Obese and stressed pony - WwYD?

[CatInTheSaddle]

We had to get nearly 100kgs off our first pony when he arrived. He was enormous. Also never laminitic, by some miracle!
2-3 weeks walking in hand. 20 minutes to start, building it up steadily. Then child on top and more walking. Lots of steady hills. Never bothered much with lunging, we were too paranoid about his joints with all that extra weight on them. Just walking and a grass muzzle was enough to drop him from obese to overweight. Then we could crack on. We were very lucky, though: paddock with poor grass and good fencing, quiet roads and lots of hills. I agree with everyone saying try to keep something in his stomach, else you'll potentially awaken a hangry beast. Little and often for exercise. The fence walking may settle with more roughage and time for the pony to adjust, though I too hate seeing it. He may well be very used to the riding school routine and it might take him some time to get his head around the new world order.

 

[Birker2020]

Please don't reduce the food intake so much that he cannot trickle graze. Long periods without food will do more harm than good. Agree with others about needing low calorie food in grazable quantities. And daily exercise.

Agree. Hyperlipemia can be the result if you cut them back too soon.
I only remember this because our YO had one that she had inherited from someone, was massively obese. The vet said weight reduction had to be a marathon rather than a sprint.

 

[Mari]

Get vet or nutrition advice. Don’t starve, even fat ponies still need to eat but need less starch / sugar / calories & more exercise. Feed soaked hay & a net full of clean barley / oat straw so pony always has something to nibble on.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Agree with the soaked hay/straw, although might he gorge on straw/cause issues? I know you won’t starve him and cause ulcers, but obviously he needs something. I’d be tempted for a hay ball, easy to dunk in a bucket to be soaked or to poke soaked hay into, quite entertaining for him too.

 

[Abacus]

Thanks for the replies and apologies for the slow response here. A lot of food for thought here (although less food for the pony). I looked again at his paddock this morning and I probably understated what’s in there; most of it is low grass with a dust patch and a patch of docks. It’s about 20x20 but can be slowly expanded. Watching him while calm: he was munching effectively at the grass that is there, and he does always seem quiet when I arrive, but walks around when there are people doing things on the yard. It’s not dramatic or massively stressy, I don’t worry he’s about to panic. So I think it’s probably ok. He’s having his balancer in a treat ball (had to play football for a while until he got it) and there is grass to eat but takes some work. I’m undecided about whether to give soaked hay as I think if he’s hungry he will munch away steadily.

 

[HollyWoozle]

We have two small ponies on a similar setup overnight and whilst I can’t see how much grass you have, if it’s really very low then I would question if he’s getting the minimum forage requirement from that alone to be honest.

 

[tda]

If you're not sure he's getting enough forage, count the poo's overnight.
A friend who was slimming a cob got down to 4 piles overnight

 

[pistolpete]

Four a night isn’t many I’d worry if it was less than eight.

 

[suestowford]

Watching him while calm: he was munching effectively at the grass that is there, and he does always seem quiet when I arrive, but walks around when there are people doing things on the yard.

Reading this made me laugh. There is a pony here who is a bit like this, and we did an experiment once to see if what we suspected was true.
We took his companion out of sight, and he threw himself about, yelling and bucking. We also went out of sight, where we could see but not be seen, and as soon as he couldn't see us, he went back to grazing quietly. We showed ourselves again, and back he went bucking and kicking and yelling about how awful everything was. We did this several times and it was the same every time.
I had suspected he was a bit of a dramatist/attention-seeker and I think this proved it. Perhaps this pony is another the same? It would be interesting to set up a camera and see if he really does only walk the fence when he can see people about.

 

[Goldenstar]

Count the poo that’s the best way to know that he’s getting enough bulk passing through his gut .
My horses strip looks bare , but the amount poo tells me it’s not an issue .

 

[snowangel5]

He is probably just getting used to the new place is there a friend that he can share the field with does he have a name and how old is he? He sounds lovely is the riding school he came from still on the go

 

[rabatsa]

Four a night isn’t many I’d worry if it was less than eight.

Overnight four is fine, in 24 hours it is not enough.

My lot have ad lib forage and one averages 10/day and another 14/day. So if quantity of forage was reduced I would be looking for 7/day for one and 10/day for the other. In this instance it is a case of know your pony.

ps I am sad, I can identify which of mine does what droppings.

 

[Wishfilly]

Thanks for the replies and apologies for the slow response here. A lot of food for thought here (although less food for the pony). I looked again at his paddock this morning and I probably understated what’s in there; most of it is low grass with a dust patch and a patch of docks. It’s about 20x20 but can be slowly expanded. Watching him while calm: he was munching effectively at the grass that is there, and he does always seem quiet when I arrive, but walks around when there are people doing things on the yard. It’s not dramatic or massively stressy, I don’t worry he’s about to panic. So I think it’s probably ok. He’s having his balancer in a treat ball (had to play football for a while until he got it) and there is grass to eat but takes some work. I’m undecided about whether to give soaked hay as I think if he’s hungry he will munch away steadily.

Maybe a small portion (like one slice?) of soaked hay just to give him a bit to line his stomach in the morning/eating? I appreciate that's a faff though.

My other worry would be that if the paddock isn't great he would eat the docks?

If he's walking when he can see people I'd say that's no bad thing? He may just want to see what they're up to, especially if they are making noise?

Is his owner bringing him in at all? Maybe he'd enjoy going for inhand/long rein walks etc?

 

[Abacus]

Maybe a small portion (like one slice?) of soaked hay just to give him a bit to line his stomach in the morning/eating? I appreciate that's a faff though.

