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Sheena
Platinum Member
 United Kingdom
1810 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Apr 2007 : 2:13:00 PM
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Hi Everyone,
I have offered to post on here on behalf of my friend as I know there are a few of you who also own Mini's.
My friends has a lovely little Chestnut Shetland mare who is approximatly Nine now I think. When she bought her from her breeders a couple of years ago she was told that they had struggled with her weight on and off - and being the only shetland I have ever known to have a weight GAIN problem I thught it was apt they had named her Twiggy 
However Twiggy's problem seems to be slowly getting worse no matter what Emma try's. Obviously she also has to balance that fact that Mini's are prone to Laminitus so can't just pump her full of great feed. She did have a really bad problme with Scouring - and even if on the same feed for months would suddenly develop this scouring at a drop of the hat. This now seems (fingers crossed) to be under control after putting her on a lime stone based Pro-biotic. BUt Twiggy is still not gaining weight and is starting to look really thin. She has had her teeth checked. She is out daily on grazing although limited - and stays in each evening. Does anyone have any ideas why she is so thin and wont gain weight, or what Emma could try??
Any ideas would be greatly appreciatted.
Alicia
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Alicia
     
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LIV
Gold Member
England
705 Posts |
Posted - 17 Apr 2007 : 2:45:09 PM
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I have a little mini called Bertie and we find that he doesn't seem to find eating hay/haylage very easy. We bought him a muzzle this year so that he could go out all day with the others but he obviously couldn't eat much with it on because he was only doing one dropping overnight!! I think we will have to strip graze him so that he has a certain amount of fresh grass daily and then when he's nibbled it down, that's it until he comes in later.
We give him a big bucket of Dengie Good Doer as he is not keen on his hay, so at least he is having fibre when he's in. Perhaps they could try that and see if she can at least maintain her weight rather than dropping off.
Also, Baileys Outshine is great for putting weight on in a safe way. It is high fat and oil and suitable for laminitics. |
     
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Sheena
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
1810 Posts |
Posted - 18 Apr 2007 : 09:27:22 AM
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Hi Liv,
Thanks for the suggestions - I'll definitly pass it on. I don't think she's tried outshine to be honest and your probably right she'd prefer the good doer to hay.
Thanks,
Alicia |
Alicia
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x_Kath_x
Bronze Member
England
164 Posts |
Posted - 18 Apr 2007 : 11:09:25 PM
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| I bought one of my minis from an auction and he was really thin with a really poor coat so I tried him on a bit of the Allen and Page Calm and Condition that my Arab gets and it really made a difference. It is easy to eat as you mix it with water and a bit of HiFi or chaff and they seem to think it's really tasty (it's good for hiding medication in feed!), also non-heating. |
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Pasha
Platinum Member
England
3622 Posts |
Posted - 19 Apr 2007 : 12:58:39 PM
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| Another thing you could try is Alfa-Beet... it's a non-heating conditionaing feed and is approved by the Laminitus Trust as it's basically just Alfafa and unmollassed Sugar Beet.... the oldies at the yard love it! |
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Sheena
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
1810 Posts |
Posted - 20 Apr 2007 : 12:07:51 PM
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Thanks to everyone for their replies. I have passed all the information on and Emma will give everything a try in time and see what works. She has the Vet coming out to do some bloodtests as well to see if anything comes up, but we were a bit dejected when the vet was completly stumped by her condition and the scouring as well.
We will keep our fingers crossed as this is the worst she has ever been.
Thanks,
Alicia |
Alicia
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LIV
Gold Member
England
705 Posts |
Posted - 20 Apr 2007 : 12:43:33 PM
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Our mini can suffer from scouring occasionally. I think mini's are really difficult to look after, and they get colic quite easily. There is a miniature breeder in our village who I am sure wouldn't mind your friend calling her if she is really worried. She will have loads of experience with how best to look after them. Let me know if you want me to ask her if it's ok to give you her phone number.
