Feeding the fat ponies

[savannahallyce]

I have read through some older threads on this but they were 8-10 years old so I’m hoping there will be more suggestions and more products now. I have two ponies, a Shetland around 45" 3yo and a 12hh 6yo pony.

The pony came to me so fat, she looked pregnant, but she is not! I have been lunging her as much as I possibly can. I have gotten maybe 50-100lbs off her but she’s still very round. I need to do something before she founders. Her old owner fed her a handful of strategy with platinum supplements and 2 flakes of hay a day. I have been giving her about 1/3 cup of strategy and a flake of costal hay. She lives outside on 8 acres with okay grass.

The Shetland came to me as a little stud pony, he was a little thin for my liking. Well we gelded him about 6 months ago and now he’s a chunk. I’m sure gelding at a lot to do with it. I’m not sure what his diet was before me as I got him off the kill truck. He’s getting 1/4 cup of strategy and 1/2-1 flake of costal hay. He lives outside on 8 acres with okay grass. He absolutely cannot figure out the whole lunging thing so I really have no exercise ideas for him.

I want to do what’s best for them and prevent them from foundering. I do not have a dry lot for them so that is not an option. I tried doing timothy pellets for them and they do not eat them. I have to give them something as the brood mare and my show horse eat and they will share with them. Neither of them can afford sharing with the fatties. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[reignthealarm]

Are you able to section off a corner of your pasture with temporary fencing for the ponies? It won’t be a dry lot but it will at least be a cheap way to limit their grass intake. Grazing muzzles are another option.
You could also re-evaluate your feed. Strategy is a decent feed but is still high in sugar. I believe at one point in my research I found that it’s NSC content was in the mid-20%! Maybe try something from the Triple Crown line? Their Senior, Lite, and Balancer feeds are all below 12% NSC. Lite also has the lowest calorie count. Otherwise, just keep at the lunging to keep those little legs moving! Maybe try teaching to drive for the Shetland. maybe he will pick up on that a little better than just lunging?
My mini was similar to your Sheltand. He was a skinny little stud, but blew up like a balloon when we gelded him. We’ve since struggled with his weight and a couple founder episodes. You may want to consider having a vet check for IR/Cushings.

[Moon_River]

Reduce the grass available to the ponies, they have evolved to live on almost literally nothing. Either fence them off into a very small area or muzzle, or a mix of the two. Stop feeding them. Separate the two that need feeding from the two that don’t. Teach to lunge/ground drive/take them for a walk (take up running! I used to regularly jog with a Shetland)/break to ride and find some kids to come have fun with them. Having tiny air ferns unfortunately isn’t easy, it takes a lot of management work that belies their size.

[DMK]

grazing muzzles are your new best friend (I prefer greenguard). You also might need a grazing muzzle plus time on a dry lot with a low nutritional value hay (my fjord is in hard/regular work and he wears the muzzle for turn out from March through October, and spends all day in a dry lot with a few flakes of hay… I can’t imagine what he would look like without that program)

If you hate exercise (raises hand) you might try to teach them to pony. Probably the 10-15 minutes of warm up work on your riding horses will be at least some extra work for the pones

[walkinthewalk]

If your eight acres is laid out for it, Google “paddock paradise”. There are various layouts of these tracks.

essentially it is a track system created with fence and the grass has been killed off. Hay is scattered along the track, so the equine has to keep moving to get food. They still get to graze and move but no grass:)

With ponies the size of yours, if you could figure out how to “paradise” one acre", it would probably be enough.

[warriorhorse]

If they are fat why are you feeding them strategy? they don’t need any kind of feed. Just rationed out hay NO grass either. Drylot them and ration out just hay cut the strategy out.

Have neighbors with shetland ponies all they get is a flake of grass hay 2 times a day that’s it no grass no hard feed. Ponies are at a good weight ,they would be blimps on any kind of hard feed and pasture.

[candyappy]

8 acres of anything even remotely edible 24/7 is more than they need. Then you add strategy and hay with that and it equals obese pony.

Do you have a shelter for them? How hard is it to buy some portable round pen panels and make a dry lot off the barn and keep them in that 12 hours? Then just a flake for them to start with when dry lotted. You can always add a bit more.

If you can’t dry lot, than a muzzle for 12 hours may be your best bet. I hate muzzles and will dry lot over using them but your ponies have access to just too much food.

[SLedbetter]

My mini/Shetland is about the same size as yours. He was in the same condition when I brought him home. It has been a struggle to keep weight off of him, he is built like a small tank. His conformation gives him a bigger belly, but I keep an eye on the other parts to make sure he’s not getting too fat. Also, thick winter coat can be very deceiving. Bean’s hay gets weighed at each feeding, he gets a sprinkling of alfalfa leaves twice a day, and 5-6 lbs of Bermuda grass a day spread over 3 feedings. He also gets a 1/2 scoop of Platinum Performance once daily. That’s it. He lives in a dry lot, so it’s much easier to control what/how much he eats. We go for walks, or work on other exercises at least 3x a week.
I’d use a weight tape to get an estimate of his weight, and feed accordingly. I use a hanging scale with a hook that was very inexpensive, and I just had to replace mine after 4 years. Weighing hay is a pain, but it can help you gauge how much the horse needs, and makes it much easier to adjust amounts up/down as necessary.
I think things would be much easier for you if you could section off a space for the fatties that would keep them off the grass, that would give you more control of how much they’re getting to eat.

[tpup]

I would section off an area of the 8 acres and muzzle them. My Shetland is in a dry lot except in late Jan. to end of Feb., he is allowed in big pasture with the big horses when the grass is basically dead. He has had laminitis flares and was dx’d with Cushing’s at only about age 7. He and my large pony eat from hay nets and porta-grazers only. Low NSC hay (I do test it). They are in their stalls at night with controlled hay as well. The ONLY feed they get is Alam (very low NSC) - about 1/2 lb. and the large pony gets Ration Balancer (too much protein for the Shetland). Shetland gets a little scoop of Vitamix. In general my vet supports NO GRASS for these little guys. Too much risk. It’s a tough balance though, because moving around and exercise helps them. I do longe the Shetland a few times a week in arena and he loves it :)!