Share your Before & After pictures!

Hello horsey fans,
I am posting pictures of two horses that I have brought to a healthy weight from the point of first acquiring them. The first horse is a OTTB gelding that I named I Cannon I Will aka Cannon. I got him after he was only 4 months off the track but he had switched owners 4 times since then! Poor boy...he was the sweetest horse too...guess they just didn't want to take the time to put weight on him...so they did nothing. I got him for free after giving the seller a news flash that he was not worth $2500 in his current state. I did have to rehome him with my friend when I lost my job.

Before Picture 1: Dull coat and bunch of untreated cuts and kicks from pasture mates.


Before Picture 2: Coat is a little better. Took this picture after he had already gained about 50lbs....I cannot seem to find the pictures I took of him the day I got him.



After Picture 1: About 1 month into owning him.



After Picture 2: This picture was taken a week before I had to rehome him. Nice coat and good weight (although could have still used more)



So that's Cannon's progress while I owned him for only about 2 months. I found out quickly that he wasn't a hard keeper at all...but that they were only giving him two flakes of grass hay a day. TWO FLAKES a day for a 17 Hand horse?? And no grain???

Pictures of the next horse coming after this post.

This horse is my current horse, Tia and 10 year old Paint mare. I paid only to have her hauled from Northern Cali to Southern Cali and she arrived on Feb 1st. So I have only had her for two, almost three months. Her story is that she was a bonded pair with her owners other horse (the girl had bought them together and they had been with each other since weaning) and when the girl lost interests she put both horses up for sale...separate. When the other mare sold first, Tia got really depressed and stopped eating. No one was REALLY at fault (unless you can blame the girl for not selling them together) but alas, Tia dropped weight and muscle rapidly.

Before Picture 1: Tia the day after she arrived, clearly needs muscle and weight.



Before Picture 2: Same day, full body.



After Picture 1: Tia about a week ago. After a good work out. I am comfortable working her now...but she still needs weight. But mostly muscle on her topline.



After Picture 2:



Okay so she still need weight and muscle...she's a working process. Unfortunately she has come to a screeching halt on gaining any more weight. (Which I am about to discus my theories in another post in Horse Nutrition)

Anyway, feel free to add any picture of horses that you have either gotten in bad shape and made better. Also feel free to share pictures of before and after grooming pictures. (like a winter coat to a full body clip or a mud-caked horse to a clean one)

First picture is Chase. A 1999 TB Gelding that we rescued. He was left to fend for himself on 20 acres in the fall. He had lost most of his hair on his neck, chest and shoulders from stressing. Looked like he had mange. The first photo was taking about 1 month after he had been with us. He had already gained a good 50-75 pounds. The second picture was before he was re-homed after I had owned him for about 5 months.

The Paint Pony was Gracie. She was boarded at someones house that owned 2 other horses. Gracie was supposed to be there to gain weight, and they didn't feed her. The other two horses were OBESE and then there was this. It was disgusting. Keep in mind that she has a winter coat, so if she was shaved, she'd look so much worse. I don't have an after picture of her but she was 100% healthy when she left us. Fit and fat.

The Curly was a stud colt that we got. He was 2 years old. 2 freaking years old and he looked like that. We rehomed him a few months after we got him and got an updated picture at 4 years old...completely different horse. Filled out, about 15.2 hands, I never would have through he would have turned out so gorgeous. Those photos were after we had him for 2 months too!

The sad thing is, these 3 horses belonged to someone I was related to. Luckily she won't be ever breeding or owning (neglecting and abusing) horses ever again. We continued to step in and take the worst cases home to us because we couldn't stand to see them in such a pitiful state.

I don't have pictures of another little filly we rescued from there on this computer, but she was only 2 months old, it was the middle of February and she had pneumonia. We took her home the moment we saw her or she wouldn't have made it through the night. 4 shots of penicillin a day for 2 weeks, she finally felt better and had a healthy appetite. Our vet helped us rehome her to a great family. Last I heard, she reached over 15 hands and was a pistol! Which was so great to hear. I rode in the trailer with her on the way home, sitting on the floor with her head in my lap. Too weak to stand and needing multiple blankets to keep her body heat up. We named her Grace because she was saved by the Grace Of God. My dad was pissed at us for bringing her home because he thought he'd be digging her grave by the next morning...