Highland pony, how do u make sure yours gets vits

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thatsmygirl

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My lad is 4 and I broke him this summer. He is overweight but need to make sure he gets his vits. At the mo he don't get a feed just a bit in a bucket when the rest are fed so he don't feel left out. ( a tablespoon of fast fibre, equimins advance complete and 2 little scoops of mixed hedge herbs.) such a small amount but he gets so excited for it. He's never turned out without a greenguard on.

I'm just wondering if the equimins advance balancer is to much for him as its such a high spec and maybe he would be better on a lower spec product? Don't really like paying for fillers etc in these bagged balancers.
( thinking out loud really) but I stuggle getting any weight of him.

Any ideas that I may not have thought about?
 
I use equibites, they are designed for fatties and are in treat size form, so you feed 1 per 50kg of horse. My horses go nuts for them and they don't require a bucket to be fed them so it works well for us. 10kg bag is about £12 and they last for ages, all vits and mins they need.
 
I feed equibites too but recently have been giving a few soaked grass nuts with a mineral vitamin supplement as I like to feed brewers yeast which comes in powder form and works out a little cheaper
 
My food obsessed highland lives on a large livery yard where all the others are fed every evening so we have to feed him too! He gets as much chaff as I can pick up with both hands (which is essentially chopped hay!) plus a measure of Baileys Low Cal balancer. He's on sparse grazing and gets a hay net (12-14lbs haylage) every night. He's about the right weight and full of energy so hopefully we're doing him right! He's older than your highland (14) so no growing to do. In the winter months he also gets a daily ration of chopped carrots/apples etc as well.
 
Salt lick, were lucky own land poor grazing so ponies weight watched plus the are well worked.

I have to really be careful my 4 year old doesn't drop weight!

You do however need to hit a balance, if you starve too much they hold to the weight like humans do due to ketosis , after all they are the ultimate good doers!
 
JFTD said:
Don't let the feed companies hear you saying that! ;)
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I say worse things to protect Highland ponies and prevent them being mistreated. I was shocked to hear that you intend feeding your two ponies something out of a bag. Don't you know feeding Highland ponies anything out of a bag can be harmful? Feeding out of a bag with writing on the side is even more dangerous. If there are pictures, that could be lethal! I will not even go into the subject of coloured pictures and bags with a shiny texture. :)
 
mine get norvite pasture block, tailored for the ground in north east scotland. My Highlands dont get free access to it though as otherwise what is meant to last weeks, disappears in under a week. My grazing is poor , so my guys come down each evening for a bucket with a handful of safe & sound chaff and a handful of low nutrition haylage scattered about, the lick gets put out and everyone has a slurp.
 
Dry Rot said:
I say worse things to protect Highland ponies and prevent them being mistreated. I was shocked to hear that you intend feeding your two ponies something out of a bag. Don't you know feeding Highland ponies anything out of a bag can be harmful? Feeding out of a bag with writing on the side is even more dangerous. If there are pictures, that could be lethal! I will not even go into the subject of coloured pictures and bags with a shiny texture. :)
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Well, the big difference between mine and yours is that mine are clipped and expected to lug my fat arse over fences / perform poncy moves under me. So I imagine they'll manage just fine ;)

(Not to worry, no shiny pictures. It's basically dessicated cardboard anyway...)
 
My 3 year old highland has a small scoop of healthy hooves unmollased with a measure of pro balance by progressive earth. It doesn't contain any fillers so it's only a tiny bit you feed compared to other balancers.
 
JFTD said:
Well, the big difference between mine and yours is that mine are clipped and expected to lug my fat arse over fences / perform poncy moves under me. So I imagine they'll manage just fine ;)

(Not to worry, no shiny pictures. It's basically dessicated cardboard anyway...)
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Reading this I thought you were going to just feed them a bag...
 
