Those who think keeping a native trim is difficult ..

AngieandBen said:
So how do you manage yours then if their not starved, muzzled or on a strict exercise regime?
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I've always found it easy to keep weight off my natives, even a Welsh D who lived on air. I never starved them - simply kept them in paddocks with not much grass and supplemented this with hay (all through the summer too) and 2 feeds a day. Giving them hay didnt seem to add the pounds nearly as badly as grass does. Putting the hay in haylage nets helps a lot too. None of mine have ever starved or even been on a "strict" exercise regime in fact 2 of them are retired. I think only in very rare cases is there a genuine excuse for fat natives.
 
Ah right, looking at your pics, I can see where our pastures differ, and that is the crux of many people's problems. Everyone's ideas of lush are totally different.

Compared to the fields mine graze on, yours look lower quality, in my estimation. Thats not an insult, just comparing to mine. (Mine are ex dairy water meadows). That, combined with the fact that every horse is different makes me feel slightly less guilty about having a fatty.

But I do take your point about the usual excuses, and knew that some people would be offended by this post, as it does appear at the start that you are bagging anyone with a fat horse. (don't worry though, I know what you mean!!).

Mine puts on weight even with a muzzle on and restricted grazing due to the extreme nature of my grass, but its no good telling people my fields are lush, you have to walk among them to believe it, and most people are staggered by what they find. I know I was when we first moved in :)
 
To me though, you are taking extra measures to keep the weight off..they are on restricted grazing and fed soaked hay etc. Basically a starvation paddock...
No extra management to me, means you dont have to worry excessively about the quality of the grazing.
 
doris2008 said:
To me though, you are taking extra measures to keep the weight off..they are on restricted grazing and fed soaked hay etc. Basically a starvation paddock...
No extra management to me, means you dont have to worry excessively about the quality of the grazing.
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The soaked hay isnt for weight, Mysti gets coughs from dusty hay :(

Yup grazing isnt fab (due to being overgrazed) but if left the grass gets very long & lush but i dont have enough field to do that and dont need to anyway. Absolutly no yard ive been on has had good grazing so its just what im used too i supose. The only yard i know with very good grazing is a private yard with lots more land for alot less horses :)
 
I have a nice NFx and he is certainly not overweight! A horse will only get fat if it is allowed to get fat, but of course its far easier for some ponies to pile it on than others. Like people. Lol!
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My management is no different with him than it was with my tbX or cob. Good grazing, correctly managed year round, feed only when needed (not just for the sake of it), and plenty of work. (ridden 6 times a week sometimes more and even twice a day at times -evil Mummy) he lives out until bad winter in a LW rug ATM.
 
Here I am - predictably popping up to add my two penn'orth. It's got to be people's idea of 'lush' and 'sparse' which are to blame along with this interesting and probably frustrating piece of latest research. It is possibly blindingly obvious, really.

Montyforever, and probably NP, your ponies are on what I'd call the right grazing.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, a native pony's metabolism changes throughout the year to make good use of lush spring and summer pasture (feeding foals and putting down reserves for winter) and then eek out the reserves during the months where grazing is compromised. We can do the summer bit fine but come winter, when they need *pasture* like that which montyforever has (need I say bare, dry and calorieless) most of ours are rugged up, indoors being fed and pampered. I said MOST, not all. Then we factor in the above bit of bad news and is it any wonder the more responsible owners have been scratching their heads in puzzlement? I have to say it came as no shock to me, but I'm a lateral thinker and when convention doesn't give you an answer you have two possible scenarios to consider. Either someone else is feeding your horse unbeknown to you or the food you are giving it is being over-utilised!

I am once again cheered to see ponies in proper condition that were once both sides of ideal. Too thin is not nice but too fat is disgraceful.
 
Hi Brighteyes,

I agree with what you say. Again, understand you realise there are exceptions. What is your point of view on my highland mare? Also, that link was interesting.

Last Winter, she was on NO hard feed, one haynet a day (she sometimes didn't even finish that) and obviously there was no grazing. She probably had a LW rug on - maybe 10 days of the whole winter - where the rain and wind were icy cold and she was frozen.

The livery yard she is on is very small and No-one else was feeding her. One owner barely looks after her own, the only others are the livery owners and they DEFINITELY don't feed her anything. Due to where her field is, no-one even goes near her. There are no other houses etc nearby.

