Skinny pony.

[MissBrown]

Hi all. Looking for a bit of advice. I have 2.5 yr old section B gelding who lives out. He has lost a bit of condition over the last couples of weeks, and I want to get his weight back up. He has been having approx 1kilo of nuts and a large handful of chaff every night and adlib haylage in his field.

However I have just changed his food to include barley rings but he won't eat them, he just sucks all the chaff off and spits them out! Cheeky monkey!

He was wormed a couple of months ago but I'm not sure what with as my friend did it with a bulk buy wormer she has.

I will be worming him tomorrow with a brand the saddler has recommended.

Any ideas to get my little man a little bit bigger!

[MissBrown]

He already is! That's what makes him so great! Thank you!

[Littlebigbum]

Whow so much better, he is going to be a cheeky one

[MissBrown]

Recent picture on profile if anyone wants to look!

[MissBrown]

Yes, we walk him every weekend in the woods wearing full tack. He picks his feet and stands to be groomed. He comes to call and loves to be around people. He has excellent manners being led, my 7 yr old daughter leads him around the yard like a puppy! He is a charming little pony and every one who meets him loves him! I'm very lucky to have him!

[TackedOff]

That's good to hear! Agree with Butkin about breaking at 3.

[Butkin]

Well done Miss Brown. Have you started doing anything with him yet? We don't like them to get too old without some sort of discipline or they can be very unruly to break and handle as 4yos.

[MissBrown]

Hi all. Want to update on how this skinny pony is getting on! He is excellent! A lovely shiny coat and a lot more condition. Lots of energy and a touch of attitude! I'll try and get a picture on my profile, can I do it from my phone? Thanks for everyone's advice!

[MissBrown]

Thank you for your kind words Karma. He is looking better everyday. His coat was shiny today when I took his rug off and his eyes are bright. The owner of the yard who sees him a lot more than me says that he is a lot more active in the field and seems much happier. I feel awful that he ended up in potentially very ill health because I was not vigilant enough with his worming routine. I have learnt some harsh lessons very quickly and will definitely not be making the same mistake again. I have bought some lo-cal condtitioning cubes for him and as he gains a little condition I will start to reduce his feed accordingly.
In terms of the rugs, I think the saying 'killing with kindness' is appropriate here. I have never kept a horse out at grass before and I used to wake in the night when it was raining and windy and think of him. He has one now and will be losing that as soon as possible.

Eve, in terms of breaking, as I said I am not breaking him in this summer just a bit of handling.

[Eve]

And are you still planning breaking him this summer, at 3?

He's no where near mature or old enough for that.

[SaggyOldClothCatpuss]

I think you need to be very careful about feeding him now he's been wormed and deloused. Like a person, sudden weight gain is not good. You need slow and consistent. I wouldn't feed him anything too heating or high protein, apart from blowing his mind you'll shock his system. I'd feed him a reasonable amout of good sensible food, and just aim to fill him out a little. Another six weeks and the grass could well be growing like mad, and he will end up huge anyway. It's far better to keep him at a sensible weight with room for spring grass. Slow and steady is what you need. And remember good condition comes with muscle, not fat.

[MissBrown]

Thanks funny, i have started putting oil in his feed so hopefully that will help his coat. I have just started the online nutrition course that someone put on here and printed out all the slides at work today. I'm hoping I will learn a lot from that.

[funnycase]

I used fastfibre on my skinny veteran, wth a splash of veg oil . Within a fortnight he had really put on condition and had a very shiny coat

[horseylady]

Saggy you should see my mares winter coat. Seriously the welshies unrugged put up less than she does!! And she starts growing it in august!!

[SaggyOldClothCatpuss]

The farm where I used to work had a retired TB. She never had a rug. She had a huge coat in winter! She lived with a welshie, I wonder if nobody told her ahe wasn't one too!

[frostyfingers]

In the really heavy snow a couple of years ago my Welshie spent several days with a roof of snow on his back - his insulation was so good it didn't melt! My TB goes out fully clipped with a m/w rug on if it's not windy/wet and a heavywieght otherwise and he's absolutely fine. My vet has always advised me to under rather than over rug - they can move about to get warm, they can't do much to cool off......

[SaggyOldClothCatpuss]

I love summer coats! My welshies go from polar bears to Pegasus!

[MissBrown]

As much as I love his woolly coat, I can't wait till spring- I have never seen him without a coat! He was quite fluffy when we had him and just got more so as the weeks have gone on. I bet he will look like a different pony. Of course my other horses had winter coats but they were an elderly (?) tb x and a warmblood, and stabled so didn't get very woolly. I didn't have my 1st section B long enough as she was a short loan. I will post updates as he gets more condition.

[SaggyOldClothCatpuss]

Mine are never warm on the outside. Their coats are so good they are totally insulated. A week or two ago, they were walking round with a full thatch of unmelted snow. Icicles are often a fixture. Natives have fantastic coats. My shetlands have double coats, waterproof outer and thermal inner.

[MissBrown]

Gusset! Haha made me giggle! Makes me think of Victoria wood! I'll do that tomorrow when I see him. I hope he won't mind me feeling his gusset! He loves a fuss so he will probably love it. He really enjoyed me moving his tail about to have a look at his bum (for pinworms)! Thank you.

[horseylady]

What saggy says!! They shouldn't necessarily be warm to touch on their neck etc. Ears are a good indicator as is the gusset. Horses are made up differently to us !! Same as dogs. They have a coat to keep them warm and all mine are rugless unless clipped and in work!!

[SaggyOldClothCatpuss]

Feel his ears, and the naked patch up his gusset. If he is warm there, he is warm everywhere!

[MissBrown]

I will see how he gets on next year before I let him no naked. It would be a bit of a shock if I take it off now! As soon as he has more weight on and the weather warms up, it's coming off. There is not a lot of shelter in out field so may just stick to a no fill to keep the wind and rain off him. He is looking much better already from just having one rug rather than two. I think sometimes I make the mistake of thinking that if I'm cold then he must be cold. I am learning some big lessons in a short time. I thought the horsey game would be just like riding a bike, that you could just get back on- alas it's not that easy.

[horseylady]

If he's skinny etc. Wait see how he matures.

My tb only wears one mw rug and she's fully clipped!! I don't think people realise how dangerous over rugging a horse can be :( a baby I wouldn't rug at all!! As saggy said remove it.

[MissBrown]

Not riding, I mean mouthing and bit of long reining. There are a lot of arguements about what age to break. A lot of people back at 3 where we are. Some people wait, it depends very much on the horse I think.