big bellies on yearling filly

[shadowpaints]

ok so last night, i put gigi in the barn for the night, something i dont usually do. no hay, just 2 cups of alfalfa pellets,2 cups of mini horse feed and a cup of beet pulp. her belly is darn near GONE im not kidding. the pic in the first post is from 2 weeks ago and her belly was bigger than that yesterday. THIS is what she looks like today!

<a href="http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/Shadowpaints/?action=view&current=011.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy292/Shadowpaints/011.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

yesterday her belly darn near hung to her knees, and was as wide as my mare that is 6 months pregnant! look at her now!! amazing.. guess no more hay for her till after fair!

 

[Jill]

She doesn't look as bad as I thought possibly from the title, and I have not read through to see everyone's responses... the things I think can cause a large belly on a young horse are:

• Improper / insufficient de-worming
• Feeding a hay that is too coarse (really, I think this is often the biggest culprit)
• Feeding too little protein

For our young horses, and all our minis, I am very careful to feed only "soft" leafy hay. Nothing at all coarse as I think they have a hard time digesting coarse feed and hay. Big bellies are the least serious problem that can cause. You can also use soaked hay cubes for the hay sourse with very nice results. For a concentrate, we feed young horses either a junior or senior complete pellet. We've had good luck with this type of simple program... and of course, proper de-worming.

Good luck!

 

[chandab]

ok so last night, i put gigi in the barn for the night, something i dont usually do. no hay, just 2 cups of alfalfa pellets,2 cups of mini horse feed and a cup of beet pulp. her belly is darn near GONE im not kidding. the pic in the first post is from 2 weeks ago and her belly was bigger than that yesterday. THIS is what she looks like today!

! look at her now!! amazing.. guess no more hay for her till after fair!

While reducing her hay intake was probably in order; even for a wee yearling such as her, I don't know that 5 cups of feed 2x daily will be enough for her. If you have a TSC nearby, check out the Lucerne Farms High Fiber, its a bagged chopped hay product (alfafa, grass and oat hay mix), it would give her the fiber she needs for digestive health, but in a more digestible form than the baled hay (and you could more accurately add the appropriate amount to her daily diet). [i'm currently using it for my senior stallion, he looks great on it, and now that he's had his teeth done, he's enjoying it more than ever.]

 

[shadowpaints]

unfortunatly we dont have a TSC here closest one is in boise, a 5 hour drive. i bought a scale today, and will be weighing all her feed making sure she gets plenty, plus a bit more prolly

 

[chandab]

unfortunatly we dont have a TSC here closest one is in boise, a 5 hour drive. i bought a scale today, and will be weighing all her feed making sure she gets plenty, plus a bit more prolly

if you have a triple crown dealer nearby, you might be able to get the TC grass forage product (chopped timothy/orchardgrass mix - its nice and soft), they also have an alfalfa product too. Or, other similar product from your local dealer of other brands. I like the chopped hay, as it doesn't have to be soaked like cubes.

 

[Minimor]

What is your hay like? Is it fine, soft & leafy, or is it quite coarse & stalky?

 

[shadowpaints]

its pretty leafy, but odd thing is, they eat the stems and leave the leaves! LOL silly horses

 

[cretahillsgal]

Her topline seems nicely filled in from what I can tell from the pictures. So I would assume from everything that you have said that the belly is coming from eating grass hay. Especially since they are eating the stems first.

 

[shadowpaints]

Her topline seems nicely filled in from what I can tell from the pictures. So I would assume from everything that you have said that the belly is coming from eating grass hay. Especially since they are eating the stems first.

no, i only feed alfalfa hay. its extremly hard to find GOOD grass hay here and reliable hay so i feed 2nd crop alfalfa hay.

 

[minisch]

So honestly looks unthrifty, why does she still have some of her winter coat? I don't know the protein of this mini horse feed, but she should be getting at least 14 percent. She is dry lotted? that worries me, babies and yearlings should be on grass or they will eat anything, including sand, dirt. I would definately Sandblast her, fecal, 5 day panacur treatment. Do not stop the alfalfa pellets. That bloated belly is usually not enough feed/protein or sand. The exercise is good for her too

 

[shadowpaints]

So honestly looks unthrifty, why does she still have some of her winter coat? I don't know the protein of this mini horse feed, but she should be getting at least 14 percent. She is dry lotted? that worries me, babies and yearlings should be on grass or they will eat anything, including sand, dirt. I would definately Sandblast her, fecal, 5 day panacur treatment. Do not stop the alfalfa pellets. That bloated belly is usually not enough feed/protein or sand. The exercise is good for her too

as i have said before many of my minis dont shed like a big horse, they have what i call a 'thick' summer coat. they have to be clipped and i had not clipped her in over 3 months.

Yes, she is on a dry lot, as are all my minis included foals and the stallions. we do not have pasture, we feed good quality 2nd crop alfalfa hay year round, the ones that are still growing get extra hay and grain.

have you looked at the second p ic i posted on PG 3 she looks better after being withdrawn from hay 1 night, and only getting alfafla pellets mini horse feed and beet pulp. she isnt under weight either, not fat but certinatly not under weight.

also we dont live in a sandy area. the dry lots are hard packed, i dont feel its sand.ill keep her off the hay for a few days and take another pic and show it.

 

[minisch]

as i have said before many of my minis dont shed like a big horse, they have what i call a 'thick' summer coat. they have to be clipped and i had not clipped her in over 3 months.

