Ideas needed - underweight horse that wont eat

madhector

madhector

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We have this horse that came over from ireland, her previous owners had half starved her as she had got laminitus last year so she was kept very thin (far too thin) She has had her teeth done and been wormed and had the vet check her over. Problem is she just isnt gaining any weight.

She is out on good grass during the day and in at night on lovely hay. She is incredibly fussy though and will eat something for about 24 hours then next day turn her nose up at it, we have tried so many different feeds to see if there is anything she will actually eat but no luck. When she is out she just picks at the grass and doesnt really bother with it. In she is the same with hay/haylege.

We have tried her out 24/7 but she is worse and seems to eat a bit more when she s in at night but not much.

It is almost like she isnt hungry at all.

Any ideas appreciated as we are running out of ideas
 
I'd be prone to get a worm count done again maybe?

will she take tip bits??? carrots etc? turnips? try hiding them in here haynet maybe? hand pick grass for her??

Maybe call the vet? ask for bloods might be something worse.. try giving her tiny small feeds.. little and often.. even if only a handfull at a time..

You have probably tried most of these....
 
small concentrated feeds, sometimes they get a bit overwhelmed with a big bucketful.
Baileys do their outshine in a spearmint flavour, could you combine that with bluechip or similar, and give in 4 small feeds?
Another product I like is top spec super conditioning flakes.

What I would say is do not completely disregard the previous lammi in an effort to put on weight. Do you have any pictures of how 'skinny' this horse is?

Might be worth the vet running some bloods and getting a worm count done just to be on safe side.
 
I think she had a worm count done and was fine, but might be worng, will check. Not interested in tip bits really, will sometimes take something out of your hand but wont bother with carrots etc if left in her bucket.

Bloods will have to be the next thing checked, although the vet didnt suggest it but might have to insist
 
I would suggest calling the Winergy care line I hear certain feeds of thiers are excellent for condition for hroses that have struggled for years!
 
Coligone, if she's got an acidy tummy which is common when underweight eating hard feed will make it worse so she doesn't bother.

I think that's the basic theory PM H's Mum for the full deal.

Also/or Naff Pink Powders are great for helping horses pick up and they're nice and cheep to.
 
The lami was my concern too, keeping a very close eye on her.

No pics Im afraid, but would say she isnt an emergancy case but you wouldnt want to take her out in public really, she has some muscle, in fact has quite a good muscley bum, but is so ribby
 
Does she like things that are sweet? (honey in feed may make it more attractive if she does) although can be high in sugar and energy. otherwise theres quite a few combination good quality mixes that could do the trick, depends on what she likes?
 
She had a conditioning mix that she ate for a few days then turned her nose up at it. Wont touch nuts of any sort (even soaked) Tried her on alfa beet but she ate it once and now wont touch it. Alfa oil/A wasnt very nice either. Tried boiled barley and honey, she just doesnt seem to want to eat
 
As everyone said might be best to get bloods done just incase.
But my old horse was very thin when I got him and he was scared of hard feed. Lots of tiny feeds are good as Ben_and_Jerrys said. I put him on blue chip which really helped especially as they only need a small ammount. I also used to tempt him back to his feed by adding mint or apple, pretty much anything I could think of. I had to hand feed him for a while. After a couple of months he would then eat from a bucket, but he never finished a feed in all the years I had him. He would loose weight when turned out as he didn't spend enough time eating, just herding the others up. We found the right balance in the end but it was heartbreaking in the beginning. You just want to shake them and tell them to eat!
 
I'm not sure that Winergy would be that good for a fussy feeder - mine didn't like it much and use to leave half of it in the bucket!

Outshine worked best for he in the end.
 
Have you thought about Baileys no 1? Its a bit like breadcrumbs and as long as you put a nice amount of water with it they generally lap it up. It is designed with weight gain in mind and can be fed just with chaff or as a supplement to a mix. My horse gets fed it over the winter and sulks when i cut it out in the spring!!!!
 
when my old mare wouldnt eat, like yours she'd eat one thing one day then not the next, i phone all the feed companies and they sent me loads of sample so she could eat different things every day so at least she was eating!then could buy a whole bag of whatever she liked best! covering in apple juice also worked a bit as did putting black treacle in her feed.
syringed propell plus into her as well so she was getting enough vits and minerals
 
She sounds horribly similar to my friends little mare - infact you could have been describing her exactly
frown.gif

They persevered over 2years to try and get weight on her, feeding her by hand and having every feed imaginable in rotation as she would go off things so quickly.
The only thing they found which increased her appetite a little was to syringe the liquid 'Restore' from Global Herbs down her daily, it is a liver tonic/detoxifyer thing,but she still would only eat out of hand and it would take 2 hours to get half a scoop of anything down her
crazy.gif
 
Has her teeth been done (sorry if i'm stating the obvious) but she could have an abcess or something which is making eating painful?
 
my boy is allergic to compound horse feeds and a bit fussy, he is now thriving on barley rings and bread. He loves the bread, you can either feed it dry as I do or soak it which ever she prefers, it seems to be keeping alot of weight on my horse.
 
NAF Pink Power is good. But when my warmblood was off his food - I called Spillers helpline - she suggested putting Fenugreek (Indian spice) into his food. Yep - I thought she was mad too - smells like curry powder.
The Schwartz one from the supermarket - litterally just sprinkled it on his food and gave a gentle stir - he gobbled it all up.
Stopped using it when he got back to eating normally - but worth a try.
 
my youngster was very skinny and also fussy- have had him on winergy growth for 6 weeks now and the difference is amazing- and he loves it . don't need anything else with it either.
 
Thought of Stomach ulcers? We recently had a gelding drop a lot of weight, owner had vet out loads the diagnosis took ages, he had to go to liverpool for some treatment too, now though he seems to be recovering well....whether all of this is true i have no idea, as the girl who owns him is a bit of a storyteller!
 
My horse can be quite fussy, swopped him onto Allen & Page Calm & Condition with some Top Spec Super Conditioniing Flakes - he absolutley loves it & has put on stacks of condition.
Agree pink powder is marvellous too!
 
I would try soaked whole oats- because I think horses like these just hate the variation in compound feeds and dont like the added things like wheatfeed and molasses etc.
Whole oats that have been soaked for 24 hours are very very appetising, Ive yet to see a horse that doesnt like them and they do encourage a fussy eater. You just need to add a double handfull of alfalfa and a vit/min supplement and you have a balanced feed
 
I don't know if you can buy Pre-Alpin from Agrobs, Germany....... www.agrobs.de but we import it into Portugal and have used the Pre-Alpin Lite to start and then move on to the Pre-Alpin and this has brought very thin horses on. It is a very natural I have pellet made with Bavarian grass and herbs, we feed it to all of our horses and I have never known one turn it's nose up!
If you need any help sourceing please feel free to contact me direct on julian.mead@sapo.pt
 
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