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Obese pony

2K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  DannyBoysGrace 
#1 ·
I sold my pony two years ago and he became mine again yesterday.
He's grossly fat and we're worried about him foundering or getting laminitis.
This is his journal in case you want to know more: http://www.horseforum.com/member-journals/adventures-danny-hawk-eye-720393/

He's currently in a lovely field of tasty grass. My dad is picking up electrical fence posts and tape tomorrow so we can fence off our own land and bring him to our house. We don't have much grass here so that's the main reason for the rush to get him here.
I walked him 3 miles in hand yesterday and he was sweating. Today we did some lunging until he built up a light sweat and then I walked him in hand again (not far) to cool him down.
When he comes to our place, he'll be using a grazing muzzle at different points during the day, I'll be giving him two light exercise sessions a day and build them up until I think he can handle one harder session a day.

Do you have any other advice or tips?

Thank you in advance. :falloff:he's looking kind of like this!
 
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#3 ·
Grazing muzzle is a good idea.
I don't know whether you put your horses in the stable, but if you do, maybe use sawdust or something similar as a bedding, instead of straw, because I know a mare who got overweight because she ate her stable bedding.
I thinks what you are doing now though is perfect!
 
#4 ·
I can't put the muzzle on yet as I can only get there once a day and I can't just starve him.
Hopefully he'll be on our land by the end of the week, then I'll be restricting his grazing and exercising him twice a day.

I don't stable, he doesn't like them, gets very stressed out and chokes himself
 
#5 ·
Do you have the ability to fence off a small area to turn into a dry lot? As you say, his weight puts him at high risk for laminitis. What we do with this type of horse is put a grazing muzzle on during the day, and at night we turn the horse into a dry lot and feed a small amount of hay. How much hay the horse gets depends on their weight and how much they need to lose. Taking into account how much the horse grazes during the day with the muzzle on, we give the horse a total of 2% his ideal body weight in feed. If the horse does not lose weight, this gets reduced to as low as 1.5%.

Horses are able to increase their eating speeds and spend more time eating if they have access to less food. Even if your pasture is not as lush, if it has a significant amount of grass a pony may still be able to get as much food as he was on a more lush pasture. For instance, some of our short and dry looking fields make the horses as fat as green and lush ones, because the stressed grass is high in calories and sugar.

Ideally, the grass a horse does get is not overgrazed and stressed, and the amount strictly controlled. Then the hay a horse is fed is low in sugar, and the amount controlled. You can try to manage the horse without being so strict, as long as his hooves are still healthy and you see continuous weight loss. But you should know it is a risk, since horses this close to the edge often do develop laminitis and then you have a much longer road ahead.

Exercise is helpful, but some horses are very efficient and many do not lose appreciable amounts of weight unless the diet is restricted as well.
 
#6 ·
You will be surprised as to how well horses learn to graze, with a muzzle! Trust me, he won't starve on good pasture and a muzzle.
While the horses that I use grazing muzzles on, have time in a dry lot, without a muzzle, most times, there are some that I have left with a grazing muzzle for up to a week, full time, with no problem
 
#7 ·
Yep, muzzle now. Keep him in a dry lot, rather than just on short grass, and feed *soaked* hay. Hay is just grass and it doesn't lose sugars after processing. Depends on the grass but is often high sugar, 'improved' if used for hay. There may beh little/no difference between sugar content of rich grass & the hay you feed. Soaking & draining first(twice if needed, till water comes off light, not dark & sugary) will help reduce the calorie/carb content of the hay. That way, you can ensure he's getting enough(not good for horses to go hungry) without giving him 'too much'.

Oh & extra magnesium in the diet, along with whatever other nutrients are necessary to ensure he has a balanced diet.
 
#8 ·
Once the fence posts are here, I'll be sectioning off a bit that's basically just weeds due to the (now moved) pig.
He'll be muzzled during the day on that patch and I'm sure that within a few days of him trampling it down, there will just be dirt. He'll be exercised twice a day once he's here.

I also can't muzzle yet because there's a lot of things for straps to get caught on. He'll be moved by the end of the work. I'm looking for tips for then. :)
 
#12 ·
My mini has to wear a grazing muzzle 24/7. He does good with it on and has kept him at a nice weight. He still can graze in it, it just makes him not gorge himself lol. I see my horses about once a day and haven't had any problems with him getting caught on something.


It looks as if my QH will be next to get a grazing muzzle. I have a very lush pasture with no dry lot, so I gotta do what I gotta do. lol


My TB is the only cool fellow that is allowed to go crazy on grass.....


At this point I don't know which one I like better my hard keeper TB or my other two easy keepers.:shrug:
 
#13 ·
Sounds like you don't really understand the muzzle. Put it on and watch him at first but once he figures out he can still eat/drink (and he will very quickly) then just leave it on until further notice. Taking it off to handle him is plenty of a break. If he's that bad you really need to go all in.

Glad he's back in good hands!
 
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