Overweigh pony

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BarneysMum

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My pony is severely overweight.

My yard owner has told me to leave him in 24/7 off grass and to feed hay soaked twice a day. So far its working but I feel its mean and not enough. I soak for 12 hours and give him roughly 7lbs of hay morning and evening but its always gone and im not sure if its enough.

Im taking him out for in hand walks daily. He's extremely slow (always has been)

Should I be feeding him a hard feed with supplements and if so what can I feed and what's the best supplements?

Please no judging comments life has just got away with me lately and im hearing different opinions from people at the yard and I feel like I have forgotten everything about horses and what is the best thing to do for my boy.
 
BarneysMum said:
My pony is severely overweight.

My yard owner has told me to leave him in 24/7 off grass and to feed hay soaked twice a day. So far its working but I feel its mean and not enough. I soak for 12 hours and give him roughly 7lbs of hay morning and evening but its always gone and im not sure if its enough.
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Unless you've got a bare patch you can put him on which would be my preference, your YO is right. You'll feel even worse when he's crippled with laminitis and you have to have him shot.

BarneysMum said:
Im taking him out for in hand walks daily. He's extremely slow (always has been)

Should I be feeding him a hard feed with supplements and if so what can I feed and what's the best supplements?
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This is probably because he's severely overweight. Unfortunately taking him for a sedentary walk in hand isn't going to do much. Is there a reason he's not able to be ridden or lunged building it up slowly?

It's good you're doing something about it but this is really one of those Need to be cruel to be kind situations.
 
Two good guides to help are

1. Fat Horse Slim by World Horse Welfare

and 2. Tricklenet's ration calculator for the amounts of hay he will need daily.
 
IrishMilo said:
Unless you've got a bare patch you can put him on which would be my preference, your YO is right. You'll feel even worse when he's crippled with laminitis and you have to have him shot.


This is probably because he's severely overweight. Unfortunately taking him for a sedentary walk in hand isn't going to do much. Is there a reason he's not able to be ridden or lunged building it up slowly?

It's good you're doing something about it but this is really one of those Need to be cruel to be kind situations.
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I have no one small to ride him and he will literally not lunge. So in hand walks is the only option I have.
 
I researched myself for my asthmatic fatty and soaking it for 2hrs is ideal. Once you get to overnight it starts to ferment, which causes issues of its own.

Also thinking about it from a biological standpoint, diffusion (movement of molecules; sugar in this instance) only happens when there’s a downwards concentration gradient. Aka: moving from an area of high concentration (the hay) to low concentration (the water). Beyond 2hrs, this levels out and becomes pointless, really. Mini biology lesson of the day 🤣

The quantity sounds about right, but double check and feed based off your horses’ ideal weight, rather than current. If you don’t already, look at hay nets with tiny holes. The elico little piggy hay nets are good.

For example: mine are both 14hh with an ideal weight between 400-430kg, they get 2kg of soaked hay in the morning and 3kg overnight. Their ideal amount is 6kg, but Cob is overweight. They are on a bare paddock, which does have a bit of grass for them to gnaw at if they’re desperate. Another option is top chop zero, which is available as forage but not particularly tasty so they won’t eat it if they’re not desperate (in theory, at least). I too, understand the guilt. Ad lib is ideal, but unfortunately the fatties just can’t have it 😢.

Cob is actively dieting and is currently around 460kg. Saus gets overnight turnout once every two days as she is at her ideal weight, but she’s near the top of her healthy range and doesn’t work.
 
If your pony is sound and you have friends at the stables ride and lead is a good option to exercise your little one. It helped with a Shetland here and he really got to like it.
 
BarneysMum said:
Im taking him out for in hand walks daily. He's extremely slow (always has been)
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one reason for this could be he is a lazy little pony and can't be bothered. However another could be that he is finding it painful to walk and is in a low grade laminitis situation with sore feet and may have been for a long time.

I would try walking him on a hard stony surface and see how he is. Then find a super soft surface and see is there is any difference. If he has sore feet you will want to be super careful to avoid further laminitis and it may be the case you could get him some boots for his front feet (or even borrow some to try) To test that idea without buying boots you could cut some thick neoprene, styrofoam or something similar, tape them to his feet with gorilla tape/gaffer tape and take him for some walks. You may find once he gets the idea and realises it is not painful he will be able to walk more quickly which will improve the exercise problem.

I think you should get your vet to test for cushings. At the same time they may also give you some info. about EMS (equine metabolic syndrome) which may be the reason for his weight problem.

ref hard feed and supplements. He may well need a supplement if he is going to be off grass and just living on hay. Any feed be it hard feed, hay or anything else will have to be included in his max. feed allowance per day, You could for example reduce the hay and give some unmolassed beet pulp (speedibeet or equibeet) and mix in some low sugar chaff. Dengie do a meadow lite one which could be suitable. That may break up his day. Hard feed such as this is INSTEAD of so much hay not as well as. If you are worried about him being hungry look at Honeychop chaff. This is straw based and you could leave him a bin to eat if he gets bored. Again part of your feed weight ration but it will take a long time to eat.

Absolutely everyone on your yard will have an opinion. Listen to your YO who seems to have the situation in hand. The most important thing now is to prevent laminitis.

you say there is no one small enough to ride him so I am guessing he may be around a 12.2 hh type pony. Mine around that are between 300 to 350 kg. which is around what they should be (they are not too fat)
I would guess yours will be a lot more.

Don't worry, you are doing things now and there is a lot that you can do very quickly to prevent laminitis.
 
I have a retired Welsh Cob who I manage his weight by longreining up and down any hill I can find - sometimes numerous times depending on how energetic he is and how good the ground is. He can't do much more than walk but does prance around and gets much more active the more I do with him. You have to find the time to put the effort in - if you don't, they won't loose weight. Simple as. and it's much kinder than completely starving them which I see all too often. Hardly a life.

I box him up and take him long reining in the local woods and around any 'normal' hacking routes, so long as there isn't too much road work.

Plus point, it also keeps me fit and light enough to ride my 14.2 which is a huge bonus :D
 
Long reining is something I did with my medically retired bunch to keep them busy. Not now as the roads are manic with tourists! Another option is free schooling, is you are able to? Or walking up some big hills! Take a schooling whip with you to jig him along if he drags his feet. Do you have someone at the yard who you get along with who would pony him out on a hack for you? As long as he's walking briskly and gets a bit out of puff, he's burning calories, you may need to build it up to start with as he's going to find it hard, but anything more than a plod is going to start the process.
Another thing you can do so he has more to much but not that calories is given him the option of something like honey chop plain oat straw in a trug in his stable. He'll eat it if he's really hungry, but you won't feel guilty about "feeding" him. Electrolytes in water to encourage drinking for gut motility if you do feed this though, as I always worry about impaction in a stables horse, especially with straw chop.
It's great you've noticed and are making changes, and I know it's disheartening and seems to take forever, especially with judgy people around. I've experienced this myself as two of my rehomes came to me in obese condition, but steady and consistent will get you results.
 
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