Shetland weight management

[Lauren1993]

Hi all,

We’re new to Shetland ownership & after some advice & recommendations to help us with weight management & laminitis prevention.

We’ve had our 9.2hh Shetland mare for 7 weeks now & she has put on abit of chub !
She was ridden a lot more at her previous home as her rider was more advanced than my daughter. She is currently ridden 3-4 times a week but only lead rein walk & trot & hacking out, roads & fields.
Her current routine -
6.30am Turnout
In a large field with a herd of mares
4/5pm bring in & stabled over night
1 small net of soaked hay
straw bedding (swapping to shavings next month)
Access to a tiny ‘sick paddock’ but this has alot of grass as it’s not used & I know she will run up & down the fence to get to her friends as they can go far away from her & she’ll be alone really.

My options to manage her weight -

1. Out at night & stabled in the day - 6.30am bring in & 4/5pm turn out so still a lot of grazing time
Maybe a grazing muzzle ?

2. Leave her as it is 6.30am turn out bring in at 4/5pm but put a grazing muzzle on her.

3. Restricted turn out - 9am turn out & bring in at 3/4pm so she’ll have 6-7hours grazing

Any other suggestions ?
We are trialing someone to part loan her so she will be ridden more so that should help.
I don’t have a huge amount of time with 2 young children but could lunge her in the evening when the children have gone to bed.

Any advice or suggestion greatly appreciated !
Thank you

 

[stangs]

Turning out during the night with a muzzle (ThinLine and Ultimate Muzzles are good) would be my choice. If you can, strip/track grazing her would help encourage movement as well. You can also gradually introduce straw into her haynet to support weight loss. And I'd advise regular condition scoring and weigh-taping, just to be on the safe side.

Do you have any horses you could pony her off?

 

[Timelyattraction]

She’s on too much grass by the sounds of it, if shes in a mixed herd she must be in a decent sized field. Can you section off a small area of the field for her and strip graze? If not then yes i would definitely muzzle her.

 

[Lauren1993]

Turning out during the night with a muzzle (ThinLine and Ultimate Muzzles are good) would be my choice. If you can, strip/track grazing her would help encourage movement as well. You can also gradually introduce straw into her haynet to support weight loss. And I'd advise regular condition scoring and weigh-taping, just to be on the safe side.

Do you have any horses you could pony her off?

Thank you, so the muzzles go small enough for a Shetland ?
Unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to section the field. My only option would be to ask someone’s horse to graze down the ‘sick paddock’ to bare & use that but I know she’ll run around & it’s not big enough for 2 in there.

She’s my only horse currently (I’ve not been able to ride for 2 years) I don’t have my own, just my daughters now.

 

[Lauren1993]

She’s on too much grass by the sounds of it, if shes in a mixed herd she must be in a decent sized field. Can you section off a small area of the field for her and strip graze? If not then yes i would definitely muzzle her.

I agree, even though the grass looks sparse there is a good amount for the 11 mares that are on it.
I can’t section off unfortunately, only use the tiny paddock there is already but it needs grazing down.

 

[Timelyattraction]

I agree, even though the grass looks sparse there is a good amount for the 11 mares that are on it.
I can’t section off unfortunately, only use the tiny paddock there is already but it needs grazing down.

The grass is growing like mad at the moment. I moved two of our horses off one of the paddocks as i thought they had eaten a good amount of it and put them in the next door one as there was a lot of grass in there and 3 weeks later there is almost as much grass in the paddock i took them out of as there was in the new field when they first went in! So yes if you can’t restrict then you certainly need to muzzle her ASAP, overnight turnout would also be better as there is less sugar in the grass. Keep soaking her hay and I would mix it 50/50 with straw. x

 

[Gloi]

You could mow the sick paddock before you used it to reduce the amount of grass. It may still be far too much though.
There is a real skill to keeping weight off a Shetland that isn't being worked hard and it is unlikely you will manage it in a field with big horses at this time of year.
Can you find another child to ride it when your child can't.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Thank you, so the muzzles go small enough for a Shetland ?
Unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to section the field. My only option would be to ask someone’s horse to graze down the ‘sick paddock’ to bare & use that but I know she’ll run around & it’s not big enough for 2 in there.

