Are my mini's too fat?**pics added**

[MelissaAH]

Since I have been a new mini owner, I have heard so many things about feeding.

I actually went out and put a weight tape around one of them this morning. The other one would not let me even near her with it

So Lady, my 32" mini is 350 lbs according to my purina weight tape. OH! My other mini is also 32" and looks about the same but I can feel their ribs fine but they have big goat type bellies and lots of fur...in fact, Chantal looks almost like a mini Icelandic. lol

How the heck do you know when fat is too fat???? I am so confused.

One of them has a heck of a time chewing. She has been seen by dentist and teeth floated but she moves her mouth differently than the other mini. She moves it kind of side to side and makes loud chewing sounds, like smacking.

I feed timothy pellets in the am (1 lb) and that does not look like a lot and lunch a handful of hay (literally ounces) and in the evening I would split 4 way between the two (wheat, barley, oat and 20% alfalfa)and a flakde weighs about 5 lbs.

Some days they look more bloated than other days.

What would be a good diet suggestion for two mares about the same height and weight...350 lb? I don't want them to founder.

 

[Taylor Jo]

Oh boy. Well my 32" filly is 250 lbs and she's on the chunky side so w/o seeing your horses it's hard to gauge. BUT, the 5lbs seems like an awful lot. I weigh my hay. Mine are still grazing. BUT, I give .5 in the morning at around 6 or so to take the hungers away then they get their beets/grain/pellets. Then later that morning after eating they graze till 3:30 then at night before we go to bed they get another .5 of hay so they have something small to much on to get them through the night. But, if my mini's weighed 350 lbs they'd be huge and FAT. That means their getting 2.5 lbs a hay apiece. To me that seems like a lot, IMO. Also, it depends on WHAT else your giving them, how much grain etc.

or are you pasturing them any...... A lot of other things. TJ

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Weight tapes are notoriously inacurate with minis so it is impossible to guess whether your horses are to fat based on that. If you can find a body scoring description (on-line) you can use it to judge your horses. Do they have fat pads above their tails, on their shoulders? Is the spine a little valley, is their butt apple shaped with a dip in the middle. When you feel the ribs how thick is the fat covering. Do they have fat on their neck ? The neck on a very fat horse will develop a ridge of fat along the top edge usually. Posting pictures will help people answer your question better as well.

 

[MelissaAH]

Thanks Taylor Jo.....

Mine are on a dry lot. No food except what I give. I measured like I would with a big horse...around the heartgirth...is that correct?

So maybe I should stop the 4 way....that is a lot of carbs isn't it. The handful of hay is Orchard. I think it's crash diet time.

 

[Carolyn R]

It's hard to give an opinion without pics,buteven this time of yeat that is deceiving due to winter coats.

I personally rather see my horses have a large amount of free choice good quality hay than a diet that is mostly concentrates. My horses do get grain, but not alot, except the babies and one mare that has always had a slender build.

Carolyn

 

[Matt73]

Weight tapes are notoriously inacurate with minis so it is impossible to guess whether your horses are to fat based on that. If you can find a body scoring description (on-line) you can use it to judge your horses. Do they have fat pads above their tails, on their shoulders? Is the spine a little valley, is their butt apple shaped with a dip in the middle. When you feel the ribs how thick is the fat covering. Do they have fat on their neck ? The neck on a very fat horse will develop a ridge of fat along the top edge usually. Posting pictures will help people answer your question better as well.

Yeah, these are all the best ways to tell if you've got a piggy

. If you're digging in to find the ribs, you've got a fatty. You really shouldn't have to use a tape (and like someone said, it's notoriously inaccurate on minis), so just go by your eye and feel. I know it can be hard, especially in the winter when a lot of minis are yaks.

 

[Taylor Jo]

Melissa, do you get the AMHA Horse World Mag. there's an excellent article in there on Tape measures and how to measure mini's. If not, PM me and send me your e mail address and I'll scan it for you so you can read it if you like. Don't stop the 4 way they need the minerals for it, you just may need to cut it down some. And I agree, the tapes are not always that accurate but you need to read the article I think it might help you, at least hopefully it would. And yes pic's would help. Also remember it's winter so they're going to "look" fatter too. TJ

 

[Katiean]

If you were to wrap a weight tape around my minis right now they would weigh a ton. They have way too much hair to get an accurate weight. If you can feel their ribs they are not too fat.

 

[MelissaAH]

I can definatley feel the ribs right away. They are getting furry...They just lok so chunky.

Here are pics I just took.

Chantal....excuse the red dust...just love that clay we live in. She ran in the barn to hide so I got one pic.

Here is Lady....

