Fat pony

[thejinxii]

So awhile back I posted asking about how to exactly get it through my mothers head that a mini horse/pony does not need as much food as a big horse, and you guys helped so much!!! Countless vets have been out told her the same thing and it seemed all was going fine for a while.

And then more time went by, and I realized he still was not dropping any

Comments

[creseis_acicula]

Horses with heaves tend to do better when they are outdoors as much as possible. My trainer has a pony w/heaves who lives out all winter except when it's 100 feet of snow and he lives out 16 hrs/day during the summer. He gets no grain and he shares a round bale of grass hay outside with some other horses. So, I don't think you have to worry about too much turnout... in general, I think it's better for them to be turned out more. It depends on the individual, too, and the area. So long as he doesn't have grass to eat and you can completely manage his diet, he should be ok.

Aside: I wonder if animal control ever does anything about people who *over*feed their animals???!! We definitely live in a culture of feed feed feed/eateateat... I get so angry when I see people with very fat, young children, feeding their kids garbage. It is, in effect, poison!!!

[xihateyourx]

all of this times 50.
perhaps once his "paddock" gets grazed down a bit he can spend as much time in that as possible since it won't have any grass at all then. sadly, this is the life of most ponies, but he will be happy when he can get back to work.

[thejinxii]

Yeah, I just am unsure about how much time he should actually be out of there. Or rather, how much grazing time he should be allowed. I want him to drop the weight as fast as possible, but I don't want to starve him. Dx

[thejinxii]

Yeah I only ever stall him when the hurricanes come round. I'm just worried that he'll have too much access to grass if I keep him out of the paddock.

[animalboything]

First off, good for you for stepping in and getting your mini to your house and not allowing this to continue.

Agreeing with the others on keeping him out, but I might add that if you get him a grazing muzzle, I bet that would help a lot as well. And maybe, until he's fit enough to pull a cart again, sometimes handwalk and trot him.

[thejinxii]

Thank you! And I had a muzzle for him, but it somehow DISAPPEARED after my mom told me it was mean. Ordering a new one right now actually.

[thejinxii]

Hmm the only ones I'm finding are all nylon...I had one that was like a cage. I think the nylon ones would hinder his breathing too much...

[chiquita522]

I have 2 nylon muzzles for our horses at home. While our girls aren't heavers, I don't think the nylon and flexiable plastic muzzles impair their breathing. The biggest thing for me is that they don't look like Hannibal masks! Something is better than nothing.

With the grass issue, could you gradually increase the size of his paddock to slowly include more grass? The 2-3 hours of lush grass is not so great for fat little ponies (or any pony!).

[thehomicidehoe]

I'd keep him in the pen all the time till he drops some serious weight. Is there any grass in his pen or is it completely bare? if there is some grass he'll probably be able to live on that for a while. I'd personally be keeping him away from the lush autumn grass, serious chance of laminitis there, maybe an hour a day for his poor little mind out in a slightly less bare bit of paddock.

[thejinxii]

It's almost completely bare, probably will be so in a day or two.

There really isn't a middle ground as far as grass goes, there's almost nothing in the pen, and outside the pen it's super lush.

[thehomicidehoe]

I'm very much of the 'cruel to be kind' school of thought with fat ponies, I'd have him on starvation rations as I call them, with stabled horses that's a small amount of crappy hay and a handful of feed a day, with turnout in a pretty bare field. With him I'd say don't worry about him getting any food, he'll live off the slim pickings in the pen and hopefully some of whats stored in his belly! Its up to you of course, thats just how I'd do it, once he starts loosing some weight and can exercise again then i'd give him a small bit of grass each day, maybe starting with just half an hour and building up as the exercise builds up.

[thejinxii]

Hmm, maybe just keep him in the pen then, and continue to add little sprinkles of hay all around to keep him moving and at least give him a little something.

That and the daily walks.

[candysgirl]

I'd keep him in the bare paddock and buy some poor quality hay to keep him busy and keep his gut functioning properly. Try to find something like last year's grass hay.

You might get a ration balancer to ensure he gets proper nutrition without adding too many calories to his diet. Tribute makes one I really like called Essential K. It's about $20/bag, but my 900lb Arab ate half a pound a day (it was about 2 big handfuls twice a day) so one bag lasted almost a month for him.

[bluelinegoddess]

This was my thought, too. That or a grazing muzzle (with hopes that once he starts losing weight he'll be moving around more and hopefully helping burn off some of that fat).

It's unfortunate the OP's mom is thinking she's smarter than every vet/experienced horseperson who clearly sees she is feeding the poor horse to death. :(

[thejinxii]

I'm looking for a muzzle that's open enough for him to breath as easily as possible now. And that will fit his weird little face.

And ALL of her animals are fat. I've given up on trying to help her dogs, it's a lost cause, but I sure as Hell am not going to stand by and watch her slowly kill my horse.

I'm not all that experienced with horses, I've only had them/been around them for like 5 years now, so by all means I'm not an expert, but how she shrugs off the VETS instructions, I have no idea. She herself owned two horses when she was younger, and both of them, I've seen from photos, were incredibly fat. :/

[sm923]

http://www.horse.com/item/best-friend-clip-on-cribbing-muzzle/SLT901559/

[red_kite_of_edo]

Walk him like a dog. That's what I do with my 41 inch tub of lard!

[thejinxii]

I actually used to do that all the time, I think I will again. Hell I'll walk him with my dogs and save a trip lol