Help - enormous belly!

[Frans]

One of our mares has very pregnant looking belly – blood tests came back negative so I guess we can assumes that she is not pregnant so now I have to work out how to get her back in shape and need your advice! I’m about to move her from living out 24/7 to being stabled and to start working again so it’s the perfect opportunity to sort this out but don’t really know what is causing the belly.

Most likely causes seem to be:

1) Lack of muscle tone after several months with virtually no work (she has foaled in the past if that makes a difference)

2) Digestive issues. She is currently on good quality hay only, living out 24/7 with a mineral lick. Her tummy is very noisy if you put an ear to it though not noticeably grumbly otherwise. Tummy swells outward more during the day as she eats though the bottom line doesn’t change and hangs very low and heavy all the time.

3) Worms – is wormed regularly and is in otherwise good condition surely if this were a worm belly there would be other signs?

4) Fat – not particularly fat elsewhere (though not thin either) and ribs are easily felt.

5) Blood tests were wrong - but this seems unlikely given the timing.
The other three ponies kept in the same conditions are all in good shape – even our resident fatty is looking slim-bellied next to this one!

So what do you think is causing the belly?

 

[PonyFeet10]

Do you have any pictures of her? My Welsh x Fell pony mare has ALWAYS has a pregnant looking belly, I've owned her now for 9 years so I can assure you she's not pregnant lol. She has had foals in the past, before I owned her. No idea how many but was told she had her first as a 2 year old. No matter how much work or dieting she has it won't disappear.. Although it does look less obvious when she's fully fit. Fat scoring her body she's a good weight but not over weight so I just leave it be, it's the way she is after being stretched by a foal when she was still growing herself! (She was owned by gypsys so the foal 'could' have been HUGE!) Here is a pic of her.. Just coming back in to work so not fully fit, but you get the idea

 

[ThePony]

Hi,

OH mare had the same - regardless of work/fitness level/amount of grazing etc she always was very round in the belly dept! We had just assumed it was part of her! We have changed a few things and now she is looking hugely better. I'll explain what we changed and you can see if any might be applicable to your mare?

We had her grazing analysed and started feeding her on a plain food + balanced minerals diet. She also has a course of a couple of weeks of yeasacc about 3 times a year.

Her feet (in front particularly) had a v slight meidial lateral imbalance. Her farrier was doing a good job, but years of 'nearly but not quite balance' had taken their toll and she needed someone taking extra care so we changed farriers. New one helped alot, but she was still not quite right a couple of weeks after each set. She would also have a couple of little slips if doing a longer road hack and this would make her very anxious and tight through her back. Road nails helped a little, but in themselves also affected her balance so weren't an ideal solution. We decided to take her shoes off and see if that would help her. It has been a long road with plenty of niggles to work through, but after just over a year (the last 5 months of that being self trimming) and the difference in her is huge. The biggest change came when we were able to leave her to be self trimming and she was able to grow the feet she needed. There has been less change in shape than we had expected, but obviously that change was important for her to be comfortable.

We have been careful with her schooling too. She was very good at holding herself in a 'pretty' outline, but not working properly over her back. Re-schooling with a brilliant instructor to make sure that she is actually working properly and developing the ability and freedom to really swing through her back has helped loads. It was very hard for her at first, and she needed lots of reassurance that this new was was good and correct.

She is chucking on the muscle now and you just wouldn't believe the difference in her - both in character now she is more comfortable, and in her muscle development! No belly either, even though she is on ad lib hay at night - would have left her looking ready to drop before!

 

[Frans]

Thanks for the answers! No photos at the moment (need to work out how to post them first!) but the pic of PonyFeet10's pony is not far off!

Interesting to read the story from ThePony - I'm planning to get an osteopath out to look at our girl as she seems a bit stiff in the back which could either be a cause or effect of carrying that huge tummy.

Anyone else any thoughts?

 

[Maesfen]

Without an internal exam or scan I would not rule out pregnancy! Pregnancy blood tests have a habit of being wrong even nowadays. The old saying was if test is negative it probably is, if test is positive it might be.

It could purely be lack of muscle tone if she's foaled before. Whatever, if you bring her back into work, slow and steady work preferably hacking rather than in a school as that's too hard on the limbs with always turning, make her march out and keep to walk only just building up the time for at least a month then increase distance and introduce trot gently; very similar to how you would bring hunters up from grass.

 

[Frans]

Thanks Maesfen - the internal exam was inconclusive, apparantly the uterus was too low for the vet to reach properly, she could feel something she couldn't identify but it could have been intestines as it was just out of reach. She couldn't get the right angle with the ultrasound to see anything hence doing the blood tests. Vet said she could have been 6/7months pregnant (end November) but even the test for Oestrogen Sulphate was super low and that is supposed to give a reliable answer by that stage.

Pony was round when we got her (end June) but the tummy has gradually dropped but she has hardly worked since September.

Good advice for bringing her back to work - will take it easy, we've plenty of time before the weather gets good enough to do much anyway!

 

[Iwantcandy]

My mare looks just the same as PonyFeet10's! No amount of dieting and exercising has made any difference - she has always looked the same. She also had a foal 4 years ago. Just out of interest PonyFeet10, can you feel your mares ribs easily? I can't with mine, but the rest of her scores ok.

 

[PonyFeet10]

My mare looks just the same as PonyFeet10's! No amount of dieting and exercising has made any difference - she has always looked the same. She also had a foal 4 years ago. Just out of interest PonyFeet10, can you feel your mares ribs easily? I can't with mine, but the rest of her scores ok.

Nope my girl's ribs are umm.. quite hidden.. unless you put a good bit of pressure when you run your hand across them But she doesn't have 'fat pockets' anywhere on her body. When she is fit she muscles up lovely, you can see her stomach muscles working when she's being ridden but she just doesn't look slimline lol. She was 8 when we bought her, so no idea at all how many foals she had produced. Oh she's never had a foal with me either.. in fact she's proved to be a very successful showjumping pony, even with that belly!!

 

[Iwantcandy]

Ah bless her! I'm glad to have found someone in the same boat as us! xx