Why it is not good for ponies to be 'pleasantly plump'

YaY! at last brill post, however there is an awful lot of showing/ other people who just cant se what is and isnt fat! true top line and lean ribs is the way to go, and if there out of work then lean, nothing wrong with a wee bit of rib, shock horror,:D
 
completely agree. I am looking after a horse at the moment, who came to me on a lat chance saloon as she was "persistently lame". Since she's been with me, she hasn't had a day lame, and because she has lost weight is more than capable of coping with working. IMO she was stiff because she was carrying so much weight, and so was struggling to get a true movement.

I have 3 very good doers at home at present - and so they are all kept on restricted grazing, and I am very careful to make sure they are exercised adequately. What I think a lot of people don't realise is that it is a lot harder to shift the weight once they have piled it on, and I would always prefer to have to feed as required if something is looking a little on the slim side (which I never have a problem with with my guys lol)
 
joeanne said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMHoArG_oYg&feature=relmfu

Not just skinny horses that are neglected!
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Thanks for that, Joeanne! There are some other good videos from WHW on there too:

One on general dangers of obesity and public perception of the risks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGyebMZZ9C0&feature=relmfu

And "Why does your horses weight matter?":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvDKgzWDS8I&feature=relmfu

(including Dollar, the pony who was 28 stone overweight!)
 
Saratoga said:
Out of interest, what would you advocate for horses that put on weight just by looking at grass?? The obvious things are ridden work, no hard feed or hay in addition to the grass, but there are some horses that seem to balloon just on natural grazing. A few people talk about keeping horses in for half the day or more with nothing to eat, but that worries me if there is nothing going through their stomachs for a lot of the day.
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I have one of these...

It's been a case of trial and error over the years but I've found he does best on old grass, the sort that has gone a bit brown and crispy (difficult to explain), or very long grass that has gone to seed as there doesn't seem to be much goodness in it then. He's currently out on a fair bit of grass but it's all very rough and he's losing weight on it! He can go on a starvation paddock provided there is almost nothing on it, then I supplement with soaked hay. If he goes on stressed paddocks with short grass, he gets fat and has sensitive feet, presumably because all of the grass coming through is new, lush shoots. He also comes in during the day - he gets breakfast and a bit of hay on the floor. At lunch time he gets 1-1.5 slices of hay, soaked depending on the hay (if very old, rough hay I don't tend to bother soaking), and a bit more hay before I ride in the evenings. He is definitely better when trickle fed his hay through the day. I won't leave him in all day with nothing, to "starve the weight off" because firstly it is bad for them and secondly, it would make him mean and aggressive. Also as much work as you can fit in :) I sometimes muzzle mine which makes him walk around the field more as he has to go and find grass he can fit through the muzzle-hole.
 
For those that balloon just looking at grass, then I've seen similar horses managed different ways.
A friend's horse is strip grazed and I think if you do this they need to get a good section as I found when I looked after them that as soon as you move the fence they gorge on it and take in a lot more grass than mine.

It's very tricky especially on livery yards where you can't always manage your horse the way you feel would be best.
On one yard I found the way of keeping her slim was to put her on the lush grass Mon-Fri and then over the weekend she was in the diet paddock. I had thought of a similar management system this year as the paddock they are in does have more grass than I'd prefer but after they've been on the grass for a few days gorging themselves, they have now regulated themselves and they aren't spending a lot of their time eating now. I'm finding exercise to be my ponies best friend (and mine). I still think she's podgy but my farrier is really happy with her (and he's the first to ream ANYONE for an overweight pony).

I think the paddock paradise system is very valuable but it isn't something I would be able to incorporate on my yard.

I also think judges for showing need to take this more seriously although at local level last year, they did place slimmer M+M horses up the line.
 
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