Feeding Shetland ponies

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charlottemary

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My two cheeky Shetlands are looking on the skinny side as we've gone into winter (a sentence I never thought I would write!) They have always had a small handful of chaff with some supplements in but I feel like they need some more. They are both fully clipped out and rugged up with light or medium weights on depending on the weather, they are in at night with a Haynet each (double netted) I have started giving them more gay but hasn't had an effect. They are both worked two times a week ish out driving for about 1-2 hours each time, hence why they are clipped because I needed to rug them for them to stay dry! What would anyone recommend to feed to help them put on a bit of weight, we are stating to see ribs!
 
The obvious thing would be to increase the hay and stop double netting it! And give them hay in the field as well if grazing is sparse. Wouldn't increase hard feed unless you are literally giving them as much hay as they can eat. But are they actually skinny or fit? Seeing the gentle outline of a couple of ribs in a clipped pony is not a bad thing!
 
My Shetlands get: 1scoop of HiFi Original, 1/3scoop Bailey's Top line Cubes, 1/3sc speedibeat. Along side hay twice a day ... They are the ones that live on/out at home with sparse grazing. The other 4 mares are stupidly fat going into winter from just summer grazing. Looking forward to winter trimming them down so it will be a winter of only hay when there is snow on the ground for them which suits me fine!
 
Aww I'm so mean! Mine has literally a handful of hifi lite and a handful of Allan and Page fast fibre. He only gets that because his jealousy is intense seeing the big horses fed out of buckets and that's unfair ;). He also has soaked hay.
Hoorah for Shetlands 😂❤️
 
I have 3 shelties and I give them 3/4 scoop (big round scoop) of a mix of Speedi-Beet and Top spec cool conditioning cubes, add a little sunflower oil and vegetable oil for more calories and water for it to be soak up. I do that 2 times a week, but there not working so you may need feed more days in the week. They also have about 1 acre of rough grass each.
 
Petpony said:
I have 3 shelties and I give them 3/4 scoop (big round scoop) of a mix of Speedi-Beet and Top spec cool conditioning cubes, add a little sunflower oil and vegetable oil for more calories and water for it to be soak up. I do that 2 times a week, but there not working so you may need feed more days in the week. They also have about 1 acre of rough grass each.
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Just wondering why your ponies need conditioning feeds when they are not in work - are they elderly perhaps? Most non working Shetlands I know do very well (usually too well!) on hay and grass alone, perhaps with a vit/min supplement or low cal balancer if really necessary!
 
Thank you for all the lovely replies! Before they came to me in the summer they had never worked a day in their lives and hadn't seen hard feed either. I would defiantly say they are skinny rather than fit. I will stop double netting their hay, that was just to slow them down really. My tb is already on speedi beet, alfalfa and conditioning cubes, so as a start I think I will give them each a bit of Alfakfa and some speedi beet and see how they get on
 
I'd just be upping the hay and not double netting it before anything else besides having their teeth checked if they haven't been done recently.
 
Petpony said:
I have 3 shelties and I give them 3/4 scoop (big round scoop) of a mix of Speedi-Beet and Top spec cool conditioning cubes, add a little sunflower oil and vegetable oil for more calories and water for it to be soak up. I do that 2 times a week, but there not working so you may need feed more days in the week. They also have about 1 acre of rough grass each.
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If I am reading this correctly you are feeding your ponies conditioning cubes, beet and oil twice a week, that is a dreadful feeding regime for any pony, to suggest the OP follows similar but gives a few more feeds each week is advice no one should follow, have you not heard of feeding little and often, I am surprised you have had no problems but you may just have been lucky so far, I suggest you rethink how you feed and make some changes before they do get colic or laminitis from having to digest hard feed a few times each week when their guts are not used to it.
They may be small and not in work but need a consistent diet to maintain a healthy weight and gain full benefit from what feed they get, they would be better off with a little hay each day rather than two big feeds each week.
 
be positive said:
If I am reading this correctly you are feeding your ponies conditioning cubes, beet and oil twice a week, that is a dreadful feeding regime for any pony, to suggest the OP follows similar but gives a few more feeds each week is advice no one should follow, have you not heard of feeding little and often, I am surprised you have had no problems but you may just have been lucky so far, I suggest you rethink how you feed and make some changes before they do get colic or laminitis from having to digest hard feed a few times each week when their guts are not used to it.
They may be small and not in work but need a consistent diet to maintain a healthy weight and gain full benefit from what feed they get, they would be better off with a little hay each day rather than two big feeds each week.
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I didn't know if they were meaning that amount fed over a week but that amount needs topped up twice a week - like for example would give a bucket full of sugarbeet twice a week (two buckets of sugarbeet)

I wouldn't want to feed any Shetland that type or amount of food esp unworked but then I don't know the full story of them.
 
equi said:
I didn't know if they were meaning that amount fed over a week but that amount needs topped up twice a week - like for example would give a bucket full of sugarbeet twice a week (two buckets of sugarbeet)

I wouldn't want to feed any Shetland that type or amount of food esp unworked but then I don't know the full story of them.
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If you read their post they suggest that the OP may "need to feed more days in the week" which to me means confirms they are just feeding their own ponies twice weekly, I was fairly shocked that anyone could think it a good idea, working or not, to feed such large irregular meals, Shetlands doing nothing should not require conditioning cubes but if they are only fed twice weekly they may well not look too great and the poster may have been given poor advice on how to feed.
 
My three are on about 11/2 acres been on it all summer so not a lot there. They get hay/ haylage mix in their feeder mornings which lasts them till anout lunch . then they pick what they can find till they either come in at 6 if weather horrible or they stay out and get a couple of handfuls of hi fi light and some fast fibre and half a small Apple each. More hay/ haylage if in or out at 6 then when I go to bed hay haylage topped up again . There sometimes is a little left in the morning so I know it's enough. One is in foal but they are all well covered. I don't mind them losing a bit over winter.
 
I have a lami prone shetland, he hates being restricted turnout and is only happy being part of the gang so he is muzzled alternate days during the summer and is out the big field with all the horses! As the grass gets less but is still not safe enough for him to have his muzzle off full time he does need a little 'extra'

I feed (at varying rates depending on workload/ time of year)
Fast fibre
Sprinkle of HI-FI Lite
Formula4feet
Micronised Linseed
(he also gets Turmeric)

I am very happy with these feeds as they've given us no problems laminitis wise, unlike a certain other low calorie balancer..

As he is 'one of the big boys' he comes in during the winter at night with ad-lib hay in his tiny cute haybar!

And did you really need to fully clip your shetlands? They grow a wonderful double coat, my shetland is a working boy - he drives all day long and the most i'd do is a neck and belly on him.
 
unicornystar said:
Ad lib NONE netted hay, the answer is always fibre!!! Pony nuts at the most along with any supplements....my two have literally a handful of nuts and as much hay as they can eat...
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To be honest, if they are working for 1-2 hours a couple of times a week and not in between, I would not be adding any hard feed to the diet, but I would be feeding ad lib hay off the floor, not netted and I would give a very small, like a fistful at most of perhaps speedibeet or a non mollassed chaff with a little water and...most importantly, I would add electrolytes to the small feeds on the evenings after they have done 1-2 hours of work.

If they don't have the micro nutrients replaced after exercise, they will struggle to be able to get the calories from anything you are feeding, so you could give huge daily conditioning feeds and see very little benefit, because the gut is just not functioning well enough to make the most of it.

I can't think of any situation in which I would use any type of conditioning feed or calorie rich oils for a Shetland. Weight gain, if needed, should be slow and steady.
 
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