Pls convince me they're not going to starve!

[chickeninabun]

I have a 13.2hh German Riding Pony. She's 28yo and gets walked around with my 4 yo daughter on about once a week, if that.
My YO/Friend who brings in/feeds for me 3 nights/wk and feeds a few mornings a week, gives her a double handed scoop of chaff, a scoop of nuts and a scoop of mix. She was getting s/beet too, but we've stopped that now. I give her a single handed scoop of chaff and about 3/4 scoop of mix. That's it. Surely that's all she needs?!

I also have a 15.2hh IDx mare. She's 15yo and is lunged once or twice during the week (only for about 15mins) and hacked out both days at weekend, but only walking and trotting at the moment. YO/Friend gives her about the same as the pony above, maybe slightly more chaff. I give her a double handed scoop of chaff and 1 scoop of mix.

Pony is a bit fat but IDx is just covered on the ribs, so about right, apart from lacking in muscle.
This is IDx just under 2 wks ago:

I do need to have a word with my YO/Friend, don't I?

I really don't think they need all the feed they're getting. YO's last horse got really fat and it was a very unhappy ending. I'm terrified of that happening to my two!

 

[lexiedhb]

Why would YO/friend be giving YOUR horses anything other than what you tell them to give em????

 

[louisesb]

Honestly - yes I would say cut out their feed completely!! The spring grass is just around the corner and if you're not careful they might explode!! The ID is definitely overweight when at this time of year I would expect it to look on the slim side. I would give the pony a handful of chaff and prehaps a feed supplement - but only because of her age. The ID I would probably give nothing to (harsh I know) and up the feed if he doesn't have enough energy for what you want to do work wise.
I used to feed buckets of feed unnecessarily and I've come to realise they just don't need it a lot of the time (I had TB's who competed up to immediate level eventing). Good quality hay should be more than sufficient.

 

[apritina]

Dont worry, horses stomachs are the size and capacity of a rugby ball, feeding feeds larger than this in one go is wastefull (and can poss lead to impacted colic, older horse more prone. the extra feed gets pushed through to fast and sits un digested in the intestines), so there prob getting to much. My mare is 27yr old tb hack/school/jump 5 times a week for an hour, I feed her 1/2 a scoop of sixteen plus and 1/2 chaf a day (split in to two feeds as she takes ages to chew).
Both the mix and pony nuts are complete feeds (nutrients vits min etc) but have different properties, if that makes sense.
hope this helps

 

[chickeninabun]

[ QUOTE ]
Why would YO/friend be giving YOUR horses anything other than what you tell them to give em????

[/ QUOTE ]

There is only me and my YO/friend on the yard, so we kind of treat the horses (4 of them) as if they're all our own, so I'm not sure if she's just forgot what I said about the feeds (as they were getting almost as much as described above over winter, as hardly any grass) or if she just feeds mine as she does hers. And yes hers are grossly overfed, hence one having to be put down last year!

This was her in the summer before she went down with cushings/lami/suspensory ligament damage...

 

[T_K]

I would either write down what they need to be fed and put it up on the wall near the feeds or make up the feeds yourself and leave them ready for her - I'm so paranoid that if I go on hols etc I make up a weeks worth of dinners and put them in plastic bags to make sure they get the right amount!

 

[chickeninabun]

Do you think she does look overweight? She doesn't in real life, honest. She appears to have a bit of a pot belly on these photos.
Does this make her look any slimmer...

I know it's not a very good pic but you can see down her side that there isn't much covering.

 

[Vicki1986]

have a pony the same size whos 16. not sure what a dbl handed scoop is so im struggling to get a clear idea of what your actually feeding there. and you've given not much indication of hay amoutns or grass quality.

to give you an idea - altho obv age / work load difference - my pony, is worked 5-7 times a week and in regular RC level competing...
Out 7am - 3/4pm on medium quality grass - about the change fields on to richer grass so she will wear a grazing muzzle
At night 1-2 sections of hay
2 feeds per day, 1 large stubbs scoop of chaff plus supplements.

as you can see from pics in sig she is pretty well covered on that.

Unless pony in question is a poor doer then sounds a lot to me (a mix and nut combination for next to no work, why?)

Unless she struggles to keep a healthy amount of wweight i'd have her on a good quality chaff ( i use Dengie healthy hooves, producing great results so far for my good doer) and a balancer / vit and min supp.

the pony shown def has a belly on it and will not starve, its not overly 'fat' but i definately would cut some feed now before the grass really gets through.