feeding a gready mini

[Lindy]

Hi

I live in the Uk and have recently purchased 2 Mini's, but I am a little worried about feeding them correctly. One is a yerling filly, she is not really overweight and is still growing, the other is a 2 year old gelding, he really is gready and goes in a frenzy if he hasn't seen food for 2 mins. I want to show him, but he has a bit of a belly on him, he gets one half cup of leisure mix in the morning and evening and I don't add sugar beat with this. He is kept off the grass at the moment and I scatter a handful of hay on my yard 3 times a day, then late in the evening when stabled he has 2 large handfuls of hay. He is lunged everyday for 20 mins. Any suggestions of what kind of hard feed would be best.

 

[mountain_waif]

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[Lindy]

How tall are your mini's? 
Having a belly can be caused by being overweight, or by having worms, or by malnutrition.  First make sure he is wormed.

My 30 inch minis get a cup of Legends 12 (mixed grain), a half cup of oats, a half cup of soaked beet pulp, 4 cups soaked alfafa cubes, and daily wormer twice a day.  They also are on pasture 24/7 and are not fat but healthy looking.  Only my 12 year old gelding has a belly.  My B mares I increase the Legends to two cups.

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Hi,

Thanks for your reply, my 2 yr old is 33" and my filly is 27" they have been wormed regularly, so I know they are overweight thats really why I need a feeding programme, especially for my gelding.

 

[mountain_waif]

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[Lindy]

Good.  I would make sure they are fed separately maybe he is eating more of the hay than the other, and adjust his feeding to what works.  The amount of feed that he is getting sounds like what he should be getting and the exercise time sounds about right.  If you have the time you could add some walks to his day and if you are planning on cart training him next year, walking him on trails would help.  I would get a scale and weigh his rations and get him where he is getting the same amount every day...handfuls can vary.  I have three geldings and have more weight problems with them than I do my stallion.  They just don't seem to run as much as he does.  Good luck in finding the right balance.  You came to the right place to ask.  You will get some good advice from others here.

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Thankyou for all your advise. I do intend Driving him next year, I just got my Cart from the States last week and we put it together this morning. I can't wait. I now have to find a good trainer to help me over the winter months. I live in a small village, but the traffic is terrible as it is a constant cut through and the street is very narrow with no footpaths and as soon as I step out my drive its like playing "Chicken" therefore it is difficult to get him out on the road. I have just had a hip replacement as well so I find going round in circles a bit difficult at the moment. My Son has promised to make me a horse walker at the end of the year, "Can't wait"!!