Feed for a fat pony: Happy Hoof? HiFi Lite/Good Do-Er? Dengie Healthy Hooves?

floradora09

floradora09

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Which of the above do you think would be best for a slightly porky pony? He's looking a little tubby and I'd like to reduce this before spring comes (although he's not particularly prone to lami, but just to be safe!). Like the sound of happy hoof, what about this and a vit/min supplement? Is it low cal enough to be used as a diet?! Or am I better off just feeding Good do-er, even though it might be a little bland on its own as Happy Hoof has little fibre nuts in it?

Thanks! :D xx
 
My mare is a very good doer and she needed to loose a litle weight in the summer. I used to feed her a handful of Hi-Fi lite and she was out 24/7 in the summer.

I completely changed her routine, I started to feed her 1.5% of her body weight. She now gets 1 scoop of Happy Hoof morning and night, I weigh and soak her hay and she always gets turned out with a muzzle on but is stabled at night. This as well as more exercise has made her loose weight and she looks lovely now.
 
Fast fibre or Dengie Alfalfa pellets with vit and min supplement.

Happyhoof has molasses and I noticed a large diff in foot quality when I stopped feeding it.
 
Do you really need to feed anything?? If on good quality forage I`d be tempted to just supply a Red Rockie lick?

If you do feed then personally I`d go for a either just a balancer (ie lo-cal) or A&P Fast Fibre/HiFi mollases free with a powdered supp. Works out much of a muchness price wise :-)
 
Personally I wouldn't feed Happy Hoof, after seeing what it did to a sugar intolerant pony I used to own. And yes, I know its approved by the Laminitis trust and lots of people on here think its wonderful stuff...

I would choose something low sugar/unmolassed, that Top Chop lite for example or D&H Fibergy chaff or Hi Fi lite... and just a cup of feed balancer.

I feed my own native ponies (good doers of course) Alfa A oil, Fibre Beet (unmolassed beet/alfalfa) plus a cup of Baileys lo-cal balancer. They look fantastic on this, quantities are small (max 1/2 round scoop of the alfalfa, 1/4 scoop of the beet, usually more like cupfuls and spoonfuls) and they are always attracting positive comments about their shape. And plenty of energy too without being silly.

Floradora, I think the poster probably meant hoof quality improved once taken off the happy hoof. I think less molasses in the diet means better foot quality, but its the barefoot people on this forum who are the experts on this. My mare is barefoot following a tendon injury back in March and she has excellent feet, the natural balance farrier who lives up the road stopped my daughter and asked to look at her feet as they were trotting happily up the gravel track... He was very very impressed with them.
 
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floradora09 said:
Do you mean Happy hoof improved hoof quality? xx
Click to expand...

No the hoof quality improved when I stopped feeding it.

My horses are not sensitive to sugar or laminitic so I was very suprised to see such a dramatic change in the quality of the hoof and even the shape of the sole.
 
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My good doer just gets a handfull of HiFi Lite damped with water just to get her Supps mixed into. If she didnt need supps she wouldnt get any bucket feed at all just hay.
 
Think I'll give Hi-Fi Lite a try, with unmolassed speedi-beet, a vit/min supplement and his joint supplement! Thanks for the advice, normally I have the opposite problem!! :D
 
I feed my good doer pony - good doer chaff and slim and healthy mix (quarter rations, often there is no need to feed full rations as suggested on the feed bags mine would be huge if I did this)

He also has grass and in the winter some hay if there is snow.

If your pony looks well then he is probably getting all he needs without feeding a lot of extras. Many ponies especially the natives ones are designed to do well on very sparse diets without the help of lots of fancy balancers and mixes, unless they are in very heavy work or look thin or poor.
 
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