Question
How can I be sure my 13-year-old Connemara-cross pony mare is receiving sufficient nutrition? She weighs about 448 kg (990 lb). She came out of the winter looking good, having lost nearly no weight, but she will gain weight as the grass comes through.
Answer
Your pony’s current diet contains a great forage base (ad lib hay and some pasture), which I would recommend continuing. As she is maintaining a heavy weight, she is likely receiving too many calories for her metabolism and current workload. However, as you will appreciate, it is not just a matter of reducing the feed offered, as you risk undersupplying important nutrients.
I would recommend making a slight change to her diet and feeding a specially formulated balancer feed, which is a low-calorie concentrated feed fed at low intakes to meet nutrient requirements without additional calories. She will be getting all the calories she needs in the forage portion of her diet. Given your location, the feed I would recommend is Shape Up Balancer made by Saracen Horse Feeds. This feed has been specially formulated for horses that maintain their weight easily as well as those with laminitis and other metabolic issues. It is an extremely low-starch, low-calorie, concentrated balancer feed. Your pony would only need about 800 g (1.75 lb) per day on top of her ad lib hay and pasture pick to meet her nutrient requirements.
Kentucky Equine Research (KER) works exclusively with Saracen Horse Feeds in the UK and was involved with the research behind this new feed, which is proving to be successful in ensuring each horse is supplied with its essential daily nutrients, but at the same time controlling body condition and starch/sugar intakes. In addition, its low-starch and low-sugar formulation makes it ideal for horses that can be sensitive to grain, especially those that can be fizzy.
As the spring pasture comes through, you may need to assess the amount of hay offered, or consider restricting her access to pasture so that she does not gain additional weight.
