Problem with a boarder's horse.

I have a boarder who rescued a TB in May I think. This horse is emaciated. You can see all of his ribs and apparently this is after she put some weight on this horse.

Right now I feed a 10% sweet feed and I expressed to her that I didn't think it was the best feed for him and I recommended a senior feed especially since he has a severe parrot mouth and or a fat supplement.

She brought by a giant tub of this liquid molasses. This horse is already getting the maximum amount of grain he can safely get (10 lbs!!) adding more sugar is NOT the answer to his weight problem.

How should I handle this?

Do you have a clause in your contract requiring regular vet care? I'd ask the boarder to have the vet out to recommend a diet. What about having a nutritionist out to recommend a diet?

My contract just states that if they are not available and vet care is needed, I will call the vet at their expense.

I don't think she would be willing to call either one over his weight. I took equine nutrition in college as an equine science major and IMO Triple Crown Senior would be a better choice or even Strategy on the cheaper spectrum. I did tell her a few options and even called to get prices for her.

What do I do with this "supplement" that she brought? Do I feed it to her horse like she wants? Pour it out and make her think I'm feeding it (I don't really like this option because I like to be brutally honest than a liar)? Do I just tell her I'm not going to feed it? How would you want your BO to handle this if it were you?

Not to mention, the stuff she bought is in this huge tub that weighs like 40lbs and then she cleaned out a detergent bottle so that I could poor it in there and use that on a day to day basis. I could not get that stuff in the stupid bottle with out pouring out half the tub even with a funnel. What are your BO's policies on supplements?

If I were the horse owner I would want someone to sit down with me and explain exactly why what I was doing was wrong or hurtful. If you explain where you are getting your knowledge from I would appreciate it.

I'd work on your contract. You need to have the ability to keep horses at a healthy weight on your land. You're at risk if someone calls animal control about an unhealthy horse on your property.

I wouldn't lie about giving what the horse owner brought. But I would insist upon getting a second opinion about the health of this horse. I also would tell the horse owner that I'm not hauling around such large containers.

Do you have any pamphlets, websites, or books that you could refer her to? Perhaps hearing it from a second professional will reinforce what you're trying to say.

I agree with you on the Triple Crown Senior, that stuff is AWESOME for putting weight on horses. I love love love it.

I wouldn't pour it out to make her think you're feeding it because that is just asking to open an entirely new can of worms. I'd just explain that you don't think this is the best supplement for the horse considering his current condition and suggest something else, like beet pulp, and explain why that's the better choice.

Well at my family's farm, we're really flexible with supplements so we'll do pretty much whatever the client asks. But dealing with a 40lb tub of molasses sounds like a bit much.... If she insists on this horse getting this molasses, I'd just ask that she puts it into the bottles she brought for day to day use.

She did rescue this horse from CANTER. She has had this horse for 6 months.. never had it's feet done until my farrier trimmed him. He was standing on an inch of overgrown sole that couldn't shed by itself because he was in stall 24/7 since she's had him. This horse has a severe parrot mouth and has never had his teeth done.. He really needs to be on a pelleted mush..

This horse also very bench kneed and has pins in his fetlock... she bought him to use as a recreational dressage horse. She has ridden him 3 times and he's a little to "fast" (he doesn't stop on a dime but I've seen so much worse) so she is also thinking about selling him.

I was thinking that maybe I could contact CANTER and see if they could send someone out to "inspect" the horse and see if they could talk some sense into her. What do you think?

Great idea! I don't think they would like what she is doing (or not doing!) to the horse.

Her selling him might be for the best. He would have a hope of going to someone with more experience dealing with underweight horse's.

I too think calling Canter is a great idea.