Liv |
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Sheena
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
1810 Posts |
Posted - 20 Apr 2007 : 3:12:46 PM
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Liv,
That would be fabulous Thank You. This is Emma's first mini and she has read up as much as possible but it I think it would really help if she could speak to soemone with experiance. They might have come across this before. Thanks ever so much - if they agree could you e-mail me their number please.
Thanks 
Alicia |
Alicia
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katherineepea
Gold Member
England
883 Posts |
Posted - 20 Apr 2007 : 11:54:20 PM
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| calm and condition is brill! what about unmolassed sugar beet? im not sure about putting weight on but its a good bulkener and gives a lovely bloom to the coat |
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LIV
Gold Member
England
705 Posts |
Posted - 26 Apr 2007 : 07:02:48 AM
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Alicia
I haven't forgotten you! I will try and get hold of her today and see if she would mind me giving you her phone number to pass on.
Liv |
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Pasha
Platinum Member
England
3622 Posts |
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Sheena
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
1810 Posts |
Posted - 27 Apr 2007 : 1:14:38 PM
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Thanks Liv - it's appreciatted. We had to order in the Bailey's outshine - it's due today or tomorrow so I'll tell Emma to pick up some Un-molasses Sugarbeet at the same time. It was so hot the weekend we gave her a massive groom and bath in the sun. She was happy munching food while we pampered her so she doesn't seem to have problems with chewing etc and the blood tests didn't show anything abnormal. The vet seems to think she could do with an enzyme test?? But think Emma wants to try her with some of the sugegstions first as Twiggy is good with vets it upsets her quite alot.
Alicia |
Alicia
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LIV
Gold Member
England
705 Posts |
Posted - 03 May 2007 : 9:51:46 PM
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Hi Alicia
I spoke to Jill yesterday about your friend's pony and she said she had never managed to have one that actually had trouble gaining weight. She asked me all the usual questions about whether the pony had been wormed and whether it's teeth were ok. I said that I thought she must have elimated those and they are the first things you would think of!
There seems very little use in her speaking to your friend as she hasn't got any real experience of this. My mini needs his teeth looking at but how our vet is going to do it I can't begin to imagine. He has the tiniest mouth and there is the fact that he's vertically challenged. Our mares always have hooks on the very last tooth at the back so it could be teeth and as they have such tiny mouths it is hard to get to them?
I would definately say it's worth giving the pony shorter chopped fibre as a hay replacer. At least that way you know that pony is getting enough roughage and that minimises colic. Fibre alone is a good enough energy provider for most horses so as long as they get enough of it it can help to maintain weight. She could speak to Jane Van Lennep at Simple Systems as all her feed is based on fibre, and she is a qualified nutritionist who could formulate a diet?
Outshine has been really useful for our horses, who all have different reasons for being fed. I think it's worth trying it and seeing the results in a few weeks time.
Sorry she wasn't more useful. As most of her mares are in foal she pretty much seems to get away with turning them out on good pasture so they are certainly not skinny mini's!
I hope the outshine works, and ditto the unmolassed sugar beet as mentioned by Pasha.
Liv |
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Sheena
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
1810 Posts |
Posted - 04 May 2007 : 10:47:59 AM
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Hi Liv,
Thanks ever so much for speaking to the lady for me. I did mention to emma about her teeth even though they have been checked - I had a quick feel for obvious sharp bits or abcesses but obviously wasn't prepared to shove my hand right in 
She has been started on the outshine now and is out all day and in of a night with some marksways fibre food. it's good for laminitics and is really short chop but also has some cubes in so a big bucket takes her the majority of the night to munch through.
She has added the unmolassed sugar beet to her feeds as well. So we are hoping she will pick up soon - she certainly hasn't deteriorated any further. I'll keep all who were kind enough to reply posted - and if she picks up enough i'll try to get some pictures of her.
Thanks,
Alicia |
Alicia
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