How are all your good doers doing?

Supertrooper

Supertrooper

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 March 2010
Messages
14,067
Visit site
Weigh taping mine weekly, weighing his hay and giving him less than he should have and bulking it out with oat straw chaff. In an ideal world I'd soak his hay but I can't unfortunately and he also can't be exercised so just have to trust nature.......

image_7.jpeg


He looked the same last Jan (photo taken beginning of this Jan) and the photo below is him in June. It seems he drops most of weight in April/May.
 
My very good doer is still a bit round for this time of year and he has no hard feed, hay that's double netted for over night and I'm strip grazing the grass! I would like some colder weather to try and help him drop some weight!
 
Now you mention it, looked at my highland today and thought he was looking very "well" for a pony which has had restricted turn out since before Christmas, lots of work and very little hard feed. He's still a bit full of himself at the moment though, so will keep up the work and see how he goes.
 
WP_20151208_09_43_17_Pro_zpsswdecp2e.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

Orca came into December looking like this (this was two weeks after her arrival with me). She's lost some inches from her girth now, her fat pads are reducing and her crest too. The vet's happy with her progress but we have a little more to shift before spring!
 
I have reached that stage of winter where I walk around the field and think "what can they find here that can be eaten" - there's nothing. However, I can't find a rib between the lot of them, so there must be some lichen on a fence post somewhere or pond weed in the river. Several are still what I would call 'a bit porky' - Honestly, natives live on fresh air!

They're having another week on it before I move them. Haven't fed a single bale of hay yet.
 
Really pleased with mine at the moment. Still loads of grass in field, ad lib hay overnight in stable, bit of chaff and minerals and I think (others may disagree!) his weight is about bang on. He is worked hard though!! Funny belly bit is a hernia not a random fat deposit hehe.

 
Slightly rounder than I would like, but he is losing it slowly :) Hes been out of work for a couple of months, so hopefully now hes doing something he will burn more calories and muscle up a bit

12631430_10153466791698667_7002590743772939630_n.jpg
 
Last edited:
I'm always amazed by how much of my good doers' "size" is fur -- when I clip it off they suddenly look very svelte. That's what I'm telling myself anyway as unfortunately they are a little too large for time of year despite having access to hay only for 6 hrs per day and the rest of time out on poor grazing. "Poor" this year meaning churned up rather than little grass.
 
mine are still way too fat, not a rib to be found on any of them, I'm praying for a very cold snap! my 2yr old is getting a full clip tomorow (she has been over heating and is rather itchy) may give the others a bib, my mare is the fattest but I really dont want to resort to full clipping her as it would mean having to go out and buy her a rug (they are all out 24/7 naked, no hard feed and I don't have a rug in her size) I'm currently looking into grazing muzzles too
 
Still needs to shift a bit more by spring but otherwise she looks better than when she came into winter. She's just come back into work so should be able to loose the extra bits fairly quickly. Vet is happy with her though and could feel her ribs when she was last seen.
 
Fatter than I would like, not rugged, trace clipped, out by day muzzled, in at night on soaked hay, weighs dry about 5Kgs. Just had bloods, all completely nor,al so no EMS, PPID issues, but his bout of toxic laminitis last April means we have to be very careful. Riding is as I can fit it in whilst working full time... He did two hours yesterday, and an hour and a half led off another today, and will hack tomorrow. Nearly all in walk, due to slight bruising six weeks ago, it's hard to get the balance right.
 
Our rising 4yo is a bit too rotund for my liking. We've got a ridiculous amount of grass - we've started bringing her in at night again so we can control how much hay she's shoving in her face. Unfortunately, we had to stop walking her out in hand as one of the other pony's moved yards, which left just Esme and her retired companion who can't be left alone. We're getting a new livery next week, so we can start taking her out and about again and will be able to crack on with her training in preparation for backing in a couple of months, so hoping the weight will start dropping off a bit quicker - although she has deflated significantly since we started bringing her in a week ago.
 
Mine has lost weight during the cold spell and is now off his diet and back on to dry hay instead of soaked. There is still grass in his field but they have eaten it down a lot.
 
pennyturner said:
They're having another week on it before I move them. Haven't fed a single bale of hay yet.
Click to expand...

Oh lord! I can't remember the last winter I didn't feed hay. Even in Wales :(

My poor doer never grew a coat worth talking about so is rugged to the lugs, she is sucking up hay and a startling amount of feed like a Dyson and still just about holding a steady weight, my good doer is on ad-lib hay and 6 oats twice a day, she has a coat like a yak and hasn't looked cold once yet.

