Any advice very much appreciated...

Hello everyone I am new to this site, we are new horse owners so any advice would be greatly appreciated. First we bought a pony in august, her name is Tango she is a very funny, and very stubborn. We bought her for our 13 year old who wanted to learn how to ride and she was supposedly very good saddled...we found out later she hates having a saddle on her, our daughter fell in love anyway so we kept her as a pet. A month later we adopted a race horse that couldnt race any longer due to having torn ligaments we were told he had a puppy dog personality and could easily be saddle broken, his name is Travolta. He is a very tall horse and he does have a very tame personality, the problem is, he seems very timid around his face, and he seems to be dropping weight, he barely touches his hay, he barely drinks a bucket of water daily, he will eat oats but that's it. Again we are new to this horse care so any advice on horse nutrtion and care would be fantastic, looking forward to meeting you all and thanks in advance.

Call the vet and have him looked at. Could be any number of things from his teeth needing to be floated to something else.
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Yes I second getting the vet involved. The being face shy isn't really a concern, as many horses to tend to be head shy. Since he was a race horse he could very well have stomach ulcers. Going from being a race horse to a rescue place then a new home could all be stresses that have caused ulcers to have flared up. But his teeth could be due for a float too. It's hard to know till a vet checks him over.

You could try feeding him soaked beet pulp along with his hay. The beet pulp is awesome for putting weight back on a horse. You can feed quite a bit of it, where you do really have to watch the amount of grain you give a horse.

I agree with getting a vet involved. The gelding as mention could have ulcers and need his teeth floated. Your pony might have a sore back and need some chrio and or message. Do you have a trainer/coach that can help you first hand?

Ditto, ditto, ditto calling the vet "five minutes ago" or sooner

Do not feed him oats if he's not eating hay. That's a good way to cause impaction colic and lose him.

He's probably got ulcers or something else horribly wrong in is digestive tract that he can't eat hay.

If you live where you still have grass, take him onto the lawn or anywhere and see if he will eat grass. If he will, stand there and let him eat.

If he eats grass but not hay, he is what my vet refers to as "hot" inside and the grass has a cooling affect on him.

To reiterate, he needs to see a vet right away.

Also do you have salt next to the water? He needs salt - a white salt block not a colored mineral block. Buy a white salt block and place it next to the water tub. Eating salt encourages them to drink.

Hi, firstly ditto what others have said. A *good equine* vet should be able to advise you basically re diet too. Boy, in at the deepest end, being new to horses & getting 2, let alone an un-saddlebroke ex racer! And not having learned about how to feed/care for them before you got them - you're in for a lot of homework!

Did you get her back & saddle fit checked out? Did your daughter have lessons? She may have a sore back, saddle hurts, she knows she can put one over your novice daughter...

Yes, 'Standardbred' trotters are often very easygoing 'puppydog' personalities! Regardless of his personality, if he hasn't even been started under saddle & your daughter is a beginner, PLEASE don't put her on him until he has had a lot of riding under an experienced rider! She could have lessons on a well trained horse in the meantime. Curious to know his age, how long he raced & what the ligament damage is/was?

The face thing could be just normal, or it could be due to his teeth or mouth hurting him, due to previous training & experiences... when did he have the dentist see him last? This should be done yearly on average.

Unfortunately racehorses & other intensively kept 'performance' horses aren't managed very healthily. Being fed 'high octane' fuel such as grain, in large, rich but infrequent meals... & being cooped in a stable the majority of the time - is about the opposite to healthy management & feeding. Because of this, ulcers, colic, hind gut acidosis & other problems are extremely common & IMO the major reason why OTTBs & the likes are commonly 'hard keepers'.

So... I'd ditch the oats, for now at least, and feed him hay, beet pulp & other low sugar/starch, high fibre feed, give it to him little & often or free choice, and treat him for ulcers - scoping costs a lot but it's safe to treat them regardless. I'd add a probiotic to his diet to help his gut return to health & also look into what he may need for good nutrition.

FeedXL Horse Nutrition: The D.I.Y. Equine diet planner is one excellent service for working out the nitty gritty of your horse's specific diet & nutrition, without the headaches. Horse Nutrition Explained is one good 'general purpose' diet/nutrition site to learn from. Katy Watts | Safergrass.org is a good source of diet info that will hopefully get you feeding your horses more healthily before you see any big health issues. There's a heap more to learn & available online, but that should give you the basics.

Enrolling your daughter in horse riding & horsecare lessons & you also getting some lessons & support from experienced horsepeople would be a good idea too. Once you learn how to feed & care for your horses well, then you will need to know a bit about hoofcare - eg. How to judge hoof balance, they need to be trimmed approx 4-6 weekly, what other factors affect hoof health, etc - then it will be time to learn how best to handle, train & ride your horses!

Wow, didnt realize just how much I don't know..lol What does the floating teeth mean? I went and got salt blocks which really helped the drinking, he's drinking a lot more since we got that, I also got mineral & salt added into their grain. As far as his ligament damage, I am unsure what the extent of his damage was, but his trainer seemed to really think a lot of him so I am sure he handled it fine, he was very picky as to who took travolta and wouldnt give papers out in fear someone would try and race him again and he just wanted him to have a nice home, I think he is around 3 years old. When it comes to my "little miss sassy pants" as I refer to the pony, the saddle does not seem to fit her properly, so the person we had on her did so bareback. Thank you everyone for your imput and help because yes, I do feel like we jumped in the deep end going from never owning a horse to owning two, however its too late to turn back now as we have fallen in love with both of them, they are part of the family now, so regardless whether they never get riden or not, they are here for good, I just know our daughter really wants a riding one and don't want to have to find a third that can be riden..lol

Yup, the more we learn, the more we find out we don't know! Floating teeth is the term for filing them, which an equine dentist/vet should do approximately yearly - they will advise if they think the horse needs it more often.

Yes, good. It's best to always provide free access to salt. What minerals have you added & why(eg. Have you been advised what minerals & how much may be necessary for your particular horses?) & what grain do they get & why? I wouldn't be feeding grain, esp to a pony & a horse that quite possibly already has gut probs. Did I already mention FeedXL Horse Nutrition: The D.I.Y. Equine diet planner ? I think you'll find that very helpful.

So with a well fitting saddle(& good instructor/helper) she may be ideal for your daughter to learn to ride on. Check out Balance International's site for some good info on saddle fit. If your boy is only 3yo & unstarted, it would be a number of years before I'd be doing a lot of riding on him(due to his development), let alone putting a beginner on him - but by the time he's there, your daughter may well be far from a beginner & they might make a great team!