Fat Pony!

[preciouspony]

My pony needs to lose weight! We have talked to her vet who told us to put a grazing muzzle on her (which won't be needed now that there is no grass in the winter!) and cut down her grain.
She was being fed:
3 Flakes hay in AM. (Hay is grown on the farm, not sure what kind.
1/4 Scoop Nutrena Safechoice in AM.
Grass during day. (Spring/Summer/Fall).
3 Flakes hay in PM.
1/4 Scoop Nutrena SafeChoice in PM.
3 Flakes hay in late PM.

We recently cut down her grain so instead of a 1/4 scoop she gets a handful. She still gets the same amount of hay and no grass because winter is nearing.

She is ridden four days a week for about an hour each ride. If I should, how much should I increase her workload and what kind of excercises can I do to help her lose weight?

Now, I know nothing about equine nutrition (If anyone would like to recommend books/articles feel free to PM me or post here!) and I would love to learn more. I feel bad not knowing what to do with my pony's diet because I have always relied on trainers. I am now without a trainer and realizing how much I haven't known all along.

She has been cut down on her grain for about 2 months and not losing weight. I was wondering if she might be getting too much hay and it would be good to cut down her hay as well.

Any opinions and suggestions will be much appreciated!

[Tamara in TN]

My pony needs to lose weight! We have talked to her vet who told us to put a grazing muzzle on her (which won't be needed now that there is no grass in the winter!) and cut down her grain.

Any opinions and suggestions will be much appreciated!



half the feed and double the work seems a good place to start ;)

[FindersKeepers]

We had a lot of success with these http://www.freedomfeeder.com/Hay_Nets.php . Pony still has hay all day long, but gets less. She's also grazing all day on this net, like nature intended, so she will be more satisfied. We had a draft mare that was severely obese. We cut grain down to a handful, upped exercise, with minimal results. This hay net got her back to normal and she now has been maintaining a healthy weight for 6+ months.

[Hampton Bay]

Depending on the size of the flake or course, 9 flakes of hay seems like a lot for a pony. The small amount of grain is also not supplying her with the vitamins and minerals she may need.

I keep my easy keepers on SmartVite and a tiny amount of alfalfa cubes (to get the SmartVite into them) with a lot of success. They all seem to look much better since starting this program. My gelding with skin issues is actually shiny.

If she is cresty or has fat pads around her butt or behind her shoulders, a Magnesium supplement should help too. I do epsom salts, about 1/4 cup for my 1300lb mare and 2T or 3T for the 900lb mare. You can almost watch the fat dissolve from them when you start them on a Mg supplement.

[Desert Topaz]

You really need to weigh your hay. Flakes aren't consistent. They can be big, they can be small, they can be tightly packed, loosely packed...

There's a really great resource for figuring out how much your pony should be eating here (http://www.animalhealthfoundation.com/Documents/ObesityandLaminitisWhatCanBeDone.pdf) (the later pages of the document have good worksheets)