Tips for managing worlds fattest pony?

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BessieBooBoo

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Hi all. So I won't sugar coat it, my mare is ridiculously fat. I have literally never known such a good doer!

She's usually exercised 5 days out of 7.
Living in a barebones paddock.
Gets a TEENY handful of lo-cal chaff for vits and supps etc.

Help! What else can I be doing?
 
Up the work?

Is she getting her heart rate up and working hard when being ridden? Canter work and interval work can help burn calories if there is no medical reason for not doing strenuous work.
 
I think mine could have a fair crack at the fattest pony prize too. In fact the vets were a bit taken aback by how fat she is for how little she eats.

A while back I had a bit of a debate with a lady who recommends ad lib hay. I've tried that in the past and got a hippo - no off button. She suggested leptin resistance so I went googling. No way to test but the 'cure' is to feed a wide variety of stuff to help the bacteria in the tummy. So I've been lopping bits off trees and hedges. There was a 'doctor in the house' episode where a little boy couldn't lose weight where he suggested something similar.

Too early to tell if it's working (plus horse has been ill), but thought I'd post as it's an interesting option.
 
AlexHyde said:
Up the work?

Is she getting her heart rate up and working hard when being ridden? Canter work and interval work can help burn calories if there is no medical reason for not doing strenuous work.
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Thanks for response. Yes she is definitely getting her heart rate up (and mine!) and we are both sweaty messes afterwards. It's generally schooling through the week interspersed with a jumping session and good long hacks with a fair bit of trotting and a couple fields of canter. Part of it is trying to keep it interesting for her and the other is trying to get her to engage and use herself properly (and hopefully burn more calories!)
 
SEL said:
I think mine could have a fair crack at the fattest pony prize too. In fact the vets were a bit taken aback by how fat she is for how little she eats.

A while back I had a bit of a debate with a lady who recommends ad lib hay. I've tried that in the past and got a hippo - no off button. She suggested leptin resistance so I went googling. No way to test but the 'cure' is to feed a wide variety of stuff to help the bacteria in the tummy. So I've been lopping bits off trees and hedges. There was a 'doctor in the house' episode where a little boy couldn't lose weight where he suggested something similar.

Too early to tell if it's working (plus horse has been ill), but thought I'd post as it's an interesting option.
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Sorry to hear ponio has been ill :(. Hmm that's certainly an interesting option to try. Plus its getting a bit of gardening done too so extra brownie points for that! I did forget to add in original post that she gets half slices of hay rationed round the day because the paddock really is bare and I don't want her developing ulcers or anything, but obviously it doesn't last long.
 
Has she had any metabolic tests done? It seems a bit strange that she's got an adequate workload, a controlled diet, yet she's still the size of a house
 
Can you set up a track with electric fencing? It does keep them moving and the equation is food/exercise, and that is a good way to increase her exercise throughout the day. Years ago those sorts of ponies worked for several hours a day and six days a week so a session a few times a week is only scratching the surface, she probably dosses for 22 hours.
Space her water and whatever feed she gets around it (and even better, give her a companion so they chase each other off whatever bits of food there are)
 
Ive been working hard to get weight off my slightly chubby dartmoor who lives on air. Ive had to be very very strict, so she's in a small paddock with barely any grass. She gets a tiny handful of basic nuts but I dont add anything to it (NO carrots/apples which are easy things to automatically add without thinking etc.). She only gets hay (and not great hay) in a very small holed haynet when travelling/at events and I never let her eat the grass when there. I dont rug her unless I absolutely have to (she is a surprising baby in the rain, even then I put on just a no fill waterproof rug). I lunge her as much as possible, often jumping to really make her put the effort in. So I guess just ensuring you're being super duper strict? Maybe you already are, in which case no idea what else to suggest!
 
How long has she been on this regime for?

If she has been on a diet like this and with this amount of exercise over the winter then I would be surprised she is this fat. However if she has only been on this routine a few months then it might take a while for the weight to shift.
 
MagicMelon said:
Ive been working hard to get weight off my slightly chubby dartmoor who lives on air. Ive had to be very very strict, so she's in a small paddock with barely any grass. She gets a tiny handful of basic nuts but I dont add anything to it (NO carrots/apples which are easy things to automatically add without thinking etc.). She only gets hay (and not great hay) in a very small holed haynet when travelling/at events and I never let her eat the grass when there. I dont rug her unless I absolutely have to (she is a surprising baby in the rain, even then I put on just a no fill waterproof rug). I lunge her as much as possible, often jumping to really make her put the effort in. So I guess just ensuring you're being super duper strict? Maybe you already are, in which case no idea what else to suggest!
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Why are you feeding even a small amount of nuts? Is it to carry supplements / meds?
 
How many poos a day does she produce? Unless she is kept on a non-grass surface, it's impossible to tell by looking at the grass how much the horse is taking in. The reason there is no grass to be seen is because it's all in the pony! I find it more reliable to count poos to get an idea how much they must be still getting from the grazing. For my 14.1h pony, anything more than ~8 poos/day means he's likely putting on weight. I don't want to see less than 6 though - that would indicate to me that he's not getting enough fibre through his system. Obviously each horse is an individual, but I'd start counting poos and be realistic about how much grass she is still getting.
If you can't figure out how much should be "normal" for her, you could put her in a grass-free area for a few days and provide weighted (~1.5% of bodyweight) soaked hay for that time, and see how much comes out the backend. If the "barebones" paddock is still providing too much grass, you'll have to figure something out to reduce intake (make smaller, keep off grass entirely and feed measured amount of soaked hay...).
Not even the best good doer lives "off the air", so if she's exercised regularly, the only conclusion is that there are too many calories going into the front end!
 
Auslander - No metabolic tests done as of yet, did mention it to vet when they came to do jabs a couple weeks ago but didn't seem too worried and just said to continue with my little regime I've got going on.

JillA- Liking the sound of the track system, may be a bit hard on the paddock after all this rain we've had, but I will certainly give it a go!

MagicMelon- Pretty sure I'm being quite strict, though you did mention using a small holed haynet which would be a good addition to the regime thinking about it, make her work a bit harder for her rations... though she is a serial net trasher just to be awkward!

So1 - No not been doing it over winter. She kept quite well over winter and was just about right so was hoping to just try and maintain her weight as we came out of it, gradually cutting the little feed she had and tapering down the hay. But honestly I just don't think I was quick enough when all the grass came through. Perhaps it is just a case of persevering!
 
Hmm you do make a good point supsup! Though I wouldn't say there has been a huge difference whilst poo picking that I can think of... as in compared to winter and now. Possibly was filling the barrow more a couple weeks when grass really came through, but like I said once I realised I quickly got her off the grass, though unfortunately not soon enough it seems!
 
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