Yes, she is on a dry lot, as are all my minis included foals and the stallions. we do not have pasture, we feed good quality 2nd crop alfalfa hay year round, the ones that are still growing get extra hay and grain.

have you looked at the second p ic i posted on PG 3 she looks better after being withdrawn from hay 1 night, and only getting alfafla pellets mini horse feed and beet pulp. she isnt under weight either, not fat but certinatly not under weight.

also we dont live in a sandy area. the dry lots are hard packed, i dont feel its sand.ill keep her off the hay for a few days and take another pic and show it.

I'm sorry, no I didn't look at the pg 3 pics, she does look better. I'm no rookie at this 30 years experience. sorry to be blunt, Guess I won't give any more advise

 

[shadowpaints]

i didnt mean that i didnt appreciate your advice, just that i had already posted the info.. most of it in the first post

 

[Sandy B]

Her topline seems nicely filled in from what I can tell from the pictures. So I would assume from everything that you have said that the belly is coming from eating grass hay. Especially since they are eating the stems first.

Why do you think that grass hay causes hay bellies? I have fed Grass hay to both full sized performance horses and broodmares for 20 years and miniature horses for 3 years and have never had a hay belly. I have fed both orchard and meadow grass hay. My full sized horses do get alfalfa once a day, but the minis only get the grass. They ALL look amazing.

 

[shadowpaints]

Why do you think that grass hay causes hay bellies? I have fed Grass hay to both full sized performance horses and broodmares for 20 years and miniature horses for 3 years and have never had a hay belly. I have fed both orchard and meadow grass hay. My full sized horses do get alfalfa once a day, but the minis only get the grass. They ALL look amazing.

in my experiance, low quality grass hay does cause bellies, which is why we dont feed grass here, as all the grass hay here is not very good. we dont have good grass hay.

i used to feed grass hay to my big horses and never had a problem.. i think that some grass hay is worse than others but not sure.

 

[Sandy B]

in my experiance, low quality grass hay does cause bellies, which is why we dont feed grass here, as all the grass hay here is not very good. we dont have good grass hay.

i used to feed grass hay to my big horses and never had a problem.. i think that some grass hay is worse than others but not sure.

Any poor quality hay- alfalfa or grass, will cause un-thrifty looking horses. All types of hay has to be cut and dried and baled all at the right time or the hay loses its protein and nutrients. There is more to a science in cutting and baling hay then we all relaize. I only buy tested hay that meets horse standards. Here is California, I guess we are just lucky, but we do pay extremely high prices. Our hay prices are over double what we were paying last year at this time.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Is that the hay they are getting or is it straw?

I'm sorry but the coat does bother me especially if all your herd is like that. I would defintelly get a fecal sample and send it to the vet. Another thing is the mini feed may just not be enough protein for her. Like they say it won't work for all. Even tho I have success with it you may need to try something different. I haven't tried it on any jr horses or broodmares I know some say they have done well but I don't think it will work for everybody.

If I was in your shoes I would do the fecal sample, if hay is too scarce in your area keep her on the pellets or put her on cubes, and if thats the hay they are getting in the pics I would defintelly stop giving it, and I would switch to Equine Jr. I would also ask your vet about sand in their gut especially if they are dry lotted.

 

[cretahillsgal]

Why do you think that grass hay causes hay bellies? I have fed Grass hay to both full sized performance horses and broodmares for 20 years and miniature horses for 3 years and have never had a hay belly. I have fed both orchard and meadow grass hay. My full sized horses do get alfalfa once a day, but the minis only get the grass. They ALL look amazing.

Guess its not just that it is grass hay, but stemmy or coarse grass hay. The hay in my area is like this. Its not fine and soft like you would want to see. If I feed my horses hay free choice, they will have a bigger belly on them. Especially the foals. I have to reduce the ammount of hay I feed to my babies or they get like this. I have tried to add good aflalfa, but I have to be extra cautious for blister beetles in my area too. For me the best way to feed babies here is a complete feed like Purina Jr.

 

[shadowpaints]

Is that the hay they are getting or is it straw?

I'm sorry but the coat does bother me especially if all your herd is like that. I would defintelly get a fecal sample and send it to the vet. Another thing is the mini feed may just not be enough protein for her. Like they say it won't work for all. Even tho I have success with it you may need to try something different. I haven't tried it on any jr horses or broodmares I know some say they have done well but I don't think it will work for everybody.

If I was in your shoes I would do the fecal sample, if hay is too scarce in your area keep her on the pellets or put her on cubes, and if thats the hay they are getting in the pics I would defintelly stop giving it, and I would switch to Equine Jr. I would also ask your vet about sand in their gut especially if they are dry lotted.

That is last years straw.we just used that as a back round as we had a lot of things going on that day and didnt want the backround to be too full of people. i pay 180 a ton for 2nd crop alfalfa hay.its the best hay with in 50 miles. even my goats get that alfalfa hay. we do fecal samples 3 times a year and worm accordingly. i have 4-5 minis that dont slick out like a big horse, and yes they are perfectly healthy. i did ask about sand in their guts, but he said he wouldnt be worried about it as we are not in a sandy area.her belly is even down more today. still has not gotten any hay, just alfalfa pellets, beet pulp and mini horse feed. ill have to wait till next pay day to try the junior its around 25 a bag here.

 

[hersheesmom]

My yearlings were always heavy eaters to keep them in show shape. 32 oz high protein, high fat feed plus a cup of beet pulp and 1/4 cup ground flax took bellies off and put meat on shoulders, hips and spine. Also 1/2 small pad of hay and VERY limited grass time. Sometimes you need to add fat and food to put the weight on around the belly to even out things.