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Emaciated rescue horse. What to feed?

7K views 23 replies 8 participants last post by  dee 
#1 ·
Hello everyone! I was given a 15 year old grade mare and her 16 month old colt by some people I know. They were no longer able to care for them and I offered to take them because they had no other place to go and I was planning on getting a horse anyway. The mare (Callie) was a very nice trail horse, solid, dependable, and not at all spooky.

The problem is that she scores about a 1 to a 1.5 on the body score index. She is currently getting the best quality coastal hay I have been able to find. She and her colt are splitting a 75 pound bale throughout the day. I give them the whole bale in the morning and they eat on it throughout the day and night. By the time I throw them the next bale in the morning they are just cleaning up the scraps from the last bale.

I have never had to put this much weight on a horse before. I was wondering what type of grain/supplements you would recommend and in what quantities.
 
#2 ·
The best thing to do is get a vet involved. You will want to check to see if she has worms via stool analysis and if she does, then it's going to be very hard for her to gain.

However worming a very very very thin or unhealthy horse is risky. So it's best to get the vet involved so they can give you advice on what to do to avoid any problems.

Personally I'd only focus on upping the hay (if she gets it all at once, consider putting it in a slow hay feeder) and VERY slowly add in a fortified grain.

A probiotic also is a good thing to talk to your vet about. It helps horses absorb the nutrients from their food, and is imperative to have after giving the horse any kind of antibiotics. AGAIN, TALK with your vet.

The idea to to do things slowly. You don't want to rush the weight on or give them too rich a diet.

16 month colt is 1 year and 4 months old, so he should be weaned by now. Since he's old enough to reproduce, then he's old enough to impregnate his mom (gross I know, but he's a colt) so he should be separated until he is gelded.
How is he doing?
 
#3 ·
Good grass hay is the best for a week or so. If she is really a 1 or 1.5 get the vet out and have him advise you. When they are that thin they can have complications beyond needing groceries.

I was given on that was a 2 last fall. I think the first week I ran outside constantly to see if she was still alive. I had hay in front of her constantly. After a week I started giving her a senior horse feed with probiotics and cup of rice bran. I worked up to amounts needed for a horse her size slowly. Once I got her eating what a 16 hand horse should eat I increased the rice bran. By this time it was cold out so I also added a nice warm beet pulp mash. I let her gain over the winter and by spring she looked like a different horse. Slowly switched her to a low carb, high fiber pellet.

Take some before and after pictures. Take a pic in the same position every 2 weeks or so. You might not notice the change until it's really on it's way.

Having the vet out also protects you should somebody turn you in as the one starving the horses.
 
#4 ·
I agree with the above. Another reason a full work-up by the vet is your starting point is if they were no longer able to care for the horses, chances are they are not up-to-date on de-worming or teeth floating, both of which will frustrate any attempts to put weight on the horse regardless of what you use for a feed program. Until you have fully identified the cause of the current condition, you can't properly address it. If this horse is truly at the level you assess her to be, you will do more harm than good by attempting to feed her up without closely working with a veterinarian.
 
#5 ·
I am planning on buying some more fencing to keep the colt away from his mom until I can get him cut. He is fully weaned and scores at about a 4.5, I've already noticed a weight gain with the full access to the hay.

I've had Callie's teeth checked, not by a vet but he is certified to float teeth, and he says they are in good shape. The previous owner had her teeth floated a little over a year ago before they really hit hard times.

The closest vet is over 40 miles away so I don't know if they can do a visit but I will go and describe the situation to them and try to get a consult.

I have a bag of Strategy that is still good. Do you think it would be overboard to give her just a handful of grain? She's been on the hay for a few days.
 
#6 ·
As long as she isn't allergic to anything in Strategy then I think a little wouldn't hurt.

Make note of everything you do with her though. I suggest keeping a journal so when you do consult a vet or have anything come up, you can refer back to it and see if there are any patterns or how her weight progressed, etc.
 
#7 ·
I don't think a handful will hurt either. It's hard not to want to put the food right to them. Resist!! It is by the handful that you should slowly increase. Hay is key for now. Can't stand not feeding her something? Get a bag of timothy pellets from tractor supply. Stay away from the richer alfalfa for now. Again just handfuls.

Don't worm her for a while yet. Poison is poison and it's only a matter of degree. She's too weak yet. When you do worm don't use ivermectin, use one of the older less effective ones at first. A massive die off of worms could colic her.

If you have a reputable rescue in the area ask them what they feed horribly skinny one.

Still...try to get a vet out. 1, 1.5 means she was nearing death. Vet may be seeing horses in the area. You never know until you ask. Maybe you could email the vet pictures of her overall condition.
Let us know how it goes.
 
#8 ·
Ok I described the situation to the vet and he recommended starting her on a senior feed VERY slowly, as some of you said by the handful. He said to keep an eye on her but other than slowly increasing feed at this point you don't want to do to much. The only senior feed I'm familiar with is Purina's Equine Senior so I got a bag of that to start with.
 
