Unfortunately I have been extremely busy with school these past few weeks, and I'm so focused on Marley, I haven't even noticed my ponies' conditions. Rocky is normal, but Diamond has a lost an extreme amount of muscle since the last time I looked at her.
I apologize for the poor picture quality.
She looks awful and I'm so ashamed of myself that I didn't notice this until now. How can can I help her?More food? Possible causes?What about exercise to help with muscle loss?
Comments (4)
Looks a lot like loss of muscle from not being in work and a hay belly (eating lathe amount of low nutrition hay to try to get needed calories/nutrients biases the abdomen to expand like that and the ribs to poke out). This is hard to get rid of once the horse develops it but the body condition can be resolve with a good diet. You want to confirm that there are no other causes to weight loss other that what I mentioned because while those are common there are many other things that can cause weight loss. Discuss a plan with your vet to safely restore body condition and also rule out worms/parasites/disease/etc. Discuss not only hay and feed type but also a regiment to increase amount of food given. Discuss supplement options as well. Getting a vet on board is the most crucial part to helping your horse restore weight in a safe manner.
Making sure she's on a good diet would help a lot. You may want to talk to a vet about a suitable diet or figure out whether there's an underlying cause (especially if weight loss was sudden).
As for muscle, that comes down to consistent exercise. Lunging, long lining, ground stretches, hillwork and consistent ridden work are all ways you can exercise her. It all comes down to consistency and progressive work in a way that is balanced with the diet.
Personally, I wouldn't ride her yet until she puts on some more muscle and weight. So, in the meantime, talk to a professional and do some work from the ground (liberty, lunging, free lunging, ground stretches, handwalking etc.). It may take a while for her to put some weight on and gain some muscle, but once she's in a good place you can start looking at ridden work again. Lots of hillwork, polework, caveletti, arena patterns, transitions and lateral movements (if you know how) are some good ways to encourage muscle gain. It just needs to be consistent and other a lengthy period of time in order to put on substantial weight and muscle :blush:
Well she isn't trained yet. I'm actually trying to sell her right now, but nobody is interested. But I will for sure do what I can with her like lunging and walking her, and I do have her on a new feed that helps with weight.Thanks for the advice!