She’s my only horse currently (I’ve not been able to ride for 2 years) I don’t have my own, just my daughters now.

Yes, look at the Dinky pony muzzle.
My mini shetland is in at day (approx 7/7.30 am to 4/6pm) and out at night with B, they have currently the run of about 3 acres of 3 paddocks. Plenty of room to move about.
Bedding is Aubiose, which works well for her and me.
She is currently almost too slim, only noticeable when you run your hands over her through the thick coat.
I also take her marching for 30 mins or so at least 4 x a week, plus she has toddler treks out too.

Good luck. Dont get persuaded to keep in a postage stamp patch, better to have bigger field and wear a muzzle.

 

[meleeka]

Muzzle when out and soak hay when in. Definitely get rid of the straw. Those that say it’s low calorie so doesn’t put weight on hasn’t had a true good doer!

 

[Jambarissa]

I'd say put overnight with muzzle and in during the day with soaked hay. At least that way you're avoiding the grass when the sugars are highest.

Do you have any free time during the day? Long reining her or just taking her for a walk in hand would be good exercise. Anyone else that could ride her a few times a week?

It is that time of year when they'll gain weight, hopefully you can stabilise it.

 

[Auslander]

My little herd are in 1/2 an acre, and although their field looks very bare, they exist very well on it. I do hay them am and pm, but not a huge amount, and they get no hard feed, other than a handful of Equibite vit and min nuggets. Ivan gets loose schooled every other day, and works til he's blowing a bit, and he also goes for long hacks in hand fairly regularly.
They are designed to live on twigs and moss, so I try to recreate that lifestyle for them as closely as possible!

 

[Lauren1993]

Yes, look at the Dinky pony muzzle.
My mini shetland is in at day (approx 7/7.30 am to 4/6pm) and out at night with B, they have currently the run of about 3 acres of 3 paddocks. Plenty of room to move about.
Bedding is Aubiose, which works well for her and me.
She is currently almost too slim, only noticeable when you run your hands over her through the thick coat.
I also take her marching for 30 mins or so at least 4 x a week, plus she has toddler treks out too.

Good luck. Dont get persuaded to keep in a postage stamp patch, better to have bigger field and wear a muzzle.

Great thank you.
I agree, I’d rather have her moving more freely with her friends as long as she’s comfortable in a muzzle.

 

[Lauren1993]

I'd say put overnight with muzzle and in during the day with soaked hay. At least that way you're avoiding the grass when the sugars are highest.

Do you have any free time during the day? Long reining her or just taking her for a walk in hand would be good exercise. Anyone else that could ride her a few times a week?

It is that time of year when they'll gain weight, hopefully you can stabilise it.

My only worry with muzzling her at night is that there is no one to keep an eye on her, what if she got caught or something & no one is around to see her. Where as if she’s muzzled in the day there is always people around to check her & pop it back on if needs be.

I’m hoping to start her part loan next week so she will be ridden more but again just lead rein.
I could go up of an evening when the kids are in bed & lunge her (get an hour to myself too lol)

Straw if deffo going, fixing my roof leak this week then swapping over to ethos.

 

[maya2008]

Ours came to us from a ‘sectioned off small area’ yard and much preferred the option of grazing muzzle with freedom and friends, over tiny paddock on her own.

 

[Lauren1993]

I’ve just brought a thinline grazing muzzle & a leather headcollar so I’m hoping she’ll be happy in this.
Going to see how she goes on restricted turnout 9am-3/4pm
& if she’s not happy with that I’ll muzzle her & do normal hours.
Thanks all.

