My first yearling - feeding/handling advice required

[mrdarcy]

Next week a new addition joins my small band of equines. She's a yearling purebred arab filly. Unfortunately the people I'm getting her from have had a lot of financial problems and also problems with their landlords and grazing so she is quite poor in condition. She'll be out 24/7 on pretty good grazing but I'm planning on feeding her supplementary feed too so that she can put on condition before winter sets in. Any recommendations on what to feed and how much? Also any other advice on handling etc would be gratefully received. She seems to have been well handled - so certainly hasn't been neglected in that way but what problems am I likely to encounter?

 

[Maesfen]

Unless you know differently, I think I'd give her a five day course of Panacur Guard followed by one for tapeworm to begin with.
It sounds like she's similar in condition to Spring when I first had her so what worked for us was -

Blue Chip, even if you can only afford two bags, they're well worth their money in situations like this and you won't need any extra supplements either; I used Baileys Economy Mix as a base along with Stud Nuts and some soaked barley rings with sugar beet. If she had liked chop she would have had Alfa A Oil too. She had as much haylage as she would eat all of the time and she had four small feeds a day to start with, a month later down to three feeds. The secret is to not overload them at any one time which is one reason Blue Chip is so helpful. You could see the difference in a fortnight and it sounds like you have better grazing than us which will help a lot.
Handling wise, I wouldn't do too much for now, just re enforce her manners at all times.

Good luck, make sure you do loads of pic's!

 

[_jetset_]

TopSpec Feed Balancer is excellent for young horses, I have found them incredibly informative when I have phoned and you feed less than some other balancers, reducing the amount of bulk feeding

My friend's yearling is also on some of the conditioning flakes from TopSpec (sorry, their name escapes me

) because he was in pretty poor condition this summer following colic surgery as a foal and a long period of further box rest due to an accident

He looks super though, you wouldn't know it was the same yearling now!!!

With regards to handling, I have been reading Richard Maxwell's book (although am about to order his new one for young horses that has just been released) and have found it absolutely brilliant for this as Troy is my first baby horse too

 

[Guinness]

I work with Arabs (at a stud) do you know how she is bred? You will find with Arabs (Im sure others can vouch for this) they take a while to trust you, but once you have their trust they will do anything for you. As for feeding, obviously she needs to put on condition from what you are saying (we have our youngsters on Spillers youngstock mix) but in general Arabs are very good doers, well ours are anyway, so I wouldnt worry too much Im sure with a little TLC and plenty of grass she will be fine!! Can we see some pictures please?!

 

[sallyellis]

As Giggle Pig has stated Arabs take a while to build up trust with you but once they do they are very loyal - I have had my yearling colt about a month now he knows I am his mum although we had a bit of a day of it one sunny Sunday when him and his buddies thought it might be fun if he didnt come in for the night but after I managed to catch him he has been a good boy LOL - sorry went off on a tangent then! as for feed my boy wasn't in bad condition when I got him but I have fed up a poor TB and I fed him on Baileys conditioning cubes, Alfalfa A oil, fibre beet, and plenty of good quality grasse, hay or haylage. I do find mix can fry an Arabs brain so I wouldnt use a mix but stay on the cubes if you can I also have started adding in D&H suregrow to my boys feed but that is because I am using on my 6 month old filly as well. Good luck lots of pictures and feel free to pm me if you want to compare stories.

 

[mrdarcy]

Thanks all for you great advice. I will take some photos and post them on here when she arrives, then some more after a few weeks so I can get your opinions on how her condition is improving.

Gigglepig - which stud do you work at? I'm an arab fanatic (though still learning about bloodlines) - I already have three but they're grown up versions, this will be first youngster of any breed!

As for her breeding she's not registered as yet because the people she's coming from haven't had the money to register her sire. Hopefully that will be rectified soon so I can get her papers done properly. But she is by a stallion called Amdani who is by Maysoun out of a mare by Al Hakkim. Her dam is a mare called Eunette who is by Eunizar (El Azrak/Eunice) out of a mare called Odelette (Damocles/Alais). So I believe her sire line is Straight Egyptian and her dam is Polish.

Her allbreed entry is here:
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/ptraci

 

[mrdarcy]

My filly arrived yesterday. She loaded very sweetly and traveled well. She wasn't over keen on coming off the wagon at the other end but now seems to have settled in her new home. I'm keeping her in for a few days to let her settle and until I know I can catch and lead her. We did two very short sessions of leading today and she was quickly leading very nicely - I think she's a very bright girl.

Her coat is in a horrible state - scurfy, matted and bald patches in some places. Any advice on anything I can use on her coat to improve it's condition?

Feed wise I've started her on Winergy Growth as I use the Winergy feeds on my older horses. She's also on haylage (can't get hold of any good quality hay - but our haylage is more like good quality hay really, so hopefully is okay).

Here is a photo of her as a foal:

This is her at a few months old:

And sadly this is what she looks like now:

Despite her severely under weight condition she's bright in herself and has a spark in her eye and plenty of energy. She's a muddy colour because she's turning from bay to grey - so certainly not looking her best.

She was wormed about 10 days ago but still has a pot belly so I'm wondering if she needs worming again - but I'm a bit wary of too much chemicals in her little body. Would it be safe to worm her again so soon? I've got the vet coming next week to check her over anyway but any advice would be gratefully received.