Love246
New User
How do you know what to feed your pony
Feeds
- Thread starter Love246
- Start date
oldie48
Well-Known Member
Quite a big question to answer but basically it depends on how hard the pony is working, whether the pony is the correct weight, too fat or too thin and size, breed and temperament can all be relevant. IMHO most of us feed too much and give hard feed when it's not needed, I have a 16.2 TB with a dash of ID. He's ridden 5/6 times a week with at least 3 schooling sessions when he does a lot of trot and canter work. I consider he's in light to medium work. He gets lots of grass turnout and ad lib haylage when he's in. He gets a haylage balancer and a joint supplement and has access to a salt lick. He gets no hard feed at all and came through the winter looking very good. I'm probably going to have to either up his work or restrict his grass as he's starting to look a tad too well!
Auslander
Well-Known Member
I start with nothing, and only give them hard feed if they seem to need it.
TGM
Well-Known Member
Well first you need to work out whether your pony is the correct weight to start with. This is a useful guide to condition scoring: http://www.bluecross.org.uk/80161-106674/how-to-body-score-your-horse.html
Many horses will maintain a healthy weight on just grass and hay alone, especially in the summer. If this is the case for your pony, then you probably won't need to add extra bucket feed, although a lot of people like to add a vit/min supplement in this situation - either a powdered vit/min supplement in a little chaff or beet, or a pelleted balancer.
If your pony is too fat on a grass/hay diet, then you need to look at options to restrict calorie intake - soaking hay to reduce calories, putting pony on strip grazing or a track system, using smaller holed haynets etc.
If your pony needs more than just grass/hay to maintain weight, then there is an overwhelming choice of manufactured feeds to give. Learn to read the labels and look for a feed that is fairly low in starch/sugar - high starch/sugar feeds can make ponies too excitable and can cause other medical problems too. If you feel your pony needs additional bucket feed then you could ask for ideas on here if you give the pony's size, type, workload and any special needs it has, or you can ring one of the manufacturer's helplines such as Dengie, Dodson & Horrell, Spillers, Baileys etc.
Many horses will maintain a healthy weight on just grass and hay alone, especially in the summer. If this is the case for your pony, then you probably won't need to add extra bucket feed, although a lot of people like to add a vit/min supplement in this situation - either a powdered vit/min supplement in a little chaff or beet, or a pelleted balancer.
If your pony is too fat on a grass/hay diet, then you need to look at options to restrict calorie intake - soaking hay to reduce calories, putting pony on strip grazing or a track system, using smaller holed haynets etc.
If your pony needs more than just grass/hay to maintain weight, then there is an overwhelming choice of manufactured feeds to give. Learn to read the labels and look for a feed that is fairly low in starch/sugar - high starch/sugar feeds can make ponies too excitable and can cause other medical problems too. If you feel your pony needs additional bucket feed then you could ask for ideas on here if you give the pony's size, type, workload and any special needs it has, or you can ring one of the manufacturer's helplines such as Dengie, Dodson & Horrell, Spillers, Baileys etc.