Shetlands :)

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horsemadelsie

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Hi all :) Bought a Shetland last october to keep our other 2 horses company when we finally made the move and bought a place where we can have the horses in the 'back garden' :D
I have only known a couple of Shetlands before (chose one so it wouldn't need rugs or much feed!) and they both had really bad laminitis- our boy has only just turned 2 so hasn't had it yet, but I was just wondering how many Shetlands do actually get laminitis and how strongly we should be preventing it? he is fed a lo-cal balancer and generally has restricted grass to keep the belly down :p
Also I keep an eye on my horses by condition scoring, and have found this hard with the little boy all winter as he still has a really thick coat, and shetlands bellies always look big to me, I'm used to 16hh+ :o Will have to get more up to date pictures so I can ask your opinions, its hard taking photos of him as he likes to eat the camera!
And as a reward for reading, here's some pictures of the pretty pony :)
(sorry if they come out big, blame my camera! :p )

The day he came home:
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Fun in the snow!
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I have a 6 yr old Shetland called Gilda... I have found they can be very prone to lami if not managed correctly. So far Gilda *touch wood* has never had it. One of my aunts has a shettie - she never managed hers properly and that has chronic laminitis. So sad to see. So yes, strip grazing, grazing muzzles, weight management etc carefully watched in this household!
 
I have a shettie cross who had lami before I bought him. He is now on a bare paddock and is clipped out from October to April so he comes into spring a little neat (please don't think starved and ribby) he gets hay when the weather is really bad and is in at night to give him a rest. In the summer he is out 24/7 on a bare paddock and looks great compared to when he arrived. I try not to use grazing muzzles as they hurt his nose so there are times when I get the mower out to cut and collect the grass so there's even less for him to eat!
 
shetlands will get lami just looking at grass.

They do not need feed. Hay, soaked for 12 hours, is about all they need. Restricted grazing and exercise (hacking, lungeing, long reining, broken to trap etc). Exercise is the crucial part of weight management.

It's not their bellies you need to watch, it's around their bums and withers and necks. You should be able to tell their weight even under their thick coats. If you look at those pics, the pony has rolls of fat. Obesity can cause heart issues too.

Very pretty pony :D but i'd like to see it A LOT slimmer!! :eek:
 
I had a lovely shetland as a companion pony. Keeping his weight under control became a constant battle. They key thing is to never let him get too fat in the beginning. They do not need any hard feed at all and only hay when things get really bad. I used to clip my pony in the vain hope it would encourage him to burn some fat keeping warm.
 
Hi, congrats on your little lad! he is a real sweety :) Our Shetland never had lami and he was never on restricted grazing or muzzled but we were very very careful with his management... he was regularly walked with the dogs, was clipped out when hairy so we could see his true weight (and rugged in winter) and his feed was a very small amount of basic chaff with basic pony nuts (about 1/4 - 1/2 scoop of them mixed together in very cold weather) there was always plenty of grass in the field and he did really well :)
 
I've owned my Shetland for 21 years, he's now 22 and has never had laminitis. I also had another one who I owned from weaning until he was pts at 15 due to liver damage and he never had laminitis either. My pony is carefully managed, muzzled when needed, hooves trimmed regularly etc., he is retired and lives a life of leisure being utterly adored by myself and my daughter :)
 
He's a fine little fellow.

They are prone to laminitis - they are bred to live on sparse grazing so they do need management.

I have a little Sheltie mare as a companion to my ditsy Sec D so we are managing for good doers anyway - they are stabled overnight with low-sugar hay, they are worked nearly every day (the sheltie is longreined, lunged and goes for walks though she's older than yours OP). Our grass is old ley and purposely kept 'down' for the ponies. They see the farrier every 6 weeks, even if all they need is a quick rasp round, to have a professional 'eye' cast over to catch any changes in growth patterns.

As for weight-checking, everyone is different, for ours the crest is a good tell-tale sign - if its wobbly then she's fine if it's going a bit hard then watch out!

Management is different for each depending upon the pony and the facilities you have to work with. Our sheltie belongs to some good friends of ours who got her as a pity buy as an ex-laminitic and this system has worked for her for over 10 years now, firstly with our friends and latterly with us (we were only allowed to have her as we can give her this lifestyle!!)
 
Its nice to know there are some shetlands out there who never get it! We bought him prepared for it, but obviously want to save him the pain if we can. Our grazing has never been fertilised and is covered in weeds, he is only ever in a strip (he enjoys racing the welshie up and down!) and he gets some cabbage for dinner instead of the apples and carrots that the others enjoy!
We're leading him about as often as possible, as soon as he's old enough we'll teach him to lunge and long rein, hopefully take him on lead hacks with our ridden horses and if we can afford a cart we'll have him broken to drive.
The pictures were when we first got him- the breeder said he was a little fat but it was ok going into winter, bearing in mind this was on unlimited green grass! He's lost a fair bit now, he's never had a crest on his neck, and from what I can see of his rump it looks flat now. Think he's sweating it off at the moment, he still has a lot of coat! He's obviously seen regularly by a farrier when he comes to do our others (shod horse needs doing every 6 weeks or his feet fall apart :o )
Was thinking of a grazing muzzle but don't think we'll find one that fits- he's only 9hh and xs headcollars are way too big, as are shetland sized bridles!
LollyDolly- his name's Jura (wanted to change it but mum says its bad luck!)
 
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