native youngsters... rugging/feeding pondering

NeverSayNever

NeverSayNever

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this is a genuine musing... i am new to having a native foal (sec A) and got thinking earlier...

why do so many owners of native foals and yearlings rug them, and feed them youngstock mixes or youngstock vitamins? i recently spoke to a feed company nutritionalist on the phone who assured me that my foal "needed the youngstock balancer her company sell to grow properly and he would be nutritionally deficient without and risk his development". So what about the ponies on the welsh mountains? That live on fresh air and sparse grass, and thrive! Do they really do well? If so, why do we need to feed up and rug our native youngsters? Does doing so mean we are extending their life expectancy and protecting them, whereas a pony wild on a mountain would perhaps not live and be fit for so long? surely im still doing this by providing a cosy shelter and adlib hay for my baby?
 
Neurotic mother syndrome?

The same reason human mothers dont breastfeed but feed formula milk instead so they "know" their baby is getting all the nourishment it needs?

And so on and so forth... And of course dressing them up so they look cute, just like you do with a human baby...

You can all laugh at me next year - I have 2 foals due, my first ones, both New Forest, but one will be forest bred (so "random" and to a maiden mare) and the other one's sire was carefully chosen by me in the hope of getting the "perfect" foal (don't we all LOL). I don't believe in doing things by half! No doubt I will be itching to put them in cutesy little rugs after weaning, but I will try and resist...
 
because it is the nutritionists job to try and sell you something - these companies are there to make money and it will be a very rare company that does not try and sell you anything!
 
The native pony forums I go on have loads of people on there who don't rug any of their ponies and winter them out. The studs that I have visited in my search for a showing section A, all had great looking youngstock and none of them fed their youngsters anything more than hay. I agree that a lot of people simply have the neurotic mother syndrome. What's your foal's breeding if you don't mind me asking- I'm a pedigree geek when it comes to section As :D
 
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ah ok,thanks. would you mind letting me have the link for the native pony forums?

He is by Rhdyfeelan Silent Whisper out of Oddies Sweet Savannah:)
 
We always rugged up and kept in the foals which were going to be shown as yearlings, especuially if we had yearlings to go to the early stallion shows . It gives them the very best start and they are not using up energy in keeping warm. If you arent bothered about showing its not essential to rug them up as you say they are hardy. None of our show adults came in until 1st Jan, when they again were rugged up. Mares generally stayed out as did youngsters we werent showing, except the foals all foals wre kept in to give them the very best of start - they did go out during the day though(rugged up) for a while as I dont like youngstock being too confined.
 
I've had my New Forest since he was 7 months old, he's 3 1/2 now and he's never had a rug on his back. Why would he, he's native, he grows the most amazing winter coat and lives off fresh air. Infact in hindsight I wish I had never fed him a stud balancer when he was younger, he just didn't need it. I've also shown him in hand this year without needing to rug him or feed him anything extra. It's been funny to watch with all the snow this week, he'll dig holes for grass, eat the bushes, tree's, twigs, anything, smash his own water trough etc and he's as happy as larry...everything else is rugged up to the eyeballs standing at the gate looking miserable waiting for their dinners!!!
 
I have a pure Clydesdale mare and her crossbred offspring, they live out 24/7 are uncovered and last winter because I had so much grass left over from the summer they weren't hard fed or given hay. They came through winter - a very wet one - looking fantastic.

As kids we never fed our ponies - even when it snowed - they were on a large hillside paddock where they dug through the snow for food. They stayed totally healthy.
 
Because people love nothing more than to mollycoddle their horses (I am part of this clique :p) IMO it is ridiculous to rug a native foal, and if it was practical for me, I would leave my Sec D unrugged, but the fact is that he likes to think he's a hippo and has been rugged all of his adult life. I spend less time trying to get mud off him, which he hates, so I can spend more time with him. I don't clip him because he doesn't do enough hard work to justify it but equally I don't want him too fluffy because I don't want to clip him so I rug him up like a less hardy breed. Some would say I'm mollycoddling him but it works for me and he's a happy boy. So if someone needed their youngsters to be spotless all the time, then maybe they could rug them, but otherwise there isn't much excuse because they won't get so fluffy later in life when they might need it.
 
I dont have a native but I do have WB foal. She gets very little hard feed and looks like a woolly mammoth. She was wearing a rain sheet when it was wet outside as she takes ages to dry with all her fluff and I have to admit that she has a 180g when it snows but she is in and naked at night. She is looking slightly podgey if anything. I am the cruel one on our yard.
I did feel mean tonight as it was -4 when I left the yard but I know deep down she will be fine.

Someone else has a welsh foal who tonight was wearing 2 rugs, neither of which fit, and has 2 large hard feeds a day.

Guess which foal if any will have problems later in life. Mine!:cool:
 
I've had a few natives ;) & bred a number too since the early 80's
I've never rugged a foal, yearling or two yr old unless for medical reasons & then only for a short time. All those of that age also lived out 24/7, tho did come into stables for education so if they needed to be stabled before a show for any reason, it wasn't a problem for them. They did all learn to eat from buckets over their 1st winter - usually just something small & light - no major body building stuff tho!

We never showed yearlings till late May/early June - and then they only did 3 or 4 shows max in a year.
2 yr olds only ever went to breed shows & poss the odd local jaunt for an eye-opener.

3 yr olds - a different kettle of fish. Rising 3, they would be introduced to light summer sheets & more travel kit etc, and would then be taken to prob about 8 or so shows max throughout the season, usually finishing with breed shows/NPS champs or P (UK) champs - which ever fell last on the list or which has most appropriate class judge for their type within the breed.

This all had to fit in around producing the ridden natives too.

Dont try to copy others, do what is best for your youngster & also think about what you are going to do with it in the future.

Hope this helps, drop me a PM if you ever want to :)
 
I have an exmoor 2 year old and dont rug her or feed her (apart from hay and the odd handful of hayledge)
She is slightly overweight any way and we have plenty of grass. Exmoors seriously live off fresh air! She will be coming in at night soon and i'll just give her a handful of "just grass" feed so she doesnt feel left out when my other 2 are fed lol.
 
I read the posts about rugging natives with a huge amount of amusement. How on earth do these people think wild ponies manage? I posted this pic a few years ago of my weanling NF:
FrostyChutney.jpg

and received a barrage of replies telling me I was cruel and that I should rug him (his coat was about 4 inches long and so thick you couldn't get through to the skin - hence the frost)

This was the following winter
Ashurst_Bridge_020209_2.jpg

and he's still survived . . . .

forgot to say that he lived out 24/7/52
 
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