 

[Taylor Jo]

Ok your first one looks chunky, Imo. your 2nd like the first but not as bad. Hay belly's. How often do you work them out? Mine are sorta like your 2nd one ever since Nationals I've gotten lazy and haven't been working them, I'm a bad girl!!!!!! I wish you'd let me send you this article if you don't have it, (It's called, Feeding, Mini's) it's really good it talks about feeding and a body weight estimation forumla. I'd put it on here if I knew how to do it. Trouble is too, it's winter and their furry, so it's hard to judge. SO this is what I would say, this is just my thoughts. I would really cut back some of that night hay your feeding them, but how much 4 way are you giving them? Also, I'd put them on an exercise program, if you don't have one, or if you do increase the time as they may not be getting enough. Horses are like people you don't increase the output and if the input is greater thus you gain weight. Ha.... Now you've motivated me to start exercising my horses. TJ

 

[MelissaAH]

lol...thanks Taylor. I need to let them out into the turn out. It's dry too but at least they would walk and run around. I just am afraid to leave them unsupervised. I work out of the house but am tied to my desk and phone taking orders all day so i can't get out there and watch them. I need to let them loose on the weekends.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Going into winter I don't think it hurts to have a little extra weight. People have posted on here before that they thought their horses were overweight, and in the spring when the hair came off, they saw bones. Do your horses get excercise? I notice a nice difference in mine when we get in lots of walks and driving time.

I have one that seems to chew funny. He's had his teeth done, and gone to the chiropractor. Vet said he had a little wave in his jawbone when he did the teeth, as I asked him many questions. Chiropractor adjustd tmj and poll. He is chewing much better now.

 

[jleonard]

IMO, they don't look very fat, just very fluffy. Also, if I remember right, they are both older aren't they? In that case, I would rather see an older horse be a little on the chunky side than too thin, especially going into winter. Also, if they are older and have had several foals, that may be the source of the belly shape. I wouldn't worry about them at this point.

 

[Hosscrazy]

I don't think they look fat at all - they look just as fluffy as my kids do with their winter coats!

Liz R.

 

[chandab]

I wish you'd let me send you this article if you don't have it, (It's called, Feeding, Mini's) it's really good it talks about feeding and a body weight estimation forumla. I'd put it on here if I knew how to do it. TJ

The same article was in a recent issue of The Horse, so if you are subscribed, you can get it on their website or check out a hard copy. [i don't have a link handy, but I think a link was recently on a LB thread somewhere. I printed it on 10/7.]

 

[MelissaAH]

Thanks you all...

I think they are suffering from the famous "hay belly".

They are older girls, 18 & 21 so I guess it's best to have a little extra. I will let them out on the weekends to "play". All 3 of us can jog around the arena....I need it to!

 

[Katiean]

I see mostly hair. I don't think they are in bad shape for the time of year. I am still driving my horses but they look much the same as yours. I think a bit of extra weight doesn't hure with the cold weather.

 

[Miniv]

They are furry! But if you can easily feel ribs without much pressure, I would give them more groceries for the cold winter months. It's forage (hay) that keeps them warm when the temps drop.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

No, they do not look fat, but you are not feeding nearly enough roughage and they do look bloated.

I would suggest giving free choice hay and upping their protein intake, as well as doing the Fenbendazole five day worming course, followed ten days later by a correct dose Ivermectin wormer.

They look healthy enough in the coats, but, basically, with no grazing, they do need something else to do.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Oh good, MiniV and Rabbitsfizz said it. I was too tired to post last night but was going to add my concerns that if you can feel their ribs easily you need to be checking the rest of the bony spots to see if you can feel hips, withers, shoulderblades, and other areas that should be covered with fat. What they have looks to me more like bloat than hay bellies and that means that rather than too much food, they aren't getting enough of the right kinds. I've had several older horses (the one left will be 32 in a couple of months) and it's true that the way they carry their fat will shift as they get older so they tend to seem ribby and sunken above the eyes and hips even at proper weight, but you've REALLY got to monitor them constantly, especially under that kind of fur.

Give your girls more roughage, lots of it. If you're keeping them in a barn, let them out. The older horses get the more important it is that they be allowed constant free movement to keep their joints flexible and their feet functioning properly. Check them over manually under all that fur and see what you find. Fat horses will generally have a hard fatty crest on their necks, no ribs no matter how hard you press, a dimple down the center of their butts between heavy fat pads, etc. A skinny horse will have a hollow in front of their withers, narrow crest with easily palpable atlas-axis joint behind the ears, you'll be able to feel the bones of their withers very easily, the ribs will be the first thing you feel on their sides, the hip bones will be jutting out and they'll feel concave along the top of the hip with another jutting bone on either side of and just below the tail head. They'll also have a low energy level. Unfortunately at this time of year pictures and a visual inspection simply aren't going to be enough. You've got to get in there with bare hands and feel all over to really judge how they're doing.

If these were my two I'd be making sure they got more protein, more roughage, maybe a nice senior feed or something, and I'd have a good chiropractor out to look at Lady. She's standing humped up like my guy does when his lower back is out and that will make her belly "pook" more too. Then once they've got enough additional caloric intake to support new muscle growth I'd get them exercising to improve overall muscle tone and help them fill out. No need to condition them like for halter or driving but a fit healthy horse is a happy horse!

It's especially important to keep an older animal going as the more they are allowed to sit around, the harder it is to get them going again and the more achy they will feel.

Your girls don't look like they're in bad shape, don't get me wrong. They are obviously well-loved and carefully tended and that's wonderful.

But it's easy to think they're getting fat, cut the feed, watch them get "fatter," cut the feed more...and only in the spring realize they were starving on you. I know it seems counter-intuitive but give them more hay and some time for their bodies to redistribute what they're getting then add a little toning work and I think you'll find it all starts going to the right places and they'll appear to slim down.

Leia