Trying to reduce weight in an 11.2 pony

[GingerTrotter]

I have not got a handle on this!

I have a 20 year old 11.2 pony i've not had very long and shes too fat. She is turned out all day on rough grazing and in during the night with ad lib hay. No hard feed other hand a sprinkle of grass nuts so she doesnt stress when the big horse gets fed.
She is just getting fatter so i'm 100% doing something wrong.

I am going to start soaking her hay and rationing it in a small nibble net - what weight of hay should i go down to?

 

[Snow Falcon]

Is she getting any exercise? How long is she in for, could she stay out? I'd be tempted to cut back on the ad lib hay, soak a small holed haynet and mix with oat straw.

When we got my son's 11.2h she looked pregnant. She was out 24/7 and I managed to strip 70kg off her the 1st winter. I worked her in hand and lunged her too.

 

[chaps89]

Ad lib hay would be your issue.
To lose weight they need to be fed about 1.5% of their bodyweight. For an 11hh pony this isn't going to be very much!
I have the same issue with a 12hh pony, he is as wide as he is tall. A 2kg haynet gets practically inhaled!
Soaked hay, plain straw/straw chaff and any exercise you can give her would be your best way forwards.

 

[doodle]

Feed 1.5% of her body weight. Small holes nets can slow them down but can also cause a huge amount of frustration and angry horses. Top up with straw. Soak the hay. Can you ride and lead her or lunge/long rein. Is she rugged? If she is take it off. Some
People will clip but I’m not sure I could look at a constantly shivering pony but I know I’m soft!

 

[Annagain]

Just to add it should be 1.5% of her ideal bodyweight not her weight now.

Can you ride and lead when you take the big horse out?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I loathe haynets and small holed ones even more and I would be reluctant to soak hay in freezing weather, I would, however, replace much of the hay with plain oat straw chaff. I got loads of weight off a Draft mare by giving her chaff instead of hay.

 

[mrmac]

Hi OP, getting them to lose weight is a task but is doable. Soaking the hay would definitely help, as would muzzling her whilst she’s out. I know you said her grazing is rough but it’s surprising how much goodness they find in it. Also, the 1 1/2% is their daily allowed intake so she shouldn’t really be having much more than 2kg whilst she’s in overnight. It’s really very hard as an owner when you have to restrict her. You can always add some straw, either the baled stuff or bagged (like top spec zero), to bulk out her rations. Maybe setting up a track style system to encourage her to move around when out to help shift some weight as well. Good luck xx

 

[GingerTrotter]

We've just moved house so another problem was she kept escaping out her electric fence paddock but the fencing was prioritized and they are coming tomorrow to make actually paddocks in the field which I then could track to make them even smaller athough I have designed small ones for her.
I've filled a small haynet tonight and weighed it and it was 1kg dry so maybe that's too little but I'll give it to her tonight and see how she gets on. Hopefully the small holes slow her down enough she doesn't get bored.

So is the general consensus not to soak in winter? It is really cold so maybe not very nice to eat

 

[HollyWoozle]

We are still soaking hay but our mini has EMS and this is working well for him. He is pretty dinky, less than 9hh, and his nets include around 1 - 1.1kg dry weight of hay - his grazing is basically non-existent so he has 1 net morning and 1 net evening (plus 2 small feeds of Happy Hoof Molasses-Free for his meds and a lite balancer). A net of this size, small-holed, lasts him a few hours maximum.

 

[GingerTrotter]

Shea 270kg on the weigh tape tonight

 

[GingerTrotter]

I think I've managed to attach photos. I'm not sure shes a bad as I think?

 

[windand rain]

This is how we did it I had her fully clipped out and put on a 100grm rug with hood She was fed daily on a small feed of oat straw chaff with a vitamin supplement she lives out 24/7 and has no hay. We have standing foggage which I move the fence into about 3x12 ft per day not closing the strip off behind She was worked two or three times a week but not hard
And finally got there although could possibly lose a little more She is 11.3 welsh A and was huge especially her neck she is now 221kg on a tape started at 270kg her center neck is now 58cm it was 69cm. I hate her not having hay but it has worked. Obviously if yours has to be in at night then I personally would secure a tub trug somehow in her stable and leave ad lib oat straw chaff I use Ossichaff cool hoof and no hay

 

[AmyMay]

She’s not that bad. But you could simply offer part of her hay ration as straw.

 

[GingerTrotter]

I maybe am being a bit paranoid, shes the 1st little pony I've ever had so worried I'm not doing right by her.
Thank you for all your lovely advice

 

[Abby-Lou]

oat straw and trace clip & soak hay

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I maybe am being a bit paranoid, shes the 1st little pony I've ever had so worried I'm not doing right by her.
Thank you for all your lovely advice

I think she's looking ok for January. I'd not cut back drastically on the hay yet whilst it's cold and wet. Yes reduce a bit but dont overdo it quickly.
Keep an eye on her weight as the days lengthen and warm up, once the grass gets going as thats when weight piles on and laminitis can spike. This can be as early as mid Feb, but by then you'll have got your fencing sorted.
Good luck and enjoy her

 

[GingerTrotter]

Thank you. Shes for my kids , 1.5 and 3yrs. She is an utter saint. We love her already! I wasn't sure the perfect kids pony existed until we found her!

 

[Bonnie Allie]

Exercise.

When our twins had a couple of fat laminitis prone shetlands, I used to take them for a run with me every second day. I tried to take them on the bike once they got fitter but that was a disaster and I ended up skidding along the tarmac taking a load of skin off when the p****d off suddenly.

Benefit is by doing this type of consistent daily exercise it increases their metabolic rate and helps them process the starches and sugars so that feeding becomes a load easier.

.........and who doesn’t need a bit of exercise themselves right?

 

[GingerTrotter]

This is my plan too. I usually go for a 5km walk early in the morning, 5.30am. But the roads are too icy to take her with me at the moment and its super dark!

 

[HollyWoozle]

She looks much better than I was expecting, absolutely fine if you ask me. I wouldn't cut her hay down too much as others have already said too, she really doesn't look bad at all for the time of year, at least not in my opinion. We still have a bit of winter ahead of us.

 

[suestowford]

I got my 11hh pony down from 280kg to 210kg, it took months though. He never went out to graze without a grazing muzzle on, and would be in during the day with small feeds of hay and straw at intervals throughout the day. Now he is slim he doesn't need the grazing muzzle, but still gets the interval forage feeds when he is in.
At the moment though, being in the depths of winter, he is out on 5 acres all day & night, but it won't be long before he will have to start the regime again.

 

[Palindrome]

She looks fine to me. At her age, I would'nt want her to drop weight in winter.