Skinny veteran and its not even winter :(

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MagicMelon

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My very first pony is starting to really show his age nowadays. He must be about 27 now. He's a native type so looks paticularly bad being so skinny. You cant see his ribs as such but can certainly feel them and its his hips which are obvious and he has barely any weight over his back end. He doesn't look like a cruelty case but is far too skinny for my liking especially with winter looming (and our winters are cold up here!). My problem feeding him is he has cushings (on medication) and already had very severe laminitis when he was 5yrs old, but we've managed to keep it at bay since. He lives out 24/7 on enough grass that I can safely have him on due to him being lami prone, its roughly 2 acres. He gets as much hay as he wants at all times. He has shelter and I've tried to rug him when necessary to stop him getting cold, just bought him a new warm full neck for the winter. Feed-wise, he currently gets twice a day - Alfa A Oil, Happy Hoof, speedibeet and a sprinkling of Baileys Conditioning Cubes (which I know aren't lami friendly as such but he needs them, not that they've helped yet!). Basically, my problem seems to be that he's a lami-prone pony yet NEEDS weight and all the lami-friendly feeds are designed to be low calorie so there's not much "safe" to feed. I dont want to feed huge quantities of chaff, as he isnt stabled and is out with others so its not practical. He was wormed, teeth are fine etc.

He's perfectly happy within himself, definately not depressed and although obviously a bit stiffer, he still canters about. I am really quite worried about how he'll get through this winter though with little weight to lose (and he's generally been losing weight every winter for the last 2 or 3 years).

What else can I do / feed? (should point out I cant add much oil which is what I'd normally try, as pony wont eat it but does tolerate the alfa a oil).
 
Linseed would be the next thing to try, it is high calorie but safe for laminitics is fed in small quantities so easy to feed, I fed my old cushings pony, who was hard to keep weight on and fussy, D&H conditioning cubes with no problems he also has Allen and Page calm and condition which he loves mixed up with the linseed so it goes all gloopy.
 
Fast fibre? I have no idea of content, but sounds like it should be fibre based, feed it to our 29 yo tb with speedibeet and he's bloomed on it. :)
 
Micronised linseed and calm and condition soaked together and mixed into his alfa a oil. Any oild would be ok but linseed is best as it has the correct balance of omega 3 and 6 and is a high food value with adding sugar or carbs
 
Try fibrebeet?
I also used to feed Dodson & Horrell Build up cubes to my OAP, they're much lower in starch than the Bailey's no 4.
 
I think you will be finding the Cushings catching up with him - its one of those things that finally happens.

One of my school ponies lost a great deal of weight shortly before I made the decision to PTS. You can't feed too much extra as you set the laminitis off - it becomes a vicious circle. It may be the time now to consider his future. Do you put him through winter or give him a last summer.
 
I'm having great sucess with grass nuts at the moment for my oldie - might be worth a try. It's just grass so no cereal to might be OK with the lami (but I'm no expert on lami so do check!)
 
Thanks guys, lots of things to try there! Hopefully he'll eat some of it as he can be picky sometimes which doesn't help.

Tnavas - I really hope it isn't the cushings causing this, I just figured it was simply his age more than his illness. I'm definately not in the mind set of making the decision, he's still very happy in himself and Im a firm believer in them telling you when its 'time'.
 
MagicMelon said:
Thanks guys, lots of things to try there! Hopefully he'll eat some of it as he can be picky sometimes which doesn't help.

Tnavas - I really hope it isn't the cushings causing this, I just figured it was simply his age more than his illness. I'm definately not in the mind set of making the decision, he's still very happy in himself and Im a firm believer in them telling you when its 'time'.
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I hope it's not but from experience this was the time when we had to make a decision - The Cushings affected his weight retention and the Laminitis prevented us from feeding him to provide, condition, energy and warmth.
 
We fed our old lady (who had one bout of laminitis aged 10 after a difficult foaling) on grassnuts and dried grass with linseed oil. She had previously been a good doer but in her later years needed extra feed and rugs. We got her to 31 at a good weight before pts with a suspected tumour causing lameness.
 
Fast fibre, veteran vitality and speedi beet is all that I would be feeding, possibly add oil too.

My very old (aprox 40yr old) was as you described a couple of summers ago: started feeding this (although with sugar beet, not speedi in her case) and would never look back. She is now on a diet as she was doing rather too well!

Cannot reccommend fast fibre and veteran vitality highly enough.
 
My 28 yr old lost a little weight early this year ( to be fair though, the previous yard we were on had poor turnout and now we have found a much better stables ) - but I changed her diet too - she is now on Kwikbeet, Allen and Page Veteran Vitality , honey Chop chaff , and micronized linseed and is looking fab .

Fast fibre is very good too, but is low calorie .
 
Fast Fibre made my Cushings boy very cresty! I try to avoid any fillers at all for my boy and keep everything as organic and natural as possible.

I feed Thunderbrook Pure Essentials Base Mix + Speedi Beet.

Veteran horses, expecially those with Cushings, cant seem to break down the complex ingredients and synthetic vits and mins in the mainstream feeds, so alot of 'experts' are now recommending diets based on Speedi Beet and/or unmollassed chaff or alfalfa Plus mineral balancing.

When my boy lost all his top line from hepatitis (caused by a viris according to my vet but he did say its very common for Cushings horses), I tried all the recommended feeds and he was very lean for months... switched back to Thunderbrook Base Mix, added Cold Pressed Linseed Oil to increase the amount (as this is in the base mix already), seaweed for added vits and mins plus milk thistle and he is now looking better than ever! Back to just Base Mix + Speedi Beet and Seaweed again and he is maintaining his weight with no problems

I also have ahd a special blend of herbs made for him from EquiNatural but he hasn't started those yet
 
Add oil to his feed, I wouldn't feed alfa and happy hoof, my horse is 34 and had lami about 5 years ago, since then has worn a muzzle, he is out during the day and in at night with hay. He has a large scoop of spillers high fibre cubes and I adjust this as necessary depending on grazing. He has formula for feet, Equimins flexi joint, and soya oil (increased/decreased) depending on weight/grazing

Regarding he won't eat the oil, mine is the same, what I do is make about 6 feeds up at a time, add the oil then and it infuses into the spillers cubes, by the time he has the feeds he doesn't realise its in there.

I also wet them in advance, in the morning ready for the evengin, and the evening ready for the next morning, as he prefers them that way, you could try this too
 
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