Fat Welshy!! Anyone else??

[Cheshire Chestnut]

Spring in a nightmare - I just can't get it right!

Welsh D has had two days on 24/7 turnout and he's ballooned. It's not just his stomach; it's his neck, his back fat and bum too. All in a few days. Checked for pulses, all fine but I'm well on my toes with it now. He wasn't like this last year as my previous yard didn't have great grass so it wasn't an issue.

I'm so terrified of lami so I've got him living in at night now with a tiny haynet, no feed and no treats. He gets turned out about 9:30am and trying to bring him in before 5pm. His field has been made smaller and he shares it with two others horses to live out 24/7 so they eat it down nicely, therefore the grass isn't long. He's hardly getting food but still will continue to bloat. He gets exercised 6 days a week.

Does anyone have any ideas how I manage this even more? I can't keep him in more than this due to him getting wound up, he needs his routine turnout. Grazing muzzle was a disaster last year and ended up strung on a fence in tatters.

Please tell me I'm not alone with a native pony secret eater!!

 

[Spanny]

You could try soaking his hay to get some of the goodness out of it, but give him more overnight. If he's starving by the time he gets to the field he's probably just gorging all day! It's a nightmare. Good luck!

 

[ester]

I muzzle mine or keep him on a track round the edge of the field, and also keep the work up! Which muzzle are you using?

 

[CBFan]

It's amazing how fast they balloon - you're not the only one to suffer, believe me!! I can only suggest you try again with the muzzle, soak your hay and make sure he's not bedded on straw as he can pig out on that!

What work is he doing on those 6 days? If you're stuck for time maybe increase the speed rather than the time spent...

 

[FfionWinnie]

More exercise. None of my natives are fat if they are exercised sufficiently.

 

[southerncomfort]

I muzzle mine or keep him on a track round the edge of the field, and also keep the work up! Which muzzle are you using?

Agree with this. I'd persevere with muzzles rather than restricting hay to one small net overnight as you risk colic unfortunately. Never easy is it!

 

[DiNozzo]

If he's only getting a small net a night he's probably really hungry by the morning and stuffs himself when he gets out the field.

Try feeding him more hay at night but soak it first?

 

[Ladyinred]

Our welshies are out on a small patch 24/7 now. We find the best plan is to give them hay overnight, they eat it because,like most natives, they can stand still and eat rather than search for it. It has the added benefit of stopping them gorging endlessly on every scrap of grass. It is low quality hay, late cut and with little goodness, but they eat it and it has really helped. After a really nasty lami attack three years ago we have been doing this and, so far, it has proved the best answer.

They need work, but, atm, daughter isn't able to ride so controlling diet is the only way to control their weight.

 

[Supertrooper]

Luckily mine is ok ATM, mainly because he's been on the same field since March 2014 so he's not on lush grazing. Weigh taping weekly and will start track system or strip grazing when nec.

 

[Mrs G]

Literally 2 weeks ago I was concerned that despite upping his calorie intake my TB still hadn't put on the weight he had lost over winter, I stood back and looked at him at the weekend and thought "have I brought the wrong horse in - who is this prize porker in the stable?" It happened in days! While he is stabled, soaking the hay and mixing it with straw might help him feel fuller without adding calories?

 

[*hic*]

Sadly my fat Welshy isn't fat this year. It's his age I suspect, he's well into his thirties now. So he and my other veteran are now the first horses allowed into each new paddock opened up so that they can get the best of the grass. My high% TBs and full TB however are right porkers and I'm now starting to consider strip grazing. My paddocks are all off a track so I open two small strips at a time as far away from each other as possible to get them moving about.

I did get slightly caught out - I wondered why the grass wasn't going, but then a look at the porkers made me realise that it is, but it's just going straight into the nags!

FOr your Welshy however I'd try a track system and leaving him out all the time - having to keep warm at night will help his weight.

