Ask the Vet - How to feed miniature horses
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In this excerpt from the May 2020 episode of Ask the Vet ( • Ask the Vet - Dapples,... ), Dr. Gray and SmartPaker Dan dive deep on how to feed mini horses. Dr. Gray explains why you need to be on top of minis’ health, how often you should be checking their weight and body condition score, a great home-schooling math exercise for calculating a mini’s weight, things to consider when turning them out, and the types of colic that are more prevalent in minis (including HORSE HAIRBALLS!). Plus, lots of cute photos of minis!
Additional reading/watching material mentioned in the video:
Ask the Vet individual topics playlist: • Ask the Vet individual...
Ask the Vet blogs: www.smartpakequine.com/learn-...
Horse Health Library Videos: www.smartpakequine.com/learn-...
Ask the Vet - COVID-19 and equine coronavirus: www.smartpakequine.com/blog/c...
Barn Field Trip playlist: • SmartPak's Barn Field ...
How to Body Condition Score Your Horse: www.smartpakequine.com/learn-...
Ask the Vet - How to interpret hay analysis: www.smartpakequine.com/learn-...
Ask the Vet - Steaming vs soaking hay: www.smartpakequine.com/learn-...
Ask the Vet about colic in horses: • Ask the Vet about coli...
The Anatomy of Laminitis in Horses: • The Anatomy of Laminit...
Ask the Vet - Difference between founder and laminitis: • Ask the Vet - Differen...
Ask the Vet - Mineral oil for colic prevention?: • Ask the Vet - Mineral ...
To see more from our Ask the Vet video series, you can check them out on the SmartPak blog ( www.smartpakequine.com/blog/c... ), SmartPak's Horse Health Library ( www.smartpakequine.com/learn-... ), or on our Ask the Vet playlist ( • Ask the Vet individual... ).
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Happy learning and #haveagreatride.
Пікірлер: 7
Anyone wanting to keep minis should look into a track system
I don't keep horses. But one thing I thought of is instead of a feeder that offers food for a small amount of time and then makes them walk. You could just have multiple hay nets. Fill each hay net with a small portion of their hay and then place them in all different areas so once your mini eats all the hay in one place they have to walk and find the next and so on and so on. Maybe expensive at the start to buy multiple small hole nets and maintenance may be a pain, but it could help keep them healthy.
My senior mini tends to colic on hay despite unusually good dentition. What works best is to only feed well soaked hay pellets instead. If he does get a rare tummy ache from being a hoover I give him a pellet "soup" of mostly water which works like a charm. I agree, if you can get water down them it really helps. I would never feed dry pellets. He gets 3 feedings a day to try to stretch out his chewing time and maybe up to an hour hand grazing in the summer to cheer him up.
What happened to if horses were people
I found this kinda interesting. I'm planning on adopting a mini this fall and although I've had full size horses most of my life, this will be my first mini. I have been a farrier for the past 26 years though, and other than the obvious overweight/laminitis issues, I've not heard of any of these other issues in the clients I've had. I guess we will see how things go once I get my girl. She's not a tiny one though... Likely barely a mini as she does come up to about my waist. I have had client minis who are barely past my knee!
Thinking about getting a mini, but after this podcast, I might rethink it. Seems like they are much higher maintenace than regular sized horses.
How do you trim their feet? The same angles as a regular horse?