With all of this, she has put weight on. I will post a piccie up and please note we are working like mad to get her weight off...

Tilly as a 5 yr old - not long in full work
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Spring this year
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Now
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I have no option of how much grass is in paddocks and also am not allowed to section it off. Her new paddock now is bare though.
 
Well it certainly is a ridiculous thread. Having had numerous natives over the years of a wide variety of breeds, I can safely say that the hardest animal I've ever had to keep weight off is my 15.2 ISH. She can get fat on less food than most section A's - even when eventing fit.
 
More calories than a horse needs for day to day living = fat. Simple as that. Just the same as people.

Ive mentioned many times to use minimal rugging and have been told thats cruel! Of course its cruel to suddenly strip off a full neck HW rug from a fatty and expect it not to shiver. The answer is to avoid over rugging in the first place, starting at this time of year. A LW sheet is all a fatty needs when its wet, nothing when dry. Horses become accustomed to how they are kept, so if they are stabled with rugs then they get fat and feel the cold.

Obviously some people really dont have much choice of places where they can keep their horses but personally i would not consider keeping mine somewhere that doesnt allow grazing control. Thats like Bubbles De Vere living in a cake shop and expecting her to lose weight :rolleyes:

Whats the biggest selling horse feed? Course mix or in other words cereals covered in sugar. Totally unsuitable for most leisure horses! Added to that, many horses are kept on grass grown for growing livestock then its no wonder they are fat. Particularly if they spend several months of the year wrapped up in duvets.
 
TeddyT you are definitely cruel. My ISH's & their TB friend would much prefer to be wrapped in layers of rugs and stuck in stables at the moment, rather than roaming round their hilly field foraging as a gang & sunning themselves with no rugs on - NOT!!!

They have shiny winter coats coming, no hard food, a nice covering of flesh & healthy metabolisms. Mine will get rugged if it rains - with rainsheets or lightweight rugs & will get MW's when they are clipped. I am continually baffled at the obsession people have with rugs, especially on porky cobs/ponies.
 
siennamum said:
TeddyT you are definitely cruel. My ISH's & their TB friend would much prefer to be wrapped in layers of rugs and stuck in stables at the moment, rather than roaming round their hilly field foraging as a gang & sunning themselves with no rugs on - NOT!!!

They have shiny winter coats coming, no hard food, a nice covering of flesh & healthy metabolisms. Mine will get rugged if it rains - with rainsheets or lightweight rugs & will get MW's when they are clipped. I am continually baffled at the obsession people have with rugs, especially on porky cobs/ponies.
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Yep. I am a cruel owner. I have full TBs living out at the moment with NO RUGS! Not a rib in sight though!
 
TeddyT you are definitely cruel. My ISH's & their TB friend would much prefer to be wrapped in layers of rugs and stuck in stables at the moment, rather than roaming round their hilly field foraging as a gang & sunning themselves with no rugs on - NOT!!!

They have shiny winter coats coming, no hard food, a nice covering of flesh & healthy metabolisms. Mine will get rugged if it rains - with rainsheets or lightweight rugs & will get MW's when they are clipped. I am continually baffled at the obsession people have with rugs, especially on porky cobs/ponies.
 
montyforever - your horses look in lovely condition.

I do agree that horses are all different and whilst more calories than a horse needs = excess fat some horses will metabolise different e.g. stressy anxious horses will burn calories, unknown ailments or worm burdens may also suck nutrients from feed etc from those horses that seem to require a lot of calories but ultimately it keeps coming back to this argument of type of grazing.

Those horses kept on unfertilised untouched meadows rather than x dairy or highly managed paddocks will fair better because the grass is less nutritious. Horses are not designed to eat lots of lush grass but rather walk a long way browsing small amounts of sparse grass.

I also think that perhaps an acre might be considered restricted grazing for 2 horses especially if they come off it at night.
 
teddyt, I love your posts :)

It was I who asked how montyforever managed her horses : I see that, to me that grazing isn't lush like mine ( think 6 inches of thick green/no weeds carpet :( ) I strip graze mine all year as I have 6 acres and only two ponies; Neither are overwieght though.

My 20 year old lives out rugless unless its really really cold and raining, he gets ridden 4/5 times a week for up to 2 hours and regularly does 10 mile pleasure rides, It is an ongoing thing though to keep them looking good, and as many have said they are all individual, for me its hard work!
 
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