Tami and Tikis story.... PAY ATTENTION!

Miniature Horse Talk Forums

Help Support Miniature Horse Talk Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

lyn_j

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2002
Messages
6,159
Reaction score
1
[SIZE=14pt]I think we ALL need to read KAY KAY and Tamis post about her over weight mare Tiki. I have seen lots of your pics here of your "chubby" mares and have heard many of you say you liked them round..... TAKE HEED when you are breeding these OBESE not chubby mares and even over wt stallions and geldings. Hyperlipemia isnt only for mares. IT occurrs most often in mares specifically before and after foaling as the foal takes nutrients from the mare and she begins to absorb the fat on her body for energy stores and the liver cant handle all that fat in the blood. Those who feed too heavily are not doing your horses favors. You are killing them with kindness. I have a fat little mare here right now too that I am slowly dieting to a normal wt. Minis especially suffer from this.[/SIZE]

PLEASE EVERYONE DOnt love your minis to death! check them often. Read the condition scale and get them closer to the middle where you can feel ribs but not see them. That is where they are the healthiest.

So Sorry for your loss Tami but Thanks for the warning!

Lyn
 
Thank you, Lyn... please, please, please take the time to recognize what is real obesity vs. a 'broodmare' figure. No one begrudges a mare a motherly figure, least of all those of us who have had a few children, and bear the figure of it... true obesity is a different thing all together. This post, and others today, are taking me a long time to write through the tears... but if there is a legacy for my beloved Tikki, it is this, to warn others of a horrible fate that she, and no others deserve.

There are several other things that can lead to hyperlipemia, and as Lyn said, it's not 'only' mares... but that is probably the number one cause of it. Please take the time to learn about it.
 
[SIZE=14pt]If you have a horse who is already fat, is this condition something that can be brought on by starting him/her on a diet? Basically, I'm asking if you know of a horse who is very fat and will be loosing weight soon, what should you do to protect it or guard against this condition in a horse who is already too fat?[/SIZE]
 
Yes... please diet your new little guy SLOWLY. Use a well balanced diet, and have a lot of patience. As with people it comes off (when done right) a whole lot slower than it goes on. Quick diets can trigger a body to begin eating it's own reserves fast.
 
Thank you, Lyn. Last winter my senior Misty started crashing, and our first thought was hyperlipidemia. Thankfully, blood tests showed this was not the case.

Below is a wonderful article on hyperlipidemia, which has really been an eye opener for me.

Hyperlipidemia

Liz R.
 
f3315e1a.jpg
[SIZE=14pt]This is Sugar after taking 3 months to lose about 50 pounds.[/SIZE]

f4834cb1.jpg
This was sugar when she came. Way to fat for her height.

Hyperlipemia or hyperlipidemia can be caused from trying to diet a fat horse too fast. It can also come from sudden changes in environment such as from lush pasture to dry lot and little feed. You have to give the right amount of Carbohydrates which is where the body gets energy from to burn. When it isnt there it metabolizes stored fat for fuel sort of like the Atkins diet. when the strip turns purple you are throwing off ketones and therefore burning fat.....same thing only the minis livers cant do that so well.

Lyn
 
Just thought I'd share pictures of my "diet" girl (35" 2-year old filly). Before I brought her home she was on a largely alfalfa diet with I don't know what grain. She is now on Progressive Nutrition grass balancer pellets (1/2#) and about 5# grass hay per day. When she first came she got the pellets and free choice grass hay (she was on free choice grass hay where I picked her up at - interim home).

misty4.jpg


Misty the week before I brought her home.

Misty-june32005-fullside.jpg


Misty about a month after I brought her home.

She has slimmed down even more since the picture was taken, as she is now in a bigger pen and runs the fence line with the big horses that are on the other side. Soon I'll start her harness training and she'll get in even better shape.
 
Thank you Lyn, and thank you Tami. I never really understood what caused it before, but now I do! I appreciate the information. Again, Tami, I'm so sorry.
 
Well, I love a round horse as much as anyone but even I have one of my ladies on a gentle diet- it is absolutely amazing how easily they just slip through the net- it was not until I went to put the mares through on another pasture that I realised just how fat she had become- so now she's in the slim bin!!
 
Thank you for the reminder Lyn, My girls will be going on a diet as of now.
 
Lyn is right about watching the weight on minis. Mine all tend towards the fat, rather than the thin, except for one broodmare that we've been fighting weight issues on for a number of years.

It also really is important for everyone to recognize the early signs of hyperlipemia and if your vet is not mini savvy, to let them know to test for this.

Our mare that had it in May, lost an amazing amount of weight in less than a few days - it was eerie how quickly she dropped a good 40-50 lbs. Fortunatley we did recognize the signs of hyperlipemia and she was turned around within 48 hours. She did have an uderlying infection of some sort that was never identified even after a belly tap, chest xrays, complete dentistry, numerous blood work ups - so we just went with antibiotics. We did find out she has collapsing trachea, but that wasn't the main problem.
 
thanks for posting this lyn. I get alot of grief from my friends for being hard on them for letting their mares get obese. I hope now they understand that it isnt because a horse looks better its because its HEALTHIER. I have one mare that is very hard to keep at a good weight (she runs tword obese) and i keep a constant eye on how much she eats. Anytime you see a drastic weight loss in a horse in just a couple days RUN to the nearest equine hospital. This diesease can also be brought on by a horse losing weight due to an infection etc. But the majority are obese horses that lose too much weight too fast or as in tamis case foal and then the foal sucks the weight off too fast.

