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Horse Lost A Lot Of Weight

4K views 42 replies 14 participants last post by  TAPITOTTB 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey there, :wave:
Yeah I'm new to the forum.. So I guess I should tell a bit about my self, I'm 16 and I have 3 horses. A 19 yr old AQH gelding, 9 yr old shetland mare, and my latest paint yearling colt. The shetland, Misty, was my first horse. I used to ride her when I was younger and now since I'm too big I trained her to pull a cart. I don't use her very much though, occasionally I'll give a pony ride or two but most the time she's just in the pasture getting fat. Also she is not at my house anymore since I don't work with her much she is at my grandmas. The other 2 are at my house and I work with them daily. :) The yearling is working on ground manners and hopefully my future barrel racing horse! (I have experience training horses, I trained my pony's baby to ride, then sold him.. but I also volunteer at a christian camp that has about 30 horses for the campers) Rocky - the AQH is my baby! <3 He's an old grump but I love him!! I ride him everyday and he is just amazing. He can be stubborn but most the time I can get him to do whatever I ask of him. ** Here's my concern, and the reason behind this topic. Rocky has lost a ton of weight. His teeth are fine and he doesn't have worms. I will admit that he has eaten most of the pasture but that shouldn't make a difference because he has access to hay 24/7 right? He also gets grain in the morning, along with his joint medicine.

Any suggestions on how to put weight on him? Prefferably fairly quickly because I'm supposed to trailer him to my cousins and go on a big trail ride with everyone sometime before the end of the summer but I dont want to take him if he doesn't put on at least a little more weight.

I bought beet pulp yesterday because I read it is a good "filler" good, bad? Does anyone else use it? & should I feed him grain at night too instead of just in the morning?

Aslo will I be able to still ride him while I'm trying to put weight on him? I mean that sounds like a dumb question, but like 10 minutes of light riding.. Will that burn too much calories?

Any advice is very appreciated!!
Thanks,
AdrenalineRush

EDIT: The beet pulp is in pellets and it says to soak them.. How much should I give my horse at a time and how many times a day?
 
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#38 ·
If the pneumonia has left him with copd (heaves) then getting the weight back on may be an uphill battle. Is he having to share the hay with other horses? If so you need to be mindful that they're not driving him away. Horses do that with older horses as the older ones often don't fight back. I always set out twice as many hay piles, spaced well apart, as there are horses.
 
#39 · (Edited)
Aren't heaves like coughing? & I have a yearling but he is in the other pasture with my cousins horse and cows. Rocky is in his own pasture because he gets picked on badly by the other horses and his pasture is closer so I can see him from my window. So he has hay all to himself

EDIT- I just noticed in my previous post I meant to say **wouldn't** want him to be uncomfortable ~ sorry!!
 
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