fat Fat FAT pony - ideas and advice

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SouthWestWhippet

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My pony has come back from his loan home yesterday FAT FAT FAT. I mean, seriously obese with huge packets of fat along his rib cage. He's been much loved and well looked after but the girl who had him swapped ponies for boys this summer and he basically hasn't had the exercise. He's a haflinger pony (see sig) so gets fat on a blade of straw.

He is now living out 24/7 in an acre with one other pony. He is 14hh, other pony is 12.2hh. Other pony is a little fat (came from same people as were loaning mine) but not too bad. Other pony also prone to laminitis. I have no stabling or way of keeping them off the grass.

I'm looking for ideas and advice to get my pony's weight down. here are some of the things I am doing/considering. any thoughts gratefully received.

> I've fenced off a schooling area in the middle of the field so as to create a 'racetrack' style grazing area around the outside to keep ponies moving as they graze.
> field is obviously very small so hopefully will get grazed down very fast which will obviously help
> Am planning to hack out everyday but not sure how long will be ok. am thinking about half an hour at first then building to an hour?
> Thinking about grazing muzzle?
> Thinking about giving him a bib and belly clip and no rug until it gets really cold... but is this just plain cruel?
> Wondering about fencing off a very small area of the field as a corale and keeping ponies in there overnight with oat straw?

Any other ideas, or any criticisms of my thoughts? haven't done anything yet as pony only came back yesterday but i've never been faced with a pony THIS obese before and i'm a bit worried.

thank you and cookies and cake if you get this far. x
 
All your ideas sound great :) If there is a reasonable amount of grass in the field then muzzling would work well.

Little consolation, but it is a 'good' time of year to be trying to get weight off ponies :)

Regarding exercise, I would play it by ear, but lots of (slow) hacking is the best to begin with anyway.

Good luck!
 
Lucky we're going into winter, makes it so much easier.
You will probably find that it comes off naturally as 1 acre is not a lot for 2 ponies in winter.
It won't take them long to eat down the grass at this time of year and you'll probably have to provide hay after that but you'll be able to control the situation.
So grazing muzzles, clipping to burn fat etc. Will become irrelevant once the grass is eaten down.

Just watch he doesn't loose weight too quickly which is possible in winter if bare paddocks aren't supplemented with hay in some way, even when fat they still need to eat.
Sorry I just say this after seeing a YO leave a small herd to starve because they got fat in summer, 9 horses on 2 acres of bald paddock.......good management - not! ;)
 
I'd definitely go with the track system and muzzle if you can. Re the exercise, I would start off slowly then just build it up bit by bit, even walking in hand if you don't have time to ride will help. Both my mares were overweight when I got them because they had been out of work, ensuring they were on restricted grazing and getting them walking every day (building up to lots of trotting) really helped to shift the podge. And it's definitely the right time of year!
 
Thanks everyone, I know that an acre is nothing, I'm not going to let them starve... am planning this week to track down some local hay and oat straw and going to feed a mix of this once the grass is gone.

Also hoping that overnight coraling (PITA though it will be as will have to go up twice a day with toddler in tow) will help prevent the whole field turning into a mud pit! Am thinking of putting down some bark chippings in the corall area to help it drain. When you have so little grazing you have to get creative but fortunately both ponies are fatties so fingers crossed I can make it work. If not I do have a few other options.

It is the best time of year to shift weight but SERIOUSLY my pony is huge :( At least he is still his usual fizzy self so willing to put the work in to shift the pounds! If I have toddler, I'm hoping I might be able to free school or lunge in the school area if it isn't too wet and have baby on my hip out of the way of the pony.
 
Weight should come off easily now that the weather is on our side! Some brisk trotting on the lunge as well as riding does my porkies the world of good. Love your whippet, BTW!
 
Have u had a weight tape on him?

My daughters cob was massive, he along with 3 others were stranded in their paddock for over 6 weeks due to the track being a sheet of ice, and the grass was hidden with snow. We had no option but to get the farmer to put the big bales of haylage in the field and never let it run out as it was way below zero and not a blade of grass.

He was about 100 kilos overweight as a result and resembled a telly tubby. I was horrified. I used winter to my advantage, no more adlib haylage. Just some hay daily when in so I know he wasn't starving, plus they were on about 5 acres. He lost it quite quickly and he was rugged (wimpy excuse of a cob).

Lots of hacking out played a part, and we put the tape on weekly to monitor.
 
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