Feeding the overweight pony.

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mantha50

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Welsh Mountain A 11hh overweight mare, crest on her a stallion would be proud of - sees grass and piles on the lbs.
Restricted grazing, stabled at night with haynight(more fibre than quality) and will also be muzzled.
Considering feeding her some supplement ie Top Spec Lite Balancer or Baileys Lo Balancer.
Has anybody used either of these and what is recommended?
 
Why? Is there something about her condition that suggests she is lacking something in her diet?

If there is, I'd be looking at a powdered broad spectrum supplement and feeding it in a tiny bit of low calorie chaff. I wouldn't be feeding a omelettes balancer - It's still extra calories that she really doesn't need.
 
This is the first summer I haven’t fed my ponies. I’ve always given them a balancer and supplements but because my cushings mare went off her feed I stopped and I can honestly say they’ve never looked better. My farrier said my mares feet are the best he’s seen them so I’m not rushing to add anything. When I do it may be a token bit of chaff with a joint supplement in as they are all getting on.
 
I normally feed a progressive earth balancer in pink mash to anything over weight. If you are dieting a pony then I think you really do need to make sure they are getting a supplement as their diet is so restricted.

My current pony is enormous sadly as I have just bought her. Shes getting a tiny sprinkle of copra as i have a whole sack I need to use, balancer and salt. Once the copra runs out in about 10yrs time no doubt, she will go onto pink mash.
 
Theocat said:
Why? Is there something about her condition that suggests she is lacking something in her diet?

If there is, I'd be looking at a powdered broad spectrum supplement and feeding it in a tiny bit of low calorie chaff. I wouldn't be feeding a omelettes balancer - It's still extra calories that she really doesn't need.
Click to expand...

I did, of course, mean pelletted - not omelettes :p
 
I would just feed hay if she is that over weight why would you add a balancer which in effect is more calories, never been a fan of them anyway I would rather feed a vitamin and mineral supplement if I thought the horse needed it.

Can you giver her some form of exercise 20 minutes lunging a day would really help shift the weight.
 
For an overweight pony I would just feed soaked hay in a greedy feeder net. Unless there s a reason for extra supplementation I would not bother. I would have a salt lick available.
 
Red-1 said:
For an overweight pony I would just feed soaked hay in a greedy feeder net. Unless there s a reason for extra supplementation I would not bother. I would have a salt lick available.
Click to expand...

This. I'd have straw (or chopped straw if you prefer) alongside and very limited hay, but no supplementation unless there is a clear need for something extra.
 
Theocat said:
Why? Is there something about her condition that suggests she is lacking something in her diet?

If there is, I'd be looking at a powdered broad spectrum supplement and feeding it in a tiny bit of low calorie chaff. I wouldn't be feeding a omelettes balancer - It's still extra calories that she really doesn't need.
Click to expand...


Was worried by restricting her I would be causing her other issues due to lack of vits/mins and thought the option of feeding her a Lo Balancer type feed would be ok.
Wanting to check out all options and advice from others on how they have dealt with good doers.
Your advice is an idea I hadn't been aware of, so thanks for the tip.
 
I think a pelleted balancer might be a good choice for your situation. If you are going to deliberately choose a "poor quality" type of forage that is mostly fibre with little energy (straw, or very stemmy, mature hay) then you will also be limiting the amount of quality protein that is supplied by the forage. A powdered balancer can give you vits&mins and some amino acids, but won't supply much protein (which a pelleted balancer does, usually by including soya as an ingredient).
But don't be led by the "lite" or "low" on the balancer label. The calories in balancers (no matter which version - stud, competition or "lite") tend to be pretty similar, and the ingredient levels are also often comparable. Have a look at the Spillers Daily Balancer as well - as far as I know one of the cheapest on the market, and it leaves out iron (which horses don't need more of).
The Equimins Advance Complete pelletd balancer is also a good choice, but has a very strong taste/smell, so I'd get a sample first. It's very concentrated (only a few tbsp per day), so works out very low calories. But that also means (as with the powdered products) that there won't be much extra protein in it, if you feel that's needed.
It really depends a bit on how restricted/"poor quality" your forage ends up being. No grass means none of the vitamins that degrade in preserved forage, and a high structural fibre content (mature hay, straw) means less protein alongside lower calories. But soaking won't affect protein levels very much, so if you end up feeding mostly soaked (but normal quality) hay, you may be just fine with a vit&min supplement without extra protein. BTW, you only "save" on calories with a powdered balancer if your horse will eat it with a very small amount of feed as a carrier. If your pony is a bit picky, you may find that there's little difference calorie-wise between a portion of pelleted balancer, and the amount of carrier feed needed to disguise the powder.
 
If she's cresty I'd definitely be supplementing magnesium.

I use the equimins mentioned above but it isn't very high in magnesium so I supplement Mag ox on top of that.
 
I have spoken with many different vets and nutritionists about this, and they say the following. Personally I follow this advice.
Balancers provide quality protein, which a powder doesn't. If you're restricting and soaking hay, your pony is likely to need supplementation of its vitamins, but it does need that protein so that it burns off its fat rather than muscle.
If you read the published papers which look at weight loss in overweight horses, they are always given balancers to ensure that they're getting adequate nutrition.
 
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