Bad coat condition - help please?

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zoesophie

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Hi all

Oscar is recovering from colic surgery and is on box rest at the mo. Hes lost lots of weight and condition (which is understandable).

At the mo hes on Topspec, Alfalfa, seaweed, Magic calmer and something from the vets for his anaemia. He also has a bran mash at night and as much hay as he can eat.

My question is, what can I give him to give his coat back its normal condition? I thought the seaweed would have helped but its not
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His coat is very dull and scabby and hes getting lots of dandruff in his mane and tail
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Any ideas?
 
I would take out the seaweed and add oil. The Topspec will also help eventually. But the oil should make a difference quite quickly.
 
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OK Ill give that a go thanks. Which oil? Sunflower? Sorry if thats a stupid question!
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Corn oil is the best to use.

Use a measuring scoop - like you get with your suppliments (I think they are around 5ml's) one of those in all the feeds - gently increased to around two - and you should notice a real difference.
 
Fab thanks for the help AmyMay!
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Hes a big boy though (17.1ish), do you think he will need more than 2 scoops eventually or will that be ok? Hes normally on the biggest dose of every suppliment going
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Hes a big boy though (17.1ish), do you think he will need more than 2 scoops eventually or will that be ok?

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Yes, I expect so - but even a minimal amount should make a difference - you could use a mug full in each feed if you wanted to, eventually.

But go slowly as obviously recoving from colic surgery the last thing you want to do is overload him with new things.
 
You can feed up to 250ml of oil a day without having to worry about vit E/selenium supplementation. As your boy lacks condition as well as the coat problem, I would gradually work up to feeding 250ml a day as that will give him some extra calories. You can feed more oil than that if necessary but then you should feed a Vit E/selenium supplement as well.
 
Have you thought of using the homeopathic remedy - Silica, you can get it usually in the little green tubes from a pharmacy or some supermarkets.
It works wonders with hair and hooves (or nails on humans), helping them grow and ad lusture.
As it is homeopathic it won't affect anything else and you only need to give a tablet or two a day. It will only cost a few pounds. (don't touch the tablet, perhaps hide in a slice of apple and avoid giving within 30mins of anything else to get best results)
We've used it on one of our ponies and had great sucess.
 
you may want to ask some other opinions on this but I have been using Brewers yeast for just over a week now. I started it as i had been reading /following some posts on calmers (look back at brewers yeast/calmer posts) so I was not interested for condition reasons.

Anyway think my horse is a bit calmer but only a week and as weather has been so bad haven't had much chance of testing it out!
BUT
His coat is amazingly shiny! So much so that I asked one of the girls at the yard to come and look at him the other evening, she was gobsmacked! She said I must be spraying him with something! I assured her I am not! He is a good 'dooer' normally but I think the B.Y. has had something to do with it. Also read on here it helps with digestion, allowing the horse to utilise feed better? Not sure how that would work for your horse, maybe worth a try?
I got it from an online healthfood store, it was much cheaper than buying a horse product, I do think some things are overpriced just because they have 'horse' written on the packaging!
 
I would suggest trying Guiness. Speak to your vet first.

If your horse is aneamic then Guiness if full of Iron - they recommend feeding it to pregnant ladies when they are lacking in Iron.

I have an 18hh who has been a nightmare to put weight on. I have been giving him a can of guiness daily and it has made a huge difference, especially to his overall condition and general wellbeing.

Having recovered another horse from double colic surgery I wish you luck getting your boy back. Its a slow old road. I would recommend giving as many small feeds a day as poss - mine had 4. But make sure you speak to your vet/nutrionalist before altering anything just to be on the safe side.
 
Hmmm interesting Jen1. It took me a few tries to find a calmer that worked well on him (didnt try BY though) but its worth bearing in mind about the BY, so thanks for your info!
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Mmmmm I tried the Top Spec calmer, 2 months and £44 later didn't seem to do any good at all, tried a pure magnesium supplement before that on recommendation of YO, she used it on her mare, since read that it works better on mares. Hoping B Yeast will help!

Rode at w/e and he was still a bit spooky but not at 'massive' as he has been in the past!
Not a scientific test though as the weather has been so C*&p lately that I haven't been able to ride much so that won't help with the spookiness!
 
TayloredEquestrian - Being Irish Oscar loves his Guiness
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He did have a couple of cans over Xmas but think it will work out quite pricey for the amount of time he will need it
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Bearing in mind Ive just got 5l of oil for just over £2!

He also has four feeds a day, apart from being good for him it also breaks up his day and he gets to have a cuddle with the ladies that feed him whilst Im at work
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Thanks for sharing your knowledge and I think my vet is getting sick of me asking questions - Im so paranoid.
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Yeah I tried the Topspec calmer too and didnt notice a dot of difference
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I really rate Topspec as a company coz they have been very helpful, I just dont think their calmer suited my chap. Think when it comes to calmers its trial and error to see what suits your own horse.

Fingers crossed though you have found one thats good for your ned
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Yes, shame trial and error can sometimes be so expensive!!

Anyway good luck with your horse, hope he gets well soon, keep everyone updated, it's good to hear how things work out!
P.S. mine Irish too through and through!!!
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Thanks I will do! Any chance to show off my boy and Im there! Ive posted some before (i.e. skinny oscar after surgery) and Ill have to do some after pics once hes looking better. Weighed him on sunday and hes dropped another 20kg
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but the vet did say that may happen so Im not overly worried - yet!
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my friends mare had colic surgery 10 weeks ago. She came back extremely thin (RSPCA rescue level)! She's been on ad-lib haylage and hay, with 6 smallish feeds a day. She is on Alfa, sugarbeet and 100g instant linseed (no cereals etc). She is putting the weight on gradually which is just as it should be and the linseed is making her skin and coat lovely and glossy - she's doing really well.
Good luck with your horse and I hope he continues to recover post-colic
 
i got a youngster recently, he was in a bit of a mess and i gave him global herbs restore and globalvite, amazing products, saw him right in no time
 
i bought a horse last year at this time and he was in pretty bad condition and his coat was awful. i know with colic surgery you have strict diets to go with but once your allowed to use chaff again or if you are already then give dengie alfa oil a go, brilliant for putting on weight and condition and it gave my boy the most gorgeous coat!

also helps if your horse doesnt like too much oil added to his feed, i know this helps greatly with coat condition but my big horse wouldnt eat feeds with too much added oil so i found adding a little oil to the alfa oil then gave him enough to sort him out!
 
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