My pony is so fat - anyone else?

[hApPiNeSs]

i need to feel like im not the only one! :D :rolleyes:

Ive done everything possible this year to help happy to keep trim - she is living in a dirt patch, eating hi-fi good-doer, and getting as much exercise as possible - and still she looks like a heavyweight cob...

here is a pic of us from last week - is anyone else the owner of a podger at the moment??? also any advice on how to get her to lose the weight would be much appreciated!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v241/happy_the_horse/profileedited.jpg

[notpoodle]

hm, angel is doing alright actually :D she isnt all that porky (vet said she looked good!). im not sure why she isnt balooning :rolleyes: she's out day and night (ok, the grass isnt THAT rich but still ...). mind you, she has to have time off for a bit, so probably will put some on (if she does explode, will have to muzzle ...)

Julia
x

[shandypants]

Yep all 3 of mine look like barrels.... I thought as they have been on half the field while I rested the other half and they are in at night, its time for them to have some nice grass. Oh my god what a mistake, I have now got 3 fatties bless them. Though I must say they look VERY happy

[eventerbabe]

i don't think she looks that tubby at all. but if you are worried cut her feed right down to the bare minimum. but you are already restricting and giving her lots of exercise.

bonnie is slim and trim, would be the death of her (literally) if she were allowed to put on weight. toby is yo-yoing due to my having work commitments just now. but a muzzle has helped now he's stopped sulking... :rolleyes:

[Pink's lady]

She looks just nice to me but you don't want her to put weight on if possible.

The ONLY ways to loose weight are less eating and more excersice. She doesn't sound like she can have less to eat without starving her so : more excersise.

If you ride, and she hasn't worked too hard, try lunging her afterwards - just for 5-10mins and give her a good canter on each rein. Just doing to once a day might be enoght to keep her trim.

[Ella2004]

Yes!Cassie is humongous(sp?) 2!She looks better than cassie anyway,ive tried everything 2 get her weight down too dosnt seen to budge!Even during winter she was a lil podger hehe

[Bronya]

I'd agree she looks ok in the pic. Sunny (NF) is doing fine with more exercise, I can still feel those ribs it's taken me two winters to find! Mysti (TBx) is steadily putting on weight, but she was so underweight at the end of last winter that she still has a bit to go to be 'normal'. I'm still feeding them both - Mysti 1/2 a bowl of oats + balancer a day, Sunny gets mollichaff with a cupful of oats (without the oats she doesn't have enough energy to do her work - conks out before the end!!).

Their fieldmate though has been turned away and already looks quite porky!

A note on the exercise front - proper schooling (on the bit, lateral work, circles, turns, lots of transitions, basically fast and furious, always changing) uses up tons more energy than the equivalent hack. Jumping also uses a lot. You can hack for hours and they just don't lose weight - at least that has been my experience!

[Laura+Phantom]

Happy doesn't look too bad to me! Honestly I would post a photo of Phantom but i'm ashamed, i've nicknamed him 'blubber' :)

Cassie's at quite a nice weight, but she does a lot more work than P and a fair bit of schooling. Mine only have a handful of happy hoof, handful of unmolassed sugar beet, apples and supplements, and old grazing.

The shetlands are normal everwhere but their bellies, which are like barrels :eek:

[CMR]

She doesn't look overweight to me either. :)

I'm no help as far as weight loss advice, all of mine are porkers :D The owner of a theraputic riding center I volunteer at told me one of her minis lost about a hundred pounds(45 kgs?) just by going on a thyroid supplement.

[Floob]

Ruby is a fatty highland and always has been.
Mind you when we got her on loan she had done nothing for nearly a year. She has a huge belly and fat on her bum, but no gutter anywhere and no crest.
She is very hard to get fit because she's soo lazy whereas Tarquin just get himsef fit without too much trouble.

pics of the day she came

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23/floobaloob/Tarquin%20and%20Ruby/IMG_5041.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23/floobaloob/Tarquin%20and%20Ruby/IMG_5043.jpg

she gets one handfull of feed and a handful of chaff(unmollassed) when coming in to keep her happy (Tarquin gets a much bigger feed).
She is ridden 4-5 times a week with long hacks, have built them up to 2 hours now and they will get much longer at the weekend. Schooling twice a week and a lesson once (don't always have lesson).

Our hacks involve quite some leg yielding and turn on the forehands, also shallow loops and transitions. Ruby only learnt to leg yield properly 2 weeks ago so we are working on that

[Guest]

Just moved Bry into a field with a fair amount of grass and I'm waiting for her to balloon, don't know how quickly it happens, if she does get to big I'll have to bring her in during the day. At the mo though she look ok. Wouldn't want her any fatter but not much skinnier.

[crazystevie]

Murphy was a healthy weight, but one week off work (cuz he got stung by a bee in his mouth) and he has balooned into an obese animal. I looked at him yesterday, and he looked shocking. So on goes the grazing muzzle, and on goes the hillwork!

Hopefully he may drop some though. I schooled him yesterday, and after one canter he was huffing and puffing, and sticky on his neck. He hardly EVER sweats up, or gets huffy or puffy. He is SO unfit. Not like him. Luckily, he gets fit very quickly though.

Happy looks fine to me - a healthy weight. Not like my big fat jaffa...