January%202016065_1.jpg
 
We have two closely-related sec D's here. One is barely 14hh and the other a touch over 15hh. Identical diet and grazing. The larger is a porker whilst the 14hh is just as she should be and looks wonderful. Go figure!
 
So far, so good. Still plenty of grass about and he'll be muzzled and back on soaked hay over the summer, so the few kg that have crept on aren't worrying me too much. We live life in reverse: winter is his time of plenty, come summer, he's restricted otherwise he balloons. Excuse the odd stance, he was after a scratch round his unmentionables...

 
mine is still looking a bit too well for my liking, hoping she is going to drop off a bit more before the spring
 
rowan666 said:
mine are still way too fat, not a rib to be found on any of them, I'm praying for a very cold snap! my 2yr old is getting a full clip tomorow (she has been over heating and is rather itchy) may give the others a bib, my mare is the fattest but I really dont want to resort to full clipping her as it would mean having to go out and buy her a rug (they are all out 24/7 naked, no hard feed and I don't have a rug in her size) I'm currently looking into grazing muzzles too
Click to expand...

Same here! My youngsters are super sweaty , naked and bib clipped - I'm debating doing a trace! We're on the edge of the moors in the NW so not exactly warm and sheltered. It's been terribly mild this year.

My ridden horses are doing well. Sec D has lost as much as I want him to and is now being maintained, mongrel mare is a little lighter than I would like but by no means skinny.
 
2 boys are looking great......but fat cob is, well, fat!! Lives out clipped out with some hay and 2 token feeds.....as really don't want three in. Not done much work since Christmas as I only hunt her up to Christmas. Clipped out again today. She is like me...loves her food and is hard to shift weight!!
 
C1airey said:
So far, so good. Still plenty of grass about and he'll be muzzled and back on soaked hay over the summer, so the few kg that have crept on aren't worrying me too much. We live life in reverse: winter is his time of plenty, come summer, he's restricted otherwise he balloons. Excuse the odd stance, he was after a scratch round his unmentionables...

Click to expand...

Looks good wish my porker just coming off box rest looked this good!
 
Mine's looking good and I think we're nearly there weight-wise, even though her work load has dramatically dropped off since Xmas.

Before Xmas she was ridden hard 5-6 days a week, restricted to 6kg hay, turn out in fatty paddock, clipped and under-rugged, and wasn't losing noticeable weight (suspected EMS). She still had a big crest and was a 4.5 body score.

On Jan 5th I started her on magnesium after some research showed it had helped some horses with EMS. Since then she's had ad-lib second cut hay, been ridden 2-3 times a week, turned out with everyone else in the big field, and been slightly heavier rugged. In just 3 weeks she's dropped to a condition score of 3 and you can feel ribs easily. My vet is astonished and really happy so we're maintaining now. She's also grown another 2 inches up and out of her 6ft rugs. I was hoping that she'd have stopped growing by 6.

I'm going to be upping her work starting next week so I'll see how she does on this set-up with more work.
 
DirectorFury said:
Mine's looking good and I think we're nearly there weight-wise, even though her work load has dramatically dropped off since Xmas.

Before Xmas she was ridden hard 5-6 days a week, restricted to 6kg hay, turn out in fatty paddock, clipped and under-rugged, and wasn't losing noticeable weight (suspected EMS). She still had a big crest and was a 4.5 body score.

On Jan 5th I started her on magnesium after some research showed it had helped some horses with EMS. Since then she's had ad-lib second cut hay, been ridden 2-3 times a week, turned out with everyone else in the big field, and been slightly heavier rugged. In just 3 weeks she's dropped to a condition score of 3 and you can feel ribs easily. My vet is astonished and really happy so we're maintaining now. She's also grown another 2 inches up and out of her 6ft rugs. I was hoping that she'd have stopped growing by 6.

I'm going to be upping her work starting next week so I'll see how she does on this set-up with more work.
Click to expand...

That's interesting re. the magnesium - I suspect Esme may be EMS - she puts on weight like it's going out of fashion and Nan is it hard to shift. I may go and pick some up tomorrow :)
 
Looking a bit too well but that's because I didn't limit his grazing soon enough in the autumn. He's living out happily and has only just started to take a feed or any hay in the last couple of weeks. Hoping for a nice cold snap when I can get his rug off and let him shiver off some fat but it's so wet just now I'm having to put a rain sheet on to keep the rain scald at bay.
 
I have no idea how mine look under all their fur and mud but I can feel ribs easily on all so I reckon all is good....ranging from 2 cobs to a Welsh a to a couple of shetlands. Still plenty of grass all round so a token sprinkling of haylage each day to make them feel loved.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top