How to get weight of our fell pony???

tikkitti

tikkitti

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Mar 8, 2015
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Hi, After looking at our gorgeous rackwood fell pony with summer turnout in mind, she can't! We have had problems getting weight off this mare but I really thought she would naturally come out of winter looking less FAT:( In our current turnout paddock its bare, (she doesnt have hard feed)but does have haylage. Tbh if I didn't know different I'd think she was in foal, that's how fat she looks. Friend suggested full clip and chuck her out, sounds drastic but don't want her getting lami in summer.Has anyone ever done that? I'm so soft but as she seems to live on fresh air I maybes need to be cruel to be kind.Otherwise she will be alone in a starvation paddock with a few slices of soaked hay twice a day for company. Darent even put her in field with grass even with a muzzle at the size she is.Any suggestions gratefully received.x
 
I feel your pain. My pony Mouse was fat going into winter but despite living out unrugged 24/7 he has come out even fatter! He is currently on boot camp at a friend's house where she is able to restrict his grazing more than I can with our setup here, and her daughter rides him most days. How much exercise does your pony get at the moment? Working her harder will make a big difference to her weight.
 
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Argh! Fat ponies! Tell me about it. Storm is porky and now injured so cannot be ridden. Grrr. Vet is coming Tuesday and I am hoping he will tell me when I can walk ride her again - any exercise is better than none! She lives off air alone. I think she sucks nutrients out of the surrounding plant life.:p She has worn a lightweight rug ONCE for half a day! She eats rubbish stalky hay mostly soaked and gets a handful of lo cal nuts with her Danilon in and Devil Claw. I could cry sometimes she looks so rotund. All her food is carefully monitored and the pasture here is pants. Plus she is restricted to a small paddock - and not even that atm. I think she has a secret supply of food stashed somewhere that I can't find!
 
Hi, She ridden 4-5 times a week, hopefully more in summer with lighter nights etc. Can't believe I'm trying to get weight off a pony that's in a bare mud paddock and has been all winter. Talk about cheap to keep
 
What are they on the weigh tape and condition score? Mine dropped 60kg in two months by taking off all grass and feeding soaked hay.
She was on box rest.

She currently does something six days a week, its mimimul currently as coming back into work. She is out part of day.
 
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Can you take her off the haylage, or is it a shared field & out of your control? If you can then do, and replace it with a small amount of soaked hay, the chances are the only reason the paddock looks bare is because the grass is in their bellies! If you can't then I'd consider either having her in or muzzling her when the haylage is put out.

Exercise her as much as you can, and as hard as she can tolerate - you want her blowing & sweaty if at all possible. If you don't have time to ride then lunge, even 10 minutes is better than nothing.
 
Hi, Used a weight tape apx 3 weeks ago when they were last wormed but typically must of put it somewhere other than the tack room as when I looked today it wasn't there:( it will turn up over the next day or two. My daughter rode her earlier, then me as I figured carrying my light as a feather daughter wasn't enough work:) Can't keep her in as although she a nice albit marish little pony my daughter can't manage her if shes in as she goes from a little fizzy and forward to trying to impersonate a very hyper TB. Hence the reason for a new field shelter:) As for haylage we feed round bales in winter turnout paddock, but as of tomorrow Im going to put a grazing muzzle on through out the day and see if that helps. The field is mud as its just a small winter turnout the grass is in the grazing paddock which by the looks of it she will not see this summer. Ive always had finer built ponies then horses and Im good at keeping weight on them but taking weight off is hard work:( On a positive her girth up another hole but she still looks huge.
 
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She's going to be one very fed up fell pony when out comes the grazing muzzle in the morning:) I suppose the saying being cruel to be kind is very true in the case of fat ponies, my daughter wants to do m&m classes this year, I hope the grazing muzzle works or we will have to have her jaws wired, lol. xxx
 
Light exercise won't make weight come off even if she's getting it 7 days a week. The pony's exercise sessions need to be strenuous as carthorse says - if she isn't getting puffy she's not working hard enough!
 
Native ponies can thrive on fresh air. Ours generally do two hours of fairly intensive work schooling jumping etc. five days a week. They live out in all weathers ( about 15 on 20 acres with no suplementary feed except haylage nets scattered round the indoor school which they can access when there is snow covering the grass or coming in at night for feed when the grass really is poor but only to small 3kg haylage nets. Given access to a big bales they will gorge themselves. I know conventional wisdom says access to forage at all times but it really does not work with native breeds, when we have them in for shows etc we give tiny nets at intervals otherwise they can eat hedgerow plants, what grass they can find..they are bred to survive and find food , don't give it to them on a plate!!

We also reduce their weight in January /February to condition score 2/5 so that when the spring flush comes through they will not become overweight.
 
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Poor pony will sleep well tonight she was foaming at the mouth with sweaty neck, saddle girth too. Think the other problem is that fells used to carry 16 stone all day long so my 11 year old weight won't be hard work for her. I will ride her round the edges of fields tomorrow night in lots of walk, trot, walk and if between that and grazing muzzle we can turn things round. Has anyone clipped with the sole aim of weight loss? It seems a bit dare I say cruel/extreme to me and my daughter m&m classes would be out of window but does that work. x
 
My little mare Stella lived on fresh air. I had to clip her out fully, muzzle her and ride her for minimum of an hour 5/6 days a week. I found lots of long trots and canters and well as hill work and interval work stripped the weight off her.

I would also give her a balancer to make sure she's not lacking in anything and if doing a lot of sweating pop some lo salt in with balancer (I soaked the balancer in a little water to make a mush) all to make sure with the increased work, restricted grazing she's getting what she needs.

I would be stopping we getting access to haylege right now by either muzzling her or putting her elsewhere. You can also soak haylege to remove much of the goodness and I would recommend an elimanet or a haylege net inside a haybag to reduce eating time :)

All the above worked for me :)

Ps she was a Dales x Welsh D so mega good doer
 
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Not walk /trot work but serious interval training, trot and canter until out of breath then walk to relax until normal resps and repeat!! However if she is for your daughter to ride you may have to compromise on fitness v sharpness as Fells like most large native breeds are not made to be ridden by children. I have two highlands, a Dales, a fell type and several section Bs and a Shetland all of which are sharp and strong. None are ridden by children apart from in very controlled lessons or by talented small teenagers
 
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tikkitti said:
Hi, Everyone has anyone used a grazing muzzle for more than 12 hours a day? x
Click to expand...

Stella only had hers off for a few hours a day turned out. If I left it off longer she would gorge, if we separated her from the herd she's trashed the fences and then grazed the neighbours gardens.

So she didn't have it off often and lived out 24/7
 
I personally won't use grazing muzzles at all preferring to get the weight under control in winter and if necessary bringing them in during the day in spring. If you want to show your Fell, get it in a stable or sand school with limited feed and fitten
 
We bought the fell as a long term pony for her as she was beyond heartbroken when her 12.2hh went. I dont want my daughter to bsja and compete like i did so wanted to steer her towards showing, whp type stuff.The fells 13.1hh and if my daughter chooses she could keep her forever as she won't outgrow her.Talking of section bs my first pony was a section b show pony (who i inherited when i was 2) who was sired by solway master bronze, he was stunning to look at but once off lead rein I spent a great deal of time on the floor, bless him he taught me how to hang on!!! He was loved though and we had him till we lost him to old age:(
 
Section Bs are very special! A bit like the TBs of the pony world!! We love them but they are not easy!! One of ours is 13.2 and has a full sister jumping open tracks. He is ridden by our good teenagers and small adults! The other is 12 hh and a genuine First Ridden for a quiet balanced rider!
 
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