Shetlands - how fat is too fat? Photos, please?

catembi

catembi

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I have read a lot about Shetlands, weight & lami, & there is sooooo much conflicting info! Some people seem to keep to an incredibly strict regime of grazing muzzle, starvation paddock, soaked hay in several layers of net etc etc, others just leave them with the herd & let them get on with it. Some stuff I've read intimates that if you restrict grazing, then they simply make up for it & gorge more once they get some turnout/get their grazing muzzle take off, and also they get less exercise if kept in/strip grazed/starvation paddocked.

For now, mine is out with the herd & does get some exercise as my fields slope and she is also quite annoying so she gets chased once she has irritated the others enough. However, she is also looking rather round. But I know that she is not supposed to look llike a TB. So if anyone has photos of a Shetland at a perfect weight (rather than 'show condition) could you please post them so I can judge for myself whether mine is unhealthily sized? Thank you!
 
ooh yes, lets see lots of pics of shetlands. my friend had one who was very old and she never had to restrict her grazing , she had hardly any teeth so it was a struggle for her to eat hay and she used to get a big trug of chaff mixed with speedibeet for overnight as all of the horses came in at night all year round.,...she was in her forties when she was PTS, what a little character she was...
 
I’ll try get a photo of mine tomorrow. I never worried about weight when he was young but had him gelded at 6 and actually only the past few years he’s started to pile weight on if I don’t look after him. He’s currently stabled 6.45- 5 out in the field for a few hours then on woodchip overnight. I think he’s looking ok ish!
 
I found these guys quite telling of the natural roundness of some shetlands/shetland crosses. These were doing full length driving trials at the time, this was at the national championships at the end of the season. Looking well on it!
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H'mm, mine is about the shape of the black one at the front in the 2nd photo... The 'expecting twins' look...

Thank you poiuytrew - that would be v helpful. :-)
 
This was Tigger in spring this year. He has had laminitis before and does get pulsey occasionally. He's in a small grazed down paddock during the danger months (generally spring and autumn flush) and out with the herd for the rest of the year. I try to keep him looking as he does in the photo but it kind of fluctuates, and I check his pulses daily. If I can feel a pulse, he goes in his paddock for a day or two
 

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_HP_ said:
This was Tigger in spring this year. He has had laminitis before and does get pulsey occasionally. He's in a small grazed down paddock during the danger months (generally spring and autumn flush) and out with the herd for the rest of the year. I try to keep him looking as he does in the photo but it kind of fluctuates, and I check his pulses daily. If I can feel a pulse, he goes in his paddock for a day or two
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he is so cute...
 
This is Mystic...he's never had laminitis and is out with the herd for most of the year but keeps Tigger companion in spring/autumn. He's really tiny and can get a little round but the horses keep him on the move as well as his Shetland companion.
I do find having two Shetland that playfight really good for keeping the weight down
 

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H'mm mine is fatter than both of those... Interesting idea about getting another one... More hungry mouths = less grass each... And Shetlands are sooooooooo cute! O/h would have a fit though! I have previously asked him if I could start a Shetland stud (someone sent me a clip of 40 Shetlands at a stud having a stampede...OMG too much cuteness) and he said NO! So maybe one more teensy weensy pony would be less of an ask than another 39...!
 
I keep my shetland and highland together in roughly 2/3 acre rotated every month to a fresh section. The winter they get given ad lib hay at night and munch whatever there is of the grass during the day. They get lite balancer all year round, out of my paranoia... doesnt seem to do any harm!

Seems to keep them both in fairly good condition and weight. It's so difficult to be sure of the little man's weight as he is not in work so has little condition as such and carries his weight round his pot belly!

They both drop to being quite lean in the winter and podge up in the summer again! - but that's what would happen in the wild!
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catembi said:
H'mm mine is fatter than both of those... Interesting idea about getting another one... More hungry mouths = less grass each... And Shetlands are sooooooooo cute! O/h would have a fit though! I have previously asked him if I could start a Shetland stud (someone sent me a clip of 40 Shetlands at a stud having a stampede...OMG too much cuteness) and he said NO! So maybe one more teensy weensy pony would be less of an ask than another 39...!
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Two are definitely easier than one. Mine are really playful even though Tigger is 20.
 
I’m with you, Ellietotz...not brave enough to fat shame mine! Seriously though, I do realise that it’s a welfare issue but it’s so hard to balance their physical and mental wellbeing...
 
Interesting to see the photos. I had a Shetland (standard) who I used to drive a lot, and she never had the big belly when she was working hard. She did have restricted grazing, but not overly so. Unfortunately I don't have any digital photos but she was quite a different shape to the team shown above! I always wondered if there was a bit of Welsh in her though as she was a lovely shape - slim bodied but good topline.
 
There are Shetlands and Shetlands. I used to keep two minis on exactly the same regime, one young and one teenager. The young one was such a metabolic nightmare by the age of four, off grass in winter, that I gave her back to the person I bought her from.

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That was supposed to be a photo but I got the usual old nonsense about the file being too big, which I don’t know how to resolve :mad::mad::mad:
 
IMHO Shetlands are very difficult to judge. I went on a barefoot hoof care course, and as part of it we were invited to condition score the practioner’s equines. One of the minis caught us all out, she looked rather tubby under her winter coat but she was actually fairly lean.
 
EKW said:
The 'show condition shetland' 😂😂😂 I'm not sure if I have many of my others that aren't as podgy!
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OMG! Wee coloured jobby!
I LOVE this pony.
And this thread isn't helping that I'm convinced we need another small pony ..... obviously we do right?
 
I'm just following this thread for all the Shetland pics...

Catembi, I'm far from an expert, but yours looks more droopy and unmuscled than fat to me. Would she be able to come out on some hacks with you to get her working a bit more?
 
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EKW said:
The sales are coming up in September/October ... pick up a bargain ...
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ycbm said:
You need to ask 🤣 ?
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Should have realised HHO would be the wrong place to go for discouragement.....I'm serious that we have faaaaaarrr too much grass right now though! Need mini mouths to get rid of some...! 😂😏 And reading sales is super close by....
 
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