Under feeding.

[Groom Mum]

When they arrived they were both at 350kg. I found that hard to believe. The older one was fat. The baby was chunky. But he's fine and I couldn't believe they were that heavy. Now I would say the older one isn't much lighter. Perhaps a bit. But the baby. I'm not 100% sure but I wouldn't put him at anymore than 250-275kg at most.

 

[Orca]

When they arrived they were both at 350kg. I found that hard to believe. The older one was fat. The baby was chunky. But he's fine and I couldn't believe they were that heavy. Now I would say the older one isn't much lighter. Perhaps a bit. But the baby. I'm not 100% sure but I wouldn't put him at anymore than 250-275kg at most.

That's helpful ��. To gain weight, they should be receiving at least 2.5% of their combined weight of approx 600kg = 15kg in forage and hard feed.

If you've got one who is overweight and one who is under, it is hard to strike a balance in ensuring each receive their appropriate quota but the hard feed you are offering your youngster will help.

Is there anyway of segregating the youngster for an hour or two with an extra net (maybe even of something richer and tasty, like haylage) which the overweight pony won't have access to? The problem is that being overweight can be equally as disastrous as being underweight, so finding a way to meet both of their individual needs will be difficult but key to keeping them healthy.

 

[Groom Mum]

Ideally I would love to be able to separate them. ( that's another issue!). But they hate being apart even over a taped off area. I have to stand and watch them have their feeds because the older one will finish his and try and eat the younger's feed. Also my little one paws and paws his bowl and if I don't watch him tips the lot up over the floor. He's a nutter.

 

[Groom Mum]

Ok so tonight I meticulously packed broken hay in the nets. I stuffed them full. Couldn't get heavier than 3kg. So off to buy bigger nets on Monday !!

 

[EQUIDAE]

Ok so tonight I meticulously packed broken hay in the nets. I stuffed them full. Couldn't get heavier than 3kg. So off to buy bigger nets on Monday !!

The shires ones are good. You can fit loads in and they have really long strings

 

[Groom Mum]

Thanks

 

[LD&S]

Another vote for shires nets, I buy the small holed hayledge ones (and double net), I have the opposite problem to you, mine would eat enough to keep a small town going if given the chance, I find they just fit over the end of a small bale so the hay is very tightly packed, I ordered a weigh scale only last week and find that I can fit around 8kg in each net maybe a bit more. I know in the greater scheme of things nets aren't that dear but unless you're going to fill nets in advance 1 or 2 plus what you have should be plenty.

It's going to be a bit of a balancing act getting the right amount of food to the right horse if they don't like being apart at all but I'm sure with a bit of cunning and determination you'll get it sorted.

 

[Casey76]

Your hay nets must be really small... I can squeeze 11kg in my large nets?

It would definitely be a good idea to buy some bigger ones, at least that would also decrease the amount of hay net filling you are doing too!

 

[Groom Mum]

Have invested in some shires large haynets

 

[VikingSong]

Having read the entire thread, I think the criticisms towards EQUIDAE have been uncalled for.

GM's "dropping weight" thread, which was posted last December:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?716527-Dropping-weight

Second reply on thread, posted by TGM, quite correctly advised the following:

"If the grass is poor and they are dropping weight, I would be making sure they have hay available at all times."

In other words, adlib hay. This advice was ignored. I don't think EQUIDAE deserves to be jumped on for pointing that out.

 

[Groom Mum]

I don't think anyone has jumped on anyone to be honest. Equidae was quite aggressive at first. But I took on board what she was saying and since then she's given me advice I've taken. So in my eyes it's all fine and would be grateful if his incidence was just laid to rest. I think everyone else is treating it as history now and it's become a very informative thread for me. Thank you.

 

[Groom Mum]

And I don't ignore anyone either. I didn't fully understand and didn't go back to read original post. So therefore it may have looked like I was ignoring but in fact I wasn't. Sometimes this place is hard work. :/

 

[EQUIDAE]

Have invested in some shires large haynets

GM - you'll love these nets. They are so much easier to fill than cramming in to smaller ones

I am sorry for being ****** with you earlier but I thought you didn't reall 'get' that you were storing up some really serious issues. It's not just about weight, it's the risk of ulcers, colic and stereotypies with them being stood with no forage. I know I was hard on you and I really meant it - your thread from December just made me feel that you needed some tough love. And I am sorry if I hurt your feeling by doing that but please understand that I am a bit blinkered about rescues due to dealing with some really ****** (to the point of PTS) cases.

You sound like you have had some really sound advice from the welfare officer and also others on here and you are really doing right by there ponies. Again I'm really sorry if I hurt your feelings - I promise it was meant with the best of intentions (although it might not have seemed like that at the time).

