Trimming Down a Porky Pony

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Taffieboy1

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Hi,

Have a 14.2 Welsh x TB, when I got him 2 years ago, he looked to me to be rather thin, and always tucked up.
I started to feed him up an got him looking great.
Now the Vet & the Farrier say I need to have him drop some weight now as he is too portly.
He weighs in at 440kg,:D and they say max of 400kg pref a bit lower.:eek:
He is clipped as gets a v woolly coat, hes not rugged, turned out around 17 hours on ok grazing deff nothing to shout about.
Stabled for 7 hours each morning.
Ridden 4 times a week for around 45 minutes or so, and goes on the indoor walker for 15 mins every day at an active walk.
Only food he gets is one handfull of Simple systems chaff, an one biscuit of soaked hay.
And in just over a month he has lost about 5kg if I am lucky.
Any advice on how to pull a little more weight off, greatly appreciated.
 
Yea that would be ideal an I would love it, yet all I have is a 2 mile gallop, an a bridleway on site that goes about 2 miles max, then have to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get anyplace else :-(
 
Grazing muzzle on whilst in the field can reduce intake by 50%, grass can look poor quality, but they can eat loads of it very quickly if they are greedy.

Does he need the chaff it if it not fortified with vitamins and you do not use it as a carrier for supplements then he might not need it.
 
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Fat pony is now officially fat, so I am interested in any experience people have with this.

I am now muzzling for 12 hours and she goes in fat ponies field for the rest of the time, also plan an increase in exercise.

I would be interested to hear how much weight I can realistically hope her to loose by Christmas. Thankfully as we are now coming into the colder weather this may be of some assistance.
 
I have had to be strict with my mare as she has been diagnosed positive for EMS.The weightape I was using was proved innacurate as she was 600kg on a weighbridge when the tape said 530kg.She has no grass and everything is weighed so she has only 1.5% bodyweight in total each day.The weight is coming off well.I believe on this sort of regime it takes about 4 months to get back into good shape.All her hay is soaked and divided into several small nets thro' the day and she has the full dose of spillers lite balancer,100gms linseed for protein,salt and hifi mollasses free ,all weighed.It's a pain but it's what's needed.And lots of exercise.
 
Make sure he's getting a full ration of vits/mins (especially selenium, as organic selenium - found in Dengie Alfa A balancer, and in Blue Chip balancers).

Beyond that, I'd double the exercise and see how you go. Make sure whatever gait you do is a good active gait. They reckon a fast walk is a great way to lose weight.

Focus on prioritising exercise over and above anything like grooming (have had to do this with my gang, and it's amazing how much more time it makes for riding).

I never found my gang lost any weight over winter, so you are right to be adjusting things now.

If it buys you more exercise time, then I'd rug him (just to save time on grooming, and give more riding time).

Sarah
 
Fab post flintfootfilly, totally agree especially about rugging him up when he is clipped!!!! the last thing you want is for him to get a chill and end up with vets bills now the weather is getting much colder!!!!!!xxx
 
To be honest, I wouldn't worry too much at this time of year, its going to be getting a lot colder so will use the extra weight to keep warm! If it was me I'd just stick with what he's having and he'll soon drop the weight as the grass disappears, then its just a case of maintaining the good weight through winter!
 
My cob is fully clipped and on vets advice, only rugged with a rainsheet when its really rainy overnight at present. if temperatures drop to freezing or the chill factor of the wind is very cold, he has a no fill TO rug.

He's stabled for 8-9 hours during the day with soaked hay. He gets a mug full of fast fibre and a measure of Formula4feet at tea time then is turned out overnight with the herd on reasonable but not rich grazing.
Exercise is horsewalker 40 minutes x2 a week. 2 miles Road work 4 days, plus a session of long lining and schooling with poles or mini jumps once a week.

Using the weight tape as a guide, he lost 140kg in 7 months. He was never left without forage and never looked tucked up and cold. The biggest factor must have been moving him from lush cow grazing to a 2 acre field used for laminitic prone horses. Still plenty of grass, but not so rich.

Getting his metabolism working effectively by getting fit after being ill also helped. Walking with energy is good exercise.

Don't give up, stick with it and keep up with the exercise. You'll get there.
 
You could do the 2 miles and back so thats 4, but at a good pace walk, just below breaking into a trot they burn calories faster that way than cantering.
 
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