Opinions wanted please!

[Fairycupcake]

Just wondering what peoples opinions are on the following and any suggestions you may have!

I may not be able to describe what im trying to say to well so bare with me lol! I have an 8 yr old chestnut pony who is in good, well condition and has no signs to show an illness in any way and is a very happy pony, however ive noticed that she has grey hairs in her tail and she has a small grey patch of fur on her side as well as the odd grey flick through her coat. I know this may not sound strange at all and I may seem daft asking this but was wondering if others thought that this is normal for an 8 yr old to have? It may just be her colour but its been playing on my mind as I was thinking about it today and remembered that my friends pony had the same thing, was chestnut with grey flicks through her and to the eye she was extremely happy and acted so but when the vet checked her over she said that the pony had a deficiency, either iron or cooper if I remember rightly, which made her have the grey flicks through her so its got me wondering now so was just wondering what others thought! It could just be her colour and the other pony a coincidence but just thought I would ask on here as wondering others opinions?

It does however lead me onto my next question! The pony, as far as I know, has been on a hay only diet and is a very good doer and was carrying some weight before we got her, have been loaning her for a month now, so have been working on getting her into a better shape etc. The hay she has is good quality hay but ive always fed hard feed to my own horses when I owned them so have never experienced a pony who just has hay but it makes me think do horses actually get every thing they need out of just hay as I dont see how they would? Which in a way links me to my first question because if it was due to her not getting the right type of minerals etc from just hay then this could be why her coat has the grey flicks in and she could even possibly have a deficiency to? The next problem being is as she is such a weight gainer, and is easily living off just eating hay, what feed would people recommend for her that would have every thing she needed inside it without piling on the pounds as this wouldnt benefit her at all and all the feeds for horses that dont need the weight on are diet types like the Hifi light would be pointless in feeding her at all wouldnt it? So im wondering if there is a complete feed out there that would have every thing she needed so I wouldnt be feeding more then one food and less risk of her over doing it or is there a supplement out there that has every thing they could need in which I could then just give her the hifi light for example and give her just enough to cover be able to cover the supplement and then it wouldnt be as bad for her would it? I hope this all makes sense! The main thing out of all of this though is that her temp doesnt get changed from adding any food in as she is a fantastic childs pony and we love her to bits so dont want to change her in any way. Realisticly the final say would be down to her owner as I would have to run any thing like this by her and wouldnt want to seem like im interfering or trying to act like I know best as the lady is fantastic and we appreciate her letting us have the pony but if anyone else could see some thing out of this that might make you feel some thing is lacking I would be more then happy to talk to her as she is a lovely lady and im sure she would be fine about it but just wanted to see what others opinions are on the matter to first! Thank you for reading all of this lol x

 

[mynutmeg]

I'm not sure about deficiencies causing flecks through the coat but hay on it's own usually does not have a good balance of vitamins and minerals.
You have 2 choices really for a good doer, either add a balancer which is pelletted and is protein and vitamins and minerals or you can get a powdered general vitamin and mineral supplement.

For a very good doer then you would probably be better off using a powdered supplement as it can just be added to damped down chaff (her hi-fi light type thing) and won't add any calories to her diet.

 

[Fairycupcake]

Thank you for the reply. Thats what I did think but ment what type of balancer is out there and which feed is best if it was going down the food route? Shes not on the Hifi light atm but thats the sort of thing I was thinking of if it was best to just add a balancer in x

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

I have a good dooer who I wanted to be sure he was not lacking anything he would not get from the grass. Especially as he is normally on restricted grazing, as, bless him, he just looks at grass and puts weight on.

I personally feed Baileys local and a little HiFi light to stop bolting his feed. He has had that for a few years now and we are both very happy with it. Coat is shiny, he is happy, feet have improved etc.

I looked for a balancer that was good for laminitics, same with the chaff.

Mine is 21 this year and his feed will not be changing.

 

[mynutmeg]

You can get specific balancers designed for good doers, personally I like the Top Spec ones and then add a molasses free chaff of some sort,

 

[Fairycupcake]

Thanks both of you x

 

[Fairycupcake]

Will look into the Baileys local as my girl sounds like your boy, all she needs to do is look at it and she adds it on lol! And will look into the Top Spec as well x

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

The powdered ones onto chaff will work out cheaper if thats any help!

 

[Fairycupcake]

This is what im thinking as with any feed you run the risk of finding the wrong match and I dont really want to go down the trial and error side of hard feed, esp as shes not used to being on it and I dont want to change her temp and have to wait for it all to get out her system so ive decided that im going to try chaff with a supplement in and see how we go x

 

[Charlie77]

My friend has had her chestnut since a four year old she is twenty this year, she commented the other day how every spring when her new coat comes through how she gets a new grey spot each year and she was looking forward to this year because last the first what she ever clipped her she hadmno one but four new spots and she wanders what she will have this spring, just one of them things?

 

[MerrySherryRider]

Bailey's Lo Cal is very good, It's fine for good doers too.

If you're concerned about whether she's getting everything she needs from hay, just look at her coat, eyes and feet. If her coat is healthy and shiny, eye's bright and feet are good and strong, then she's probably just fine.

The grey hairs may just be natural colouring. Sometimes, white/grey hair grows where there has once been a wound or where tack has rubbed, but it doesn't sound like this is the case here.