New rescue horse, thoughts on feed?

My suggestions would be alfalfa mix cubes. I was in complete shock at what they did for our horses. Even my hard keeper 14 yo app with bad teeth looks amazing. He only gets 2 lbs a day soaked plus his 15lbs of grass mix hay. He gets a multivit, ground flax, and soarce as well, but the adding the cubes made an unbelievable difference.

I would be reporting that rescue. That is unexceptable.

I don't have anything to add that hasn't been said already, but kudos to you for taking her.

That's not one of the rescues that legally retains ownership of the horses they adopt out and can basically demand them back whenever they want, is it? Poor girl looks like she's had a hard time of it and doesn't sound like that "rescue" has any business calling itself that.

1. Dental/Vet Exam
2. Free Choice Hay
3. Low NSC, quality feed such as Triple Crown Growth. Tractor Supply doesn't carry much in the line of quality feeds.

Wow that's sad the shelter didn't take better care of her. I'd put her on feed aimed for her age and add some alfalfa. Best of luck

Be careful feeding alfalfa to babies. The calcium ratios are off and can cause growth issues.

She went to the vet Monday, not willingly though! When my friend and I went to the rescue to pick her up she jumped right in. We tried everything in our books to get her in until I thought, “Oh hey, let’s get some feed.”, so we put some feed in her bucket and she followed it right on in. Well then we got to the vet and they did an exam on her. Her teeth do need to be floated, he gave her until spring at most, they also checked her drainage she has been having from her vagina, and they said it could be several things. A. She is so underweight she doesn’t have the muscle to help her get a good stream so it’s just leaking down. B. She is a urine pooler which they said is uncommon in younger horses. C. She has a bladder stone. They also said it isn’t exactly “drainage” it is urine crystals. They said urine crystalizes when it is high in calcium. I asked if creep feed could do that and the answer was “Possibly, you do know what that is right?” We assured them we knew it was beef calf feed and was not for a growing two year old. The vet suggested my friend to weight out a few months on doing anything extensive with her medically just in case something fix on their own and she can put the money toward fattening her up first. We also weighed her while she was there; she weighed a whopping 490 pounds as a two year old. Oh and definitely stunted, the vet gave an answer I would have never thought of “She has a horse size head but a pony sized body.” Oh and she can never be a very athletic horse. She has…. A really big word in both her front legs that cause them to toe out, though one of them also has a rotation. The vet said he had one in like that before where the owner ignored it and used the horse as a jumper and it broke chips off. Anyway. He also said she was depressed, which was obvious to us. She now is in with my herd since she is at my house until she is fattened up; she is working on leading and standing tied as well as being groomed.

Do you mean carpus valgus?

Often, the horse can still be used as a pretty serious pleasure horse or on the flat even with a limb deviation. It depends on the severity. I would not choose jumping or high impact horse sports with a horse that has a bad limb deformity. This is just common sense tho id think.

Yes that's what it was. I believe that is common sense but some people....

Poor baby. Like they already said here; hay hay hay it's the safest way to do it. Gooad quality coastal can be fed as much as she'll eat safely and the Tractor Supply where Im at has a huge selection of the Stanlee grass products, through Feb 24 the alfalfa/timothy mix cubes are on sale for 12 bucks or they have an alfalfa/oat hay mix for like. 11.99 reg price. They also carry MannaPro rice bran pellets, good source of fat to add to feed, I like the dumor feeds they may have a growth feed, I've only used the senior and the equistages. Lotsa hay and hopefully she wont look like the same girl in a few months, don't try to rush it take it slow and safe. Lucky baby now.