Help with VERY skinny mare I bought

I recently w/in the past few months bought a 5 yr. Old TWH mare. They even said she was pregnant because she had been open to a stud but I doubt that due to her size and she would be 7-10 months by now. The stud died a while back. Anyways...She was BONE POOR when I got her. I have just started to get good weight on her. Wormed her with Ivermectin. -She also had a horrible case of horse lice that was sucking her to death- I feed her open hay and she has plenty of grass and I have been giving her about 2 gallons of sweet feed a day throughout 3 separate feedings. Is this wrong? Can someone help me on how to feed her to bring her back up to a healthy condition???????? You can see her pic on a url...She is the black mare. *These pics were for someone to look at to see if they are pregnant*http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x...thorsesonline/

Hmmm Question...has she had a foal before? And another thing have you felt the foal move at all and if she is in foal and as you are saying she is 7-10 months preg then I think the foal may come out smaller than a normal foal if she is that far preg.
Umm with the feed...what are you feedin her?
She does have a very healthy coat for one and that is a good sign.
Ummm some foods that I no are high in fat and worked on my old boy are lupins and Gold NB and hay that they can access at all times or even grass.
Umm I would just take her to the vets or ring them and take her for a check up and see how everything is goin with the mare and foal :)

I'd suggest to deworm again month later with something which takes care of most worms (including tape worms). I myself use such dewormer (they are on expensive side) once year (in summer). Also I did add the corn oil to grain to my skinny youngster for several month until she picked up weight.

Im not sure what the sweet feed consist of, I would have to look. It has cracked corn in it and pellets coated in a mollasses syrup or something, I think. I am going to the Coop today and get a better quality feed for her. When I first got her she looked bad. She was on a big pasture with 70 other horses and they just grazed with barely any other source of food. All the horses looked about like her. They are all registered TWH though....She is a GREAT horse...Rides smooth as can be...she is a little aggressive though due to she had never been touched a day in her life 'till I got her. Yesterday I noticed her looking back at her belly and there were no flies on her that I could see anywhere and she was pawing at the ground alot....although she was doing the pawing in a mud puddle (it rained). I could have sworn I saw her belly in her flank roll and move several times...but I've never seen a foal kick before so I wouldnt be for sure....Thanks for any advice!

I agree with jr, she sounds colicy to me also.

I have rescued many, many horses, and this is what I do.

First off, get her seen by a vet. Have her teeth checked and floated if necessary. DO get a palpation done. It's not that expensive, ($20-$25) and that way you will know what you are dealing with instead of guessing. The vet may be able to tell you aprox how far along she is, if she is pregnant. She doesn't look pregnant to me, but, I have one broodmare who doesn't look pregnant at all until about a week before she foals. Your mare definitely isn't "bagged up". The vet can also do a fecal test to tell you how many and what type of worms she has. Normally it is not a matter of IF your horse has worms (most do no matter what) but HOW MANY and WHAT TYPE of worms she has. That way you will know what type of wormer to use. Often I will tube worm a new rescue. You can also put her on a daily wormer. But that is sometimes hard on thier systems if they are already down. Ask your vet what he/she recommends.

Jr is also right in the fact of slowly is the key. Buy the best feed you can afford for her. Get her on at least 12% protein feed, IMO 14% is better. I like a 14/6 mix. (14% protein, 6% fat) I prefer pellets, but that is a personal preference. Since she was emancipated, you want to build muscle not just fat. Protein builds protein. (muscle) S-l-o-w-l-y increase her feed. Feed in as many small portions as you can. Do at least 2 feedings a day, 3-4 is better when they are really down.

She also needs to be on free choice hay. (if she already isn't) Meaning as much quality hay you can find. A nice round bale is good. They will stand there and eat all day. If you can only get squares, then start with a bale in the am, and if she's eaten at least 1/2 of it by bedtime give her atleast another 1/2 bale. A flake or two of alfalfa hay (lots of protein) is good too.

Be sure to put her on a vitamin regimen. Especially if she is pregnant. You can discontinue the vitamins (if you want) when she is at a proper weight.

I would add some probiotics to her feed. It is a microorganism that helps them to digest their food better and to "take in" as much nutrients as possible from the feed. Since she was so down, she probably has lost a lot of the microorganisms normally found in the gut.

Soaked beet pulp is also good to add to her feed. It is roughage, so you don't have to be concerned with over feeding her that. Make sure that she is fed the beetpulp immediately after soaking. Soaked beet pulp sours quickly if not eaten. I usually add about a scoop of dry to a bucket, soak it with water then add the grain to it.

Rice bran and corn oil is another additive you can try to increase her calories. Many horses don't like corn oil at first, so don't add too much at a time.

Personally, I wouldn't be riding her yet. A) it is painful for the horse if they are thin to carry a rider. B) she doesn't have the energy yet to carry a rider C) the energy she is expending riding is burning up all (most of) the calories you are trying to get into her. Be patient. In a couple of months she should be good to go.

Whew, that was an awful lot of information! I hope it has helped some. You can pm me if you want/need more details.

Thanks for the info...I appreciate it!