Ideas how to turn fatty pony into a slimmer pony!

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PingPongPony

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Hi all :)
I have a bit of a problem. My mare who is extremely a poor doer in winter, is a very very good doer in summer, so to sum her up she's a PITA :) She's on 3 acres of very good grazing, and is resembling a hippo atm. However, and here's the big catch, she is very hard to catch. This year, for once, I am actually enjoying having her as she comes to call and puts her head in the head collar, but, I only do stuff with her that she enjoys. Last year I spent 4 days trying to catch it, walking after it for hours everyday, my feet were covered in blisters and I ended up having to chase her into a corner with the help of 3 other people and only then I could get her. So now I need some ideas of how to get some weight off her but still be able to enjoy her and actually have a good relationship with her and of course, catch her.

What I can't do is:
strip graze, she will go through any and all fencing if she feels like it, whether its electric or not.
Muzzle her a) she is brill at taking off headcollars and she will take off the muzzle b) if I muzzle her, I will never catch her again.
Bring her in in the day a) she will be completely on her own b) I have no way of getting up to the yard in the mornings, my friend checks her for me in the mornings and I go up every night so can't bring her in in morning or turn out c) I will never catch her again after the first time of leaving her in for a day.

She is being exercised 5-6days a week, 30-40min in the school followed by 30-40min hack, mostly trot, lots of hills.
If for any reason I don't have time to ride, she'll be lunged for 30-40min, including pole work, lots of transitions etc, to actually get her working properly, not just run around like a loony in circles.
She doesn't get any feed, she does get a sweet or an apple or carrot when she's caught, and again when turned out. But that's about it food wise, she is just on pure grass.

So any ideas??? :)
 
You need to get her off the grass completely until she has lost weight,using a fatty paddock as suggested before or preferably a dirt paddock,and feed her 1.5% of her current weight in soaked hay with a feed balancer or supplement.Perhaps your friend could give her hay in the mornings for you and you give the rest after exercise in the evenings,she will come to you if she's hungry surely.If you just reduce the amount of time at grass she will still eat too much when she is out to make up for it.Soak the hay for at least 3 hrs or over night,fresh water each time,and use soon after soaking.Hope this helps.Treat her as if she is laminitic dietwise and be thankful she isn't!
 
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if she is like a hippo then something in her management needs to change and you have ruled out any options that people may suggest trying at your current yard by the sounds of it. in light of that i would suggest you need to move yards.

it is hard work keeping the weight of the fatties so you need to put the effort in.

how would you manage her if she came down with laminitis?

i have one that goes through fences, i only go up once a day, i ride every day for at least an hour and up to three hrs, she takes all the muzzles off.

i have had to move her, attach her muzzle to a leather head collar, she comes in every day for at least 6hrs but all that is less effort, worry and stress than her getting lami so i got on with it
 
Hi a tip I learn't off here was plate the muzzel in to the forelock it works brilliantly , my little pony could get any muzzel off even if you put a head collar over the top. It works x
 
The hippo reference is in a joking way, she only gets called a hippo because she has a bit of a grass belly, is grey and 99% of the time she's covered in mud, not because she's as fat as a hippo, which she's not :) She's nowhere near at risk of lami, she's just got a bit of a grass belly that i'd like to get rid off.
I may just have to up her exercise, as I don't have access to a fatty paddock/dirt paddock, and I won't be able to catch her if I muzzle her/bring her in.
Of course i'm willing to put the effort in, upping her exercise is more effort than bringing in/muzzling, i'm just not prepared to spend days trying to catch my horse again, spend hours crying from frustration, shredding my feet to bits because of blisters and overall not enjoying my horse. Her health isn't being compromised by the amount of chub she has now, so I will just up her exercise to keep her weight from going up and to burn off some fat.
Thanks for the ideas anyway guys :)
 
Electric fencing is used at zoos to contain buffalo etc, if if is set up correctly, and with a very powerful energiser, a horse will not go through it.

I have a load of fatties but ever since I set up a track system and started feeding a 50:50 mix of hay/oaten straw they are all in the best shape of their lives. A track would probably be easier to catch her in too. You could put a temporary fence across the track and corner her very quickly
 
minimilton said:
Electric fencing is used at zoos to contain buffalo etc, if if is set up correctly, and with a very powerful energiser, a horse will not go through it.
Click to expand...

Tell that to my old TB - who walked through tensile wire fencing connected to the mains! And yes, it was on as I got one hell of a zap off it when I accidentally touched it after she went through it once!
 
I would never say its not fat enough to be at risk of lammi, my pony isn't fat but is currently stabled with low grade lammi. Thankfully being barefoot has given me a early warning sign.
My mare use to pull muzzles off for a past time but now her her sorted, oh plus in summer I can forget ever catching her. A greenguard iv found attacted to a headcollar ( normal one) works best and she can't get it off. Plus bonus as she's always a bit hungry she lets me catch her :) stabled during the day on 12 hr soaked hay. Her weight is fab
 
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