Help! Yearling in bad condition

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*rach247*

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Help!

I have recently taken on a yearling filly. Currently standing at 13.1hh

She had been loose on the roads and bridle paths for over a week (which the owner knew about).. when the owner (dealer) came to pick her up I didn't want to let her go back to him as she is in a bit of a state, so I bought her! Oops!

She is quite underweight and does seem a little lethargic for a youngster, when I rescued her tmdrom the road she was a little foot sore and distressed but other that those, there doesn't seem any major issues with her.

I have been keeping her stabled for the moment, to let her rest and until I am able to be up there for a full day to sit in the field when she gets introduced to the bully boy geldings!

I have never owned any underweight horses before, or any that need anything other than chaff and a little mix never mind a yearling in this condition.

I would really appreciate any suggestions and help with what to feed her, in what quantities and anything else anyone might think is helpful to myself!

Many thanks,
Rachael
 
Lucky girl :)

I would worm her straight away and then assess in a week.

Give her good hay/haylage, as much as she wants. I would leave off any bucket feed until she has been wormed and handled a bit.

If she has access to forage at all times I wouldn't be concerned, let her grow on slowly, she has plenty of time :)
 
*rach247* said:
Help!


She is quite underweight and does seem a little lethargic for a youngster,
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She will be lethargic if she is underweight, she will not be getting the essential nutrients and vitamins which she requires from a balanced diet. I would shoose a feed manufacturer (one that your local feed merchant stocks) and then call their nutritionist number and speak to a professional who will be able to give you the best advice. Just remember that a youngster has a lot of growing to do and at this stage in her a balanced diet is essential to her well being and how she develops for the future.
 
Talk to your Vet.

You need proper advice RE worming incase she has a high worm burden, you don't want to cause colic.
Yes, a balanced diet is essential, but you have two potential issues. 1, re-feeding syndrome, if she is very thin/starved and 2, overfeeding, which can cause leg problems in growing youngsters. Forage should be the main thing that she eats.
 
Faracat said:
Talk to your Vet.

You need proper advice RE worming incase she has a high worm burden, you don't want to cause colic.
Yes, a balanced diet is essential, but you have two potential issues. 1, re-feeding syndrome, if she is very thin/starved and 2, overfeeding, which can cause leg problems in growing youngsters. Forage should be the main thing that she eats.
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Agree with this and speak to the vet about worming first as a friend of mine nearly killed her yearling by giving him too much wormer they have very little muscle and fat mass so can easily be overdosed. Good luck with her:)
 
Faracat said:
Talk to your Vet.

You need proper advice RE worming incase she has a high worm burden, you don't want to cause colic.
Yes, a balanced diet is essential, but you have two potential issues. 1, re-feeding syndrome, if she is very thin/starved and 2, overfeeding, which can cause leg problems in growing youngsters. Forage should be the main thing that she eats.
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This, I certainly wouldn't take too much advice from a feed company, they are not all bad but many do recommend totally unsuitable feeds/ quantities to be used they have a vested interest whereas in reality most equines need very little, if any, hard feed and can do very well on a forage only diet, a poor youngster will take time to pick up and far better to do so very slowly.
 
Mine ended up with OCD cause he grew too fast after being starved (RSPCA case), so I wouldn't feed beyond a handful of unmollassed chaff with vits in. Just as much hay as she wants.
 
Thank you all so much for the advice, it is all very useful.

I'm thinking of doing one of those feacal worm egg counts to begin with and if i'm right that they will advise what to do next in terms of worming.. if not I will get a vet out to have a look at her to advise on quantities.

I have just been in touch with around 5 feed companies and I must say Baileys were the most helpful by far.. and most sensible in terms of feeding sensibly, slowly and to support her growth instead of boosting weight gain and growth. I think I will take their advice which was Alfalfa plus oil and stud balancer and see how she gets on and plenty of hay!

She does have a pretty ferocious appetite.. she gobbles her haynet fast (even with it inside another small holed hay net!) so fingers crossed the weight will come on her easily.

Thank you.
 
Well, I'm not sure to be honest! I've kind of gone into this with my eyes half shut! ha.. I need to get reading up on how to tell with their teeth etc.. I would hope she isn't much older as I would like to do something with her in a couple of years and would need her to be 15/15.2+ ideally :/

The guy selling her to me is delivering her passport in the next week as it is due back anytime now.. I'm not handing over the cash until he does!
 
