Indicators of his diet

   

As can be seen from this photo Sonny isn't carrying any extra weight. However the pellets I'm feeding him are obviously too fatty for him. This next photo shows his sheath which a few weeks ago had no fat around it.

Also he has got very sore in his front feet agan.

 

  

A few weeks ago I had to change the type of pellets he was buying from 'pony' pellets with virtually no fat in them to same brand but 'horse & pony' pellets which are supposed to be pretty much the same except higher energy content according to the nutrition panel on the back of the bag. The pony pellets had a price increase of  almost 50%!! So since the horse pellets didn't have the price increase, I decided I'd buy them instead & just feed half the amount.

That works out to 1.25 cups or a bit less daily, just enough to contain the Supreme supplement & the 1tablespoon of salt Jenny suggests I feed him to counteract the potassium in the grass. Actually she suggests I feed him 2tbs salt daily but that small volume of pellets isn't enough to hold that volume of salt without him rejecting the feed as too salty.

He developed the same very fatty sheath last year when he was getting a Mitavite feed 'Promita' that was supposed to address all his mineral requirements in the dry season in this area. Obviously there is too much undigestable fat in the pellets & his body is storing it as fat in certain areas much like happens in humans...celulite! Once I took him off that feed he lost a lot of weight & his sheath returned to the normal shape it should be.

So I am wondering if the same undigestable fat or sugar is also causing the laminitis again. Perhaps there is a lot of hidden sugar in the pellets included to bring the energy quotient up to a certain level.

I chose this brand of pellet because they had the least energy & protien content & were just basically filler or something to eat for overly fat ponies, rather than have any sort of nutritious content. They were supposedly designed specailly for fat ponies etc.

Obviously these feed companies just can't help themselves, they HAVE to add all this crap oil & sugar content for some reason.

So I'm not sure what to do now. I have no idea what I can use as a feed to hold his supplement & salt.
Perhaps wheaten chaff? The volume of grain in 2cups of wheaten chaff shouldn't be too much for him surely?