My pony is overweight

[milliegolly]

My pony is a 14.2hh welsh pony. He is worked 6 days a week for about an hour and is out for 5 hours a day in a field with very little grass. He is on lo-cal balancer and chaff with some pasture mix for energy.He also gets laminaze which helped. I would recomend it. He is still overweight. Does anybody have any ideas on how to make him slimmer and fitter?
Thanks

 

[TiaPony]

Soak his hay for 12hours +
Double net his hay
Grazing muzzle
Strip graze
Swap pasture mix for oats

All viable options!

 

[milliegolly]

He is strip grazed and has worn a muzzle although it has rubbed him in the past so I took it off him. If you know of any softer muzzles I would be grateful to hear about them. I also soak his hay.
Thanks

 

[Queenbee]

Stop feeding pasture mix, he's overweight, get the weight off, and he will up his energy

 

[odd1]

more work, less grass and stop the mix, cut his chaff down to a tiny amount just enough to give him his vits
muzzles are the way to go, I have 2 horses and 2 ponies and 3 are wearing muzzles!! the 4th will be getting one soon at this rate

 

[milliegolly]

What muzzle do you use? I have tried one but it rubbed him badly.
Thank you for your advice.

 

[GwarcoedManon]

Cut out his feed!

 

[Queenbee]

Shires... Padded muzzle.
Double net hay with 2 small holed nets

 

[StarcatcherWilliam]

What muzzle do you use? I have tried one but it rubbed him badly.
Thank you for your advice.

Try a Dinky Rugs muzzle. The Shires one rubbed my pony, but Dinky's seems to be better

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

If the Shires one fitted but rubbed, use a Roma one, looks identical but much softer.

It wont last as long on sneaky ponies as the rubber bottom is softer too and eventually they rub through it, but it rubs a lot less.

I too would cut out any feed other than that to put vits and mins in. esp the pasture mix - TBH the weight makes them lack energy, when they lose the weight they often get the energy and dont need feed to make them energetic as they arent carrying all the weight around!

My fatty is on bare paddock (sheep graze it and geese when shes not in it!) and she gets 1kg Hifilite with vit/mins and magnesium in it, and the rest all she gets is oat straw. If she has to go in a field with any grass in it, out comes the muzzle.

She has lost nearly 100kg (gradually,over 8 months) and is looking great, I am proud when I look at her now rather than cringing. She has plenty of energy and verve!