do you use a vit block if yours are out 24/7

[felix]

mine are out 24/7.with no supplementary feeding at present.i dont use a vit block as it gets taken out of the container and eaten in chunks in 2 days flat if i try....
im reluctant to start bucket feeding until they drop some weight as all are fat.

do any of you who's ponies are also out 24/7 and not on supplementary feed not use a lick....

do you think i should try to find a way of getting extra vits and mins into them or should they be ok.

felix is 8.perdie is 18 months and harri 3 years.

[Daftmare]

I would use a rocky block for the field huge square thing with a hole in it! If they really dont touch it then try leaving a field lick in for a few hours and then taking it out again a couple of times a week. I sometimes think they eat them cos they need them but then with these natives I think they are just greedy!

[harveydales]

I also put a big Rockies salt/mineral block out for my herd. They seem to go through phases when they use it a lot and then leave it for ages so I suppose they know when they need it. I never use the vitamin licks which have molasses in - too risky with our greedy ponies.

I suppose I'm over cautious and I used to feed a balancer to all mine but now am using Dodson and Horrel Equi-bite treats for the ponies who don't get fed just in case they are not getting the vitamins and minerals they need in their hay.

[Anna]

We use the Baileys ones, they are molassed and to be honest if they are out all the time the ponies come and go, the first one might go a bit quicker but then because its nothing new and nothing special its just there and they have it when they want.

We do that in the summer and then revert to traditional balancer in the winter.

[sammy]

Ours have Rockies mineral licks outside all year round, red ones or yellow ones which ever we can get.
Then we also feed a low cal balancer every day to all of our ponies, Baileys Low cal with Hi-fi Lite.

[Deleted]

we just give ours plain salt; I offer it both loose and in a block. the mineral bricks available around here are made for cattle mostly and they are to rough on the horses tongues. anyway, between the grain and hay they are getting plenty. If your hay is not very good or if you're working your horses, you probably should get some sort of supplement- which is different than grain, cuz it isn't made to help keep weight on. and if you get a high quality supplement you may only need to feed 1/2 lb. a day each.

[harleydales]

Mine get a big yellow Rockie block and go it sometimes, and leave it at other times.

[felix]

we cant get the rockies around here.we can get himylayan salt blocks which they will sometimes use.if i put a mollased type one in it gets eaten in days....i had a huge dengie one last year but cant get one from the local feed place this year.

[harveydales]

I am very wary of the mollassed ones ever since Quest came down with laminitis after chomping through a big one. I think it just pushed him over the edge so I can't really blame the lick alone but it's not a risk I'm prepared to take with any of mine now.

[greydales]

I had the same problem when I left tubs in the field - they'd trash the plastic tub and eat the whole lot in one go .

I have a large field shelter and put up several salt licks on the sides of it - they do seem to like them (especially Cherry!).

The only one of mine who is getting a big extra feed is Remy as she has an eating condition and drops off, the others are hugely fat and are only getting a bit of extra hay - even so they don't look like they have dropped any weight yet!

However mine have wintered out before with no licks, and they are fine without.

[felix]

mine weren't getting any haylege until we had the heavy snow in last few days as plenty of grass still to eat.even now they just getting a token 2 slices between the 3 of them as they will dig for grass.
they also havent dropped any weight which is why id rather just put a mineral lick in field but trying to find unmollased ones in our local feed store is a major issue....