Laminitis prevention/weight monitoring Native pony at grass

katiejemima

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My 5yo Dartmoor isn't grossly overweight but I need to be at least maintaining or shifting where he is currently at.

He lives out 24 7 until Oct/Nov on good grazing. He is currently worked 3 x per week.

I have sectioned off an area at the top of his paddock and have been leaving him in there 3 x a week for about 8hrs with well soaked hay to reduce his time at grass. I could do more days a week but try and avoid doing it in wet weather where he then has restricted movement and can churn the ground more.

My baby is due at the end of this month so this combined with him having his wolf teeth out will mean he has a couple of months off, so upping the days in the closed paddock is an option during this time. However by then hopefully the spring grass won't be as sugar high.

He has half a mug of chaf in the morning just so he's not the only one without breakfast, it's barely 100grams.

I dont want to use a muzzle, I also don't believe it would stay on given every fly mask I've ever bought has come off within the hour.

Do these sound sufficient precautions/ management? I haven't had a small native before and am very conscious to avoid excessive weight and laminitis.
 

HappyHollyDays

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Can you build a track with electric fencing so he has to move more? The thing with sectioned off areas is that the food is in front of them and they don’t have to move very far to get it. On a track you can put food dotted around and water either end so he has to walk for his rations. As you are feeding only soaked hay a pelleted balancer might be better than chaff as he won’t be getting the correct amount of vitamins and minerals. Spillers do a Lite and Lean low iron one which gets good reviews. Hope all goes well with new baby.
 

SO1

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Depending on how much grass is in the sectioned off area and how much is in the none sectioned off area I would say if the grass growth continues like this you may have a problem if you are no longer able to exercise him.

This is what I do for my 19 year old new forest. He is in daily work, he has his muzzle on in the field and he has soaked hay and Dengie molasses free chaff with his balancer. He only goes out for 7 hours a day. He is still too fat. His field is a diet field in March there was hardly any grass and he did not need his muzzle in the last two months the grass has grown so much it is not longer a diet field and the two dieters have had their muzzles on and a third horse has now joined them to try and eat the grass down.

A track is optimal if you can make one as they need to move to loose weight as well as not having so much grass.
 

tda

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Yes definitely a track, or a long shape, water at one end, food at the other.
I asked around and a friend of a friend is helping me exercise my tubby dales pony by riding her a couple of times a week.
 
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