#10 ·
I have never brought back a horse that far gone, good for you for taking these two on. I agree with everyone else take it very slow at first. I would recommend a senior feed as well. I feed one of my underwieght TB's Senior grain.
I dont know if you know about the purina site but i frequent this site often to keep my mind fresh on the type of feeds and what they are there for and a recommendation of how much to feed. Purina Horse Feeds - PRODUCTS
 
#11 ·
Oh darlin', have you got your work cut out for you! Glad to hear that you are separating them ASAP, hopefully, momma isn't already pregnant (not your fault and I'm not even thinking that way). There is an extra reason for separating mother and son. If she only scores a 1 or 1.5, and he scores a 4.5, there is something seriously off here. He may be a feed hog and not letting her eat all she needs. When you throw your bale of hay out in the morning, you might want to make several piles of it, so that when the colt runs her off of one pile she can simply move to another pile. It's more work, but it will at least give mom a chance to get her fair share before baby snarfs it up.
 
#12 ·
I don't have a working camera at the moment but I found a picture of a horse that is in about the same body condition. I'm going to try and post it so you have an idea...



This is about what she looks like, she is a bit thinner in the spine area.

The colt (Jack) is doing great! He's is easy to catch and halter, we are working on leading because after I catch him he wants to just stand there. I can pick up and clean all four feet even though he was convinced he couldn't stand on three legs! I can touch him all over and play with his ears. He seems to have a lot of potential he's very calm and seems to be trying to learn. I haven't noticed him hogging the hay, mostly he just stands next to Callie and they eat for a couple hours, then he goes and wanders around the pen for a bit and then comes back to stand by her. I do throw the hay out into two to three piles anyway but they seem to like eating together.
Another thing I noticed when I was checking him over, I think he might be a crypt, I only felt one testicle.
 
#15 ·
If the mare is gaining weight on 24/7 hay and the feed you are giving her, I wouldn't do anything else other than your bi-monthly worming. If she is gaining weight than you must be doing something right! I took in a rescue horse a year or so ago that wouldn't gain any weight on 24/7 hay and 10lb of feed (5 in the morning and 5 at night) so I started adding funflower oil in her feed. I started with 1/2 a cup and worked up to 1 cup. She went from a 2 to a 3 in a single month! I know oil is very high in omega 6 and isn't very good for horses but I ran out of options. nothing the vet. gave her worked... Something for you to keep in mind if she won't gain weight... I have heard that a cup of beet pulp works really well as well but you can't get that stuff where I'm from. Please beware that oil will make her HOT, and I mean HOT, but it's o.k. if you don't mind riding the rocket! Yeeeehaaa! :-D
 
#16 ·
I'd like to throw in a word about the colt/mom mating crisis that everyone is so worried about... I keep my horses in a 6 acre paddock, 3 mares and a stallion make up the breeding band. I also have colts and fillies in the same paddock with the band and not once has a colt been able to cover his mom or nor has the stallion covered his fillies. Nature doesn't work that way. Fillies and colts are driven out of the breeding band once they come of age. Now if your colt and mare are alone things may be different, I don't know. But chances are the mare will kick her sons but if he tries to mount her, unless she becomes really desparate with no stallions around! LOL
 
#17 ·
In the wild colts are pushed out of the band. Fillies stay unless stolen by another stallion.

In your herd on 6 acres the stallion is probably keeping the colts away but colts of age will breed to their dams or sisters if given the chance. A stallion will certainly breed his daughter. Horses don't know about things like incest & Nature doesn't care either. It's called inbreeding & it does happen in the wild too.
 
#18 ·
I'm really sorry about the msg bombardment, I should have read everything before I sent of the initial message... Anyway, don't jump to conclusions that the colt is a crypt. I currently have a 2 year old colt that magically looses one testicle every now and then. Even a vet. would insist that he is a crypt. When he is relaxed and standing still you can see and feel 2 fully developed testicles, let him gallop with mom for a few minutes and the right testicle somehow disappears! Watch him closely every day and you just might see that second testicle.
 
#19 ·
natisha, I do agree with you that colts and fillies will breed with each other, but remember, they are only half brothers and sisters since their mothers are not the same. As for a stallion breeding his own filly, I have a really hard time believing that because fillies are also kicked out of the breeding band. The only reason you don't see groups of bachelor fillies is because they are taken by other band stallions immediately. The only way a stallion will breed his own daughter is if he unknowingly steels her from another band stallion. So on the contrary to what you stated, nature does prevent incest. Otherwise we would have zero genetic diversity in the wild and horses would probably not be able to survive. Please remember that horses are very capable of surviving without us humans babying them around.
 
#21 ·
Well Callie is currently getting the 24/7 hay and a small handfull of Equine senior in the morning and the evening. I did see Jack try and get pushy over the hay but Callie put him in his place. I also added a salt/trace mineral block in there with them.
From what I know of her Callie gets really grumpy with geldings when she's in season, she keeps them away, so I'm hoping that she didn't get bred by Jack.
 
#23 ·
Well I took Callie to the vet yesterday because I noticed that she was limping on her front left. The vet looked her over and told me that she was foundering. Because of her physical state she wasn't a candidate for surgery to try and correct the founder, not to mention that it would be a long and very painful recouperation with no garauntee that she would ever be sound again. I had to make the hard descision to put her down. Callie was eauthanised early yesterday morning and now is in a better place.
 
#24 ·
I'm so sorry for your loss. I do think that however hard it was, you made the right decision, given your girl's current health and condition.
 
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