E_Lister
Well-Known Member
My friend has a 19 year old 14hh dales x tb mare. She is fabulous and used to be a regional champion XC pony but retired at 14 and was sold to my friend. She has owned her for 5 years and has smaller plans and would like her to compete at some smaller jumping classes (2 - 3 foot) this year after regaining a lot of confidence. She is mainly hacked with about 1 jumping session a week at the moment, upped recently due to an upcoming show to 3 jumping sessions a week)
However over the summer her condition has dropped and she has changed from being "too much of a good doer" where her owner struggled to keep away fat lumps to all the muscle around her withers and behind melting away over the last few months.
Unfortunately her grazing had to be restricted due to her risk of lami and also the grass just hasn't grown well in her paddock this year resulting in far less for the pony in question.
She is given ad lib hay at the moment and is fed a small ammount of cool mix with some supaflex and a little bit of garlic once a day and occasionally cod liver oil.
Her owner thought this was enough (and it always has been in the past) but her workload is meaning that this just isnt enough to keep her up to weight now that her grazing is tight, even with the hay. She is worried about changing the food to anything too high energy though because the pony gets very fizzy and naughty when fed this (which is why up to this point hard feed has been kept to a minimum!)
Can anyone help and suggest what she could do to try and help her gain a little condition with feeding? She is currently upping the hay to make sure she is never lacking but she would like help with adjusting the hard feed.
Cookies for those who managed to read all that and a huge hot choccie for anyone who can help
However over the summer her condition has dropped and she has changed from being "too much of a good doer" where her owner struggled to keep away fat lumps to all the muscle around her withers and behind melting away over the last few months.
Unfortunately her grazing had to be restricted due to her risk of lami and also the grass just hasn't grown well in her paddock this year resulting in far less for the pony in question.
She is given ad lib hay at the moment and is fed a small ammount of cool mix with some supaflex and a little bit of garlic once a day and occasionally cod liver oil.
Her owner thought this was enough (and it always has been in the past) but her workload is meaning that this just isnt enough to keep her up to weight now that her grazing is tight, even with the hay. She is worried about changing the food to anything too high energy though because the pony gets very fizzy and naughty when fed this (which is why up to this point hard feed has been kept to a minimum!)
Can anyone help and suggest what she could do to try and help her gain a little condition with feeding? She is currently upping the hay to make sure she is never lacking but she would like help with adjusting the hard feed.
Cookies for those who managed to read all that and a huge hot choccie for anyone who can help