Pony nutrition

There is a pony in every stable, even when there are no children to teach the basic foundations of riding. We often identify ponies as miniature horses and think that, in order to feed them properly, it is enough to provide the same diet that we offer our horses every day, just in smaller quantities. This may not always be sufficient in pony management, so let us look together at the characteristics and peculiarities of these valuable animals.

Most modern pony breeds descend from ancient horses that lived in harsh climates, especially in the cold and rugged lands of northern Europe, including Scandinavia and Iceland. Their evolutionary adaptation took place over hundreds of thousands of years, and they adapted to freezing temperatures and poor-quality forage.

Unlike modern horse breeds, which have undergone intensive domestic selection, ponies remain hardy and relatively little changed. Naturally adaptive seasonal variations in appetite, metabolic energy requirements, and feeding behavior still persist, even under domestic conditions. One study suggests that the physiological drives that promote pony survival in the wild make these animals unsuitable for standard nutritional protocols formulated for horses. To optimize welfare and maintain good body condition, domestic pony management should be adapted to the nutritional expectations specific to this type of animal.

Ponies: are they all easy keepers?

Researchers have found that ponies tend to gain and maintain weight more easily than other breeds simply because it is in their genetic nature to do so, as mentioned above. For example, they are more efficient at digesting forage than horses and obtain more energy from it. The latest research findings also indicate that they are often prone to insulin resistance. This tendency increases the risk of developing other metabolism- and obesity-related problems, which place stress on the joints and affect performance. Overweight ponies also struggle to sweat properly, which prevents them from cooling their bodies adequately.

How to assess a pony’s body condition

The fact that ponies are labeled as easy keepers does not necessarily mean they are easier to feed. In order to monitor weight maintenance, ponies must be assessed carefully, each one should be assigned a BCS (body condition score), and, even better, a measuring tape should be used to record girth circumference, repeating and tracking these parameters consistently once a month.

The daily diet of ponies

A standard daily ration for a horse is about 2% of body weight. If we consider the ideal weight of a pony to be 270 kg, 2% corresponds to about 5.4 kg between hay and concentrates, which does not seem like a large amount. Many ponies maintain their weight better with a lower percentage, and those on a restricted diet may need to eat an even smaller quantity.

When encouraging weight loss, however, limits must be respected and the process should not be rushed. It is important not to go below 1.25%, otherwise the pony will not receive the nourishment it needs and will likely begin to develop stereotypic behaviors. According to some studies, it is possible to go down to 1% forage, avoiding the use of straw bedding in order to prevent the pony from eating it.

Meal frequency in pony nutrition

Ponies take longer than horses to eat the same amount of food and burn about 50% more calories chewing than horses do. Fiber length and meal frequency may be increased to prolong feed intake and chewing time. In addition, it is advisable to reduce the intervals between meals in order to limit behavioral changes associated with periods of food deprivation.

Starches and sugars in pony nutrition

If ponies gain weight without eating too much and develop a cresty neck and obesity, this may suggest that they also produce a lot of insulin. In any case, ponies should be fed low-glycemic-index feeds, with hays low in non-structural carbohydrates (around 10%), and fiber and fat sources may be preferred where appropriate, but in moderate quantities. If high-sugar hay is the only possible choice, it is advisable to soak it in water for about an hour.

Vegetable oil in pony nutrition

In ponies, supplementation with complementary feeds containing vegetable oils such as Oil Performance (linseed, soybean, and rice oil) is recommended, while the use of concentrated feeds with a high starch content, such as traditional horse feeds, is strongly discouraged. Oil provides calories but does not affect insulin levels, which makes it a recommended feed also for ponies with insulin resistance.

The use of live yeasts in pony nutrition

Yeasts, contained in complementary feeds such as Equigest, when included in pony diets, may potentially be used to counteract acidosis and increase fiber digestibility. In this way, they can help meet the energy requirements of competition ponies while at the same time maintaining intestinal wellbeing.

Better to balance than to use a complete feed in pony nutrition

Most ponies do well even without base feeds. However, hay alone may not be enough to meet all their nutritional requirements. This makes supplementation with a balancer complementary feed such as Mac Breed necessary in order to provide sufficient vitamins and minerals. It is especially difficult to provide these nutrients to ponies that are on a restricted diet:

In pony nutrition, calories must be limited without reducing other nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. If additional calories beyond forage and oils are not needed, the ration can be supplemented with a powdered complementary feed providing vitamins, minerals, and amino acids such as Aminotech to meet the nutritional needs of ponies.

What if the pony is kept in the paddock?

In the paddock, ponies can eat up to 5% of their body weight in a day, so access should be limited, or ponies may be allowed to graze on sparse pasture. In spring, when grass is richer in non-structural carbohydrates, the use of a grazing muzzle is recommended, also to avoid the consequences of the rapid fermentation of grass.

Are you having difficulty helping your pony maintain its weight? Should it be on a restricted diet? If you have any doubts about how to proceed, write to us at info@equiplanet.it

Bibliography

The effect of supplementing pony diets with yeast on 2. The faecal microbiome. A Garber, 2020
Effect of long-term overfeeding of a high-energy diet on glucose tolerance in Shetland pony mares. d' Fonseca NMM, 2020
Humoral, hormonal and behavioral correlates of feeding in ponies: the effects of meal frequency. Youket RJ, 1985
Effect of dietary restriction on body condition, composition and welfare of overweight and obese pony mares. Dugdale AH, 2010
Effects of season and body condition on appetite, body mass and body composition in ad libitum fed pony mares. Dugdale AH, 2011
The Effect of Strip Grazing on Physical Activity and Behavior in Ponies. Cameron A, 2022