fat pony help please!!

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Gryfiss

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I brought a shetland x about a year ago she is 10hh and was over weight weighing a whopping 340kg on the weight tape :eek:, I managed to get her down to 238 kg on the weight tape and maintain this over winter by bringing her in at night giving her a slice of soaked hay with no rug on ( she did seem to put on weight if I left her out all night).

at the momement she currently weighs around 248 kg I know this is still big for her size but I dont seem to get her down to any less than this , she is brought in at night normally from 4pm-9am with a soaked slice of hay had slim picking of grass from the edges ( I mean next to nothing ) , she is rotated on 2 acres which is split of not great grass .

She is used as a companion so exercise is hard to do with her and she can get any muzzel of with in 5 seconds of me driving down the road I've stopped and watched :).

Any advice welcome at the moment she looks like a hippo :( before I brought her I had the farrier checked her feet for lami and said the were fine amazingly! but i am still worried and want to do all i can to make sure she doesn't get it .
 
I can but it is a pain as am quite busy I have tried taking her for walks out with the dog while her partner in crime is away being broken, I end up dragging her back. Compared to other shetlands she looks twice the the size but she is appalooser which makes me think she is a cross. If i'm honest when I first got her I did lunge her but it didn't make that much difference .:( I shall have to pull my finger out again.
 
Walk in hand. Do you know anyone who runs cross country? Have you tried altering a muzzle? Track system? If it were me I would try and do concrete yard with spread soaked hay.... Please can we see a picture? I 'heart' mini beasts - even ones that look like hippos on a temporary basis.
 
break her to drive to get more exercise. A bare paddock would be better with a little hay scattered around to encourage movement. That is worryingly overweight at the moment isnt it. Is there anyone close by that wants a lead rein pony to play with ?
 
Can you take her out with you on a hack? Along side and in a bridle - sounds like she needs a bit of exercise to burn the calories and she may enjoy a change of scenery with her field-buddy :D
 
^^^ Above posts have been updated since I posted. Is she able to be ridden? Perhaps a part loan for a bit of lead rein or maybe a bit of loose schooling/agility work if you have a school?
 
long reining is good

....bring her in during the day and turm out at night. the grass photosynthesises in the day creating more energy in it and therefore it is more fattening, grass (plants do not photosynthesise during the dark hours (just finished biology gcse:D )
 
You probably need to restrict the grazing far more, 2 acres split and rotated is going to always have fresh growth, could you make a track or a long strip and keep her on that with no rotating onto new areas, let it become bare. I have 2 ponies out on less than 1 acre each day it looks bare but they are picking at something all day, they move around a lot and are keeping nice and slim.
 
Can't break her to drive as can't afford a cart:o

For the last 2 weeks she was in a concereat area with just soaked hay while I've had the buttercup topped and have been waiting for them to die, she was on soaked hay then and didn't loose any.

I will go and put a track round tomorrow that sounds like a good Idea she can't really go out once the other one is back as I would be worried he would jump out if left and it would be staight on to a busy road if he is good at hacking then I will ride and lead but this would be a no go for a least a year.

I don't want to put pictures up because it would probably start a war :D and I'm doing the best I can I will start with a track and lunging tomorrow though:)
 
I would keep her on the concrete if you can, soak a wedge of hay and scatter, very thinly, over the whole yard so she has to keep moving. Clip her and she really does need to start some exercise otherwise this will all be in vain!
 
I was told recently that you should put them on slightly longer grass as it has less sugar in rather than letting it go bare is this right also would I be better leaving her out at night then and bringing her in the day ?
 
Iv have had the same prob with my pony but now he's a healthy weight and can feel his ribs. What I done was
1, never saw a field without a greenguard on ( he got off every other muzzle)
2, got a sharer so now he has a kid who loves him and rides him around, before that I lunged everyday!! Exercise does work.
3, in by day in summer 6 - 6
4, hay soaked for 12 hours.
5, don't bed on straw
 
thatsmygirl said:
Iv have had the same prob with my pony but now he's a healthy weight and can feel his ribs. What I done was
1, never saw a field without a greenguard on ( he got off every other muzzle)
2, got a sharer so now he has a kid who loves him and rides him around, before that I lunged everyday!! Exercise does work.
3, in by day in summer 6 - 6
4, hay soaked for 12 hours.
5, don't bed on straw
Click to expand...

This, especially the going out at night, all mine do. Although long grass is better, there is more of it!! not a good idea, and Shetlands are not the best companions at all.
 
Loose schooling is fantastic for Shetlands. Get a few jumps out and they love it.
Regarding grazing they need pasture grazing not rye grass which is too rich for horses. So next time the field is sowen make sure its done with meadow pasture seed.
 
I stuck ours in a small electric fence pen within the horses' turnout. I used the poor girl to eat down all the long old stalky stuff they didn't like! The pen was only about an eighth of an acre and would just eak her round as and when she needed it. She needed moving far less than I first thought. Cleaned up the paddock beautifully and she respected the electric - thankfully! Don't let the battery die - they learn quick! I should have exercised her more but the time thing as you say so she went on to a more suitable loan home in the end.
 
You dont need to post a pic i can imagine .. My 12hh welshy is only just over 200kgs !!
Lunging, find someway to keep the muzzle on (i leave my mares headcollar on with it and tie them together with shoelaces) walking as much as possible and don't underestimate the lami risk .. Would be on the concrete yard with soaked hay as someone else said if it was mine!!
 
Put her in a small electric fence pen and don't be tempted to move the fence just because it looks bald!

We have 2 cobs on a strip which looks as if there is no grass there whatsoever, but they are still finding plenty to keep themselves going.

One is in during the day and working, one is out 24/7 and doesn't do much.

Both look great, and seem happy enough even though there doesn't appear to be any grass in there at all!
 
Even if it looks completely bald, if they are doing a normal number of poos then something is going in the other end! So you can use that as a guide. Shetlands can graze by licking Velcro length grass. Old long grass is better sugars wise, but the amount would be far too much for an overweight pony, so you need to keep the grass basically invisible, which means electric off a small section if you can't use a muzzle. What you don't want is too big a restricted area which would mean the worst of both worlds, too much grass AND very rich, you have to go for one extreme or the other, strip graze long stuff or heavily restrict area of barely there stuff.
 
I have a friend's pony come to live with us for a while. She's struggled with his weight for a long time but he's really ballooned this year. He looks like a classic EMS pony - fat pads, rock hard crest - but has been tested negative. He's come to me as I had great success stripping back the weight on my own mare, and she's hoping I can help with her boy.

All our ponies live out, coming into the stables for a couple of hours or so a day. Our grazing is rubbish but I feel even that would be too much for Bob at the moment. He is therefore living well soaked hay on our stable yard, with one stable open in case he wants shelter / bed. He gets to interact with one of our ponies when they come in each day, as we don't have enough stables to go round, so he's double bunking with my youngster.

He's not yet been backed as my friend doesn't have a small jockey, however crash test dummy (aka my 9yo daughter) has decided that riding him would be more interesting for him than being lunged, so had her first sit on him yesterday.

I'm not expecting instant miracles, but we really hope we can get this little chap back to a healthy weight before too long.
 
You cannot starve her its not healthy, she wont lose weight by diet alone, just 5mins on the lunge or a 10min fast walk out and soaked hay and she will lose weight. My mini shet loves going for 20min hack down the road longside my cob. Remember it wont come off in 5 days so you need to keep at it.
 
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