 

[Auslander]

I’ve just brought a thinline grazing muzzle & a leather headcollar so I’m hoping she’ll be happy in this.
Going to see how she goes on restricted turnout 9am-3/4pm
& if she’s not happy with that I’ll muzzle her & do normal hours.
Thanks all.

If she's on normal grass, that's not going to help her weight at all - they can cram in a LOT of grass in that amount of time - quite possibly more than if she was on 24/7 turnout if she is hungry when she gets turned out.
I really think she should be muzzled at all times when she's on grass

 

[Lauren1993]

If she's on normal grass, that's not going to help her weight at all - they can cram in a LOT of grass in that amount of time - quite possibly more than if she was on 24/7 turnout if she is hungry when she gets turned out.
I really think she should be muzzled at all times when she's on grass

Okay so am I better restricting turn out & muzzling her 9am - 3/4pm ?
I’ll post a photo of her & see what you all think.
Her clip has nearly grown out … so May full clip her & always unrugged.

 

[Lauren1993]

These photos were all taken in the past week

 

[Auslander]

Okay so am I better restricting turn out & muzzling her 9am - 3/4pm ?
I’ll post a photo of her & see what you all think.
Her clip has nearly grown out … so May full clip her & always unrugged.

If she's got a muzzle on, and doesn't take it off with contemptuous ease, I don't see any point in restricting turnout. Just be prepared to harden your heart and ignore her pretending she can't eat with it on. No shitland ever died of sulking!

 

[Auslander]

These photos were all taken in the past week

Yep - she'd be on the weigthwatchers regime if she was here!
Cute, but very fat!

 

[LEC]

We have a special Shetland pen off the area attached to all the fields. No way could she go out in a large field and I hate muzzles. I would rather restrict the intake. I also lunge her to keep her fit with occasional pole work and loose school over jumps. We don’t have a rider for her so hence has to do everything unmounted. I have done ride and lead in the past but she does about 1 mile cheerily and then feels her feet and tbh the big horses need to do more than she needs.
I have also clipped her out completely so she has to work a bit harder to keep warm.

Mine is a bit fat at the moment as been trying to get the grass down on her Shetland pen but will soon get it back under control.

 

[Lauren1993]

If she's got a muzzle on, and doesn't take it off with contemptuous ease, I don't see any point in restricting turnout. Just be prepared to harden your heart and ignore her pretending she can't eat with it on. No shitland ever died of sulking!

I’ll be fine, happy to be cruel to be kind Others on my yard on the other hand !!!
So muzzle & she can go out for 12 hours grazing ?

 

[Lauren1993]

This was a few weeks ago but you can see our grass on here.
Just worried with all the rain this week it’s going to go mad & im not going to be able to sleep at night with worry so need to get her sorted.

 

[Auslander]

If you're interested, I'm developing a new, more organic way to keep Shetlands svelte. As they are usually of the opinion that if you can see food, you should eat it, it makes sense to prevent them from seeing it in the first place. The first prototype is a bit agricultural looking, but I think I can do better.

 

[Lauren1993]

If you're interested, I'm developing a new, more organic way to keep Shetlands svelte. As they are usually of the opinion that if you can see food, you should eat it, it makes sense to prevent them from seeing it in the first place. The first prototype is a bit agricultural looking, but I think I can do better.

View attachment 113194

ill be first on your list

 

[Lauren1993]

Weigh taped her tonight.
She’s 240kg
So ideal online says between 180-200kg for her size.
So if I aim for a 50kg loss.

 

[Lauren1993]

This was her tonight when she came in from the rain so soggy but less fluffy x

 

[poiuytrewq]

Turning out during the night with a muzzle (ThinLine and Ultimate Muzzles are good) would be my choice. If you can, strip/track grazing her would help encourage movement as well. You can also gradually introduce straw into her haynet to support weight loss. And I'd advise regular condition scoring and weigh-taping, just to be on the safe side.

Do you have any horses you could pony her off?

Agree! My Shetland is out overnight in a thinline muzzle and it’s working well.