What to feed my pony?

[140947]

I recently bought a pony in June. He’s 7 years old and I think New Forrest X Welsh. He’s 14.1hh and was used as a companion all his life. However I have now broken him in and we are slowly getting somewhere.
I haven’t been feeding him anything but the grass he was on because he was quite podgy, but now he is looking good and is going to be stabled at night I wondered if I should start feeding him some hard feed.
He’ll be out during the day and will get hay in the stable and I’ve really upped his workload to 5/6 days a week, doing intensive lunging sessions for about 20 minutes a day and then riding in the school on other days.
What would people recommend?

 

[KittenInTheTree]

I'd provide a token ration of well soaked beet pulp (about a quarter of a kilo dry weight per day of this would be my guess for a pony of that size) with about half a tablespoon of plain salt sprinkled into it, and then add micronized linseed if his coat or hoof quality seems poor. My three are all natives and they get this year round, with hay or haylage during winter. A 25kg sack of dried beet easily lasts fifty days between the three of them. They really don't need much!

 

[Fiona]

I agree with above poster. A small feed of sugar beet and/or grass chaff and/or grass nuts with salt and a vitamin supplement should be more than adequate unless your pony starts to lose lots of weight.

Fiona

 

[Barton Bounty]

I agree too, nothing with big calories, having possible just taken on a plump pony I plan to just give him some soaked grass nuts or beet as a token, nothing like my ex racer needs lol

 

[140947]

Thanks, yeah I think he’s suffered from laminitis in the past, maybe in May by the look of the rings in his hooves, so I don’t want anything too high in sugar/ calories. I plan on getting him to shed a bit of weight naturally over the winter too.
Does anyone have any recommended brands to try?

 

[Barton Bounty]

Sugar free sugar beet flakes or good old grass nuts and if its a chaff then honeychop lite and healthy is low on calories

 

[140947]

Sugar free sugar beet flakes or good old grass nuts and if its a chaff then honeychop lite and healthy is low on calories

Thank you! I’ll go have a look at that just now.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Thank you! I’ll go have a look at that just now.

My new tubby boy 😂

 

[140947]

My new tubby boy 😂

Awww what a gorgeous boy! Love the stripe down his back.

This is my boy, Tosca. I don’t think he’s fat just now but you should have seen him when I got him! (I hope the photo uploads, says it’s too big for the forum!)

 

[Barton Bounty]

Awwww he is handsome too ♥️

 

[140947]

So would something like Baileys Speedi-Beet be ok?

 

[AmyMay]

Tbh honest, I’d just feed hay for the moment. If you want him fit and loosing weight hack him out (lunging ‘hard’ is not good for any horse).

Once the weight is coming off and he feels like he needs some grub start on something like grass nuts.

 

[Barton Bounty]

As long as its sugar free x

 

[140947]

Tbh honest, I’d just feed hay for the moment. If you want him fit and loosing weight hack him out (lunging ‘hard’ is not good for any horse).

Once the weight is coming off and he feels like he needs some grub start on something like grass nuts.

Thank you. I was told by my trainer to do lots of lunging to get him fit before I started riding him, I don’t think I trust him enough yet to take him out on a hack as it’s still early days as it is riding him and where I am on a cliff beside the sea it gets quite windy and he becomes a bit of a stress head when he’s unsure of something and it’s windy. Of course if I could, I would be hacking him out and that would be his source of weight loss etc, and much more interesting, but for at least another few weeks I won’t be because it’ll be just asking for trouble.

 

[Fiona]

It may be just the photo angle OP, but it looks as if he still has a bit of a crest, so I'd be feeding very small amounts (just enough to carry the salt and vits) until well into the autumn when the feed value of the grass starts to drop off.

He looks like a lovely pony though, best of luck with him.

Fiona

 

[holeymoley]

Nothing except hay. If he’s had a history of laminitis then soaked hay. Either with a token feed off something like topchop zero and a vitamin supplement to carry vitamins and minerals but that’s all. If he drops in the middle of winter then speedi beet would do him just fine.

 

[be positive]

Nothing except hay. If he’s had a history of laminitis then soaked hay. Either with a token feed off something like topchop zero and a vitamin supplement to carry vitamins and minerals but that’s all. If he drops in the middle of winter then speedi beet would do him just fine.

I agree, he is still overweight, is in very light work and if he is like most ponies he will thrive on nothing other than grass and hay, being tough now will pay off in the long run as he will stand more chance of a long and useful life.

I would also avoid getting him fitter than he needs to be for the ridden work as that can easily become too fit and sharp for what you are comfortable doing and end up with behavioural issues, fit enough for purpose and the job being done is plenty to aim for with a newly backed pony.

 

[vhf]

My tubby one gets a single handful of pure chopped straw (from Honeychop) a bit of watery unmollassed sugarbeet (Equibeet because it's cheap, but easier ones are available!) to make it wet and sticky, and a decent vitamin/mineral supplement. Plus salt especially in warm weather, and micronised linseed in small amounts once the grass goes. I increase the chopped straw if I think she's hungry; she can leave it if she's not because it's not that tasty. I doubt she'll ever have "proper" hard feed with the work she'll do as a leisure horse. She has hay if there's not enough grass to get her fibre intake which is what's critical.
Lots of them don't need anything much to stay healthy, we are just programmed to buy expensive bagged feeds, and we are inclined to think they are working way harder than they are. If I'm honest, mine would be fine without the sugarbeet or the linseed, that's as much for me as her (plus I like to think it helps her feet/skin/gut.)
Your handsome boy doesn't look the sort to ever need much either, even when he's in full ridden work. Much cheaper to keep!

 

[LaurenBay]

Based on your photo I'd be inclined not to give hard feed. Just hay.