pony/horse pregnant or sick?

Question
We bought kids a pony in Jan. it now looks so bloated and you can see her hip bones and jaw bones...is she sick or could she be pregnant? She stays on someone elses farm and they said she has been eating good, but we are worming her today. Any suggestions..we are new to owning this kind of animal.

Answer
Hi Julie!  It's impossible to know for sure if your pony is or is not pregnant without a vet exam.  If she has been exposed to a stallion, then it's entirely possible.  You should have a vet check her to be sure.  The bloated belly and bony topline are also indicative of parasite infestation.  As a new horse owner, you will find that there is a whole lot to learn so don't feel bad.  You will also find out that there are many different suggestions as there are people that you ask ... this can be very, very confusing because you won't know who is right.  

Horses are exposed to parasites no matter how clean their environment may be and controlling them is part of your regular horse maintenance just like feeding, cleaning and grooming.  The good news is that you can do it yourself relatively easily.

Your local feed store or online tack supplier will have a wide variety of wormers available and they will all fall into three general categories - Broad spectrum dewormers, pyrantel pamoate based dewormers and fenbendazole based dewormers.  I'm a fan of what is known as a three-way rotation deworming schedule and it utilizes all three of these categories.  Rotating wormers helps to target different types of intestinal parasites on a staggered basis so that they do not become resistant to the same wormer month after month.

An effective schedule would look like this:

At the end of January or first part of Feb worm your pony with a pyrantel pamoate based dewormer which will be a brand like TapeCare Plus or Rotectin P (there are other brands, these are just guidelines).

Then around the end of March, first part of April, use a tube of a broad spectrum dewormer like Ivermectin paste, Equell or Ivercare Paste.

Finally, at the end of May, first part of June use a fenbendazole based dewormer which will be a brand like Panacur or Safe-Guard.

Repeat the rotation in the same order for July, Sept and Nov.  Be sure to follow the instructions on the package.  While you're shopping, you may notice that daily wormers are available as well, but I personally prefer the past wormers.

Julie, I hope this helps ... please let me know if you have any other questions okay?