And yes she has landed on her feet.. she has the crowd of dog walkers to thank that herded her into my field!! Shes so sweet natured.. this may change when she gets her energy levels up though! :D
 
Definitely beware of giving her hard feed as it could easily mess up her jounts especially as she does not look as if she has ever had any. I would be worming and getting as much hay as possible into her and only give her a himilayan mineral lick for now and watch that she does not have to much of the lick. she should pick up fairly fast at the moment as you have got her before the bad weather sets in. good luck with her
 
Judging by the way that she seems to have developed, I would wonder if she's actually now a 2 yo. Difficult to be certain from the pics. She's a nice little thing though!

Generally, the LAST people who's opinions I would seek, when it comes to feed, would be a vet because it's rarely their field of experience, and the feed company's experts, because they want you to buy their products, whether that suits your horse, or it doesn't! Underweight youngsters are at their most vulnerable when we attempt to compensate by shoving grub in both ends.

Assuming that you've now wormed her, in a few days, I'd take a dung sample and ask your vet to do a 'worm count'. That way you'll be able to see if the specific wormer that you've used has been effective against her own specific parasites, because not all wormers work for all worms. The cost is usually about £20+- and is always money well spent.

crabbymare's advice makes for perfect sense. Hay, and ad-lib. I see that you have small-hole hay nets for her. I'd put her hay on the floor and give her as much as she wants. If there's hay left in the mornings, she doesn't need that much, and if there isn't, then up it. That's what I'd do.

She isn't in 'bad condition'. At the end of summer, she should look a bit better than that, I'll grant you, but even if she stays like that all winter, come the Spring, she'll almost certainly put on condition.

Good luck, she looks a nice little thing. :)

Alec.

ps. As she seems to have had a rather rocky past, a simple blood test to check that she isn't in foal may be handy. a.
 
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I would contact one of the horse rescues to get advice on feeding. they are dealing with underfed animals and will know the best way to get her condition better. maybe send them a pic so they can see what she is like at the moment..a vet would be good to sort out worming and check teeth etc but nit necessarily the best on feeding IMO.....I also wouldn't be feeding her from a haynet and would feed from the floor. you really want to make eating as easy as possible. well done for caring enough to keep her and hope she turns out to be what you want..
 
Alec Swan said:
Judging by the way that she seems to have developed, I would wonder if she's actually now a 2 yo. Difficult to be certain from the pics. She's a nice little thing though!

Generally, the LAST people who's opinions I would seek, when it comes to feed, would be a vet because it's rarely their field of experience, and the feed company's experts, because they want you to buy their products, whether that suits your horse, or it doesn't! Underweight youngsters are at their most vulnerable when we attempt to compensate by shoving grub in both ends.

Assuming that you've now wormed her, in a few days, I'd take a dung sample and ask your vet to do a 'worm count'. That way you'll be able to see if the specific wormer that you've used has been effective against her own specific parasites, because not all wormers work for all worms. The cost is usually about £20+- and is always money well spent.

crabbymare's advice makes for perfect sense. Hay, and ad-lib. I see that you have small-hole hay nets for her. I'd put her hay on the floor and give her as much as she wants. If there's hay left in the mornings, she doesn't need that much, and if there isn't, then up it. That's what I'd do.

She isn't in 'bad condition'. At the end of summer, she should look a bit better than that, I'll grant you, but even if she stays like that all winter, come the Spring, she'll almost certainly put on condition.

Good luck, she looks a nice little thing. :)

Alec.

ps. As she seems to have had a rather rocky past, a simple blood test to check that she isn't in foal may be handy. a.
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The above. What is is with people thinking food needs to be out of a bag? Have they forgotten the value in good hay? Put it on the floor and let her eat as much as she wants. Floor, not net, because it's normal and her neck is poor. Also it is the correct angle for her teeth to work. They need checking too.
 
Hopefully the passport will materialise and it will solve the age thing.

For comparison, this is my grey at 12 months (she is a different breed of course). The tail and mane do look a similar length though.

