Feeding to loose weight

Ginger Bear

Ginger Bear

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Recently got a little nf x welsh pony, she was hugely overweight.. 2 months on & only a tiny bit more weight to go & her crest on her neck is disappearing rapidly too.. Currently she is turned out 8.30-4 or 5 pm, in a field with some grass.. At night she has 6-7 lb of soaked hay double netted & a tiny handful of chaff & pony cubes with a supplement & garlic. Now I get in bed at night & think that she has probably finished her hay & now has the rest of the night to stand about with nothing to eat.. She is on thirsty bed bedding so not like she can pick at a straw bed.. I feel awfully guilty. Everyone on the yard has commented on how healthy she is starting to look. She is getting fitter (and more cheeky!) I've always had tb's so always needed to feed a lot& watch out for stomach ulcers & I'm not used to having a native.. The other girls on the yard with natives don't see it as an issue that once she finishes her hay that's it..they say that these ponies are not made to eat all the time, they just need to pick a little bit as they survive on fresh air.. Comments much appreciated .
 
Sometimes you have to be a little cruel to be kind as loosing the weight will certainly reduce the risk of laminitis. Could you maybe turn out overnight instead of daytime as the sugars are lower in the grass. There is no easy fix tho and it is a long slow process but certainly worth it for the benefit and health of the pony :)
 
absolutely fine

many stabled horses eat their haynets, however big, virtually instantly..

but WHY ON EARTH are you feeding cubes?
(in these circumstances)

if needs minerals/supplements just put in chaff...
 
sorry you cant feed to lose weight! go for 1.5% OF ideal weight per twenty four hours! that includes bucket food/grazing/hay. count the poohs .... 8 per 24/7 is ideal any more then they are having planty food! harsh/hard but true. ideally make them sweat hard 3 to 4 x a week through work!
 
When I say I'm giving her cubes.. I'm talking literally 10 cubes just so she has something nice to eat..at the mo our yard doesn't offer over nIght turnOut but as we have a few fatties on the yard now now it's definitely a possibility.. Although the other issue is that she has a bit of a dust allergy so best that she's out during the day as stables are in barns & with everyone mucking out not sure how she would react. There are no problems with her weight as in two weeks she is looking so much better & the weight is dropping off.. She's being lunged in the morning & then ridden for about 45 mins-1 hour. My issue is just with her eating her net then having nothing all night.. We all stress about trickle feeding & yet with all owners of laminitics/chubby ponies no one is phased about ulcers etc.
 
ulcers are the lesser of the two evils thats why.
put her to 'bed' as late as you can-ie give last haynet just before you leave or ask last person to leave to pop it in.
double net the haynets so it takes longer to eat-ask first person to arrive in the morning to put a handful of hay in for her so she is getting them same amount in more spread out rations
i used to give our old pony a section of soaked straw each night-i used to soak it to reduce the risk of compacted colic and the levels of dust, she would pick at it as she was not keen but it would be gone in the moring
 
I know exactly where you're coming from. We have a fat native who is on a strict diet and it's so hard to get the balance right - she has her ration split into 1kg nets which last maybe 40 mins? I hate the idea of her then standing for hours with nothing to eat. I'm very lucky to have them at home so she gets her last net between 11 and 12 and her first at 6am. It must be really hard when they are on livery. :(
 
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