Hi I'm new and having weight problems with my pony!

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T-Mooney

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Hi I'm new to this and still don't know how it all works but hopefully I'll figure it out! I have a 14.1 Connemara/Arab 8 year old gelding, and over the last 6 months he has lost a lot oh weight including muscle. I had him out on grass for nearly two months from January and he lost even more weight. He's fed twice a day with hay, feed, sugar beat and seaweed and he keeps losing it and I don't know why. He's being fed more than normal to try put on weight but he won't and I don't know what to do, I'm going to get my vet out to him but I want to see what everyone else thinks. You're help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
 
Could it be a problem with his teeth? Even if he seems to be eating fine he might not be chewing properly so not getting all the goodness fro hay etc. Mine are all fatties so i have the opposite problem ☺
glad your getting vet out
 
Usually the reason is simple, but get a worm count and his teeth checked and weigh tape him so you know roughly how much he weighs now and look online to get an idea what his target weight should be, i.e 500kg. Then feed at least 2.5% of the bodyweight he should have, the main part forage.
If he is out at grass there is little feed value at this time of year so ignore his grass intake and give his allowance over night or as much as he will eat. Weigh your feed so you know exactly how much you are giving and know many calories that are in the feed,the DE on the bag. I simple fix is to build up to a mug of micronized linseed twice a day. If he will not each much hard feed, make sure that what you do feed him is full of calories.
I have two ponies who need far more food than other ponies of the same size, and as soon as the weather gets colder or they do any work their food has to be increased. I have a 11.2 that needs as much food as a 14hand pony to maintain his body weight, so you have to asses the pony rather than go on its size/ weight alone.
 
Teeth...no matter how much you feed him, if he can't grind his food properly he won't get anything from it. This was a problem for me when I aquired my underweight Arab, dentist found that she had teeth missing and they were wavy so she couldn't grind her food all this through years of neglect, she's 100% better now.

Signs of teeth problems can be..head shyness, weight loss, not liking the bit in there mouths and dropping food out of there mouths when eating.

If your having the vet out, they will have a look for you, probably take some bloods, but ask them to do a stool test too as theres is more sensitive and will show up any worms that she may have, and then start a good worming program.

Try putting him on a pro biotic suppliment to aid digestion until the vets comes x
 
Hi thank you for replying but I forgot to mention that I already got his teeth done, my vet did his bloods and found worms but he isn't 100% sure that that's the problem as he shows 0 signs for any worms so I have to call my vet back in like a month or two cause he said its unusual. He knows his teeth are fine as he's the one who did his teeth
 
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