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My immediate reaction is that she is getting too much feed.  Our full-grown 
Arabs get about 8# of grass/alfalfa hay in each of two feedings, morning and 
night...16# total.  They do not get supplements or beet pulp or grain.  They 
are being ridden a couple of times a week on trails with steep hills.  They 
are in good flesh and have plenty of energy, but are not crazy.  Why would a 
pony need all that hay, supplements and beet pulp if she is already fat?  I 
don't think horses need all the supplements that are offered nowadays. 
Horses are used to eating grass, or hay in absence of grass.  Unless their 
workload is huge, they don't need anything but grass or hay.

Barbara

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Betsy Thomas" <betsy@xxxxxxx>
To: "ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 7:00 AM
Subject: [RC] Feeding "moderately overweight" pony


> Hello again,
>
> So, I've had my Pasture Puff Pony for about six weeks now.  In that  time 
> my kids got the flu, I got the flu, and I had to go visit  relatives for a 
> week.  But now we seem to be over all that.  Pony has  been ridden lightly 
> (walk with a little trot, totaling an hour or so)  most days during this 
> time.
>
> She is a 13 year old BLM mustang, who I bought as 14 hands but I just 
> tried to measure her yesterday and I'm not sure she's that tall.  I'm 
> putting her at a 6.5 or so for body condition score (vet described her  as 
> "moderately overweight") and she has very little muscle tone.  I  taped 
> her yesterday at 880 pounds.  She has been in better shape  during her 
> life, but she's never done endurance.
>
> When I got her she was on a flake of grass hay morning and evening,  and 
> about a pound of beet pulp (Farmer's Friend ShowSweet) soaked and  fed 
> sloppy for lunch.  It seems to have a lot of sugar in it (it  smells so 
> sweet) and seemed sort of excessive once I got her, so I  transitioned her 
> to having a few pounds of grass hay and 12 ounces of  LMF Super Supplement 
> for lunch instead of the beet pulp.  She used to  be on pasture at her old 
> place, and now she is in a small stall/ paddock.  The hay she gets for 
> breakfast and dinner is low-quality  timothy, probably about 10-12 pounds 
> total.  Then for lunch she gets  2-3 pounds of high-quality orchardgrass 
> and the LMF Super Supplement.   I don't have a scale at the barn but I 
> practiced holding hay on my  bathroom scale.  I have a deli scale for the 
> pellets.
>
> This poor pony is so out of shape.  I rode her yesterday for a total  of 5 
> miles.  After 4 miles we averaged 3.8 mph but the last mile she  was SO 
> TIRED she barely moved, and we finished up averaging 3.5  miles.  I have a 
> GPS but no heart monitor yet (it's on my Christmas  list) and I have a 
> stethoscope but by the time we walk out the last  mile and head back to 
> her paddock/stall, she's pulsed down.
>
> So, my question is, is the feeding regime okay for now?  I had figured 
> not to feed her any more until the fat was better.  She has a terrific 
> hay belly, but I'm looking more at the fat over her tailhead and twist 
> and her crest.  She has a nasty crest.  I wonder if she might end up 
> cushingoid when she gets older, she just has "that look".  I don't see 
> any patchy fat right now, though.  My worry about the hay belly is  that 
> her feet, while they are round and pretty nice, are on the small  side. 
> (As the farrier put it, she's on the small side too so not to  worry.  But 
> the tummy is horse-sized!)
>
> She has a thick but not cushing-ish coat right now, and we live in 
> California.  Many people at our boarding stable clip and then they  have a 
> blanket service where a Nice Lady takes off the blankets in the  morning 
> and puts them back on in the evening.  It gets wam here during  the day 
> but the temperature drops a lot at night.  I'm considering  going the 
> clip-blanket route but just not quite organized enough yet.
>
> Getting her fit enough to do an LD seems like such a huge undertaking 
> right now, but at least if we ever get there I can think about how  much 
> progress we made.
>
> Betsy
>
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