A little bit of help with everything!!!

Q

queenduchess

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11 December 2010
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Hi all I'm new and need some experienced advice please :)
I have recently been given a 6yo Tb mare who is obsessed with cribbing!! She is a bit of a rescue case and was on the back of a lorry on the way to be sold at auction, she is terribly under weight and has had ringworm, she has a fake passport but has been scanned and has a microchip and her real passport is with whetherbys, she is not stolen etc but still waiting for her replacement passport to arrive. Vet has checked her all ok, sound, teeth etc
My main problems are the wind sucking and cribbing, she is so bad she is choosing that over food and even when she eats, had vet out last night as she had really bad choke to the point she was on the floor thrashing around and I honestly thought she was a goner :( I have tried collars, cribbox, other nasty tasting stuff, play things, food etc when she is in but she prefers cribbing?! When she is out it is not as bad as there is not much she can crib on, I'm just worried with the cold nights coming closer and the fact she is a bag of bones I don't want to leave her out 24/7.
Also help with what to feed her? She is on alfa a, oats and barley rings with sugarbeet and oil at the moment and adlib haylage when stabled. I am thinking about finding an ulcer supplement as suggested by vet but which one? Never used one, or needed to.
Sorry for the very long post and hope it makes sense, any help is very much appreciated :)
 
Food wise - Soft and Soak Ready mash - helped my 44 year old mare along with mollassed sugar beet.

Cribbing, have you had her checked for stomach ulcers ? Also this sound discusting but mix poo and water into a paste and cover the door in it. She won't touch it after that
 
Thanks, I will try anything!!! I'm so worried about her choking again, I do make sure her feed is like soup as this seems to help, she has mollassed sb but will look into soft and soak. She is booked in to be scoped and going to check for ulcers, it wouldn't surprise me if she did have them but iv never dealt with a horse with ulcers, thanks again
 
cribbing can be stress related so she may crib less once she starts to relax a bit more. i have a cribber and keep her out as much as i can so she relaxes.and when she comes in at night in the winter we keep to a regular routine, make sure she comes in first or with others so she doesnt get uptight. i make sure her hay/haylage is in the stable and she seems to go straight to it after her feed and doesnt crib..(if i dont put hay/haylage in , once she has finished her feed she starts cribbing on the door immediately and doesnt seem to want to stop.) i know she is poor but i would be tempted to rug her and leave her out 24/7 and feed in the field...in my opinion collars only stress them more and dont help to lessen the problem. she will prob always do it but you may be able to make it less obsessive...well done you for caring enough to help her!!!!!:D:D
 
If you can leave her out 24/7 for now it will give her a chance to settle and gain some weight.
Keep a rug on at night so she is warm.
Feed as many times a day as possible,frequent small meals are best for weight gain,plus access to haylage as well as grass.
If the field can be electric fenced this will prevent cribbing whilst out.
I have never used an ulcer supplement and would suggest you ask your vet which one he recommends.I would suggest a calmer of some type plus a supplement like pink powder that will help her utilise her feed properly.
If she is really stressy it could take a long while to see much improvement,her coat should start to look better and use that as a guide to her wellbeing.
 
Thanks splash girl :) I'm defo going to get her out, I have very big and well electrocuted fencing as my other seems to think he is a puissance pony and keeps jumping out!! So there is no where for her to crib when she is out, I know I'm her 3rd home in as many weeks and I know her breeding its just the bit in the middle I don't know, she has settled a bit and now has a forever home with me :)
 
Sorry be positive missed ur post, will put her out tomorrow and leave her out, she is in a light weigh most days, will have to dig out some big rugs as I only have ponies now and she is in a 6"9. I didn't even think about pink powder, great idea my oldie used to be on it and I always swore by it, thanks :)
 
I'm on my phone so don't think I can post pic of her, she is an absolute darling to handle but I'm sure if everyone was to see a picture of her when she arrived they would be horrified, I will try later so everyone can see the before pic's and hopefully in a few weeks a nicer one :) I have never dealt with choke and I can honestly say it is the worst thing ever and scared the poo out of me! Going to go rug shopping tomorrow, she has lw but any ideas of good mw and hw to rugs?? Iv only got a fluff 2yo and he is naked all year lol
 
glad you are turning her out, im sure she will settle quicker as long as she has some company close by. i have found amigo rugs very good and they can have a detachable neck cover which is very useful when the weather is bad. my friend has the premier equine rug which has different liners which you attach and also has a very good neck cover, they seem to be quite reasonable in price .(although none of them are cheap!!!!):):)
 
I was told i might have to consider a balancer added to my ex-racer tbs feed as he would be prone to ulcers having been a racer. He doesn't get one at the minute because he doing fine with what he is getting but it might be something to consider in case there's something like that bothering her?
Good luck porking her up ;)
 
My Tb went absolutely ape on barley rings ( therefore losing condition as he was heating up all the time ), perhaps something to bear in mind?
Would love to see some pics!
good luck with her!
 
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