Please help I dont know what to do

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melanie99

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Hi I posted on here a while ago about my 23 yr old thoroughbred gelding who has lost weight over the last while and he never really picked up after last winter. He is happy and eating plenty and has a gorgeous shiny coat that you cant buy but his weight has dropped because he now cannot digest hay efficiently. I'm goin to try him on a probiotic supplement (recommendations please) however if he doesnt improve drammtically over summer I cant see him getting through another winter and I'm now considering PTS before next winter once he's enjoyed the summer. I just don't know if this is the right decision or not and it's so hard as I'm sure a lot of you will know. Like I say he's happy in himslef still trots across the field and whinnies at me and looks fabulous if only he would put weight on. I think this is why its so hard. Sorry for rammbling just confused. Opinions appreciated. Thanks.
 
Have you had his teeth checked lately? Just because at his age it is likely that his teeth are expiring (being ground so far down that they dont work properly any more). This could definitely explain why he doesnt seem to be putting weight on. If you haven't had his teeth seen to in the last couple of years it might just be worth it just to see if there is anything going on in his mouth that might be causing him to not get sufficient nutrients to even maintain his weight never mind put weight on. If his teeth are expiring then there is very little that you can do other than give him foods which do not require chewing i.e. soaked pony nuts that have gone all fluffed up like they do. The only other option from expired teeth if you don't fancy the non solid food route is PTS i'm afraid.

It might be the case that his teeth are fine, or as fine as they get at 23, but at least you have then ruled out something which is easy to detect. If you do decide to get a dentist out to your horse (and this applies regardless of horse or age) I would recommend that you get a BAEDT registered dentist (or EDTs as they now like to be known)- at least then you know you are paying for someone who has actually passed exams (and bloody hard ones at that!) and has a very good knowledge of the mouth and teeth of a horse. You can find a list of BAEDT registered dentists in your area on their website: http://www.baedt.com/?c=5357
 
Hi thanks sorry forgot to mention he has his teeth done regularly by dentist was done 2 months ago. He has had blood tests worm counts and wormed for encysted redworm but everything is coming back fine. Should of mentioned that.
 
Yeah I just looked up your previous post so not to worry :) have you been trying the suggestions from before? i.e. the bran mashes/ hay replacer?? If these haven't worked then I am all out of suggestions. Bearing in mind that horses (in the wild this is) are only really designed to live to their mid teens, it is possible that your old boy is simply reaching the end of his life span. I know its a super hard decision to make RE: PTS, but perhaps if nothing you have tried has worked, and he doesn't improve over the summer then it is perhaps the kindest thing? I remember having to make the same decision with an old pony I used to have and its never easy, but the overriding thought throughout all of it was that it wasn't fair to just keep letting her get worse.

I do honestly hope you find something that works for your old boy though :)
 
This may sound really stupid, but I have a 20+ year old (he's a rescue) arab x welsh that is a terrible doer.

I've been chucking feed down him and still he looked poor. I was at a bit of a loss, and decided that I had nothing to lose giving him some of my mares stud balancer. I gave him half a cup a day and he looks fantastic. It's made a huge difference. so might be worth a try?

as I said, sounds bonkers, but it's worked!
 
A friend of mine has a TB that she rides often and hard and he can be a nightmare to keep weight on. A few summers ago he looked like a walking hat rack and an experienced YO suggested adding baby formula milk to his feed. Did the trick! You'd need to experiment and, as with any new feed, introduce it very carefully. I'd have to say though hun, that at his age, he might have a serious, internal gut or liver problem that no amount of feeding will cure. When you had him blood tested for worms, did the vets check for liver function, etc? I'd get the minimally invasive tests done in an effort to pin down the problem but beyond that he'll need you to watch him carefully and love him enough to be ready to help him if his life becomes a struggle.
 
Have you tried Guinness in the feed? The vet was saying only today what a wonderful pick-me up beer is - also raw eggs, and pure molasses. They're very old-fashioned but proven fatteners, and horses love them. Have you tried alfalfa or lucerne as an alternative to hay?

Don't give up on him. There are all sorts of things still to try.
 
I have a 22 year old lightweight TB who has always been difficult to keep weight on. Last year he had all sorts of things - Alfa A, Baileys no. 4 (I think), a really expensive feed balancer, oil, hay and was being fed 3 times a day. You name it, he had it, but he still didn't look brilliant.

This year he has been having Badminton Hay Replacer cubes with ordinary high fibre nuts, oil, Happy Hoof (went off Alfa A last year) and Pink Powder only twice per day and this winter is the best he's ever looked.

I'm putting the improvement down to the hay replacer cubes. These are bigger than ordinary nuts and can be soaked if necessary, but I just use them as a large part of his ordinary feed. A 20KG sack lasts him about 2 weeks.

