You can't see it in the photos but Bella is actually under weight, the fur makes her look bigger. When she came to me 7 weeks ago without the thicker coat you could clearly see at least 6 ribs, she has the pockets of fat in the area that cushings sufferers have and no muscle tone. She has lost a lot of her cresty neck since being with me and is filling out a little bit in the right places but you can still see about 4 ribs..  Your body scale is slightly different to ours in OZ, 3 is perfect over here, 4-5 is over weight. I would say she is a 2.5 on our scale.

Unfortunately, I was not involved with her diagnosis, but bloods were taken, she was actually rescued by a vet and had extreme slipper foot and then passed to my friend. She also isn't officially my pony, I have said I will keep her at my place because I don't want her to go through any more laminitis, I'm treating her as my own though :). It is possible she has been misdiagnosed. Through trail and error I have her diet under control for this season, my friend has tried many different diets but was unable to keep her contained off her grass. I have a lot of experience with special diets, my horse had auto-immune disease so had to be very careful what he could eat and it was  low in starch/sugars and very basic, she is on the same but I'm also soaking it, I will be getting some maxisoy today as well, just to bulk it out.  Her hooves are looking better every day, I have a farrier that specialises in laminitis/founder equines who course I have done years ago and I have booked her to come and see we are going in the right direction. Although I have done a lot of horses feet, I would prefer to have a second opinion. 

Yesterday Bella  actually cantered away from me when I was trying to put her away. A lot of her issues with her feet are due to being overgrown and living on rich grass, in my opinion, that will never happen again being at my place.  She has to work for her food here as she shares her paddock with goats and sheep, they keep her moving and in the day she is out with them and my horses.

Sonia

West Aus, Mar 2014