So, your horse is thin...
He is
not emaciated, sorry not going to slam you with that.
This is starving and emaciated...
Yours is a horse needing some TLC and to find what went wrong...
He's not a 4 but if I were scoring he would from picture sit at a 3 on the scale...the last picture is a 2 on the scale and he
isn't there either!
So, no hay or great forage consistently fed for the last month...
So a hungry horse will eat dirt, eat anything to survive...
When did you last treat for sand in the gut?
No grass, no hay that horse ate and scrounged for every blade of anything green it could chew...
Do a sand test {
https://www.drgarfinkel.com/client-education/equine-care-and-anatomy/testing-the-horse-for-sand } and treat accordingly, but honestly...get to the local store and purchase any brand of Sand Clear and treat both animals...
Follow the directions of 5 days fed, and repeat the test to see how much is still in the gut...
A coating of sand through the intestines will stop the gut from absorbing nutrients throughout the digestive tract.
I would also be having the dentist/vet recheck for any sores, cuts to inside mouth or tongue.
Since this is the horse who eats and eats well,....
Power Pack of worming done for both of them.
When no forage is present they will also eat their feces and can with fly season infest themselves with various worm larvae...
I would be doing Zimectrin Gold as part of the power pack and varied worming compounds so you treat for all kinds of worms...
As this is your black horse, a pig for eating you describe...
Feed Purina Ultium to the horse...2 scoops twice a day.. {
3 qt. size}
Top dress that with 1/2 pound of Amplify fat supplement
each feeding.
I would also add Manna Pro Senior Weight Accelerator...
Hay,....within reason if they are not accustomed to free choice alfalfa then watch you not create a diarrhea situation happen, that's defeating the purpose of weight gain.. Start slow and add each day more to what they will eat
Hay in front of them at all times...if it isn't good quality then make sure you also feed near 1/2 a square bale of alfalfa to make the difference in calories and nutrients offered to each of them.
Busy food is worthless to you right now.
You offer and feed them each enough hay they no longer can consume it all...not waste either.
Feed them separate so you know how much each is consuming and consuming all their food not being chased off...
That is where I would start...
10 - 14 days of that diet and you should be seeing a vast improvement, not regression and negative.
However, go slow in adding all these food products as you can overwhelm the gut and create more problems than you ever want to see at your barn.
Start with smaller amounts and increase every 3rd day add more till you reach amounts where you see good things happening.
The digestive tract needs time to acclimate and accomodate the amount of food you are going to be pushing at them...slow and steadily increase the amounts...
My other thought is how long ago were they vaccinated?
For what and by whom?
Have there been any bad batches of vaccines happen near you and did you by chance purchase bad and your horse could be sick from bad vaccine??
All things to look at, into and only you know answers to.
Your horse is thin...he needs weight. Yes.
He is
not "emaciated" though,
not dying of starvation... that is a exaggeration in my opinion.
He though is on a decline and it needs to be turned around, soon and with good foods fed in amounts needed for his body to recover...
You can do this...prepare, make a plan and do not skip a meal, not have hay to feed as they both need to replenish their bodies stores before the onslaught of winter arrives..
I think you mentioned quite a while ago that the horse is about 15.2 hands...that puts him in the area of 1100 pounds needing to be depending upon his build...a bit more probably.
You have some work to do...but it can be done.
He's young, he is healthy and will gain back when fed enough calories and nutrients to thrive and put the weight on his frame.
It takes nearly double the calories to get a horse to gain than to maintain...and he must now heal his inside guts any damages that occurred...
Tractor Supply is your friend right now cause they carry, stock and can get all of what you need...
You just need to do the hay from a local supplier...feed and supplements all come from TSC.
:runninghorse2:...
jmo...