New Here & Seeking Advice

I agree with the above poster. I would, sadly, put the mare with cancer, and the blind one down. The blind horse is just not adapting well, and is suffering because of it. Read up on blind horses, and you will see that there are some that just cannot adapt to it- there may also be ideas you can try if you decide not to put her down. Putting down an animal, that is terminally ill, or in constant pain is never a bad thing. It means you care enough to end their suffering. Horse's don't think of pain like we do. All they know is that they hurt, and its an awful feeling to be in pain without knowing when it will end. I compliment you on your caring towards your horses, and know that you will make the right choice, which ever you choose.
You may want to get your diet analyzed to ensure your horses are getting the proper amount of nutrients. A few minor things being off can greatly affect the overall health of the animal. You could get a horse nutritionist to help, or could do some research yourself. I educated myself on horse nutrition, and after analyzing my horse's diet, found him to be deficient in quite abit of minerals and vitamins. I thought I had been feeding them the best possible, but that wasn't the case. Sometimes its very hard to figure out a proper diet, and other times its no problem. My guess is that you have a few hard keepers. I'm sure that with a bit of research and math, you can find something that will work for your babies and pack on a few pounds. I think its great that you are here. It shows that you really care about the well being of your horses, and that's the best thing someone can have!
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How would that catch you off guard? As I said I can understand the suspicion given that they are all thin, but they came to the property to confirm proper care, and spoke to the vets involved. At this point yes, I believe that AC no longer has the authority to continue to "investigate" the OP.

I'm not comfortable advocating putting down either mare through a forum - the cancer will likely decide the one case, but I knew an ancient mare with cushing's who stopped being able to hold weight but maintained her "spark" and attitude for years before it was clear she was ready to go. I'm very glad that an authority meant to prevent animal cruelty and neglect did not force the owner to end her life as soon as she stopped being pleasing to the human eye.

With the appy, again, I would hesitate to recommend putting her down based on what the OP has said. Again, I don't want to deviate from the main topic which pertains to horse law, but if a "hard keeper" is having difficulty holding weight, is getting a lot of feed and is hyped up and appears to be burning the weight off as fast as they are putting it on, I immediately question the NSC levels in their feed and would suggest a lower starch/higher fat combination - possibly lower protein as well. Having looked up the feed they are on, the feed does contain molasses and a level of NSC that could use improvement. If the OP wants more input in regards to feeding hopefully she will start a thread for that purpose.

The blind mare may very well be unable to adjust to her vision loss, but I would hate to suggest putting her down when feeding may be the issue.

I didn't recommend putting down any horse. I told the OP that based on the info given, if they were mine that's what I would do. I was also very direct in saying that she could take the statements as she chose, either take something from them or not, they are her horses and it's her choice.

Dreamcatcher I apologize if you felt my post was directed at you, it honestly wasn't. I fully respect the decision to put either horse down - I probably could have worded things better, but like everyone else my post is just how I would approach the situation. It is indeed entirely up to the OP and I wish her luck.

Honestly with 4 horses being that then I think there is more to the story . The office sounds very sincere but maybe some things going on that she doesn't know about . And just because someone says they are feeding a horse a certain amount doesn't make it true . Or they may think a Bella hey waz 40 pounds and maybe it really weighs 20 because they never weighed. I'm actually surprise Animal Control hasn't seized the animals with the condition their in.

Up you said they are in a field of 4 you mention the 1 is getting a bale of hay a day so I just want to verify that you are feeding 4 bales of hay a day

If you have horses that cannot eat hay efficiently, don't feed hay at all, that part of your post, I do not understand. There are many other options that will rapidly put weight on. I cared for my elderly arab mare who was missing many teeth and needed a totally soaked diet. It is not that hard to do. I would feed these guys soaked oat hay pellets, soaked alfalfa pellets, soaked senior feed, soaked beet pulp, and soaked rice bran. See a trend here? A horse with, mouth sores or tumor or whatever should be on a *totally* soaked diet.

My old mare had to stay at a friends house for a couple of weeks when my mother was in a horrible accident back east one time. She was not fed properly and looked like a skeleton when I got back. She quickly put the weight back on once she was home, but that is how fast weight will drop if they aren't fed correctly.

Have you had their teeth looked at, a friend of mine had a gelding that was very thin. He kept the gelding at my place so I know that he was getting the right amount of feed so I told him that he needed to get his teeth looked at. I heard through the grapevine that when he took his horse to get shoes put on him that the guy told him he needed to have his horses teeth floated badly. Just a thought I can't see the pics so not sure what they look like.

I hate hay waste and I bought one of those long steele metal water troughs and I fill that to the top and the horses can't destroy it, and there is very little if any hay on the ground around it.

I would let her hay comment go in one ear and out the other, as long as you have good hay and they are getting plenty of it.

Checking to see if there are any updates and what the OP has decided to do.

My blind horses stay in pipe pens. One gelding is bonded with a mare, and thier pens are next to each other. They are happy next to each other. They are 30 ish , one over and one just under. I soak thier beet pulp and all in one feed, and the molasses just gives them that little initiative to finish all the feed!
I only blanket if they act cold. I don't know the brand of supplement feed the OP speaks of, if it does not have a good fiber protien and fat level, she should try some other type of feed. Forage feed weight depends on the type of hay. A horse would require a minimum of 10-14 lbs of forage per feeding . I feed alfalfa and have 120 lb bales, and a feed a 4 " chunk(flake) per feeding .