Poor Locket

[Krstn&Locket]

:no: I just recently moved Locket back to my old barn that has mini's. Locket was getting to much to eat at the other barn I was staying at. she was on grass all day, grain twice a day and she was getting hay at night. No matter how much I exercised her there, she didn't seem to be losing any weight. So I asked them to not grain or hay her at night but still with exercise she didn't seem to be losing weight and I new that she was probably able to eat enough grass to sustain the weight she was at. When I moved her back to my old barn because I was worried about her , my trainer was amazed and told me that she has never seem a mini that big and that she's easily 100 or more pounds over weight. I feel so bad cause I knew she was getting to much food but I was to afraid to speak up to the lady I boarded with. Locket also has rings around her hoofs showing her body is getting to big for her frame and is putting stress on her hoofs. :no: and she's stiff in her hind end and shoulders and we have her on msg I think it's called. It will probably takes six months for her weight to come off and we still have to watch for founder. I know the people that I boarded with before didn't know. I mean they've never owned mini's but I urge people that are boarding to speak up when you sense a problem!! Locket is now on a diet getting just enough grain to get her vitamins in and hay but she is in a dirt paddock and not on grass anymore thank god.

 

[mountain_waif]

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[Jill]

What you are describing as her seeming stiff makes me think FOUNDER. I nearly foundered a mare of mine, on a dry lot (!!!), this past winter by feeding her too much. For several days, I also thought she was stiff in the back as did my husband. I thought she'd twisted something. Finally, I had the vet out (I'm not one to put off on getting a vet -- but I honestly thought she'd just pulled a muscle). Turned out she was borderline founder and was off in the FRONT not the back as it originally looked to me. She had to be on banamine 2 or 3 times a day, had to have her feet iced 2x a day, and had to stay in a very deeply bedded stall for two weeks or so (can't remember now how long). If we had not treated her, she could have really gotten bad to the point of needing to be put down. It just stunned me that it happened under my care. I just obviously didn't think she was "that" fat and compared to many, many other minis she was not THAT fat but it was TOO fat for HER.

I'd really encourage you to get a vet out. The things our vet had us do for our mare are not things I'd have known to do otherwise. Just didn't realize how dangerous her situation was at all until the vet informed me what I was really dealing with in her.