Flossandmelody.jpg


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Brilliant advice guys thanks!
It makes perfect sendmse with the hay being on the floor so will do that from tomorrow.. I did actually double net the haynets and I did do this as I was worried with the speed she was eating and possivly going from nothing/very little to wolfing hay could be a shock to her body & possible colic. But she has been jn for 3 days now so she should be fine.

I personally don't think the pictures reflect how thin she actually is.. I walked her out to stretch her legs this morning and got snarky comments and unwanted feeding advice and criticism of 'know it all' dog walkers. I've never felt skin and bone like it on any animal.

And in terms of her tail, the pics don't show it well but she has got a very fuzzy short foal tail, it's not been cut :D

Yes im going to pick up one of those worm dung tests from the shop tomorrow it's only 12.99 here with a free pin worm test so definitely worth it!

Thanks again.
 
Oh lovely! And her tail is shorter and more 'fuzzy/curly/foal like' hope that makes sense! Ha..

I will put a picture on tomorrow to show you :D

I have wondered about her age myself though as you can't just trust the guys word ..
 
I'm quite sure OP that your filly is in the best of hands.

Just for your own interest, it may be an idea for you to stand her in much the same spot, once a month, and take a confo shot. You'll be able to see how she progresses, as I feel certain that she will.

Again, well done.

Alec.
 
*rach247* said:
Thank you all so much for the advice, it is all very useful.

I'm thinking of doing one of those feacal worm egg counts to begin with and if i'm right that they will advise what to do next in terms of worming.. if not I will get a vet out to have a look at her to advise on quantities.

I have just been in touch with around 5 feed companies and I must say Baileys were the most helpful by far.. and most sensible in terms of feeding sensibly, slowly and to support her growth instead of boosting weight gain and growth. I think I will take their advice which was Alfalfa plus oil and stud balancer and see how she gets on and plenty of hay!

She does have a pretty ferocious appetite.. she gobbles her haynet fast (even with it inside another small holed hay net!) so fingers crossed the weight will come on her easily.

Thank you.
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Why are you double netting her hay? Offer her ad-lib hay and when she gets used to never running out her consumption will slow down. Forage is by far the best feed for her, so ignore whatever the feed companies have recommended, they just want to sell unsuitable feed to you. Very few youngsters actually need hard feed and one that has been starved certainly doesn't. I would feed from the ground, so that she has the opportunity to develop her muscles correctly
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Why are you double netting her hay? Offer her ad-lib hay and when she gets used to never running out her consumption will slow down. Forage is by far the best feed for her, so ignore whatever the feed companies have recommended, they just want to sell unsuitable feed to you. Very few youngsters actually need hard feed and one that has been starved certainly doesn't. I would feed from the ground, so that she has the opportunity to develop her muscles correctly
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OP explained she was worried the filly would colic and will now be feeding ad-lib hay from the ground.

OP, to me, she doesn't look that terrible and I'm sure she'll recover quickly. I do think you should get a full vet check done as soon as you officially own her though - just to be sure there are no hidden issues. And I second the suggestion to check she's not pregnant. That would be awful.
 
Sorry, I missed that.

Do please be very careful about additional feeding, OP. I used to have a mare who had been kept very short of feed as a yearling, the breeder had bought her back and fed her up, on just about everythig she could think of - as an adult she (the mare) developed severe food intolerances and could not have even the tiniest amount of cereal or refined sugar.
 
She looks like a yearling to me - simply going off tail length. Once they are in their second year the tail looks 'fuller'. Please don't compare her to an adult horse for condition - her condition is perfectly fine for a youngster and quite what is to be expected during a growth spurt. No, she isn't fat, but she certainly isn't in terrible condition.

I'd just worm her (under veterinary advice with her being so young) and let Dr Grass do his magic. I recon within two weeks she will have filled out a little and you won't be quite so worried. For feed I would give her chaff and a stud balancer only.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
…….. . Very few youngsters actually need hard feed and one that has been starved certainly doesn't. ……..
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An interesting and accurate observation. All so often, if we try to compensate for a youngster's poor appearance, we can so easily make matters worse. 'Luck' may have us get away with it, but too often we don't. Make haste slowly (very slowly), should be the maxim.

I was recently (as a birthday treat!) invited to see the stallions Frankel and Kingsman, along with Oasis Dream, and all the stallion boxes had hay on the floor. It's the better way, I'm certain.

Alec.
 
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