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Post by Peachy Pony on Mar 1, 2012 20:15:54 GMT
Anyone any advise on how to get a floppy neck back muscled again and not floppy  My pony was out of work for several months due to on / off lameness hes now back in work but need to try get his neck back again his crest is currently floppy ? can i get it back or not ? |
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Post by LMSmith on Mar 1, 2012 20:32:18 GMT
I have never had anything with a floppy neck and this is only and idea but have you tried a neck sweat to try and get rid of some of the fat before you try and build the muscle back up?
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Post by Peachy Pony on Mar 1, 2012 20:55:43 GMT
mmmm yeah cant work out if it is fat though ? he looks like a stallion thats been retired ? if that makes sense ?
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Post by LMSmith on Mar 1, 2012 21:06:33 GMT
If it has gone floppy then its likely that it is fat or it woud be solid?
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Post by elmere on Mar 1, 2012 21:10:20 GMT
My older stallion has a 'floppy neck', he has masses of mane so I thought it was this causing the problem but someone said that it may be due to the fact that had lami before we got him. Had him 10+ years now and even when in hard work it never helped, we just thinned his mane so it didnt pull so much. Sorry not much help.  Modified to say its not because its fat, it just leans not sure why. |
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Post by sageandonion on Mar 1, 2012 21:13:42 GMT
The only thing to do is to exercise sympathetically and correctly.
Sweating does not get rid of fat or we would have lots of slim people with bin bags on. So called neck sweats will dehydrate your pony and cause all manner of health problems.
Was the lameness anything to do with laminitis?
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Post by Peachy Pony on Mar 2, 2012 14:21:02 GMT
hey no the lamness was not down to lami at first it was thought it was but on xrays it was due to farrier cutting angles of feet in the wrong way causing a slight bow and possibly signs of starting of coffin joint arthritis hes had medication and CORRECT shoeing and is now complety sound in fact better than ever so trying to get him sorted idelly for showing this season ..... not looking good if i cant sort his neck though
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Post by littleangel on Mar 2, 2012 16:46:52 GMT
more work on the bit usually works  |
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Post by elmere on Mar 2, 2012 17:41:13 GMT
Well it never caused any problems with my ponies results in the ring.
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sarahp
Happy to help
Posts: 9,510
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Post by sarahp on Mar 2, 2012 19:15:00 GMT
Well the eminent vet who gave a talk at the NPS day at Berks College showed us a pony with a little crest and pointed out that it was undesirable and metabolically active hard fat and indicated that the pony was too fat and in danger of insulin resistance and EMS.
Now I'll duck.
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Post by elmere on Mar 2, 2012 19:23:31 GMT
Which in this case means... Sorry lost me a little. |
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Post by sageandonion on Mar 2, 2012 20:49:18 GMT
It is not good for any pony to have a crest floppy or not, in fact rigid is probably far worse.
Have your pony tested for EMS.
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sarahp
Happy to help
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Post by sarahp on Mar 3, 2012 8:29:00 GMT
As S & O says.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2012 10:38:30 GMT
I find 'floppy' necks are due to strapping at a young age, I have never been able to get one right again.
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Post by aliwelsh on Mar 3, 2012 13:00:59 GMT
i'm confused about whether it's the pony's neck or his crest that floppy
if it's his neck then yes you can get him muscled up again by working him correctly on the bit and general fitness
if it's his crest then you have a problem, alhtough as sage and onion says it's so bad as a hard crest
any sort of crest (which i would define as a line of fat along the top of the neck) is potentially dangerous and indicates the pony may be at risk of laminitis
discuss it with your vet - i don't want to scaremonger but you do have to be careful when ponies get cresty. it may be that the pony needs to go on a diet
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sarahp
Happy to help
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Post by sarahp on Mar 3, 2012 13:24:21 GMT
The OP did say her pony looks like a stallion that has been retired, by which I assumed he had the big crest that slimmed down had gone floppy and leaned, rather than a normal pony neck as you have described aliwelsh.
Surely a neck that was normal but just lacking muscle would not be floppy but just look lean? In which case work in a correct outline would do the trick.
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Post by tbmare on Mar 3, 2012 19:46:13 GMT
My sister had a Dartmoor onc that had a floppy neck.. she was told went it was bought that it had been turned away because of lack of interest.. and that it with some work it would firm up.......but really it had laminitis.. and it never firmed up no matter what. when she sold it the first thing they asked was has it had laminitis because of its fallen crest..
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Post by vikki85 on Mar 7, 2012 8:59:08 GMT
I think what you are describing is a fallen crest and it is usually caused by excessive fat deposits. It usually means the horse/pony has been overweight at some point, which is possible if he's had some time off work. Usually correct schooling will sort this out, but it obviously won't happen overnight.
