hypothyroid and minis?

[sayyadina]

My 6 year old mini mare has always been tubby, and I'm not having much luck getting her to loose weight. She's on a strict low NSC diet and lives in a dry lot without any pasture time. She's dropped about 10lbs but still needs to loose another 10-20. Exercise hasn't made much difference. I'm recovering from a bad hand injury, so I can't do much work with her now. She's IR and has already had 1 episode of laminitis. She's such a sweet girl, and I want to make sure she's healthy.

I've heard that true hypothyroid is rare in horses. Is it any more common in minis? She is getting iodine and selenium in her diet.

Just trying to do a little research before I talk to my vet about this.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

My little mare was always very fat and it would not shift for love nor money. I had her tested for ir and it was negative but the vet basically said "I think it's a false reading and she had it" and she had Lami.

Turned out she didn't have any of it and the problem was basically she was starving from having so little food. So she kept her weight.

She's now adlib and she's the slimmest she's ever been.

I don't doubt your mini has Lami or IR in any way but I did so much reading up on it cause of my mare that I came to the conclusion that adlib forage was the best management for any horse no matter what. For IR and Lami you would need extremely low calorie stuff that's been soaked for at least 24 hrs and filled with stuff that's basically just Keri g her chewing and gut moving but no calories (straw or something)

My mates not on any soaked or straw cause she didn't have the issues but she's doing fab on adlib.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Before:

After:

She's just clipped in one but the other was in summer too. So basically three years apart.

 

[Minimor]

Hypothyroidism is no more common in minis than in big horses. If a horse tests low on the thyroid levels--it is a symptom of something else. Fix the issue and the thyroid levels will be normal.

I agree that the best cure for overweight is turnout in a large area with other horses--and a generous supply of lower quality grass hay. I can keep them in and limit feed and they are fatter than those that are turned out in a bigger area with free choice hay.

 

[sayyadina]

She lives in a dry lot with a 20ft x 35ft run in. I feed tested low NSC grass hay free choice. During the spring/summer/fall, I put the slow feeders outside so she has to walk back and forth to get hay and water. She also has her sister and an old pony for company. Oddly enough, her sister has the opposite problem (harder keeper).

They're going to move to a larger dry lot and run in later this year. My old pony also has EMS and was over 200lbs overweight. She's lost it all with diet and management. This mini is on the same plan, but I'm just not seeing the same results. Which is why I'm trying to figure out if I'm missing anything.

I have about 8 acres fenced in, but I'm afraid of triggering a laminitis attack if I every put this mini (or the others) out on pasture.

They're always out together. I've only locked them up once over the past 4 years (when we had a blizzard).

She used to live on a pasture with a bunch of other mares, and she was fat back then too.

 

[Kim P]

Rocklone, what a difference! I may need to try some of that for my little mare! Is that adlib forage feed?

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Rocklone, what a difference! I may need to try some of that for my little mare! Is that adlib forage feed?

Yep. Good quality hay too but only when in which in Ireland is maybe three or four times a week! Zero grain but a handful of a balancer for nutrition every few days (not enough to cause any sort of colic due to irregular feeding)

Just out in the field unrugged any other time. This year is the first one she was NOT clipped. So basically everything they say to do (clip, restrict grass/hay, exercise daily) I didn't do and that was the result. I was quite impressed myself lol

 

[candycar]

Ask your vet about Thyrol L. It helped my mare loose the weight. I kept her on it for about a year and took her off this winter. She lost about 50 lbs or more. You can wean her off of it when she is at a good weight and see if she keeps it off. It has to be prescribed by the vet.