What do you feed your Shetlands??

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nikkinoo

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I dont want my shetty to get too fat/laminitic but im worried that he is not getting the right amount of vitamins and minerals as grazzing is poor,he is stabled at night, he has haylage (but not too much) mixed with hay,
just wondering if others give hard feed if so what?

And do you give them a vitamin/mineral supplemen?

I was considering getting him one of the horslyx havent done any research on them yet, though I would ask on here first for other perspectives of feeding shetlands
thanks in advance
 
Hi my Shetland lives out with the odd Haynet and very little grass with a salt lick on his field. He is looking great (iny eyes) I give him a token feed of grass nuts in a ball (thing) when he's been worked but apart from that he gets very little x
 
Mine gets Badminton high fibre nuggets (soaked) with a small handful of high fibre cubes. D&H equibites are great for their vitamins as you can feed them as a treat
 
Our Shetland's have Happy Hoof (about two handfuls a few times a week) with Pink Powder, as our grass is pretty razored, though the 3 year old is skin and bone ATM, but the 9 year old is fat as anything.... think someone's being a bit greedy :p So trying to feed up the little one :)
 
All the ones i've dealt with have had nothing except hay, the odd carrot, very low quality grazing & salt lick if one out in field anyway. Only time i've fed one is if everything else gets fed around it at same time it'll get literally a teaspoon of hi-fi or similar. Pretty much designed to live on rubbish pasture so best thing for them if their healthy.
 
We usually feed ours a handful of half straw / half alfalfa chop, with linseed and a feed balancer. But ours are usually busy little ponies, either active on the stud, or working in some other way. So there is no issue with the extra calories. In the winter they get adlib hay, and from Xmas to end of Feb, adlib haylage. In the summer, they're usually on restricted grazing.

We usually advise people to feed based on what they're doing. If they're doing something to use the calories or are youngstock, then how we feed is fine. If they're not working and are fully grown, then we advise a vit/min supplement with a handful of chop.
 
ahh that makes me feel so much better about what I am feeding, he did have a salt lick in his stable, but hasnt touched it,
Will try the equibites I forgot about those,
he is gently being broken to drive so in the summer his work load will increase so can introduce some extra feed if needed then.
 
We have next to no grass at the mo so mine get fed a section of hay each twice a day, the ones that live out get 1 level scoop of hifi, 1/3sc of flaked barley,a handful of balancer and 1/3sc of speedibeat. They are all looking as they should be for winter. My ridden mare that lives in gets as above but she gets 2 feeds a day with conditioning cubes added in. The in-foal mare gets the same as my ridden mare but gets twice as much hay, she will go onto a stud mix soon.
 
Ours gets in the winter half section of hay at night, handful of happy hoof and and 50 grms balancer twice a day.
Summer he'll be living out mostly on good grass with a muzzle and will get once a day handful of happy hoof and 100 grams balancer.
 
shetlands are designed and built to live on next to nothing! go to the shetland isles...... very sparse! mine gets whatever the big horses have left on the floor of hay. he gets the odd carrot and as a special treat gets to lick out the feed buckets!! he leaves them spotless. at the moment he is out free ranging from 8 till 1, but come the spring flush his TO will be reduced as req. he is round (though not fat!!) well muscled as he runs from field to field, gets ridden on the lead a couple of times a week. he is hunter clipped but naked. never cold!!!!!!!!!!!! he is clipped as most of the time he would be too hot with hair left on! he is a delight to have and very amusing!! BUT no i wouldnt give him bucket grub or supplements as he doesnt need them.
 
Our Shetlands get hay & oat straw mixed, plus Happy Hoof & a little Speedi-beet - they they are driving ponies & work fairly hard so don't get overweight.
 
Carrots, nothing and nothing more! We are in Cornwall with good grass, not fair on their digestive systems. Any day now they will be on restrictive grazing, but they do have lovely, big, natural hedgerows to pick at to find their vits and mins. Also put a mineral lick in the field. haven't rested the field this winter as I prefer them to have lots of space on poor grazing, rather than small space on good.
 
Mine is arthritic now so gets a small feed twice a day with his powders. The 'feed' is literally a dessert spoon of dry Allen & Page Veteran Vitality and a pinch of Redigrass with tons of water so it takes him ages to slurp it all up, and he thinks he's getting loads!

He's happy with that as in the past he got nothing, just hay and a salt lick in winter and very restricted grass and salt lick in summer!

He's a champion bucket licker too! Does a lovely clean up job of food encrusted buckets, so they don't need soaking before scrubbing!
 
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