Kay
 
Thank you Lyn for the good advice. We all should be aware of this problem since we are mini owners and want the best for them. For the most part they really are easy keepers and have to keep an eye out for too much weight. We can all learn from someone elses experiences. Mary

lyn_j said:
[SIZE=14pt]I think we ALL need to read KAY KAY and Tamis post about her over weight mare Tiki. I have seen lots of your pics here of your "chubby" mares and have heard many of you say you liked them round..... TAKE HEED when you are breeding these OBESE not chubby mares and even over wt stallions and geldings. Hyperlipemia isnt only for mares. IT occurrs most often in mares specifically before and after foaling as the foal takes nutrients from the mare and she begins to absorb the fat on her body for energy stores and the liver cant handle all that fat in the blood. Those who feed too heavily are not doing your horses favors. You are killing them with kindness. I have a fat little mare here right now too that I am slowly dieting to a normal wt. Minis especially suffer from this.[/SIZE]PLEASE EVERYONE DOnt love your minis to death! check them often. Read the condition scale and get them closer to the middle where you can feel ribs but not see them. That is where they are the healthiest.

So Sorry for your loss Tami but Thanks for the warning!

Lyn

428364[/snapback]

 
one more thing to remember is that your not out of the woods with grass hay for your horses on a diet...

many people dont realize that the difference in protien and calories between grass hay and alfalfa hay really isnt all that different sometimes and if you are really concerned get your grass hay analyzed or alfalfa for that matter
 
Thanks Lyn for saying what I have been thinking today. I too saw the "chubby pics" posts and was worried. As well as the one the other day about getting a horse in show shape ASAP.

It just cant happen overnight and it not only is hard on them but it CAN kill them. I feel so bad for CountryHaven as I know how hard this is. An overweight mare foaling is the most likely victim of this as was said because the foal is drawing so much from them that the body begins using the fat reserves for energy and nutrition. If you are able to get an obese mare in foal, which in itself is difficult, you have a much higher risk of the pregnancy aborting at some time during gestation, delivery is more difficult, and the risk of hyperlipidemia as well.

I am not saying I have never had a fat horse, I have, we all have, especially when they are out in pasture or covered in winter fur, but lets use this incident as a reminder, I am sorry it has to come in such a tragic form.
 
I just wanted to add a little thing here too, Tiki was not on a diet (since she was pregnant, and then a nursing mare). She made it through the pregnancy nicely, and had lost a few pounds, in a rather natural manner, but she was still heavy, and still had that HUGE neck. After foaling she still maintained really well, loosing a few pounds, ever so slightly over the first two months. All really seemed well, and she still had that HUGE neck.

You see I keep emphasising that neck. I have to admit, that when I first saw Tiki I fell in love with her totally, BUT I was extremely concerned at the huge amount of fat deposit in her neck. Actually I was mostly worried about the possibility of foundering, but her huge neck, and equally huge body worried me in terms of foaling too. We weren't even sure she had taken, but I bought her anyway, because I just couldn't resist her. Over time it became apparent she was pregnant, and she delivered nicely.

Anyway, back to the above... She had by the time Flair was two months old started to look like more of a horse than a tank, although she did carry quite a few more pounds than she should, and she still had that huge neck, what happened was SUDDEN.

Not exagerating in anyway, overnight she dropped over 80 pounds AND THAT HUGE NECK. Where it had been fat and extremely cresty before, it was limp and deflated. Just the day prior she had been trotting around the mare field with flair, the next morning she could barely walk.

After the first bout, she appeared to be making a nice recovery, and was eating on her own, then the second time she never was able to eat on her own again.

I really don't know what the answer is, but I know at least for me, I will never breed, or buy a bred, mare that is extremely overweight. It is a huge problem for them, and it can, and will hit suddenly.
 
Grateful for this and the forum we are blessed to have to share it with.
 
[SIZE=14pt]The really bad thing about this is it is very hard to stop once it starts! It just keeps going and the fat MELTS off because it isnt being absorbed by the liver and then organ failure hits and thats it. SOmetimes if you catch it early it can be stopped with the right IVs and nutrients. Im fighting weight with Image too. I fed her like she was pregnant and she wasnt! She is now down at Cheryls trying to get thinner and get bred and stay bred. I am convinced 100% that her weight had something to do with her not maintaining a pregnancy. PLEASE watch your horses carefully. I feed my horses alot but none of them are fat. I probably feed more concentrates in the form of grain than most...... but NO one is obese. Graining is not usually the culprit it is often too rich pasture , free choice grass time and hay added..... Just be very very careful![/SIZE]

Lyn
 
Well I am a total basket case now. Darned if I do and darned if I don't.

I'm at a complete loss here now trying pour the feed to feed Holly 3 times a day plus keep free choice hay in front of her. Yes she is fat. No way can I feel any ribs.
 
This is why I love the forum. I spend all my time here and learn stuff I never dreamed of. I have a couple, I need to look at more closely to make sure they are not too fat. I like them round...but I didn't realize how detrimental it was to them to be healthy round and not rotund. Thank you all for teaching us and I'm so sad that Tami had to loose one to bring this to our attention.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top