feed for pony...

[Kristine]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to know what you think about what im feeding my 12.2 newforest for her winter feed. She is lunged/ free schooled everyday for about 30/ 45 mins mainly in trot.

She is turned out from 5 am till 6pm

in at night with a net of haylage and her stable ball with 1 cup of nuts.

Meals wise she gets 2 meals a day. Morning she gets a cup of nuts and a scoop of breathe easy thats it.
And in the evening she get
1/2 scoop of sugar beet
handful of hi-fi original
carrots and apples
and a cup full of horse and pony nuts.
She also gets a scoop of easy breathe and a little bit of garlic powder.

i'll add a recent picture of her too so you can she what sort of shape she's in.

She can't stay on 24 hr turnout because the yard doesnt alow it

Any advice is welcome.
Thanks guys

 

[kerilli]

umm, 1/2 a scoop of sugar beet (if we're talking a normal round scoop) is quite a bit, that's as much as i give an 18hh with his feed! i think i'd give her a bit more hi-fi and a bit less sugar beet, and as for treats, i'd limit her to 1 apple a day and a couple of carrots.. carrots are v. high sugar, not great for ponies... you don't mention whether she's ever had laminitis, hope not.
if she looks fine, though, then i'd stick with what she's on.
you should ideally be able to see the faint outline of the last rib or so... or, if she's got a full winter coat, you should be able to feel them without a big layer of fat covering them!
or, from behind, the top of her rump should go either very slightly up to her spine or straight across. if her spine is lower than her rump on both sides (like a V) then she's a bit too fat... i'm sticking my neck out here, but i'd say she looks a little bit fat in that lovely pic.
hope that helps! if in doubt, ask YO or someone knowledgeable for an honest appraisal of whether she looks just right or a bit fat. tbh any horse is better off a tiny bit light than too fat.

 

[Kristine]

Thank you for that. it helps alot

She's hasn't had laminitis from what i know.

She is a bit fat at the moment which might be down to my mum spoiling her! lol

Will definatly cut her apples and carrots down.

I'll cut the sugar beet down and up the hi fi and see how we get on

Thank you

Will get some more pics as the weight shifts hopefully.

 

[Skhosu]

I'd wonder why she needs any feed?

 

[AmyMay]

What a cutie.

Personally I would give a handfull (and I mean a handfull) of pony nuts only.

Adlib hay/haylage should be plenty.

 

[kerilli]

please tell your mum not to spoil her... or, to spoil her with fuss, not treats! fat ponies are at great risk of laminitis, which is agony for them and potentially life-threatening. she looks like a lovely pony, lucky you!

 

[MagicMelon]

The pony nuts - are they just high fibre nuts? If not, then Id put her on those instead, just plain simple high fibre nuts.

Id cut out the sugar beet or at least cut it right down as obviously its just sugar really. If she were mine Id probably just give her Hi-Fi and her supplements only in feeds and save the nuts purely for her ball. As someones already said, careful on the apples and carrots as they are high in sugar. As a guide, my shetland only gets 1 carrot or 1 apple every couple of days!

 

[TGM]

Personally I'd only give a token handful of Hi Fi Lite to mix the supplements in.

 

[Chex]

[ QUOTE ]
Personally I'd only give a token handful of Hi Fi Lite to mix the supplements in.

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too. I'd add a bit of speedi-beet if there's a lot of supplements, mine won't eat feeds if they're too powdery.

 

[wistavon]

hi . i have a 32 year old 12.2 welsh and he doesnt work but does need extra grub becouse of his age. the only thing i would say is i was advised to only give him unmolased feeds ie hi-fi lite and speedi beet and some form of hi fiber pony nut or again an unmolased mix. if he needs a bit of energy i give him a bit of oil and he has herbal supplements in winter.
hope that helps

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Why not try her with something like D&H's Safe & Sound? It is a grass/alfa chaff feed with nutri nuts......you could give her the chaff portion as a bucket feed, and take out the nuts and use them in her snackball.

I am currently using this with SWUO as it is high fibre and low energy.

Safe and Sound

Bethxx

 

[Christmas_Kate]

you shouldnt be worrying about feed.

I'd re consider lungeing in trot for 45 minutes a day though.

. she does not need that amout of lungeing, if you cut her feed down she'd do well on just 10 minutes on each rein 3 times a week. You could ptentialy damage her legs and muscles working her like this.

 

[Kristine]

xxKatyxx: ok i'll change to that i think!

Sleepingdragon: Good idea, think i will have to start to ween her off all her luxurys! She does love her snack ball

Amymay: I only started givin her a cupfull of nuts this morning and she hated me for it! She's gunna hate this diet! but its for her own well being!

Kerilli: She has been told!

 

[sleepingdragon10]

[ QUOTE ]
xxKatyxx: ok i'll change to that i think!

Sleepingdragon: Good idea, think i will have to start to ween her off all her luxurys! She does love her snack ball

Amymay: I only started givin her a cupfull of nuts this morning and she hated me for it! She's gunna hate this diet! but its for her own well being!

Kerilli: She has been told!

[/ QUOTE ]

The Safe & Sound is a really good feed as fatties think they're getting a 'proper' feed, plus it takes them AGES to eat

With regards the lunging/free schooling......as long as you aren't just going round in endless circles and throw in lots of transitions, working over poles on the ground, and work over a large area as opposed to a small, tight circle I don't see why you should change it at all. SWUO loves her 'work', we do a similar work pattern to you but time constraints dictate that we do this 5 days out of 7 as opposed to everyday, and her legs haven't fallen off yet

If there was someone who could ride her for you(do you ride her? not sure you said originally) that would be great for her and add some further interest to her fitness regime

 

[Christmas_Kate]

It's actually recommended that you don't lunge for this amount of time on a daily basis. 45 minutes of work would be an equivalent to an hour and a half good exercise. Loose schooling is a different thing altogether.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

[ QUOTE ]
It's actually recommended that you don't lunge for this amount of time on a daily basis. 45 minutes of work would be an equivalent to an hour and a half good exercise. Loose schooling is a different thing altogether.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't actually think KSM said she lunged everyday....she actually said lunged/loose schooled, hence suggesting that it was a mixture of the two.

 

[becca114]

I agree about the lunging, 45 min seems far too much, doing so much will do more harm than good, and it will become very boring.
You pony seems a little overweight, you cant see her ribs so I would cut down the hard feed, probably just to the hifi with supplements, and just one or two bits of fruit.