Feeding a skinny rescue.

[MrsElle]

Fat Lads new girlfriend joined him today and she is a pitiful sight. Only 3 years old and ribs very visible even through winter coat.

She came in a lightweight rug, and seemed warm enough in the sunshine. I have ordered her a MW with neck which should be here tomorrow. The 'feels like' temperatures are between 0 and -7 when out of the sun, hopefully the MW will be enough for her.

She seems like a relatively good do-er in that the lady who rescued her a week or so ago has put her on just adlib hay and haylege and the mare has already visibly put on weight.

We have plentiful grazing at the moment so I am tempted to leave her on Dr Green with ad lib hay - she is out 24/7 with access to a stable and field shelter.

Is there any thing you would do differently? She really is a sweet little thing, and while not the prettiest of equines does make up for it in personality

It makes you wonder how a seemingly good do-er like her got into such a pitiful state, she must have had no grazing and very little forage, poor lass Still, she now has lots of grass, lots of hay and lots of love and attention - one of our dogs doesn't like horses very much, she is scared of them, but she has been following new girl round all afternoon and licking her nose! Must be telling her she will be ok in the madhouse that is our family

 

[stencilface]

Well all ours get fed regardless, as the others do and they would never cope with the jealousy! Don't know if it would be a good idea to give her a vit/min supplement if she's been neglected, that and some oil maybe?

I think I shoved my 4yo on a weight gain mix when I got him - seemed to do the trick

 

[ArabianGold]

High fibre mash.. Put my TB on it when she dropped weight and she put it back on in the right places quickly..

Think what your doign is the right step forward though.

Good luck with your skinny girl..

 

[WelshRuby]

Hi, my recently purchased mare was also skinny. She's been fed on Fast Fibre, poor grass and adlib hay. I'm really pleased with her now - poverty lines and visible ribs gone!!
Good luck with yours

 

[tasteofchristmaschaos]

I would steer clear of all the things people normally feed to keep weight on their horses, theyre gonna be too good for her at this stage. Ad lib hay sounds good, I would feed a chaff as well with some vit and min added in.

 

[Marydoll]

Phone up one of the feed nutritionists, i used the baileys one when my old horse had her stroke and lost a huge amount of condition quickly. She was really helpful and helped me formulate a good high calorie diet for her, she even suggested i call dodsons as they had a better range of chaffs and bulkers.
Wouldnt hesitate to use them again as they were great

 

[Changes]

Good on you for taking her in.

IME one of the best products for poor horses is Equilibra. It contains all the nutrients necessary in a handful of small pellets. It can be easily introduced by hand gradually to rebalance the gut and ensure the correct vitamin balance. I use it for a couple of months, or longer if starting going into winter.

Plenty of fibre is good, but ensure it's reasonable value. Too little feed value, like poor hay or straw, can cause impaction, and too high value (rich horsehage, fresh grass) can cause looseness.

Once the dung has stabilised, and the horse is eating regularly and happily, then a course of the Panacur 5 day is the best way to worm gently to start with.

If the digestive system is coping properly, I add tiny hard feeds 2 or 3 times a day, and if the horse is a stressy or fussy eater then fenugreek is great at encouraging appetite.

At this time of year when the grass is poor, the hard feed would be unmolassed sugar beet, grass nuts and barley. But it depends very much on the type of horse, each individual is different.

Depending how long the horse has been lacking food, the wear on teeth can be problematic too. They may have been chewing wood as a substitute for not eating, and worn irregularly.

It's a great idea to keep them out 24/7 if possible as this helps keep the circulation moving and hence the gut healthy.

That said, in extreme povery cases (bodyscore 0.5 or so) the horse has to be carefully monitored. They will need to sleep and at this time of year coming in at night to a deep bed lets them rest sufficiently and not scrape weak limbs trying to get up.
They're also better turned out alone, or with a very quiet horse, as they'll be too weak to cope with normal 'friendly' behaviour from other horses.

All this said, it sounds like you're well on the way anyway - I just thought it might be useful.

 

[Merry Crisis]

Safe and Sound, speedy Beet and a good Balancer, haylage.