NeverSayNever said:
mine get norvite pasture block, tailored for the ground in north east scotland. My Highlands dont get free access to it though as otherwise what is meant to last weeks, disappears in under a week. My grazing is poor , so my guys come down each evening for a bucket with a handful of safe & sound chaff and a handful of low nutrition haylage scattered about, the lick gets put out and everyone has a slurp.
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Surely the point of mineral blocks is they only take what they need I would be a little concerned if my ponies got through a block in a week that was meant to last for several unless of course the relevant block is loaded with nice flavours or sugar
I once gave mine an apple flavoured salt block they ate it I gave them a flavour free salt block and it dissolved into the grass they never touched it. My highlands live on sandy soil so the grass is pretty poor but I don't feed much hay as it gives them the runs so they get a section of hay per day when we have no grass and all their nutritional needs including protein vitamins and minerals are met from a bucket it makes sure they have everything they need and of course means I know what does and does not add weight to them
I use nature to control their weight they are a little porky just now but they will lose a shed load of weight over the winter ready to have free access to growing grass in spring and summer mine have never worn a muzzle or been on tiny paddocks with hay they graze grass all year and are happy metabolic disease free and have never had lamintis
They work hard too and are fit and able to perform at almost any level in spite of never seeing the inside of a stable from year to year
 
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JFTD said:
Well, the big difference between mine and yours is that mine are clipped and expected to lug my fat arse over fences / perform poncy moves under me. So I imagine they'll manage just fine ;)

(Not to worry, no shiny pictures. It's basically dessicated cardboard anyway...)
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…off to find a source of cheap cardboard….:D
 
Thanks for the advise, he has 12hr soaked hay and turned out in a muzzle so I don't split him for the herd. I'm v careful about bagged feed as I'm fully aware of the crap that goes into them hence why he gets a tablespoon of fast fibre to add his vits then mixed herbs added so he's getting no fillers or sugar/starch but don't feel left out when I feed the others, not that they get feed really but again tocken amounts to add vits/mins. I'm just unsure of the best vit supplement. I use the equimins advance which is great for the horses in work and really does reduce the need for hard feed but think its to much for the natives. But again a lot of these supplements are full of fillers which I don't like but suppose a little wont hurt as it will be a small bit
 
In which case a good bog standard broad spectrum vitamin/mineral supplement is all he needs something like benevit or the ordinary equimins or even neither and the equibites. You are really lucky mine wont eat soaked hay they would rather starve but because of their life long lifestyle they are self regulating and only eat when/what they need not typical piggy, guzzling natives they live in grass that comes to about half way up the cannon bones and you will more often find them snoozing in the sun than having their heads down feeding
 
windand rain said:
Surely the point of mineral blocks is they only take what they need I would be a little concerned if my ponies got through a block in a week that was meant to last for several unless of course the relevant block is loaded with nice flavours or sugar
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well of course but clearly this particular pony of mine hasn’t read the rule book, i can assure you i dont feed anything loaded with sugar and my other 4 ponies don’t gorge them. I don’t have any reason to be concerned, pony in question is a hog :P

eta apologies i should have been more clear it’s only one of mine who does this ;)
 
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thatsmygirl said:
Thanks for the advise, he has 12hr soaked hay and turned out in a muzzle so I don't split him for the herd. I'm v careful about bagged feed as I'm fully aware of the crap that goes into them hence why he gets a tablespoon of fast fibre to add his vits then mixed herbs added so he's getting no fillers or sugar/starch but don't feel left out when I feed the others, not that they get feed really but again tocken amounts to add vits/mins. I'm just unsure of the best vit supplement. I use the equimins advance which is great for the horses in work and really does reduce the need for hard feed but think its to much for the natives. But again a lot of these supplements are full of fillers which I don't like but suppose a little wont hurt as it will be a small bit
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why do horses out of work needs fewer vits and minerals? I feed equimins advanced complete pellets and wasn't aware they did a lower spec one - I can also feed them on their own if I want.
 
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