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Post by shelliewilson on Mar 7, 2012 15:10:07 GMT
my pony (4yo welsh sec a) is exactly the same has a huge crest that wobbles about, i was told to diet him and sweat it and in my opinion it made it MUCH WORSE!! to the point where it was just going to collapse over. He was also just turned out until i got him so hadnt really done much either and was overweight when i bought him. DO NOT SWEAT IT!!! i am the second case of a near disaster with sweating a ponys large crest as it makes it worse! also dieting mine seemed to make my boys much worse too! also would like to know any info on this! cath plz send me a pic of yours and i will send one back of mine just out of intrest to compare with shelliewilson@hotmail.co.uk x
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Post by shelliewilson on Mar 7, 2012 15:15:20 GMT
also my pony wascut at 2 years 2 months so late - is your pony a geldingby any chance??? as i stripped my pony down by diet to see if that would get rid of it and it was the only thing that remained so i am putting the crest down to being cut late and his sire also had a massive crest so i think its just his conformation and part of who he is now!
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Post by elmere on Mar 7, 2012 21:28:57 GMT
also my pony wascut at 2 years 2 months so late - is your pony a geldingby any chance??? as i stripped my pony down by diet to see if that would get rid of it and it was the only thing that remained so i am putting the crest down to being cut late and his sire also had a massive crest so i think its just his conformation and part of who he is now! Lots of ponies are gelded at 2, thats not really late IMO, quite normal for some studs. |
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Post by shelliewilson on Mar 7, 2012 21:46:13 GMT
well everyone i seem to speak to seem to think 2 is late so if they are wrong i have no answers lol - any help would be good too as i in same boat as above lol???
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Post by Horse and More Ltd on Mar 8, 2012 15:40:12 GMT
This sounds to me like your pony has what is called a 'cat neck' it can he inhertied from generations or can be caused by you pony putting on weight very quickly and loosing muscle tone.
If this is the problem it is very unlikely his neck will go back to how it was before befor but it will improve with reduced diet and correct work.
It might not be this but it sounds like it to me! Id try reducing his food to start with
Good luck xx
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Post by Guestless on Mar 8, 2012 15:57:23 GMT
There is a supplement available that is now supposed to get rid of a cresty neck - I've not tried it but am tempted to try it for my EMS mare (and her daughter whom I suspect has inherited her dam's good doer gene). www.freestepsuperfix.co.uk/freestep.phpIt doesn't tell you on there about it helping a cresty neck but there is a member on here who works for them I think - mini. Let me know if you try it as I would like to know if it does work.  |
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Post by tazang20 on Aug 21, 2012 19:03:46 GMT
Hi, the best thing for reducing undesired fatty deposits is mag oxide and at least its a cheaper option to seeing results and for keeping heart,muscle and feet healthy whether laminitic or not. At www.pura-equine.co.uk we use mag oxide for keeping our horses in tip top show condition, barefoot and stonking hard feet. |
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Post by amumwithapony on Aug 22, 2012 13:24:02 GMT
At one point my A mare had a huge cresty neck, a big fat bum and fatty deposits on her shoulders. Was a very good doer and a nightmare to keep weight off by diet alone. She was an unbroken 6 year old brood mare when I bought her. Brought her into work and started on the slimming campaign. I can honesly say it took about 2 years to get her where I wanted her to be and I stripped her right out to get rid of all the old fat, to the point where she looked almost too thin. The neck was the very last thing to go but it has gone. I don't have any photos on this PC of that time but will add one of her now at what I think is a good weight for a lami prone pony (with EMS symptoms). Shes my daughters pony and only in light work at the moment (lunged/longreined/walked out/ridden on L/R) a couple of times a week. She lives out all year round and is on restricted grazing for most of the year  But as soon as I think the weight is creeping back on she gets more work rather than less to eat as I think she gets about the right amount for her a pony like her and I found 'starving' them slows down the metabolism, causing them to store fat in funny places like the neck! She does have a little topline that comes from the lunging/longreining more than anything else.  With regards to your neck I would start a fittening campaign alongside making sure he is getting enough of the right sort of food. Dieting won't get rid of it alone IME. It doesn't matter what excercise you do with him. Those to build a neck up will probably just put muscle underneath the fat. What I'd look to do is strip him right down, then build the neck up from there. A crest is just fat at the end of the day and you need to reduce the fat deposits to reduce the neck fat. Its like us, we all have some area of our body that stores fat first (for me its my tummy, others it may be your backside) and is the last to loose it but if you diet and excercise enough it will go eventually as the body will use it up to replace the calories lost from excercise and reduced calorie intake. Be prepared for it to take a while though, took me about 2 years! |
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Post by nici on Aug 22, 2012 23:18:57 GMT
As AMWAP says!
We had a similar problem with Bella - huge cresty neck and overweight generally, resulting in laminitis. Over 2 years we stripped her weight right down through careful management of her diet. She had hoof problems for much of that time and was out of work. Once she came back into work, we increased the protein in her diet and she started to build muscle in her neck and topline generally.
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But as soon as I think the weight is creeping back on she gets more work rather than less to eat as I think she gets about the right amount for her a pony like her and I found 'starving' them slows down the metabolism, causing them to store fat in funny places like the neck!
