Feeding for a highland pony?

Cortez

Tough but Fair
Joined
17 January 2009
Messages
15,148
Location
Ireland
Visit site
Don't!

Seriously though, they live on next to nothing - talk to JTFD who has the fittest looking Highlands I've ever seen.
 

milliepops

Wears headscarf aggressively
Joined
26 July 2008
Messages
27,538
Visit site
agree! My friend has a highland that needed some bute recently, the vet told her to just put it in his feed... cue blank face from friend. Feed? What's that? Vet replied - oh just put it in some chaff then. Friend: nope, don't have that either. Vet: *surprised face* I'd better give him an injection then!

:lol:
 

NiceNeverNaughty

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 October 2015
Messages
641
Visit site
I dont 100% agree.. this thing that natives live on fresh air can be misleading. Yes they can survive on next to nothing but they evolved to graze large areas over many miles where they could pick at a variety of different grasses and plants which in turn provide a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals. Keeping them in a small, bare paddock is not the same, and in addition we expect them to work and look tip top.

First off if you are loaning OP then go with what the owner says ;) Mine all get a good quality balancer and access to salt. At the moment I am feeding a powdered balancer which goes in a small handful of fibre nuts. This is all my youngster gets but my older pony who is in reasonable work also gets a handful of straight oats for energy. She is really fit but it’s a struggle to keep energy levels up. I always say it’s a case of do you want the pony to survive or really thrive?

here’s mine playing about xc at the weekend
skyexc2_zpsfk7gphx4.jpg
 

Dry Rot

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 May 2010
Messages
5,847
Location
Scotland
Visit site
I agree with all the above.....to an extent. My three mares and a stallion are in a three acre paddock with ad lib access to hay. The grass would seem to be non-existent. Probably 10mm in height. (See photo below). Yet the ponies are grazing away, in good healthy condition, quite contendedly and the hay is ignored. The grass the youngsters are on is even shorter! Same thing. They have hay but it is only eaten occasionally when they've grazed off what has grown through over the previous few hours.

My point is that Highland ponies do need something going through their digestive systems. At this time of the year when the gras is growing fast, it is very rich and if there is any length to it native ponies tend to gorge. The fact that there doesn't appear to be any grass doesn't mean it's not growing and being eaten off as it does so.

So I'd tend to appear to be mean and supply an alternative (hay or straw) rather than put ponies on any sort of visible grass, if that makes sense! The worst of all systems is feast and famine. Pony is put on to fairish grazing (to human eyes) and starts to put on weight. So it is moved to a 'starvation paddock' with no grass at all. That teaches the pony to pig out and eat as much as it can the next time it has access to any grass at all. I like to think my ponies maintain a steady weight tending to lean. With a herd of about a dozen, there hasn't been one single case of Laminitis, or any illness come to that, in eight years. It is healthier to be thin than to be fat. Sadly, those interested in the show side do like to think Highlands should be "chunky" and fat isn't fat as all but "condition". But don't ever starve them!

The photo shows ample grass for Highland ponies with access to roughage...but it would probably starve a sheep!

ADSC_0006b_zpsixrza9no.jpg
 

JFTDWS

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 November 2010
Messages
20,982
Visit site
Don't!

Seriously though, they live on next to nothing - talk to JTFD who has the fittest looking Highlands I've ever seen.

Thank you kindly :)

Obviously when I responded to this, I was responding to the prospect of feeding short feed to highlands. Yes, every horse needs something going through it and starving them is never the answer (and I'm a huge fan of straw for this purpose), but unless your pony is working very, very hard, bucket feeds are likely to be highly unnecessary.

edited to add, mine are very fit - the older one is working twice a day (fairly hard, for a highland - schooling to medium level, lots of canter sets, hill work and polocrosse training), the younger one is low level cross country fit.
 
Last edited:

NiceNeverNaughty

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 October 2015
Messages
641
Visit site
I agree with all the above.....to an extent. My three mares and a stallion are in a three acre paddock with ad lib access to hay. The grass would seem to be non-existent. Probably 10mm in height. (See photo below). Yet the ponies are grazing away, in good healthy condition, quite contendedly and the hay is ignored. The grass the youngsters are on is even shorter! Same thing. They have hay but it is only eaten occasionally when they've grazed off what has grown through over the previous few hours.

My point is that Highland ponies do need something going through their digestive systems. At this time of the year when the gras is growing fast, it is very rich and if there is any length to it native ponies tend to gorge. The fact that there doesn't appear to be any grass doesn't mean it's not growing and being eaten off as it does so.

So I'd tend to appear to be mean and supply an alternative (hay or straw) rather than put ponies on any sort of visible grass, if that makes sense! The worst of all systems is feast and famine. Pony is put on to fairish grazing (to human eyes) and starts to put on weight. So it is moved to a 'starvation paddock' with no grass at all. That teaches the pony to pig out and eat as much as it can the next time it has access to any grass at all. I like to think my ponies maintain a steady weight tending to lean. With a herd of about a dozen, there hasn't been one single case of Laminitis, or any illness come to that, in eight years. It is healthier to be thin than to be fat. Sadly, those interested in the show side do like to think Highlands should be "chunky" and fat isn't fat as all but "condition". But don't ever starve them!

The photo shows ample grass for Highland ponies with access to roughage...but it would probably starve a sheep!

ADSC_0006b_zpsixrza9no.jpg

i think its also worth remembering that the quality of grazing the likes of DryRot has will be very different to horse pasture down south which will be much more rich.

Im also a fan of molasses free pasture lick buckets for vits & mins.
 

JFTDWS

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 November 2010
Messages
20,982
Visit site
Pasture quality varies hugely within even small regions, depending on the nature of the soil, previous uses, maintenance, and all sorts of factors. I know DryRot's land is better cared for than some I've used in the past, and certainly grows better grass, despite the sizeable difference in lattitude!

I'd also add that DR's uses for his land are different too - he has mares in foal, lactating and youngstock. All very energy consuming jobs. His horses will need more energy to maintain their weights than the average light-working adult pony.
 
Last edited:
Top