 

[Sugarplum Furry]

When my new 14 month old filly arrived last year, in August, she looked like this

As you can see she was extremely underweight and she'd been clipped out. She was on good grass for a couple of months or so, and when the bad weather came I fed her exactly the same as my other horses. Ad lib hay, Dengie original and Mole Valley horse and pony cubes. No supplements and nothing special apart from worming, and she lived out 24/7 rugged up.

This is her in June this year. She came out of winter looking amazing, she's gone from 14.1hh to 16.hh and continues to thrive. I know it's tempting to rush out and buy all the top feeds and supplements for thin horses, we want to do the best for them, and I have to admit she was a bit of an experimental 'wait and see'. Obviously I would have changed her feed etc if she hadn't picked up, but it's impressive how they do on just the basics.

MrsElle congrats on your new girl, I'm sure she'll be fine.

 

[Achinghips]

Are you not feeding any hard feed at all?

 

[Marydoll]

When my new 14 month old filly arrived last year, in August, she looked like this

As you can see she was extremely underweight and she'd been clipped out. She was on good grass for a couple of months or so, and when the bad weather came I fed her exactly the same as my other horses. Ad lib hay, Dengie original and Mole Valley horse and pony cubes. No supplements and nothing special apart from worming, and she lived out 24/7 rugged up.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a230/carolbarnett/2011-07-
28141558.jpg

This is her in June this year. She came out of winter looking amazing, she's gone from 14.1hh to 16.hh and continues to thrive. I know it's tempting to rush out and buy all the top feeds and supplements for thin horses, we want to do the best for them, and I have to admit she was a bit of an experimental 'wait and see'. Obviously I would have changed her feed etc if she hadn't picked up, but it's impressive how they do on just the basics.
MrsElle congrats on your new girl, I'm sure she'll be fine.

What a difference, shes lovely, i love to see pics like this they gladden My heart

 

[MrsElle]

Are you not feeding any hard feed at all?

She only arrived with me today but hasn't had hard feed since she was taken to the rescue a week or so ago. She has actually put weight on on just grass and hay, so we are planning on continuing down that route. Of course if she fails to put on weight we will re-assess and introduce some hard feed

Gala, what a difference! Well done you for getting your filly looking so well. I'm not sure Skinny Minnie is as thin as that. I didn't take her rug off when she was delivered today, I just let her get on with making friends with Fat Lad. Tomorrow I will get her rug off and take some photo's. I have seen pics of her from the other day (I took her on unseen) and you can see all her ribs through her winter coat, so am hoping she looks a tiny bit better tomorrow, or I will cry! She is such a sweet and gentle little mare, she should be so untrusting of humans but she really isn't.

 

[MrsElle]

Thanks all for the suggestions, Changes, your comments made for interesting reading, I will take those on board if we need to change her feeding regime

 

[TGM]

I think your approach sounds like a wise starting point. It does sound like her poor condition is simply from lack of grazing/forage in a previous home, rather than her actually being a naturally poor doer. (Obviously, though, you still need to have teeth checked, worm counts etc done.) The last thing you want to do with a horse who has been deprived of food, is to suddenly pump it full of hard feed.

If she was mine, I would start off as you have done with good grazing and truly adlib hay/haylage, plus perhaps something containing a probiotic yeast to ensure she is able to make the most of the fibre she eats (this could be Yea-Sacc, Pink Powder or any of the commercially available balancers such as Top Spec etc). I would then monitor her weight for a week or two to ensure she was gaining weight in a satisfactory matter. If that was not the case, then I would start to introduce greater quantities of bucket feed, but would still prefer that to be mainly fibre and oil based at this stage.

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

If you remember Carrot and Spud all they had was fibre on a regular basis thorugh the day - high fibre nuts and chaff and ad lib hay. Nothing else no balancers, no weight gain no nothing just fibre and lots of it.

As you still have grass I would leave her with that and other sources of fibre - she will need access to as much as possible with it getting colder

 

[traceyann]

My rescue i fed him about a bale of hay a night and loads of grass not lush grass he was very very thin once up to weight fed him handfull of safe and sound only because my others three get it and wanted to be fair

 

[Goldenstar]

I would just keep going with the add lib hay and haylage and a good balancer if she continues to gain wieght that's all I would do I don't think quick wieght gain is good for them much better do it from forage and take time.