Is my Shetland overweight?

[p-ond]

here is my mini shetland Molly, she's 30 inches tall. Now that the weather has warmed up I'm starting to wonder if I'm feeding too much. I am a new horse owner and have been feeding her a slice of hay a day since late december when I got her, 2 slices and a bale of straw bedding in the cold spikes we've had this year. But I'm starting to wonder if a slice a day is too much going into this warmer weather? She is in this paddock 24/7 as you can see it is very well grazed. She gets fed lots of carrot, apple and bread over the fence by the public and she lives on a petting farm so is fed pony feed over the fence on weekends and school holidays. I also graze her on longer grass from anywhere between 10 mins and a couple of hours every so often- though this is not regular- once a week max as I don't have time to supervise her grazing every day.

I'm worried she's starting to get a fat pocket on her rump! Can't feel her ribs though she still has a lot of winter fluff. Should I start decreasing the amount of hay I give her? I can take her down to a slice every other day and then cut out the hay until autumn? I am new to horse ownership- she is my first (I thought I'd start off with something low maintenance). Any advice would be well appreciated!

(she's sporting the new side-pull I've made for her, she absolutely despised the bit I tried on her :') )

 

[Pinkvboots]

I think the grass and hay are the least of the problem I would worry about the pony feed whatever that may be and the carrots, apples and bread none of this is any good for them in large quantities.

What do you mean by pony feed?

 

[Equi]

Yes she is. The place i look to most for my miniatures is the shoulder/elbow, cause they don't muscle and tone like a ridden horse will. If you can grab the flab, shes overweight. That grass, which may look overgrazed to many horse owners, is quite a lot for a miniature. Two slices a day, would do five of mine for one day - and they still struggle with their weight. The bread must stop, its not good for horses in general - the apples/carrots can be given but must be restricted or at least if they are giving them she needs even less food. A 30" miniatures daily forage should be about 1-1.5kg, to include grass...it sounds so little but for their size its correct. It also includes pony fed, which a miniature won't actually need - you're better to feed a lite balancer and even then its literally a handful.. Its taken me many years to learn all this and perfect it a little, and yes they can eat that amount in about 30mins, but unless they are doing hard work too they are not burning any of it off.

 

[p-ond]

I think the grass and hay are the least of the problem I would worry about the pony feed whatever that may be and the carrots, apples and bread none of this is any good for them in large quantities.

What do you mean by pony feed?

It is a pellet type feed that the farm sells in small bags-- not 100% sure what it is but I can double check with the farm manager-- I am presuming it's the same stuff he gives the old age pony a scoop of every day.

Yes she is. The place i look to most for my miniatures is the shoulder, cause they don't muscle and tone like a ridden horse will. If you can grab the flab, shes overweight. That grass, which may look overgrazed to many horse owners, is quite a lot for a miniature. Two slices a day, would do five of mine for one day - and they still struggle with their weight. The bread must stop, its not good for horses in general - the apples/carrots can be given but must be restricted or at least if they are giving them she needs even less food. A 30" miniatures daily forage should be about 1-2kg, to include grass...it sounds so little but for their size its correct. It also includes pony fed, which a miniature won't actually need - you're better to feed a lite balancer and even then its literally a handful.. Its taken me many years to learn all this and perfect it a little, and yes they can eat that amount in about 30mins, but unless they are doing hard work too they are not burning any of it off.

Gosh! Thanks. In that case I will see if I can get a sign up to tell the public to watch how much they throw over the fence and no bread please!
I will gradually reduce the amount of hay I give her until she's just living on the grass in the paddock. (she had been sharing grass/hay with an old age pony, welsh A I think, but I realise the old lady doesn't eat an awful lot). Previous owners had her on as much hay as she fancied over winter so that's all I've had to go on. Do you think I should up her excercise too? I can lunge her daily if needs be, so far we have only been going on long walks every so often.

Thank you so much for the help! Makes me glad I asked now!

 

[Equi]

It is a pellet type feed that the farm sells in small bags-- not 100% sure what it is but I can double check with the farm manager-- I am presuming it's the same stuff he gives the old age pony a scoop of every day.


Gosh! Thanks. In that case I will see if I can get a sign up to tell the public to watch how much they throw over the fence and no bread please!
I will gradually reduce the amount of hay I give her until she's just living on the grass in the paddock. (she had been sharing grass/hay with an old age pony, welsh A I think, but I realise the old lady doesn't eat an awful lot). Previous owners had her on as much hay as she fancied over winter so that's all I've had to go on. Do you think I should up her excercise too? I can lunge her daily if needs be, so far we have only been going on long walks every so often.

Thank you so much for the help! Makes me glad I asked now!

As much work as you can feasibly give her, it never does harm. I use winter to really get weight off, they get hay overnight in really bad wet weather but generally nothing (apart from the foals, who get whatever they want until they are grown) in summer they graze sporadically, through a week maybe 3 days at grass, the rest in a paddock with hay put in a few times a day, always small amounts. I feel cruel to the max, and its a lot of work, but its in their best interests.


this is my mare when i got her and about two years later, after a lot of weight loss.

 

[Shay]

Lovely mare equi. And a great example of what a mini's weight should be. Its so easy to make them overweight and shorten their lives.

OP - a horse (even a mini one) needs 2 - 2.5% of its body weight a day in forage. You really need to know her weight so you can judge wormer dose or oral sedative if she ever needs it - you can usually get a feed company to bring a weigh bridge to you. But she might be so small industrial scales would be sufficient! You can use a weigh tape - but they are not terribly accurate.

Most Minis weigh roughly 150 - 200Lbs. Given she is not in work - and she is already on the plump side - you want to be opting for not more than 1 - 1.5Kgs per day - including her grass.

You can control her hay intake of course - and at this point stop it all together. But it is the treats and pony nuts (if that is even what they are) which you cannot control which worry me. You put her at risk of a whole host of miserable life limiting conditions if you cannot get her weight under control. If you cannot stop the public feeding her then you might be better moving her to a private yard I'm afraid.

 

[meleeka]

I’d cut out all the extras and soak hay if it were mine. The carrots etc are far more harmful than hay. I’d also aim for as much exercise as you can give her. Even walking will do her some good. The grass doesn’t look particularly bare to me but I’d want to make sure she has plenty of fibre going through, hence why I’d feed soaked hay. If she’s eating well soaked hay with little sugar she’s not eating as much grass.

 

[p-ond]

so this is the pony feed she gets child size handfuls of on weekends and school holidays

and here are some more photos of molly from this morning, different angle. I didn't mention but she is 16 and has had 3(?) foals with previous owner, so if that brings up any other risk factors that would be good to know. I've started her on a ten minute lunge to move up to 20 mins, and hay withdrawn.

@equi your mare looks very atheltic! almost more like an american miniature than a shetland!

One thing- how am I to know how much grass she is consuming daily?

 

[ycbm]

You can't feed anything which has assess to grass by the weight of what they are eating. You don't know the weight of what they are eating and if you did you don't know the dry weight of it.

The only way to judge feeding is by sight and feel.

I don't think your little mare looks unreasonable at all, under all that hair and given that she has had three foals. My two look like that, especially the one the same age who has had two foals, and they are rock solid on their feet, which is the main thing I would be concerned about.