He gets hay as normal and eats everything up. He is a very stressy horse but has shown a marked improvement in this area this winter, which could be either because he is getting old, or because the hay replacer cubes are having a kind of soporific effect. It could be that he has (had) ulcers and the very high fibre/low (no) grain diet is working.

If you can get hold of these cubes it's probably worth a try. If you can start feeding him up now and keep going all through the summer it will stand him in good stead for next winter.
 
Thanks everyone. I am planning to try everything over the summer and I'm not giving up on him I rescued him 7 years ago I've spent a fortune on him. His blood tests are all normal and like I say he's happy in himself. I just want to know if come October there's been no great improvement should I still fight on. We live in North East of Scotland and the last 2 winters have hit us hard. I just dont want him to go in pain and I've done nothing but stress about him all winter. What would you do? he's condition score 1 on 1-5 scale.
 
melanie99 said:
Hi I posted on here a while ago about my 23 yr old thoroughbred gelding who has lost weight over the last while and he never really picked up after last winter. He is happy and eating plenty and has a gorgeous shiny coat that you cant buy but his weight has dropped because he now cannot digest hay efficiently. I'm goin to try him on a probiotic supplement (recommendations please) however if he doesnt improve drammtically over summer I cant see him getting through another winter and I'm now considering PTS before next winter once he's enjoyed the summer. I just don't know if this is the right decision or not and it's so hard as I'm sure a lot of you will know. Like I say he's happy in himslef still trots across the field and whinnies at me and looks fabulous if only he would put weight on. I think this is why its so hard. Sorry for rammbling just confused. Opinions appreciated. Thanks.
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the only thing that EVER put weight on my WB/TB who was a very poor doer was Baileys No. 1 and Burgess Supa Barley Rings. The Supa Barley Rings were like magic. I note that you say you use an equine dentist. Now there are dentists and there are dentists! Does your dentist use a gag to get to the back teeth. Its amazing how many vets and people claiming to be dentists don't actually do this! I was told by my dentist (who always uses one) that there is no way you can rasp teeth effectively if the horse is resistant nor without a gag.
 
I was just about to say if he is no longer losing weight but maintaining his underweight condition then I would leave him be, but a condition score 1 is very very poor, as you obviously know. What has your vet suggested? What are you feeding him now?

My TB gelding is 30 now and has lost some condition over winter but really it is down to his age - ie muscle mass - he has never had a topline and this is more noticeable with age. However, if you put a saddle on he doesn;t look too bad. Just not muscled up. I have been doubling up on feed balancer this winter - he has the simple systems feeds including their total eclipse balancer and instant linseed. This feed is all soaked and easy to digest.

For the winter he has also been having blue chip, and the new Veteran Vitality feed. He has a bit of a belly at the moment but does look aged elsewhere.

I went to a lecture at my vets recently and one of the top Redwings vets was there talking - he said that often people put weight loss down to being old, but that a healthy old horse won't be thin, it will be thin becuase of an underlying issue.

I would worry if your vet hasn't any useful suggestions - they may have and you haven't mentioned them. Its very hard to guage condition without seeing him, would you be worried about someone reporting him?
 
Brandy said:
I would worry if your vet hasn't any useful suggestions - they may have and you haven't mentioned them. Its very hard to guage condition without seeing him, would you be worried about someone reporting him?
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I think people underestimate how difficult it is for owners of thin horses. From previous experience with my thin horse (poor doer) who never put on weight, people at shows would stare at me and him and you could see them talking about us under their breath. I even had the odd few people turn around and comment on his weight and ask what I fed him.

Looking back now (it was 16 years ago) I should have had his teeth checked and his saddle fit/back done, but Biggles was my first horse and I was quite naive in that respect. Not many people had by the mid 90's heard about horse dentists and EDT's were a thing of the future. It is difficult to look back over the mistakes you make from the past, but this is what gaining experience is all about. So long as you learn from it.

To be honest I wouldn't like either problem, but if I had to choose I would much rather have an overweight horse that I could cut down than try to feed up an underweight horse, as I would say that it would be far easier with the first scenario.
 
Ok. You can only just see his ribs but the rest of him is really thin. I do worry about people seeing him and reporting him but to be honest apart from the weight loss he looks great. He also looks worse next to my cob as she is 3.5 score compared to him. Like a lot of people I don't have a lot of money and when I took him on I always said if he ever had anything seriuosly wrong with him then I'd PTS. After him racing for 7 years then having had a horrendous time once leaving racing I wouldnt want him to suffer for longer. Its not fair on him. I will be his last owner. I'm spending every spare penny on feed and vets and luckily being married to a farmer I've lots of boiled barley on tap. I'm goin to move him onto fibre mash and his barley and a digestive supplement as I dont think he's really digesting alfa A now either. Its all just goin straight through him you can see it in his poo and yes his teeth are fine. he also scours but has done that every winter for last 7 years thats his norm. No worse than usual. His teeth are prob not as great as have been which is why I'll move him onto fibre mash and hopefully we'll have spring grass soon. I'm just at a loss and the best vets is royal dick which is 5 hours away and I'm not travelling my old man down there. Sorry for rambling on.
 
