My horse is 'seriously underweight'

You Wont Forget Me said:
i am aware of this and this is why his forage has now been increased! I am certainly not taking that attitude i know that is not the case i am simply stating my point to the small minority who are being just a 'little' rude on the matter, i know i asked opinions and i have taken them all on board. As for the muscle situation we are working on it with him as i have also said previously
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I think really the best feeding advice can come from the nutritionalists at the feed companies, although obviously they will want to promote their own products. You can ring several advice lines and take an average from them all if you like :)

It might also help to arm yourself with a luggage weigher (I'm sure thats not the proper name... :o ) - the kind you can hold up, hang your haynet from and it tells you how many lbs or kg of forage you have in it. They only cost a few quid and can really help you to determine if what you are giving is sufficient for your horse's dietary needs - work to about 2-2.5% of his body weight. Then obviously if he is finishing it all before you get there in the morning you can do things to slow down his intake like double haynetting. As someone else said a good dietary balancer would be an excellent addition to his hay ration, if you feed something like Baileys' balancer it has protein, vits and mins and is in pellet form, so you don't need to add anything else to it. Be carefulk with some balancers as some do not contain protein.
 
FionaM I brought my TBx Welsh last year and he was 16.2 now is just under 17hh... Depends on the horse.... My Irishx was 15.2 when I brought him at 5 and finished up at 16.1. The TBxWelsh had no topline and was very weak across his back. The extra protien really helped along with a simliar work load to the OP's horse.
I'm glad your considering it... I'll try to get some pics up when I can be bothered to turn my laptop on!
 
if im totaly honest, as you asked for opinions....he is defo not underweight, however i do think he need that little extra layer on him, i know you say he is a baby, but hes not.....hes a horse and i can undertsand that young horses still need room to grow, but he does look a tad, just a tad, out of condition, i know your working on the muscle, but the muscle wont appear if he has nothing to turn into muscle. like i said, not underweight, just lacking in a layer of weight
 
You asked for opinions op and it's really great to see that you've taken advice and upped the forage, that will pay dividends, with regards to a good balancer baileys low cal is fantastic stuff and will give him everything he needs or you can go with baileys outshine again a great balancer, and high in oil too (my personal favourite) neither are cheap by the sack, but you only feed a cup full a day so it lasts forever.

With regards to the whole rug and feed issue, horses piss us off sometimes ;) I remember Ben was soooo good as a youngster with having his rug on, then this winter he tried to kick me when I did his leg straps... He kept threatening so I whipped the rug off and chucked him in his field... Mid February :eek: he had a field shelter and a good coat on him but after that day he has been a saint to rug ever since ;)

I'm sure you will get there in the end, I've recently had cause to speak to lots of feed companies as was given the name of a fantastic nutritionalist who works for a number of the big companies, you will need to carefully plan the type of intake for your boy to get that development of good top line and balance it with your horses needs without going overboard as you know, whilst there is a wealth of very good advice being given to you on here it is always reassuring to talk to someone who does this for a living, the nutritionalist that I was referred to, doesn't push any one brand, she will tailor the best feed regime to suit the needs of you and your horse, if you want a name and contact pm me and I can give it to you. Good luck
 
As has been stated several times over, the horse needs minerals and vitamins every day, therefore take one bag of quality horse feed, read the label, then feed accordingly, do not dilute with another feed like oats unless you add a mineral and vitamin supplement. Feed more forage. Feed some salt.
PS you were going to ask vet for his opinion, have you done so?
 
Miss L Toe said:
As has been stated several times over, the horse needs minerals and vitamins every day, therefore take one bag of quality horse feed, read the label, then feed accordingly, do not dilute with another feed like oats unless you add a mineral and vitamin supplement. Feed more forage. Feed some salt.
PS you were going to ask vet for his opinion, have you done so?
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Or don't feed mixes at all that of the main reasons why I stopped non of my horses ever needed the amounts of mix that gave them their daily allowance.
So I now feed oats and micronised linseed mixed with Alfafa or hi fi lite and add supplements as needed much easier to know exactly where you with supplementation this way.
 
The poor old OP is getting bombarded with lots of different feed ideas - what is the point when she has said (quite a few times) she will be speaking to her vet and nutritionist?

