 2 years old). They get 2 feeds a day (mainly 2 because my others get fed twice so they go nuts otherwise!!) of Greengold Alfalfa & High Fibre Cubes along with their necessary supplements.