Feeding help????

[jumpingkatey]

I give my Shetland mare 1/2 a scoop of Slim and Healthy,3/4 scoop of chaff,1 scoop of garlic powder,splash of vinegar and a few carrots once a day but last week I could feel her ribs abit but now I can hardly feel them.She only gets ridden 2-3 times a week and she is out in a 16 acre field but the grass has no goodness in it and she isn't geting any hay.
I am just concerned that she has put on so much weight over such a short space of time.Is it something I am feeding her???

[chev]

Basically yes! Cut out the hard feed altogether - she really doesn't need it. And even though the nutritional content of the grass is lower at this time of year, it's been so mild this winter that it's not really stopped growing and there's much more in it than you think.

She could do with having her grazing restricted too - either by taping a small section off for her, or if that's not possible, by muzzling her.

Mine are all doing the same; the only two on hard feed are the TB and the foal, and I have five sec Bs out on five acres with no extras who are still carrying more weight than I'd like at this time of year. :(

The problem is that when spring hits and the grass really gets going again, you're going to have a real problem controlling her weight, and she'd be a real laminitis risk.

[Mogwei]

Vinegar???

Can you tell me why you feed it , I've never heard of it used as a horse feed before?

[NoviceNic]

Shetlands can get fat on fresh air. I certainly wouldnt feed a Shetland any hard feed expecially if they are on 16 acres...:eek: I owned a Shetland for 4 yrs and it was strange how sometimes she would look huge and then the next day she would look slender and shiny. I call them fat days....:rolleyes:

[puzzles]

i agree -give ehr ad-lib forage and cut out the concentrates entirely, think about how they feed in the wild - forage, forage, forage!
however this does not give her a balanced ration, so either give ehr a mineral & vitamin lick in the field to eat according to her needs, or add a balancer to ehr daily feed bucket (these provide all the nutrients she needs and are specially designed to be fed alongside forage, without the calories due to the small density of the nutrients.)
examples of the best include Baileys Lo-Cal and Blue Chip Original/Lami-Light.

good luck!