I am amazed at how polite the OP has remained, given the tone of some of the posts on here and the fact that someone has opening posted admitting to feeding her horse without her permission. I would be spitting nails.

The horse is not exactly a charity case, so there was never any call for a busybody on the yard to do more than speak to the YO if they had a concern and then wind their neck in.
 
Arabelle said:
The poor old OP is getting bombarded with lots of different feed ideas - what is the point when she has said (quite a few times) she will be speaking to her vet and nutritionist?

I am amazed at how polite the OP has remained, given the tone of some of the posts on here and the fact that someone has opening posted admitting to feeding her horse without her permission. I would be spitting nails.

The horse is not exactly a charity case, so there was never any call for a busybody on the yard to do more than speak to the YO if they had a concern and then wind their neck in.
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^^^^This!!!!!!!!^^^^
 
Arabelle said:
The poor old OP is getting bombarded with lots of different feed ideas - what is the point when she has said (quite a few times) she will be speaking to her vet and nutritionist?

I am amazed at how polite the OP has remained, given the tone of some of the posts on here and the fact that someone has opening posted admitting to feeding her horse without her permission. I would be spitting nails.

The horse is not exactly a charity case, so there was never any call for a busybody on the yard to do more than speak to the YO if they had a concern and then wind their neck in.
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Me too the horse is in no way a charity case ( and I know about this ) this whole thead is amazing . A little lean does not harm a horse at all a little fat perhaps not too but it's agood job I have not posted pictures of the cob I am doing HDT with at the moment although he is more heavily muscled ( hes older )he looks leaner than OP's horse.
I would hesitate to give Op any advice as I am sure she is sick of it but if I did it would be to pick an experianced person on the yard that you like and respect and take advice from them and learn from them please dont find that patronising I am in my fifties and still learn from watching people I respect .
 
Op I suspect that the main lesson to be learned is to be careful how you phrase your initial post.
If you had simply said "someone on the yard had suggested my horse is underweight, I'm not sure, what do you think." you wouldn't have got 1/10 of the grief you have.
Take advice from an older lady who has c*cked up many a time - in future if you feel a rant coming on, try writing it down & leaving a couple of hours before you post, giving yourself time to think about how things might pan out badly. By having a go at Eventa it got back to her, she defended herself & it spiralled out of control. Never think that because someone doesn't post on here they won't know. I know of 20 people who lurk for every poster I know & all of them have other friends they talk to.
 
Never read whole thread as too many pages, don't think the horse looks "seriously underweight"

But have to add that it is a major pet hate of mine to come up to yard to see horses with not a scrap to eat as owners left them 1 Hay net or a tiny pile , it a sure way to end up with stable vices brought on by boredom or stress as there stomach will be uncomfortable with no food for say 10 odd hours.

Even if your horse is over weight for instance there are ways to make sure it's rations last longer.

I would not feed the said horse but I would think its owner is completely clueless and feel Extreamly sorry for the poor animal.

1 Haynet for the horse in question judging by photos is not enough, it should not be stood all night with no food. So really I understand why the lady is giving it food but she should of spoke to YO to highlight the fact the horse is locked in a stable most likely stressed and hungry. Then YO could have a word.
 
If someone was giving donovan more hay without my permission, I would be fuming! I take advice from my yard manager, and yard owner. Donovan is on a Do it yourself yard, which means I do it MYSELF!
Makes me wonder how some would react if I felt their child was underweight and I handed them something to eat, without pernmission from their parents!
 
DragonSlayer said:
^^^^This!!!!!!!!^^^^
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Arabelle said:
The poor old OP is getting bombarded with lots of different feed ideas - what is the point when she has said (quite a few times) she will be speaking to her vet and nutritionist?

I am amazed at how polite the OP has remained, given the tone of some of the posts on here and the fact that someone has opening posted admitting to feeding her horse without her permission. I would be spitting nails.

The horse is not exactly a charity case, so there was never any call for a busybody on the yard to do more than speak to the YO if they had a concern and then wind their neck in.
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^^^^^^
This

A gentle word of concern with the YO would have saved this whole thread.

Hopefully the atmosphere on the yard in question is not too fraught!

Makes me very grateful that my YO's attitude is "if it is not yours don't interfere with it that is what I am paid to do".
 
