But limiting grazing and reducing its weight is the action of a responsible owner. Obese ponies are susceptible to developing painful and debilitating diseases. Hay is fed to ponies without access to pasture grass or ones kept in a stall. Hay is made from a wide variety of grass with different nutritional values and caloric properties. Choosing the correct type of hay is critical to the health of your pony.
Few ponies need concentrated feed as a part of their diet. Feed concentrates are whole grains or formulated feeds such as sweet feeds or pellets. The average pony should maintain its health on a diet of good forage. If you suspect your pony is missing some nutrients, check with your veterinarian and follow his advice.
Depending on the hay and your pony, he may recommend adding a mineral supplement to its diet instead of concentrated feed. Ponies need salt in their diet, which they get naturally from grass and hay. Sometimes all that is necessary to allow your pony access to a mineral block.
A chronically obese pony is at risk of becoming insulin resistant and developing pasture-related laminitis. The inflammation and associated structural damage to the coffin bone is excruciatingly painful and can lead to hoof instability. Laminitis can cause debilitating lameness. Obesity, insulin resistance, and associated laminitis is a condition termed equine metabolic syndrome EMS.
The shetland pony pictured above is almost twenty years old and is a highly active family pet that still enjoys life. He could stand to lose a few pounds, but overall he is doing fine. Another method to evaluate your pony is with a standard equine measuring tape.
I recommend a combination of both. Your pony is working hard and needs a good balance of protein, minerals, and vitamins. If the feeding program with the balancer and the extruded fat supplement worked for you previously, you might consider going back to that. Rest assured that ration balancers do not have too much protein; they are formulated that way for a reason. Another option would be to balance out the diet with a vitamin-mineral supplement. Subscribe to Equinews and get the latest equine nutrition and health news delivered to your inbox.
Sign up for free now! Search Library Entire Site. Library Section Only. Always feed a minimum of 1 to 1. Many ponies will maintain their body weight on pasture or hay alone, but forages may lack important minerals, vitamins, and sometimes protein.
Many commercial feeds formulated for performance horses will supply too many calories for ponies, which can result in weight gain. But simply reducing the feeding rate of a commercial feed to lower the energy intake can result in deficiencies of important nutrients.
Feeding a low-intake, low-calorie vitamin and mineral balancer in addition to forage is a great way to supply ponies with their daily requirement of nutrients without weight gain. If the pony only has access to low-quality forage, look for a balancer that also supplies protein. Recent research has shown that exercise has a positive effect on the insulin status of overweight ponies with cresty necks.
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