 

[Dazed'n'confused]

I feel your pain!!! My seriously fat companion pony wasn't looking too bad (for her) until the last couple of days & now she's like a Roly Poly! I despair! She's muzzled at night, has soaked hay when she comes in (not much, just enough so that she's not hungry - she isn't greedy amazingly & would leave it if she wasn't hungry as she's canny enough to know that she'll be back out soon!) & has a few hours on a track during the day to give her nose a break (gets rubbed)! They come in every morning for 4 hours & every tea time for 3 hours! She has a huge crest, fat bum & I now can hardly feel ribs! She's like it every year despite my best efforts. Unfortunately she's lame due to a knee injury so can't be lunged but I walk her in hand as much as I can. How she hasn't got Lami is beyond me but I've yet to feel a pulse & her feet are tremendous!! I do worry tho! Thankfully this is her last summer as a nanny to my youngster & will be permanently on a track again next year (if she hasn't exploded by then)! :-D It's a full time job managing her but she's been such a trooper at her nanny job that she's worth it!

 

[dollymix]

I struggle with mine! She had two weeks off for a shoing reason and looked hideous after. She's now back in work, soaked, double netted hay at night and turned out in day. I'm going to increase canter work too in order to shift it but as our yard is over-run by children who hog the school at 5pm I am going to start going up to ride after my own dinner at around 7.30

 

[Apercrumbie]

I completely feel your pain. Personally I would give him a large haynet of soaked hay. It sounds like he is just gorging himself when he gets put out which isn't surprising as he must be starving. Soak the hay for as long as is feasible for you and if you have the time up his exercise. Even if he stays porky, if he's fit and in work he is less likely to get laminitis.

 

[Supertrooper]

This is mine ATM

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

Thanks for this - just phew!!! It's not just me that finds it hard!

I had him on full livery today as I couldn't be there and the lady who did him said he has pooed a bit in the night but not excessively, and only eaten half of his small net. Obviously was feeling very full and sorry for himself. Apparently he was a bit perkier tonight and didn't seem as bloated.

Think I'm going to get another muzzle, liking the look of Shires one with fleecey bits on to stop rubbing. He will hate me for it but it's better than lami. He jumped the fences into the lush field next door last summer and I can't be having that again!

Might buy myself a grazing muzzle too while I'm at it so I can shoehorn myself into my wedding dress come September!

 

[Supertrooper]

Def not just you that finds it hard xx

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

Thank you for all the tips, I'll take them all on board and give him a larger soaked haynet. Also going to re-invest into a muzzle so at least I'm not worrying about his grass intake all day. Then I can start to worry he's not getting enough to eat hehe.

He's fine come summer, it's just the spring grass that causes me the most problems. He lived out last summer at this yard in the same field as he's in now no problem, but we didn't move here until late May so all of the spring grass choas was over with by then!

 

[MochaDun]

To look at our winter fields at the yard you wouldn't think much was there but with the good weather recently the grass though short is probably at its richest - I just said last night how bloated mine was looking when he came in. He's out during the day and while they can this week be out 24/7 on the winter fields I'm keeping him in overnight as he has no 'off' button where grazing is concerned! He gets a very decent small holed haynet to try and avoid the 'cram it all in when back out in field' approach In fairness to him he's only being ridden 2 days a week at the moment but that will increase from here on in as from Saturday we move onto the summer fields but again he'll be in off the grass either during the day or night. (I kept him out at night last year and in during day and couldn't see any major difference to when he used to be out in the day and in at night on my former summer regime).

 

[Pinkvboots]

Feeding magnesium oxide in spring can help but not a cure, if he has abnormal fat pads might be worth getting him tested for ems.

 

[Dazed'n'confused]

This is mine ATM

Snap!! Mine has a bigger crest but I think nothing short of liposuction would get rid of that!! Arghhhhh!!

 

[milliepops]

My section D is positively skinny, having been absolutely enormous when I got her in the summer last year. She wintered out, clipped but rugged, on pathetic amounts of grass, mug full of balancer but ad lib hay. She and Millie are out 24/7 on a field that has not been rested at all. They are hayed at night and both look super. They are both worked daily I think exercise is the key for these types

 

[Carrots&Mints]

Spring in a nightmare - I just can't get it right!

Welsh D has had two days on 24/7 turnout and he's ballooned. It's not just his stomach; it's his neck, his back fat and bum too. All in a few days. Checked for pulses, all fine but I'm well on my toes with it now. He wasn't like this last year as my previous yard didn't have great grass so it wasn't an issue.