Haven't had time to read this as marking A level scripts atm.

OP, your horse is not seriously underweight BUT.... this year because of the very cold (after a spike) spring and summer and low light levels there is not nearly as much nutrition in the grass as usual. Yours looks like my 2 year old and although I'm not feeding her she is out 24/7 on the best I've got and I may lose my nerve if this continues. In which case it will be haylage not straights.

Very fine balancing act. My yearling goes ribs/no ribs on a daily basis as growing spurts so that makes it even harder. You obviously love your ponio so good luck :)
 
Having been caught out once ever (last year) with laminitis after having horses 30+ years, I have changed my view a great deal about what a horses weight should be. A friend of mine worked a long time at the main horse rescue organisation & she told me all my horses were too fat & that you should be able to feel & in the case of fit horses see their ribs. I now keep my horses leaner (would not win prizes in an overweight hunter class) but i would rather that than have any of mine with laminitis. Having done a lot of showing in hand & ridden, I have known of some of the big names having laminitic (potential show horses) at the age of 2 & 3 yr old. If in doubt next time you have a vet on the yard get their opinion on your horse & it is a good idea to have a measuring tape to keep the balance right.
 
amymay said:
This is an interesting post, in many ways - because I'm always banging on about duty of care on livery yards, by the YO, and by fellow liveries.

So if the lady giving the extra hay was genuinely concerned about your horse then whilst her actions may have upset you, she hasn't really done anything wrong - other than top up a hay ration that has been used up.

We had a very good system some years ago, whereby four of us had a system of last person to leave put the hay in. This meant that those on smaller rations because of diets didn't stand for too long overnight when their ration was eaten.
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Sorry amymay, have only just gone back to this tread. What if this horse was on a special diet? Is it still ok for another livery (even if well meaning in their opinion) gives someone elses horse extra hay / feed etc with out the owner knowing?

I stand by my original opinion, yes, this livery was in the wrong by feeding someone else's horse without their consent (and potentially without indepth knowledge of said horses diet / health etc). We may have to agree to disagree on this one :)

(sorry also as I haven't read the rest of the thread as its so many pages and I expect things have gotten debated to death).
 
M_G said:
Goo god yes. I look back in horror at some of the advice I have followed in the past *hangs head* thankfully we live and learn
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Same here, I used to believe it was ok to worm once a year.....no really, hangs head even lower in shame...

OP I think your horse looks ok from the pics you've posted, good luck with getting it all sorted out :)
 
OFG said:
Sorry amymay, have only just gone back to this tread. What if this horse was on a special diet? Is it still ok for another livery (even if well meaning in their opinion) gives someone elses horse extra hay / feed etc with out the owner knowing?

I stand by my original opinion, yes, this livery was in the wrong by feeding someone else's horse without their consent (and potentially without indepth knowledge of said horses diet / health etc). We may have to agree to disagree on this one :)

(sorry also as I haven't read the rest of the thread as its so many pages and I expect things have gotten debated to death).
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The person who gave the hay (Eventa) did come on to say it's yard policy to give extra to any horse who has run out if you're last on the yard, unless they have special dietary requirements. Also Eventa had been asked for advice by the OP's mum and seemed pretty aware of this horse's needs.

Hopefully the outcome is okay though, as OP seems to have taken on board comments about her horse needing more forage to help build up his muscles along with exerise. I also hope the two parties can get together and draw a line under this disagreement, or there could be a bit of an atmosphere on the yard! ;)
 
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benson21 said:
Donovan is on a Do it yourself yard, which means I do it MYSELF!
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So if this same horse had been colicking or similar would you have expected Eventa to ignore that as well? Colicking because it had been left with no feed for over 12 hours? Because if she had, she would no doubt have been criticised for that as well.
 
Now this is interesting! (sorry for bringing it back up:p) But im sure i have seen this horse out at 2 local shows lately one 2 months ago(ish) West fife show? Also at pittenweem last week, was that you OP?:o
Yes your horse did seem to be lacking muscle but by no means was he seriously under weight when i saw him at west fife but seeing him again last week i saw a huge difference, whatever your doing now is certainly making a difference from what i've seen so keep up the good work. Perhaps you should give us all an update on your boy.


Ps if it was you well done pittenweem show, you did very well.
 
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