tucked up pony

[bca13]

hi all, my pony came in very tucked up on sat, I stressed for a bit as I had never seen her like this, but put her in the stable with a big haynet and did other jobs while keeping an eye on her. She happily pood weed and drank and within 10 minutes of tucking into her hay looked no longer tucked up. the only new thing that happened was the other pony in her field had torn it up completely to the point that there isn't much grass. i was told this was fine by a few as she is a "native bred to live off nothing". on Sunday she only went out for an hour instead of her normal 8/9 hours due to a beach trip, and she was fine, as happy as larry. today, however, she had a full day out and came in tucked up again. Once again happily eating and her normal self, but I'm wondering, could a lack of forage be a reason for her to be t8cked up or should I be concerned of something else. sorry for the long post!!! tia

 

[Ownedby4horses]

Sounds like she is hungry to me. Remember eating generates heat too, so if unrugged (not saying she needs a rug!) she will not be generating any heat either, so potentially hungry, not warm and sounds fed up. Can you put hay out?

 

[KittenInTheTree]

Native doesn't always mean that the animal can live off fresh air. If she doen't have enough going in, then she won't be able to keep herself warm.

 

[TGM]

Sounds like there is not enough grass in the field, I'd be putting some hay out for her.

 

[MissTyc]

Echo everyone else. Living of "fresh air" means a pony that is good at finding stuff to pick at - bits of grass, bushes, brambles ... and that they are generally good doers. If there is nothing to pick at, then there simply won't be enough forage for the pony. Can you put out some hay? If YO worried about mess, can you tie some small holed nets to the fence somewhere?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

This time of year a lot of fields are bare and 8 or 9 hours is a long time without much being eaten, does she have a net of hay before she goes out?

When I worked on livery yards I noticed a lot people give a bucket feed for breakfast but no hay, then just turn the horse out on a bare field until 6 or 7pm.

 

[hartie7]

Sounds like she is hungry to me. Remember eating generates heat too, so if unrugged (not saying she needs a rug!) she will not be generating any heat either, so potentially hungry, not warm and sounds fed up. Can you put hay out?

Sounds like there is not enough grass in the field, I'd be putting some hay out for her.

Echo everyone else. Living of "fresh air" means a pony that is good at finding stuff to pick at - bits of grass, bushes, brambles ... and that they are generally good doers. If there is nothing to pick at, then there simply won't be enough forage for the pony. Can you put out some hay? If YO worried about mess, can you tie some small holed nets to the fence somewhere?

Yard owner is happy to have hay out in fields but fellow field share says she will not put hay out and I cannot just give to one for obvious reasons. Quite stuck on what to do tbh

 

[hartie7]

This time of year a lot of fields are bare and 8 or 9 hours is a long time without much being eaten, does she have a net of hay before she goes out?

When I worked on livery yards I noticed a lot people give a bucket feed for breakfast but no hay, then just turn the horse out on a bare field until 6 or 7pm.

She is in at night with hay as-lib and there is always some left in the morning- she gets a handful of honeychop light and healthy before going out and yes it’s the same on my livery yard! ?

 

[Ownedby4horses]

Yard owner is happy to have hay out in fields but fellow field share says she will not put hay out and I cannot just give to one for obvious reasons. Quite stuck on what to do tbh

You need to speak to your YO, it isn’t fair for your mare to be out and hungry, you need a field swop at the very least.

 

[MissTyc]

That's annoying. I take it the other horse is doing just fine?
Could you sprinkle her ration across the field? Obviously, the other horse will share but it probably works out as better than nothing, esp if you have access to ad lib.

Mine are mostly out 24/7 bar the worst nights at the moment. My three big horses are going through three LARGE nets in the field overnight (those huge tricklenets) and that's with hedges to browse and a fair amount of grass too. I often find they suddenly get hungry at this time of the year. The value of the grass is lower and they need to keep warm.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Any chance you could split the paddock with an electric fence so the two ponies are separate, then you could feed yours hay. Seems very unfair that the other pony cut the paddock up yet its owner won't put hay out.

 

[Sianio]

Definitely sounds hungry - my horse can’t graze short grass and just started to show this last week. She doesn’t tuck up but gets jaw pain. I bring in early with afternoon hay so she’s not out all day with no food. If it gets really bad sometimes also give a bit of hay before turnout with breakfast although we are lucky that the grass tends to stay pretty good for much of the year as the fields are rotated every couple of months.

 

[AmyMay]

Do you have your own bales of hay, or is it one large round bale that everyone helps themselves to?

 

[JackFrost]

I would guess possibly cold, as well as hungry. You don't say how old she is or what type of 'native'. The natives can get cold, and some need rugs. If she's older, or has a thinner coat, I would rug her and see if this helps. Also, if there is any underlying/undiagnosed Cushings, this can make it harder for them to regulate their temperature. Not sure where you are, but it has been very wet in many places and if she is standing outside with a wet coat and little to eat, she could be quite cold.