what to feed my overweight pony

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bertin12

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ive been looking at what to feed my overweight pony (hes 13.1 & quite stocky, dont know his actual breed), he puts on weight so easily, like he gets fat off air :P
ive had him on loan and the owners fed him pegasus mix & pegasus cubes & sugerbeet twice a day and is usually out in the field all year 24/7 & in the winter gets hay
but now im thinking of changing his feed as at the mo is quite fat
ive looked at different feed prices on my local supplier online & i dont know which is best out of these (i think you can feed all these on their own?)

Happy hoof- £10.29
Safe&sound- £9.99
healthy hooves- £10.79
hi-fi good doer- £10.35
hi-fi lite- £9.99

im on a budget, but if you feed your horse anything not mentioned please tell me:)
thanks :)
 
I feed my good doers hifilite and Spillers lite balancer £16.99 so they get their minerals and vitamins. I feed this throughout the year. In the winter, I add some fast fibre.
 
izzy. said:
yes at the moment he doesnt need any feed, but when it gets colder he will so was just wondering whats best
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He will only need additional bucket feed when it is cold IF he loses too much weight on winter grazing/hay alone. Did he lose too much weight last winter? If he stays fat in winter then I wouldn't give him any significant bucket feed at all - a handful of chaff with a vit/min supplement is probably the most he needs!
 
Ponies live on thin air! We just give our good do-er pony hay and Baileys Lo-cal which contains all the vits and mins you need and you just give a cupful a day. Just give him as much hay as he needs during winter, but if he is still putting on weight substitute some of his hay with a good oat straw. You really don't want him going into spring next year with too much weight on him or the new grass could trigger laminitis.
 
Agree with others. He doesn't sound like he needs any hard feed. Don't feel pressured by others into doing so just because they may do. It will also help your budget :-)
Use a weight tape and learn to condition score.
Also, don't forget regular exercise
 
Agree with everyone. My laminitis prone mare is fed haylage only, nothing else and is worked most days. She doesn't appear to be lacking in anything!
 
If you're worried about him getting vit/mins you could give him some Baileys LoCal Balancer measurements by size of pony are on the bag, but that would be all I'd give if I were going to feed, maybe with a handful of unmolassed chaff.
 
thanks everyone
he has always had a feed all year round i think so i dont know if he will drop much weight in the winter without one, should i just not feed him anything but hay or gradually reduce his feed? am i being a pathetic owner if i feel mean about not feeding him this winter?! :P ive never had to make these kind of decisions before you see..
but if he does drop weight and need a (small) feed, even just once a day, would any of the feed that i listed above be ok?
 
I wouldn't give him any hard feed if he's fat, he clearly doesn't need it! Don't feed him because he drops a bit of weight, that's what should happen in winter. Personally I wouldn't even think about feeding until you need to, ie if he gets too thin.
 
All the foods mentioned above are safe to feed to overweight/laminitic horses as they are fibre based.

Some people feed these types of bagged forage as hay replacers, you can feed buckets of the stuff safely but would work out quite expensive. I've used happy hoof before but to be honest don't bother now as she really doesn't need it. If you feel "bad" about not giving her a bucket feed you can always just give her a handful of the stuff or what I do is chop some fruit up and put it in a bucket.
 
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