Which mare is what colour? lol

I would call them chestnut and flaxen chestnut.

Thanks for all the feeding suggestions. The lovely lady has been on a customised recovery plan since she staggered off the float in Jan 09. Beet pulp and maxi soy are our special friends. She is on a complete feed atm.

The problem for a long time was not so much that she couldn’t graze but that she wouldn’t. We put the goat in her paddock and they became firm friends but Sienna didn’t graze, so we added a small herd of cows and on the third day she grazed. Alleluia!

Spoke to vet this morning. Piper is not right ;( he corrected my dates. Sienna came to me in Jan 2010 and Piper joined us in May this year. Oops
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Correction. Sienna has been here since 2010. Piper joined us in May this year.
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And another pic of my gorgeous chestnut girls. Piper at front is 7 and Sienna at rear is 33. I love, love, love them both.

I agree with you here that it should not take so long to get a horses weight where it needs to be but you have to look at it in different ways.

When I first saw the pictures I was VERY worried myself until later learning more about the horse (age and back story) and these things have to be factored into the issue.

When can sit here and judge and say how she should be "fatter" but it seems to me (and I could be wrong) that she is doing the things that need to be done to get the mare where is needs to be. You and I may not agree with the ways she is doing it but she is trying and is consulting with a vet. Sadly these days alot of vets are not worth anything and so many people "try" but in the end do more harm then if the horse was just left alone, but who are we to judge on any of that.

I think the horse looks good for her age and back story.
Although you say above that it only took you 6 months to get your horses weight up, all horses are different, all horses gain and loose weight differently, what works for one does not work for another, and age also plays a big role.
Yes, I do think she needs to put on some more lbs and in time that should happen, if healthy enough to. Alot of vets will tell you that in some cases it is best to manage the weight gain, not too much too soon, and just because the horse may "look" healthy or "look" unhealthy does not mean either are true. Do not get me wrong I love a BEEFY horse but many would say mine are all over weight.

Sahara, what I meant is even though there is books, vets etc saying what a healty weight is, people will still have an opinion. I didn't mean that there was not a weight that is considered the healthy weight for a horse. :)

Day Mares, have you tryed feeding her 'weight gainer'? My Mum's horse came to us under-weight with worms, bad teeth that had not been looked after and lice. We found this mix at a feed store called weight gainer and it seemed to work well with her. As I said before, she also has bad teeth. Her jaw is crooked and it was neglected and full of sores & build up of food when we got her.

Here she is the day (day after?) we got her.







You can see the build up of food in her jaw in the last photo. The green in her mane is lice shampoo.

And after just under a year and alot of T.L.C, she looks like this.



It may take time, but don't give up on her. :)

ItzKaley that horse is adorable and in many ways like Sienna don't you think?

Vet came out yesterday and Piper is hot to trot. And she's doing a lot of it, prancing around like a matador. Apparently I shouldn't need to have a vet diagnose this but I have never seen this behaviour before and I will know next year.

I raised Sienna's weight with him again and he laughed and laughed. It was him that suggested I get myself to an online horse forum rather than ringing him everyday (sometimes multiple times a day) about this very same thing and many any other things besides. Um like calling him out to tell me Piper is in season. Oops

I trust my vet implicity, he has managed the care of both my girls since the day each one arrived on my property. I only took on another horse to help Sienna enjoy her last years and Piper has done more for Sienna's health and vitality than the months of hand feeding every four hours around the clock, rain or shine.

Every horse is different and every horse is wonderful. To me, looking at what Sienna has come from and knowing how she got there, she looks great. She looks like a happy horse to me.

Day Mares,
Haha, the vet probally thinks your nuts having him go out there to tell you your horse is in season. XD One reason I dislike mares... :P

*headdesk*

Your vet sounds like a fool. That poor mare deserves so much better than to spend her last years hungry. Absolutely disgusting.
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