I don't know if anyone else remembers the rescue pony/cow hocked 2yo combination of threads - I would have hated for you and your ponies to have got into that sort of situation.

 

[EQUIDAE]

Link to one of those threads (the cow hocked one is easy enough to find - the OP was more concerned about the cow hocks than the condition of the horses)

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?717254-Underweight-horse-best-feed

 

[Orca]

Link to one of those threads (the cow hocked one is easy enough to find - the OP was more concerned about the cow hocks than the condition of the horses)

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?717254-Underweight-horse-best-feed

Horrifying.

 

[Groom Mum]

Honestly it's fine. I think I'm on the right track now. I will definitely be back asking all sorts of questions. When you start out on your own it's a whole different ball game than having the security of being on a yard with more knowledgeable people than yourself. So HH have been a godsend to me.

 

[Tnavas]

Thats great news that they Think all is good

How many acres do you have? A good way of managing the land is to keep rotating every few weeks so the grass can recover a little bit. Unless of course you don't have enoug land per horse and then you just have to sacrifice a small area.

That is actually not the best to do when you have had so much rain - it is better to totally trash a paddock - feeding hay to compensate and then in spring re-seed the trashed paddock. If you keep moving horses around in this sort of weather ALL your paddocks will be trashed and you will have no established grazing for the spring and summer.

I also felt that your comments to groom mum were very over the top and rude.

If advice is asked for and not followed up we cannot force that person to do so. Give advise and then say no more.

 

[Groom Mum]

My shires large Haynet arrived. It's as tall as me !!!! Massive. I reckon filled it'd be as long as my youngster !! They haven't touched hay now for couple of days. So I took one of the Nets out of their shelter I think they are munching on their new strip of grass and enjoying their two feeds a day too. Is it ok to leave the hay hanging a couple of days in the net? Or should I throw it away ?

 

[southerncomfort]

That is actually not the best to do when you have had so much rain - it is better to totally trash a paddock - feeding hay to compensate and then in spring re-seed the trashed paddock. If you keep moving horses around in this sort of weather ALL your paddocks will be trashed and you will have no established grazing for the spring and summer.

I also felt that your comments to groom mum were very over the top and rude.

If advice is asked for and not followed up we cannot force that person to do so. Give advise and then say no more.

Actually I think Equidae's suggestion was a good one! Don't you love all the different opinions on here!

My whole field is absolutely saturated and even the 'drier' areas which I would normally keep for Winter use are soaked. I decided to try moving them every 3-4 weeks on to a different area of the field and I have to say it's worked for me. My field is the only one in the area that still has about quarter of an acre of good grass left to last until Spring and no area of the field has become too trashed (except outside the shelter but that's par for the course unfortunately!). I have a long wide strip (about an acre) that has now been rested for a few weeks and has new grass growth and is looking good which is a huge relief. I think it does depend on the land and often you need to try different things over a couple of Winters to see what works.

 

[Groom Mum]

I took a close look at my fields today. The grass that I've let them pretty much live on is trashed. The sparse but that's left is mashed into the ground. I can't image it ever growing back. At the weekend I'm going to section some of it off. I need to start to preserve it now. Otherwise I'm worried it won't grow back come spring.

 

[Orca]

I took a close look at my fields today. The grass that I've let them pretty much live on is trashed. The sparse but that's left is mashed into the ground. I can't image it ever growing back. At the weekend I'm going to section some of it off. I need to start to preserve it now. Otherwise I'm worried it won't grow back come spring.

I think a lot of people who are still turning out but with limited acreage, will probably have to consider reseeding come spring. Most grazing land will need extra tlc this year. I would probably consider doing that rather than restricting grazing, if you have one who's struggling ��.

 

[Groom Mum]

Yes you are right. I have my other field. I'm not restricting them because of my youngsters weight loss. But I'm going to rest some of the field they are in now. Prob is they have to come back in at night because their shelter is in there and they like going in and out. But I'm going to fence off the fronts of my stables and some more that side.

 

[Groom Mum]

Well now my naughty ponies are giving me the run around. They are loving their hard feed especially my youngster as he's having the mare and young stock. I gave them a new strip of grass a couple of days ago. It's the last bit in the trashed field so now they don't want their hay. Not a bit interested. I made up the new HUGE shires net and they haven't touched it. Nor the bit I put on the shelter floor. I'm guessing it's the hard food plus the new bit of grass. But they stand in the shelter quite a lot. You would think they would nibble on it. I did scatter a tiny bit of haylege in the net. They picked that out straight away.