Right. You have an underweight horse, who cant digest long fibre or cereals and scours.

From that I would sugest firstly finding a hay replacer that suits him - either soaked grass nuts / high fibre cubes or a short chop - graze on, hi-fi lite or similar... feed it by the tub!

Then look at getting him on a probiotic... even something as simple as natural yogurt may help the scouring, otherwise something like NAF pink powder is a good one OR you could put him on a balancer with probiotic in it.

Then feed a conditioning feed like baileys no 4 and a good helping of oil... like a cup a day.

Consider feeding SOAKED oats? these are aparently very good for weight gain and should be easier to digest in their soaked state...

If all attempts at getting him to gain weight fails then I think you are right to consider calling it a day but don't write him off yet...
 
Thanks. Just off phone to vet. He's coming out on fri to do cushings test and liver fluke test as both sound like it could be causing this. Really hope something is found or my old man is just getting past it. Will let you know what results say. Thanks so much everyone for replies nice to know I've got the support of other old horsey minded people.
 
My horse recently suffered a stroke, 25yo arthritic mare, she was staggerring and struggled to walk, struggled with hay etc and wouldnt eat, in a short space of time lost a huge amount of weight, my vet gave 2 weeks then was saying if no change to be pts on welfare grounds.... She looked so poor i cried every time i took her rug off.
I spoke to a baileys nutritionist who helped greatly
She started on baileys conditioning cubes
Outshine
Sugar beet
Soya oil and hi fi senior
Initially she just picked very small amounts of the feed and as a hay replacer big buckets of hi fi senior and watery sugar beet which she could manage, by day 3 she started to really eat and had the above feed 4 times a day with big buckets of hi fi senior and sugar beet
Thankfully she continued to pick up and put weight back on and 4 weeks later looks great. Still cant manage long fibre like hay but eats short chops and sugarbeet for hay replacement and good grazing
She now acts like a 3 yo will trot and run about, she kinda runs in a wierd way and is weaker on her rt side but is now maintained on 2 feecs of the above and the short chop hay replacer .....it might work for your horse or get help from a nutritionist like i did as its free
 
melanie - I'm up in the NE of Scotland too - just outside Kingswells - where are you?

It has been a tough winter because of that really cold spell - my ISH struggles to keep weight on too over the winter and he's got a few sharp edges at the moment. It is early yet and the grass that's well growing down south is only just starting here.

Mineral balance is really important- BOF mentioned baby milk - the best group of calves I have ever seen were the ones that were given baby milk rather than calf milk because the baby milk has much better and higher availability minerals - particularly zinc. They were on it because they all had ringworm - that cleared up pretty quickly too.

Wouldn't fret too much about it yet - but get his teeth checked definitely and flukes too if he has been near standing water. I know some folks who are using the Coolstance Copra meal with some good results on the ones who need that bit more.

My OH is an independant nutritionist - she has a product called Formula 1 - great stuff, good protein and fantastic mineral profile. We sometimes have an odd out of date tub and it seems to give them a real lift - we used it with out laminitic when he was very down and not eating. Poly laps it up!
 
Hi brucea I'm just outside Keith. Its been awfull at one point my horses were in for 9 weeks as couldnt get them out the door. Luckily they have a wee barn to put them in and they have plenty room there. Im trying everything and looking into every veterinary aspect as I dont want to give up on him. Just never seen him this bad. We moved them home last June and was very cautious not to let them have much grass as paranoid about grass sickness. But he really started to look bad in December and he had full run of the field (3 acre) by September but there is a very wet bit at bottom of field which is why we thought of fluke? Im goin to wait to see what tests say before I go out and buy feed as might just be wasting my money. He's getting barley, Alfa A and veteran vitality just now. Shame didnt kno bout baby milk sooner just threw out rest of tub now my toddler is on cows milk.
 
Norvite do the Charnwood linseed meal - it is a great feed - O 3&6 , fibre. protein and mucilage which will soothe the digestive tract - it is really very good for them

About £25 a 20Kg bag - I feed a tea mug each feed.

Maybe worth a go. Will help with any joint problems too.

At ther coldest our 5 were going through a big round bale of hay in 3 days - they do need lots to keep them warm.
 
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