you thoughts please on over weight pony

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bugbee717

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i posted earlier in the week about a pony i am looking after, she is very overweight i have had her in for a week now.
any thoughts would be nice, i have the vet coming out again this week to see her, it pains me as she is a sweetie. i should add she is 12hh ish and weighs 396 kg

once again she is not mine i have been only looking after her for the last week

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just keep her in and also put on a grazing mask when she is out , minimal grass , do you have a starvation paddock ?
 
Nice pony. Why keep her in though?
Less activity = weight gain. Get her out where she can exercise herself. Give her a racetrack system, it really does work and keeps them happy.
NEVER starve a pony, just change what it eats and exercise more.
 
What a sweetie
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What are you doing to get the weight off her...soaked hay and a race track type setup is ideal...it worked for mine.
I must say I'm shocked at her weight! Thats more than my overweight 13.1hh pony. My little Welsh A is 11.2hh and only weighs 156kg on a weightape and I'd say is an ideal weight. You have a long way to go but it is doable...keep at it...you'll get there. With the correct regime it actually comes off quite quickly
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QR walking is really good exercise, even if it's in-hand - so take her for walkies
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Race track set up works well too, and so will soaking her hay for ages so most of the nutrition (eg fattening-ness) is leached out of it.

And in a few months time you might want to consider not rugging her as it gets cold as she will lose weight keeping herself warm.

Good luck!
 
She looks as though she has a sway back (back dips), so that would make her look more over weight that she is (my pony looks like this). Best thing to do is weight tape her regularly. Perhaps soak her hay to (remove the sugars) for as long as possible and try not to give her much grass (if any) and increase her work, as much as possible.

Good luck
 
thanks for the support.

she is having soaked hay, she has been out of work since her curent owner got her got her 2 years ago, she has been left in the field to eat, she was brought from the sales in melton so i dont know what she did before.

she is being walked and i am hoping to put her out again next week, i bathed her today and had a moment with her she really has not been touched in the last two years and you could see was lovin it, any way i have lots of little riders, so hopefully soon so will be able to be rode, i am hoping she will be able to go out with another small pony, as with my other two ponies this is the best form of exercise as they just play all day and keep very fit

once again thanks for the support x
 
What weigh tape are you using out of interest as that is more than my 14.1 Newfie weighs, he's just 374 and a tad portly at the moment. 396 seems incredibly big for her wee frame and she doesn't actually look obese, granted she is very fat.

The Dodson & Horell tape is supposed to be the most accurate and it makes a big difference how you wrap it round them, i measured mine wrong for yrs...........
 
poor pony thats lami waiting to happen why on earth has the owner let her get like this??agree with above change what she is eating and get her working but be careful not to do to much too quick would be a good idea to restrict grazing by using a muzzle or putting in poorer field so she can at least enjoy being out without gutting herself, hope you manage to sort her out good luck
 
her owner knows nothing about ponies,she also thinks she is not over weight,it is mind blowing. she has very early lami, which is why the vet has said to box rest her, and walk her lightly.
boysy it was my weightape with the vet doing it so it is correct. tbh the photos make her look quite normal.
 
Poor pony but well done for doing something about her weight...keep going. My lami pony came to me at Christmas at approx 450kg with raging laminitis/rotation. I put him on complete box rest for approx 6 weeks...he only came out to be mucked out. He was on soaked hay only..a haynet morning, afternoon and evening. It was soaked to death though...at least overnight/12hrs. It dropped off him pretty quickly and he's now at an ideal weight of around 360kg and he's 14.1hh.
He's still on restricted grass/soaked hay and always will be..
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How big is her field? I would have a line of fencing right the way round sort of forming a box and put her on the outside of the box so shes constantly alking along the fenceline, that way when shes grazing she will be constantly walking around and round the field.

Can you ride her? If not get those long reins out! I would also bring her in during the day with very well soaked hay and turn her out overnight.
 
Like this:
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It works better than a starvation paddock because the ponies have to move about more to graze. I place the hay in small piles around the track too
 
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Like this:
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It works better than a starvation paddock because the ponies have to move about more to graze. I place the hay in small piles around the track too

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Exactly!
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