Managing a lami prone pony

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MyBoyChe

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Have just bought a shettie x for grandchildren to ride. I have never owned a pony before and just after a bit of input for how best to manage her weight. Previous owner had had her for 18months and assure me she has not had lami whilst with them, I believe them as they had her muzzled or on poor pasture. She is a bit heavier than I would like and does have a cresty neck so Im really keen to keep on top of her weight. We have really good grass so my plan is as follows: Out from 6pm til 7am in a paddock approx 20 x 20m and muzzled. Grass is at its poorest here but still plenty to poke through the muzzle. During the day she is coming in to a small concrete yard, barns on 2 sides, a high fence on 1 side and a five bar gate out to the paddock. She can see at least one other horse all the time, has shelter, a water trough and a small, soaked haynet, also 1 section of straw so she can lie down if she needs to but of course she nibbles on this as well. Once the grass goes off a bit, so Nov-Feb Im planning to turn her into the 3 acre paddock with my TB, leave her muzzled in the day and take it off at night, the plan being that she will get more exercise following him about as she wont get much work during the winter. Does this sound like a reasonable routine or am I missing something really important. I will be weigh taping her once a week to monitor any changes.
 
That sounds very sensible. The more you can get the pony moving the better. Inhand walks are great for building a bond and showing a new pony the sights.

Good luck! x
 
Sounds like a good plan . we have an 11hh Shettie cross which is being kept just like this by her loan home at the moment. How about breaking to drive ? it will help her keep fit over the winter and is great fun aswell.
 
If your yard is visible to passers-by, I would put up a "Please do NOT feed this pony" sign! I have just gone up to let our laminitis-prone pony out of his diet paddock and found him contemplating a large pile of runner beans someone had thrown over the gate. It's taken years to get his diet spot-on! Time to make BIGGER signs, methinks.
 
I clip my daughters shettie in winter. That way if there's lots of snow I can stick hay into the field and not worry that he's gaining weight from it. He wore a lite weight rig with a fleece underneath and was warm all winter. He came out of spring a really good weight and looked fab.

Not everyone's cup of tea but it worked perfect for him. I'll be doing the same with him this winter too.
 
Thanks guys. MareeT, I was told she was good to lunge and long rein so this evening I tried long reining her. She was brilliant, apart from stopping to grab at the grass so once Ive managed to stop her doing that I plan on long reining around the farm as much as possible. I found it great fun actually,more so than with my TB :) Talk about the sublime to the ridiculous!!
 
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