Weight, so fed up now!

[companymagic]

My ponies have been doing so well on their diets I have been able to work them up to 6 times a week and I thought they we're doing really... So we had the spillers lady out and Amigo gets on the bridge 380 not bad at all and only. 6 on the fat score, and then comes Ailsa turn... I actually had tears and a tranturm! Fat score 7.5 and on the bridge a bloody wooping 652!!! So fed up on her weight tape she has come down from off the.scale to 538 and the last.time.on the bridge she was 640.... How is it even possible she has gone up, I have even changed her girth to a smaller one

Arrrgghhh Its actually not possible to get my highland slim, its.not.... I am.throwing in the towel!!!!

[jill]

If you have been working them, it is useful to remember that muscle weighs more than fat. Convert muscle to fat directly and the weight will increase.
How do you think she is doing, weighbridge and fat score aside? Feeding and condition is much more of an art than a science IMO, rely more on your impression of how they are doing and whether there is a trend rather than a result on one day, and you can take into account their general build and breed. Highlands for example will probably have evolved to carry weight through winter to keep them warm?

[kafee]

I agree with Jill, muscle weighs more than fat, so she's obviously replaced fat round her girth with muscle elsewhere. Highlands are a sturdy breed so you'd expect them to weigh more than say a NF pony of the same size and body score. If she looks good and is feeling well, congratulate yourself on a good job. Merry Christmas!

[companymagic]

Thank you both for your replies... They have made me feel a bit better, although I have to say I am still sulking

She looks ok, still fat don't get me wrong but compared to where she started I would say she is looking much better. I measured her weight lose in inches this morning and she has lost 8inch from her girth area!!

I am going to call my vet today and see if he thinks she could do with going back on her Metaformin (sp) and see if that can help me at all. Riding wise she is going really well, I can school her for 40 minutes and she doesn't faint, and is not too puffed out. I can hack her for 2 hours without a hint of sweat etc, so fitness wise it has totally improved. I just feel devastated that the numbers don't reflected our hard work.. But I guess I need to move away from numbers with her. She is a highland and they are large, but even for a highland she is massive. She must be nearly 14'3 now wider than wide.. I don't think she will ever be a small girl... Maybe my ideas or others ideas of her ideal weight are just not right for her...

I wanted her to get to 550 but I think the best I will get her to might actually be more like 600.. But thanks again for your kind words.. Means a lot.

[bertie666]

Im a bit like this with my two.

Armana the friesian I bought disgustingly over weigh back in may, has lost about 60kgs but could still lose another 100 happily She is out, unrugged, getting balanced minerals and 100 grams of ff and only started having hay this week as the grass really is just bare now and I was so hoping she was going to be looking a bit more svelte by now but its just not happening

We can only keep actively trying and not get passive about it!

[jill]

Worth remembering those natives do process whatever they can find to graze on very efficiently. Even my WBx and TB are eating very little haylage, finding plenty to graze on and occasionally still have green poo. They are well covered even though the field looks pretty well trashed - when it gets milder the grass grows a little, even now.

[bertie666]

Very true Jill - and something i am keeping in my mind, however I keep getting it in the neck from my dad that im cruel and am starving them etc etc!!

I showed him some gross pics of pedal bones popping through feet the other day and he piped down lol

[KoLaTo]

I feel your pain, I have natives and this year is the fattest they have ever been, my grass just didn't stop growing, the boys were in muzzles all summer and my smallest still managed to put weight on. My youngest is IR and had his course of Metformin in August which kickstarted his metabolism thankfully.

My NF mare is obese and I know it, my NF boy has actually dropped considerably these last couple of weeks and my lil Welsh B is an obese barrel on legs, he does carry the majority of his weight on his belly and has lost his crest but he still looks pregnant.

Two are on their 2nd full clip and the other will get done over the next couple of wks, the max rug they ever wear is 200g so they are not over rugged either, they only went into those on their 2nd full clip just last week, before that they were in rainsheets only.

I haven't changed their diets at all yet aside from the few frosty days we had when I chucked 4kg of hay out twice a day between them, sum total of 4 days I think.

Balancer and their supplements is all they get, I'm usually shovelling about 6/8kg of hay down them twice a day by now but they just don't need it.

The disadvantage now is that I also can't work them aside from weekends until I get a little more light in the mornings and then I'll go back to whizzing them out for 30mins every morning before work until the clocks go forward again.

The biggest key for mine has always been work and plenty of it, at least an hour a day every day, we were scuppered this summer with all the rain we had, they just didn't get worked as they usually do and consequently they got fat. My vet/trimmer etc etc have all said it's been a nightmare year for weight problems.

[companymagic]

I am glad I am not lone then... Just fed up of it.. I got Ailsa in tonight to ride.. Yeah right all she want to do is sleep, far to fat to ride tonight.

The problem I have is we have LUSH fields that are large and in VERY good nick... I muzzle but I refuse to muzzle her all winter swapping her muzzle for harder work.. But the weather has meant for the last 6 weeks our hacking has been road work and even if I go out for 3 hours it's not like have a good blast and burning some fat up a hill.
I have also clipped mine twice and they are in nothing more than a 100g rug no matter what the weather. I weight their hay they only get vits and mins at tea time etc. I don't over rug, over feed and under work. I ride some times both horses 6 days a week.. And I am still not even breaking the back of her weight issues!!

I am going to start looking at other local yards as I just can't cope like this all winter... I need less grazing and the option to keep her out in all weathers...

[KoLaTo]

If I were in that position with grazing then yes I would be looking to move yards asap. I don't own my yard and land but rent it and share with one other but she doesn't share my field, she uses a stable and field backs onto mine (cow pasture).

My 2.5 acre field hasn't been rested or fertilised in over 20yrs now, it is proper old horse grazing, peppered with roughs and smooths, weeds, nettles, you name it my field has it, topped 2-3 times a yr and rolled once, hedges cut back if needed but other than that it's left to me. Poo picked religiously every day.

Consequently my ponies do usually drop weight drastically in 'some peoples' opinions in winter but come spring they are usually lithe, lean and fit to go, it's the way I've always kept them, I wouldn't see them 'skinny' to the point of hips and ribs sticking out and I don't in any way 'starve' them but they are usually very lean.

They are out 24/7 365 if I can help it although I will give them a break in snow or if the field is literally under water completely but if they come in, it is daytime and back out overnight. I have lovely stables and like looking at my pristine beds all year - LOL!

Wouldn't have it any other way and really couldn't be on a proper livery yard so to speak and be dictated to what I do with my land.....