Fatties...........

TicTac

TicTac

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horses not humans lol. What is the best and safest way to reduce the waistline.

A lady at my yard has a 14hh new forest pony. He is ridden every day and kept on minimum grazing. He does have 1 very very small chaff feed a day with his minerals in. My YO is constantly bullying the lady telling her her pony is too fat and that she should put him in a stable for 2 days with nothing to eat for a start and then stood in every day with only water. My YO is a nice man but doesn't really have a modern approach to horses and their management. He is too used to seeing ' lean' polo ponies rather than native types. ( he used to play polo but only has one retired horse now )

I don't generally have weight problems with my horses as they are not native so have never really had to adopt a strict feed routine. The pony's owner does everything she possibly can to keep his weight in check and in my opinion is not fat but he is well covered. Native shape! What would be the ideal weight for a 14hh NF?
 
Two days with bugger all to eat?
That yard owner needs to take an equine management course!!! Stupid woman!
She obviously has no idea on equine digestion, and as such should keep her flipping dangerous opinions to herself!
IF he is overweight (do you think he is? Can they feel his ribs easily? Is he cresty?) then in during the day with very well soaked hay, and out at night when the grass is not so high in sugar.
Then its good old fashioned exercise. If he is hairy, clip it off and let him shiver some weight off.
Ideal weight for any horse is dependant on build. A finer forester will come in at far less than the good old fasioned "leg at each corner" chunky monkey type.
 
He is a good leg at each corner type and yes, my YO is very backward in his knowledge. He also thinks you can get a horse fit in a month by cantering around every day for an hour. Fortunately he never challanges me because I tell him I dont agree with what he says! As a yard owner he's great but not as a horse owner.

The pony does have soaked hay but probably where she might be going wrong is that he is on very short grass! You can feel his ribs but not see them.
 
That is the most stupid bit of advice I have heard.

By all means if your friend does not mind am impaction and ulcers then that is certainly the ways to go!!!!

Thank goodness she has you as a friend
 
TicTac said:
My YO is constantly bullying the lady telling her her pony is too fat and that she should put him in a stable for 2 days with nothing to eat for a start and then stood in every day with only water.
Click to expand...

That's ridiculous.

My boy is on a diet as recommended by the vets - he is allowed a max of 1.25% of his body weight in total throughout a 24hr period, that includes hay, happy hoof and treats!

Although if she can feel his ribs he probably doesn't need to lose any. Have you condition scored him?
 
If she can feel his ribs, then he can't be so bad.
IMO the best thing the owner can do is to tell YO that vet says pony is just right as he is and then ignore any further 'advice'. I will say that IME polo players are not always the best people to ask horse management advice from.
 
When I brought my cobx mare down to back her she was really fat, having been out on grass for nearly a year. I had great success in about 3 months at losing most of her excess (she's still 'well-covered'). I brought her in most nights, with a haynet of 50/50 barley straw and hay (she wouldn't touch straw on it's own, and I didn't want her eating nothing all night). I lunged her/backed her for short spells and we also did lots of road work in hand. Good brisk walking. Did us both the power of good! :)

Also, do you really need to be feeding? Not a dig by any means, but I suppose the fewer calories you can supply the better. Mine has a mineral lick in her stable and I find she really enjoys this.

I didn't use a muzzle, although you could consider this for when out at grass. I would probably use one if she ballooned again.
 
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