My other worry would be that if the paddock isn't great he would eat the docks?

If he's walking when he can see people I'd say that's no bad thing? He may just want to see what they're up to, especially if they are making noise?

Is his owner bringing him in at all? Maybe he'd enjoy going for inhand/long rein walks etc?

I do think he’s only moving about when he sees people and it’s not particularly frantic. I am now putting him in during the day with a small net of hay, as it’s so hot and he seems more settled today. The owner is taking him for walks and hacks as well.

He hasn’t gone near the docks (although when OH is around this week I’ll get him to strim them and section that bit. He’s munching the grass so hopefully he’s getting the idea of outdoor life.

 

[Wishfilly]

I do think he’s only moving about when he sees people and it’s not particularly frantic. I am now putting him in during the day with a small net of hay, as it’s so hot and he seems more settled today. The owner is taking him for walks and hacks as well.

He hasn’t gone near the docks (although when OH is around this week I’ll get him to strim them and section that bit. He’s munching the grass so hopefully he’s getting the idea of outdoor life.

Sounds good, hopefully he can start to loose the weight in a sustainable way! If you can get him through the summer without health issues, you may find he naturally drops some over winter as well?

 

[MagicMelon]

If he's in a bear paddock, no wonder he's stressed!
(I'm so sorry, nothing sensible to add to the above posts, but I just couldn't resist!)

My thoughts too. Poor thing must be bored to death, you say theres barely anything to nibble so what else CAN he do all day. Id give soaked hay or straw - anything for him to actually eat. And increase exercise. I think its pretty unfair to literally starve the pony.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

My thoughts too. Poor thing must be bored to death, you say theres barely anything to nibble so what else CAN he do all day. Id give soaked hay or straw - anything for him to actually eat. And increase exercise. I think its pretty unfair to literally starve the pony.

This^ and not just unfair very dangerous too.

 

[Abacus]

My thoughts too. Poor thing must be bored to death, you say theres barely anything to nibble so what else CAN he do all day. Id give soaked hay or straw - anything for him to actually eat. And increase exercise. I think its pretty unfair to literally starve the pony.

If you read my later post - there is grass, it’s just low, and when he wants to he munches away at it. I definitely didn’t say there is barely anything; just that it’s low grass of a few cm, across an area of 20x20m. If you look across his little field it is mostly green. I’ve sat quietly watching and he’s definitely eating away when calm. I don’t like leaving him on his own but as I said, I want to give some time before he’s directly in contact with others. He can see them. He now has a net of hay during the day when he’s in.

Personally I’d say the cruel people are the previous owners who let him get that fat. We now have to be strict with his regime to put that right.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

If you read my later post - there is grass, it’s just low, and when he wants to he munches away at it. I definitely didn’t say there is barely anything; just that it’s low grass of a few cm, across an area of 20x20m. If you look across his little field it is mostly green. I’ve sat quietly watching and he’s definitely eating away when calm. I don’t like leaving him on his own but as I said, I want to give some time before he’s directly in contact with others. He can see them. He now has a net of hay during the day when he’s in.

Personally I’d say the cruel people are the previous owners who let him get that fat. We now have to be strict with his regime to put that right.

I agree the last owner's are the guilty ones letting him get that bad. My post wasn't aimed at you as you are obviously aware that starving a pony or horse is not the way to solve the problem. I am just thinking of the many new or less knowledgeable owner's who very often google or search on here and I think we have to be very clear that starving a fat pony or horse is not a good idea. Many of the other suggestions are helpful and obviously I won't bore everybody by just repeating what others have already suggested.

Just one small point worth mentioning, and apologies if this has already been said as I haven't read every post, sometimes grazing them on very short grass is also a problem, there are more sugars in those little barely visible bits of grass growth, older tired longer grass with a muzzle on would be my choice.

 

[Fjord]

ps I am sad, I can identify which of mine does what droppings.

I can too, they are vastly different!

 

[suestowford]

I can too, they are vastly different!

Same here. It's a bonus when I am collecting for a FEC and I don't want to sit out in the field waiting for them to go.

 

[JenJ]

Personally I’d say the cruel people are the previous owners who let him get that fat. We now have to be strict with his regime to put that right.

Take your time - slowly but surely get the weight off. It didn't go on within a couple of weeks, so it's not going to come off quickly either. (Same as us really! )

I've had one of my Section As for just over a year, and she came to me at 320kg. I've gradually got that down by 60kg, but it's taken time - she was around 290kg over winter, and is now down to about 260kg. She looks fantastic, but throughout that time has rarely been without forage. She had soaked hay when stabled through the night over winter, and now she's out overnight, muzzled, on my track (not a proper track 'system') she still gets 3kg of high fibre horsehage in the stable during the day.

Aim for 1.5% of bodyweight (2% for maintenance once weight is lost) of forage per day - for mine that's about 5kg - and you should see weight decrease, especially if the owner is taking him out on walks and hacks.

As has been mentioned already - short grass isn't necessarily great for them - 'stressed' grass can have higher sugars, which for mine is danger zone, as they have EMS. Obviously that's not the case for all horses. I was actually advised by my vet to try and fill mine up as much as possible in the stable with soaked hay/low sugar haylage, as I could control the sugar levels, so that when they went out onto the grass, they wouldn't eat as much of that, for which I couldn't control the sugar. Again though, that's specific to my EMS ponies and may be irrelevant to you!

 

[suestowford]

Yes, I have one who was fat once. He weighed 280kg at one time. The first 50kg was easy but it took a year to lose that. He's also got some metabolic issues so once that was medicated he soon lost the rest and is now 200-210kg and fit as a flea!