I am a fairly new horse owner looking for some great advice. I rescued a 12h pony, probably in his mid to late 20's who is really thin. His feet were terrible and he had foundered....we're okay on that front but weight is his problem now. He has a problem eating hay (chews and chews then globs fall out) I just got him a bale of shredded hay and that seems to be better but I'm not sure how to put his weight back on. Any advice would be so appreciated...I feel so sorry for this little guy, just want him to be comfortable.:-(
His teeth are either nonexistent, or he needs a good floating. Call your vet and have them look in his mouth.
When a horse quids hay, their teeth are either far too long and hooked, or they're few and far between.
If you find that he has very few teeth left, buy him chopped hay. He won't be able to get anything out of regular baled hay any longer.
Along with the chopped hay, buy him some beet pulp pellets or shreds. You'll have to soak them and make a mash for him. Beet pulp is pretty much magic when it comes to putting weight back on.
Also, while the vet's out, have them do a fecal. The pony is probably also full of worms.
Agreed! Get his teeth checked and a fecal test done. Bless you for taking an old pony on to show him there are people who care. Posted via Mobile Device
FYI - Not all horses who quid hay need their teeth done. We have a 30+ horse that gets chopped hay due to previous choke scarring. His teeth are checked on a very frequent basis. Still wads his hay . . .
I am NOT saying do not check his teeth - merely that there could be other issues also.
With the founder history - you will need to be careful on what is fed to prevent a repeat performance. He could also have metabolic issues that inhibit weight gain.
Thank you all for the great suggestions...I have a call in to the vet, but in the meantime I did get him chopped hay and wormed him (not many teeth were present). As far as the beet pulp goes, should that be fed in addition to his regular feed, or should I replace some feed with the beet pulp? Also how much beet pulp? A weight tape reads that he is about 480 lbs. Thanks again :lol:
Be careful adding too much too quick - his body is used to not having enough nutrients, and you can cause serious issues just dumping tons of food into him, especially since he has foundered.
I would have a long talk with your vet on how to bring him back safely!!
Someone mentioned 24/7 turnout...be careful with that, especially if he foundered. You may want to restrict that to an hour or so until you call the vet, just provide plenty of good quality hay in the meantime. Was he on grass pasture before?
Could that have possibly caused the founder? Or contributed to it? I'd just take it easy for now, don't restrict it completely but maybe just until the vet gets there only let him out part of the day, or with a grazing muzzle (although from the sounds of it with the way he eats hay he may not have been getting much to eat anyway). I don't know what part of the country you live in, but around my neck of the woods the fall grass is getting pretty rich.
The vet would have more knowledge about what the real issues are and how to handle them, since he can see him up close and personal, which the rest of us on here cannot
And like others have mentioned, getting his teeth checked is definitely in order to rule out any issues there.
Also -- I know you said you dewormed him, which is good...what wormer did you use? I know when I first got my horse the vet recommended Strongid...it covers a variety of things but is also not the most severe dewormer, so it tends to be good for horses who have not been wormed in awhile to get them back into it without upsetting their sensitive systems.
Beet pulp or a good pelleted senior feed, soaked to mush so he can eat it. With the senior feed, just follow the directions on the bag based on what weight you want him to be, then adjust as needed.
For beet pulp, I'd probably start with 1 lb a day (dry weight) soaked, with added vit/mineral and digestive aid, or you could go with SmartPak's SmartVite Senior, which is a vit/min plus digestive aid. You want him to either get the recommended levels of feed, or beet pulp and hay with a vit/min supplement, so he's getting full nutrition.
With the beet pulp, try and find shredded with NO molasses added. If you can't find any without molasses, then you'll need to soak it and then drain off the excess water. You don't want extra sugars with a horse who's foundered.
The chopped hay you're feeding, is it alfalfa or does it have more than 40% alfafla in it? If so, becareful how much you feed. Alfalfa can be bad for foundered horses. If it has a lot of alfalfa in it, you might consider trying to find timothy hay cubes or pellets, and soak them to break them up. Timothy is a low starch, low sugar hay that is "safe" to feed almost any horse.
If he's doing well on the chopped hay, then you likely won't need beet pulp. Just stick with the senior feed and hay for now, then re-evaluate in 30 days. I would soak the senior feed to make it easier for him to eat.
You're welcome to pm me if you want to discuss anything further.
You should buy forage in a bag and some purina Krunch for protien, not to much though, he is used to being thin, you could cripple him. Soak the feed for 10 minutes aND feed it with quit a bit of water. A friends pony libed till 43 with missing teeth and hay went in the holes and came out her nose!
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