Help and advice :(

Hi same problem here, hope I'm not hi jacking but it is the same subject.... I look after a 17hh, ISH who is 33 years old, he has just started to look his age this winter, he is stabled at night but I have been getting him out for a strech & a roll in the field for at least a couple of hours.

He was ridden by his owner at least once or twice a week to keep him ticking over before the snow came which he loves.... but along his back his topline has just dropped off along his back bone and hips, his tummy is covered, he has never been fat but his ribs are covered- any ideas what to give him?

He is one scoop of 16+ mix, scoop of Molichaff & speedibeet twice a day. ATM he has 3 x rugs on and is toasty warm.

Is he just old and that is the way he will look???
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My 21yr old (baby compared to yours
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) has suffered a bit over the last few weeks in particular though the wet weather before hand did not do her well either.

She is stabled overnight but did drop weight for the first time in a long time. Vet checked her over and we put it down to she just needed more energy in than she usually had.

She has always coped quite happily on two scoops of safe and sound and ad lib haylage but I have changed to the following and it has had a dramatic effect very quickly - so I would rethink your food if you are confident everything else is ok

Currently mine is getting twice per day:

1 x scoop alfa a
1 x scoop sugar beet (proper beet not speedy beet or such like)
1 x scoop d & h conditioning cubes - highest protein food I could find
damn good glug (approx 50ml) of corn oil
recommended amount of equivite build up

Horse happy as larry, ribs etc now covered (so happy owner) only complaint coat has recently grown very long (yes I am aware and she will be blood tested in the spring unless it is necessary sooner) but that could just be the very cold weather.


Oh and mine is awful with change of any type too so I would avoid that if at all possible. Good luck with what ever you decide
 
By the sound of things, although he obviously has his teeth done regularly, they are not as efficient as they used to be! With the weather being mild and wet up until nearly Christmas, he probably made up for his inefficient hay eating by gobbling up moist, juicy grass, but now this has been depleted by frost and snow, he has to rely on his hay for bulk, which he can't eat in sufficient quantities to keep his body weight constant.

You need to supply him with a quick and easily eaten hay replacement that will supply the calories that he is not getting from hay and/or grass. If you ring several of the feed companies they can advise you on how much you need to feed to make up for the forage he is missing, even though they will advise different products.

As said above, look at the digestible energy content of products (expressed in MJDE/kg) this is the 'calorie content' and when you have a horse who is lacking in condition and can only be fed twice a day, the higher the DE the better, in general terms. If the animal has any tendency to laminitis or fizziness, then you want to keep starch and sugar levels down, so ask the manufacturers for this info. Ideally, you want the calories to come from fibre and oil.

In this situation, I would avoid short chop fibre feeds and go for soakable ones because these can be eaten more quickly, which is a bonus when teeth are poor and horse only being fed twice daily.
 
Sorry, but I've been thinking about this since yesterday - and I've changed my mind, do try and get some acreage sectioned off for your horses. I'm assuming that you've got snow on the ground (like most of us) and the horses do need to have an adequate, if not constant supply of hay. You're elderly chap's weight issues I'm sure will be resolved if he is given an adequate supply of hay (which clearly none of them are getting at the moment).

Sorry, hope you don't mind me posting again....
 
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