My pony is FAT! What has worked for you?

[greywithchrome]

I have a morgan pony and she is fat. When I say fat, I mean if someone was to pick her up at auction they would assume she’s pregnant. I feel I do as much as I can to combat this. I am meticulous about what she eats and she gets muzzled for turnout. She has suffered from back soreness for years (being fat doesn’t help, I know) so while I do my best to exercise her by lunging her 4-5 times a week and throwing in light rides here and there I can only do so much. She was on Thyro-L for a few months last year and it didn’t seem to help.

Here’s what she eats:

• roughly 2 flakes of hay per day in addition to the grass she gets during all day turnout
• once a day grain: 1lb ration balancer, half a serving of a vit/min supp (because she doesn’t get the full recommended amount of the ration balancer), a vitamin E supp and a magnesium supp

Has anyone else dealt with this and what has worked for you?

Thanks in advance.

[islgrl]

A couple of years ago my morgan was quite fat. He is on very overgrazed turnout so wasn’t getting much grass, I tried absolutely everything including Thyro-l which did nothing. The only thing that worked was work and lots of it. Once I got it off I was able to keep it off while he stays in work. I find that lots of cantering seems to burn the most calories. Not an answer for you because you said she can’t work much but it is the ONLY thing that took weight off my guy…

[Garythesquirrel]

Grass all day, even with a muzzle, may be too much for her. You need to weigh the hay not just guess, depending on how much hay she’s currently getting you might need to reduce the hay and put it in a small hole net. I would ditch the ration balancer and switch to a vitamin mineral supplement fed with a handful of hay pellets.

[Scribbler]

Yes to weighing the hay. I have fed 2 string 50 lb bales, 3 string 120 lb Timothy or alfalfa bales, and compressed 65 lb export quality Timothy. I weigh my hay so my easy keeper stays under 20 lbs a day. A flake can weigh anything from 3 lbs to 10 lbs.

Also consider getting your hay tested. My easy keeper is holding a decent weight better on top quality Timothy than she did on “lower quality” local grass hay, which around here can have shocking NSC reading. Also lower quality hay can contribute to hay belly and gas.

I also prefer a VMS in haycube or beet pulp mash because there is no really good ration balancer in our market.

But as with people, it’s calories in/calories out. Can you work in long hand walks of an hour or so? Pony her? Do lateral work to build up back muscles?

[BoyleHeightsKid]

@Garythesquirrel

Grass all day, even with a muzzle, may be too much for her. You need to weigh the hay not just guess, depending on how much hay she’s currently getting you might need to reduce the hay and put it in a small hole net. I would ditch the ration balancer and switch to a vitamin mineral supplement fed with a handful of hay pellets.

This… a fish scale and a hay net makes weighing hay very easy.

[Scribbler]

Yes, and fat mare should have a hay net! I use a fish scale and a big plastic IKEA bag because my hay then goes on an electronic drop feeder in my loft. Costco has similar bags, if you aren’t in IKEA country.

[JB]

I’d do all these things either by themselves, or all together to affect faster weight loss (theoretically):

1. No grass, not even muzzled
2. Hay weighed to 2% of her desired weight. If she’s already getting that, then 1.5% of her desired weight
3. Re-evaluate the Thyro-L for dosage
4. I would drop the ration balancer (for sure, not negotiable, remove all soy from her diet). Use a good forage balancer like California Trace, Vermont Blend, Arizona Copper Complete, etc - whatever one is named for closest to your location. Lone Star Trace is another. Seminole has their “Grass Balancer”.

Keep the E, make sure she’s getting a solid 2IU/lb

How much Mg are you adding? Some of the forage balancers have Mg, some don’t. I’d be sure she’s getting at least 10gm per 1000lb, and for her, I might go for 1gm per 1000lb

[equinelibrium]

I didn’t realize there was a difference between ration balancer and forage balance. Google didn’t give me any info about the difference. Can you elaborate?

[Scribbler]

A ration balancer is a pelleted feed fed at a rate of 1 or 2 lbs a day. It has concentrated VM plus often more protein. Typically a soy base for protein.

A forage balancer is a VMS. It is typical fed at a rate of several ounces. It contains vitamins and minerals but not much protein. You need to mix into a mash to make it palatable. A hay cube mash is fine.

Forage balancer refers to a VMS that is designed for the nutrient profile of a particular grass/hay species, ie if they have alfalfa hay they don’t need more calcium but if they have grass hay they do.

[greywithchrome]

Thanks everyone!

I am going to try and up her exercise a bit - I don’t do as much canter work as I should.

The hay is tricky because it’s not consistent So testing it wouldn’t be useful. I agree she shouldn’t even be on grass but I don’t have a dry lot available to me right now. If she continues down this path though … I will have to figure that out.

@Scribbler Walking in hand is a great idea - as the weather warms up I will try to incorporate that daily.

@JB thank you for the advice. I originally had the VM in alfalfa pellets but I wasn’t sure if that was much better than the ration balancer (Brooks All Phase) but I have definitely wondered if I should remove the soy. I am in Canada so the VM supplement I am using is Mad Barn Amino Trace - I know she won’t eat it on it’s own even though it is in a pellet form. I add 10mg of magnesium - the VM supp provides roughly 5gm of mag.

[Scribbler]

Mad barn Amino Trace pellets can go in some hay cubes. Mad Barn Omniety Premix has a wider range of nutrients, and is cheaper but Amino Plus has the therapeutic levels of copper and zinc if your horse is metabolic.

Both of these are in my words VMS in that they are dosed in ounces abs require you to provide a carrier. Hay cube mash is fine. Timothy cubes will be as low calories as your hay.

[JB]

The Amino Trace is a nice forage balancer, so you’re good there! I would prefer that, over the Omneity Premix, for this horse, because of higher amino acids, and a much better iron/copper/zinc analysis

[greywithchrome]

@Scribbler @JB perfect! Thank you

[GraceLikeRain]

Can you pony her? If back soreness is a chronic issue then putting a fat horse into a bootcamp under saddle or lunging program may set you up for a set of different issues.

If you’re able to hand walk her, 45 minutes in hand at a brisk pace is also great. Another variation is to side lunge so that the circle is constantly moving as you work through the arena, pasture, etc.

Dropping the RB for a handful of soaked beet pulp plus the vitamin blend will help but I’m guessing your biggest culprit is the grass. Can you dry lot for part of the day so she can move but isn’t getting grass?

[greywithchrome]

@GraceLikeRain yes I agree with you I need to be careful about how I get her back into shape. I might be able to find a horse I can pony her from. Unfortunately there is just no dry lot available at my current farm

Next steps for me is to decide on an alternative for the grain to mix her VM supp into … beet pulp is a good idea.
In addition I will be putting her back on the Thyro-L for a bit, I didnt think it made a difference last time but perhaps internally it did so it’s worth a shot!

Thanks everyone!