|
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
  
Location: Mountains of VA | CwgrlTuffTurnin3 - 2015-05-27 12:48 PM hotpaints - 2015-05-27 12:15 PM If your pony is now in the same condition as his picture...........don't feed him anything..........maybe some air, just kidding. Sugar is bad. Buy him a grazing muzzle or dry lot him. RIDE, RIDE, RIDE him, he should look "racey" instead of fat. He doesn't need grain of anykind, he does need a balanced vit./mineral mix and coarse hay if you drylot him.
We stand a Welsh stallion and have been involved in the pony industry for 30 years. People forget that Welsh ponies were bred to live on almost nothing and work all day, hence the reason they have so much stamina. Not knowing the breeding on your pony does leave a question but I would treat him just like a full Welsh if he were here.
This pony is not in the same condition as his picture, hence this post. He is getting ribby and his coat is very dull. He is on a dry lot with a flake of grass hay in the morning and a flake of grass hay at night. He is under 12 hands and belongs to my 3 year old son so RIDE RIDE RIDE Until he is racey looking is out of the question. This is a lead around for 10 minutes type of pony. Not a ride the crap out of him pony as my son is not old enough for that.
He has free choice to a loose mineral/vitamin and then he gets the grass hay twice a day. He is not getting any grain. I do not know his breed but I do know that the grass hay twice a day and loose mineral is NOT enough as he is losing weight in his top line and getting ribby and dull, not skinny and fit.
Thank you for the info. 1st thing to do is fasting bloodwork, just like in people. This should give you and your vet the info needed to get your pony healthy and on the nutrition he needs. Cushings is most likely but there good be other things going on too.
Good luck, he is cute and your son is too!
| |
| | |
  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
 
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | hotpaints - 2015-05-27 1:06 PM CwgrlTuffTurnin3 - 2015-05-27 12:48 PM hotpaints - 2015-05-27 12:15 PM If your pony is now in the same condition as his picture...........don't feed him anything..........maybe some air, just kidding. Sugar is bad. Buy him a grazing muzzle or dry lot him. RIDE, RIDE, RIDE him, he should look "racey" instead of fat. He doesn't need grain of anykind, he does need a balanced vit./mineral mix and coarse hay if you drylot him.
We stand a Welsh stallion and have been involved in the pony industry for 30 years. People forget that Welsh ponies were bred to live on almost nothing and work all day, hence the reason they have so much stamina. Not knowing the breeding on your pony does leave a question but I would treat him just like a full Welsh if he were here.
This pony is not in the same condition as his picture, hence this post. He is getting ribby and his coat is very dull. He is on a dry lot with a flake of grass hay in the morning and a flake of grass hay at night. He is under 12 hands and belongs to my 3 year old son so RIDE RIDE RIDE Until he is racey looking is out of the question. This is a lead around for 10 minutes type of pony. Not a ride the crap out of him pony as my son is not old enough for that.
He has free choice to a loose mineral/vitamin and then he gets the grass hay twice a day. He is not getting any grain. I do not know his breed but I do know that the grass hay twice a day and loose mineral is NOT enough as he is losing weight in his top line and getting ribby and dull, not skinny and fit.
Good luck, he is cute and your son is too!
welsh are a different type of pony than the other breeds. I have rarely seen even the healthiest of Shetland crosses be racy looking. I love Welsh and would have loved to have found something like that for my kiddos, but the good ones are so expensive-Pony club jumpers etc.
Mine is not very tall, maybe 12 hands and even when he is thin and ribby, he is very round in the girth and blocky. I would have to starve him to get a racy look, plus he is old and foundered as previously mentioned. I can relate to the OP because other than mine being so much older, he is also a lead line pony and he means the world to my 3yr old son so keeping him healthy and looking good is a priority. I might have a picture small enough of "Pony" to show how he looked this fall/early winter. He's taking longer than normal to shed off this yr. I am hoping just age and not a Cushings related deal.
 (family small.jpg)
 (pony small March 15.jpg)
Attachments
----------------
 family small.jpg (83KB - 156 downloads)
pony small March 15.jpg (75KB - 147 downloads)
| |
| | |
 Fluffy Tuffy
Posts: 10343
Location: New Sharon, IA | Cowgirl Kat - 2015-05-27 1:16 PM CwgrlTuffTurnin3 - 2015-05-27 5:10 AM Sooooo I got some beet pulp crumbles last night and let it soak overnight and when I gave it to him this morning the little butthead WOULDN'T EAT IT! GRRR! Can I add anything to it to make him want to eat it? I also found a feed last night called Purina Wellsolve L/S which says it is a low starch/low sugar feed for horses with special needs. He ate that. Just not the beet pulp I gave him this morning. Is there any way you can try the pellets? my horse won't eat the shredded but will eat the pellets. You could try adding some flaxseed or maybe a small about of red wheat bran to it.
The feed store gave me beet pulp crumbles. Not shreds but they are crumbled up pieces the size of a pencil eraser? I soaked them until they were good and wet but he nosed it a few times and went to eating hay. | |
| | |
 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 415
| Not sure if this was mentioned already but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get him checked for insulin resistance!!!!! I have had 2 ponies with founder and that's what they ended up having! It's not an expensive test and will really help you with what to feed! Low starch and sugar, I fed triple crown safe starch and Forco! | |
| | |
Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
Location: Mountains of VA | cheeka77 - 2015-05-28 1:32 AM Not sure if this was mentioned already but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get him checked for insulin resistance!!!!! I have had 2 ponies with founder and that's what they ended up having! It's not an expensive test and will really help you with what to feed! Low starch and sugar, I fed triple crown safe starch and Forco!
This is why the fasting blood work needs to be done asap. It is tricky to manage these metabolic problems but can be done. | |
| |
| |
Folks on-line