Before and after - what a difference.

[Trish]

Yes what is your trick?? My mini mare had a palomino filly this April and her stomach has not gone down since the day she gave birth!! What can I do? I trained her to drive this summer and I drive we often, I trained her to lunge to help build muscle and lose weight but nothing is working! What else can I do? She is nursing and her hips are starting to show, so we are weaning the foal right now, but she still has a huge belly. She is on a dry lot with a flake of hay twice a day! What can I do to get rid of the belly?

I'm not sure what advice to give other then once the filly is weaned, there is a better chance to get her back shape. Each horse is different and their bodies change according to their body's make up (hope that makes sense). I'd still have her on grain/pellets till she gets filled out in her hips. It may take a little bit of time for her belly to come back to pre baby.

I've got a long way to go with Duke, but I am happy with the progress. Remember he and his group were out to pasture 24/7 and the owner 3-4 time a week would go out and toss them about a cup of Miniature horse and pony feed to make sure they would still come up for him. We started Duke on 1/2 cup twice daily plus hay. I have weighed the cup of feed and it equals 1/2 a lb. So we started with 1/4 lb and have increased to 1/2 lb 2 X daily = 1 full lb per day plus hay twice daily. My vet prefers for the miniature horses to be more on the lighter side of weigh, because it is so easy for them to get overweight.

 

[kay56649]

Ok, well what can I do after her foal is weaned? I kind of figured her hips are from nursing

 

[chandab]

Ok, well what can I do after her foal is weaned? I kind of figured her hips are from nursing

her hips very well could be from nursing, but they don't have to be that way with proper nutrition for lactating mare. My three mares with foals at side are all easy-keepers under normal circumstances, the first one to foal started getting hippy and a touch of backbone showing til I put her on TC growth (I topped up her maintenance feed with 1cup TC growth 2x daily, and for her that's all it took to keep her looking good, plus grazing during the day). Here's Misty (well her rearend, you can see her hips are filled out, when Junior was almost 4 weeks old):



My second mare to foal, didn't have a chance to get hippy, as I started her on the same regime almost immediately as the first. Not a good pic of Tana, as I was going for the foal, but as you can see she is well filled out (Monte is 10 days old):



All three of my mares that foaled this year are 38" mares and the foals are sired by a 35.75" stallion, so not small mares, nor small babies.

 

[kay56649]

She is on 4 cups of neutrena mare and foal grain, so what could I add to that??

A day

 

[chandab]

She is on 4 cups of neutrena mare and foal grain, so what could I add to that??

A day

What do the directions say? Are you feeding close to the recommended amount? Or perhaps a different brand, if there is something available to you; people seem to have different results with different brands, so changing might be an option. I don't feed Nutrena, so not sure of the directions.

 

[kay56649]

Oh ic...what was it that you feed to get rid of the hips?

 

[ohmt]

If she is "hippy" she is not getting enough protein/calories. I feed my lactating mares a 16% feed (omelene 300) and they are fed by weight (i have a cheap walmart kitchen scale in my tack room). I feed a bit extra as the foals eat some as well and o seem to always have to feed more of the purina products than recommended. My girls also have free choice pasture and grass/alfalfa hay. Seems like a lot, but they get just a bit plump right in time for winter and up here, that is a great thing.

This is an older mare (18 yrs, 33") with her 2012 filly, just a few days old:

This is a little 28.75" 5 yr old mare with her first foal, just a few days old.

 

[chandab]

Oh ic...what was it that you feed to get rid of the hips?

I added Triple Crown growth formula to their normal maintenance ration (their maintenance ration is a locally available extruded feed); I have to special order the TC Growth, but its been worth it. Also, getting out and grazing helped a lot, I'm sure. The silver dapple mare hasn't been on grass in like 5 years, but with a foal at foot she's been able to get out and graze and look pretty good.

 

[kay56649]

She goes out to graze a little then I move her to a bigger pasture with very lush grass. I will look at the feed instructions for her grain and see if I need to up it and I will for sure look into the triple crown!! Thank you so much!

She goes out to graze a little then I move her to a bigger pasture with very lush grass. I will look at the feed instructions for her grain and see if I need to up it and I will for sure look into the triple crown!! Thank you so much!