I'm so terrified of lami so I've got him living in at night now with a tiny haynet, no feed and no treats. He gets turned out about 9:30am and trying to bring him in before 5pm. His field has been made smaller and he shares it with two others horses to live out 24/7 so they eat it down nicely, therefore the grass isn't long. He's hardly getting food but still will continue to bloat. He gets exercised 6 days a week.

Does anyone have any ideas how I manage this even more? I can't keep him in more than this due to him getting wound up, he needs his routine turnout. Grazing muzzle was a disaster last year and ended up strung on a fence in tatters.

Please tell me I'm not alone with a native pony secret eater!!

I have a section D and i think the worst thing you can do after keeping them in all winter is to just chuck them out 24/7 (not being nasty) They are not used to it all all. Mine has max 2 hours per day for a couple of weeks, then increased to 4 and then in june time he might go out for half a day.

Its too much all of a sudden for natives. Thats my opinion anyhow.

Our grass is really rich as it was recently used for baleing so its been fertalised for the last god knows how many years.

 

[supsup]

I think the problem is that the grass is currently growing faster than even the greediest pony can keep up with. Ours live out 24/7, and mine was a very nice slim weight coming through winter. We halved the (grazed down) winter field a few weeks ago, and I've muzzled part-time (day) for the past week, but it's still growing so fast that he's starting to look porky. And he's ridden most days.
Most of the summer, we can manage by restricting the area, but in spring we just can't make it small enough to limit intake and provide enough space for the horses. So muzzle 24/7 it is at the moment. I have had a greenguard which has lasted me 5 years now (not constant use, of course). I usually need it for a few weeks in the spring, then we can go back to strip grazing and keep the weight in check.

 

[Hawks27]

Our lami prone welsh d has her own electric fenced cube within the big horses field, she goes out 8-10he a day in winter and 24x7 in summer, if it shoots up too much in the spring or autumn my skinny man goes on it for a couple of weeks to graze it off for her. so its always short but we manage to keep it nice and never had any trouble with her weight. She has soaked haynet at night in winter and a handful of diet chaff with lami supplement in it. no sugar no treats no crap, shes not ridden as just a pet (owner has vertigo just likes owning ponies for fun)

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

I have a section D and i think the worst thing you can do after keeping them in all winter is to just chuck them out 24/7 (not being nasty) They are not used to it all all. Mine has max 2 hours per day for a couple of weeks, then increased to 4 and then in june time he might go out for half a day.

Its too much all of a sudden for natives. Thats my opinion anyhow.

Our grass is really rich as it was recently used for baleing so its been fertalised for the last god knows how many years.

He was out all winter in the daytime from 8:30am - 4pm in the same field. So it's not been a huge shock going to 24/7 (it shouldn't have been anyway), he's not really needed a graduated turnout as I think he was only in one day due to bad weather and that's it.

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Yep mine is fat, and as I'm lame I can't work him so as well as the soaked hay he is on five hours turn out.


Those if you that feed more hay at night but soak it does it help stop them gorging when going out? He is going to be on a postage stamp soon.

 

[BeepaStar]

Green guard grazing muzzle has worked for my lad (expensive, but worth every penny imo) I also soak hay for 16 hours and have him stabled over night on shavings. He's out for 7 hours during the day with his muzzle on. I feel sorry for him with his strict diet, but it's working and his weight has stablised. The grass came from no where this year at our yard!

 

[tinycharlie]

Charlie has ballooned and has a crest, I'm going to start stabling him at night and muzzle in the day, he's with two other ponies that need the grass as their elderly so my other options would be electric fencing off a small section of field. He is behaving badly too and doesn't like to be caught, I really despair sometimes lol

 

[ester]

OP I get on best with the shires muzzle but did take a bit of time to get it adjusted right and also did not use the padded bit for the crown as it made it easier for it to slip off (threatened to plait it in ). Also have a dinky ponies which was fine but chewed through quite quickly. Others on the yard have greenguard which seem to stay on but they do seem to be worst for rubbing.