We have a baby clydesdale!

cblover

cblover

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Sadly it's not as wonderful as it sounds. We rescued her and my god she's thin. I knew she was poor when I first saw her then when we picked her up, I thought she was a bit better. She travelled great, we took a companion for her and stabled not too bad last night. Out today with her friend but my god it's pitiful. I just couldn't leave and she's following Her pal around like he's her mam. So sad. She was weaned too soon, been in a field and got bullied and basically was starving.

Going back into her stable tonight she was less calm, obviously!!! But she settled down ok....I'll check her again after work 9pm. But I've noticed today that there is more hair loss on her face than first thought and I think she's been twitched too.....cos there is two cuts either side on her nostrils, perfectly symmetrical. I think the hair loss is lice.

How would you go about making her better in the very early stages. I've worm counted her today and the vet is coming first thing tomorrow. Hubby loves her and is way more optimistic than me. Lol She's eating hay and grass but has no idea what hard feed is. Cheers. X
 
She will be fine... honestly she will. My Sec D was skin and bone when we got her, with hair loss everywhere and terrified. Start with small feeds, and as many as you can manage per day, plus plenty of good hay and I bet she will pick up quicker than you would ever imagine.

We NEED pictures!
 
What a lovely thing for you to do,I couldn't leave my wild pony behind either. Lots of petting and talking and little and often food and I am sure she will be fine.Good luck.x
 
For the lice situation get some Spot On. It's the least invasive at this stage, no need for bathing, clipping and the likes but it will sort the problem out for now. Leave her with hard feed, she will get the hang of it but make sure she always has as much hay as she can eat. Babies pick up much, much quicker than you could ever imagine! Don't worry about her, she is safe now. You know you wont see miracles within hours or days but in a few weeks you will see a completely different animal and in the end she will come good.

Good luck with her and yes of course - we do need pics! Everyone loves a Clyde!
 
Thanks all, I'm worrying about her but quietly optimistic. It's probably because of loosing Mez recently. She's out at grass all day and in with as much hay as she needs at night. I'm picking up some D&H foal creep pellets tomorrow and I've got some alfa a oil. She doesn't know how to eat it yet, but she will I'm sure.
 
Oh, bless her :( lovely that she's safe now with you :)

I'm sure with love and care and the right amount of food she will pick up quickly. Make sure you treat any others she's come into contact with for life, as well as her. And do take weekly pics for progress (which you should of course post here) :)

Wishing you the very best with her xx
 
That's lovely news, well done you for rescuing her:) One thing to be cautious of is worming if she's very poorly. It takes an awful lot of them and could give her scour, I would let her build up before going near her with a worm dose. Beet pulp will help put the weight on. If she's attached to her friend I would leave the two of them in together if you had a stable big enough, so she'll have company and be happier. Good luck with her now.
 
The previous owner is suppose to have wormed her but I agree, she's too poor to cope with anymore. I'll see what the results come back with and take it from there. I reckon she has lice too.

We've named her Mary Valentine! Hubbies choice. lol

I would like to see her eating from a bucket....I've got alfa a oil but she turns her nose up. I'm picking up foal creep pellets tomorrow and I've got some fast fibre I could try.
 
Has she seen her new chum with a bucket feed? Might help get the idea across - especially if he is suitably pleased to see it. Or maybe try a slice or two of apple then if she eats that from your hand, put some in the bucket and take it from there.

But as long as she is eating hay, don't worry too much at this stage and just enjoy her. x
 
Ad lib hay helped an absolute toast rack I took on (unrugged Hanoverian X in a hard winter, not properly fed), plus Bluechip. Six weeks on, the vet said he was the perfect weight.

Current horse had never had hard feed or treats, I literally made him take a polo til he realised he had to chew. Maybe chaff with pellets (the Calm and Condition one, yellow bag) has pellets in it, might be easier to try her on that so she gets used to hard bits!

Give the girl time, beware of her bonding so much to the gelding that she can't be separated. We need pics so we can follow her progress.
 
what a lovely thing to do. I would not worry about her not eating hard food at the moment as plenty of hay and grass will start to pick her up within a week and you will see another difference when you are able to get her wormed. you need to take pictures from each side and front/back at regular intervals so that you can see her start to fill out as when you see them every day you dont notice little things like maybe the flanks being less hollow or the belly looking more full which are normally the first signd that they are improving
 
oh my goodness - well done for giving her a lovely home. I like Deosect for lice, but perhaps that should wait for a while as it means getting her wet all over, which might not be a good idea just now. Bless her little heart. Hope she picks up very soon.
 
how absolutely fantastic of you to give her a home. I hope you have a wonderful time with her, and she is everything you want - you deserve it after all the heartache. I think that just taking things slowly, and time, and kindness will help her no end to learn to trust humans, and, as others have said, adlib hay and the grass will come through before long and there's nothing like a bit of Dr Green to pick them up! I wish you every success and joy with her xx

ps - my boy had hair loss on his face when he first came to me, vet said it may be stress ... I think he had some pretty rough handling before hand - but I don't know if it was stress or something else. he's had 2 dectomax injections 3 weeks apart (obviously don't know how appropriate that would be for your girl given her current state) and has stopped scratching his legs and the hair is growing back beautifully on his face. I'm sure she will do you proud, given time.
 
OOh great news!

I second the Spot-on to avoid the neeed for bathing, otherwise Coopers Fly Repellent Plus, applied all over is good. Do please be careful about giving cereals to build her up. I bought a young mare who had been rescued from similar circumstances to yours and then fed up on cereals and she developed dreadful, esxtreme sensitivities. to the extent that she could not tolerate them at all. If you really want to give her a bucket feed, I recommend soaked grassnuts with grass chaff but actually with good quality ad-lib hay, she will soon pick up, not least becasue she will relax when she knows that she doesn't have to compete for hte feed.
 
Dave didn't know what to do with feed or hay when I got him, but by hell, he caught on quick! Take it easy, it's all new to her. Teeny feeds often to avoid overloading her when she does catch on.

Good on you for taking her on. You're a goodun.

WE NEED PICS!
 
what an amazing turn of events, and what a lucky little lady....my gut feeling is that after loosing Mez you will soon realise that you and this little lady need each other! I really do wish you all the best with her and can t wait to see pictures.
 
I bet if you sprinkle a few soaked and crumbly grass nuts on a pile of hay she will quickly get the idea! What a lucky girl to have found you.
Another one wanting pictures!
 
Ladyinred said:
She will be fine... honestly she will. My Sec D was skin and bone when we got her, with hair loss everywhere and terrified. Start with small feeds, and as many as you can manage per day, plus plenty of good hay and I bet she will pick up quicker than you would ever imagine.

We NEED pictures!
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Will agree with this - my baby CLydesdale - now nearly 13 had never really seen a human until I got her. She had been taught to tie up and lead - had absolutely no idea what hard feed was or even hay - she had come off the hills where she had been running with a small herd.

Worming was done on the float while she was confined and a good thing she was done - she produced dung that looked like spagetti and meatballs - never seen so many round worm come out of one horse. She was bomb drenched (wormed weekly for three weeks) with Ivermectin & praziquontal. She was scoffing her feed within a few days - Clydies are very food motivated - a godsend when you want to get them to do something they don't feel like doing - show them food and they are transformed.

An Ivermectin based wormer will help get rid of the lice along with a good dusting of Coopers. (Do they still manufacture it?)

Also we do definitely need pictures and what have you called her?
 
You will probably find that her tummy will struggle to cope with the influx of food so it's worth trying to get something like Haylage Balancer in her to keep it from passing through her to too quickly. My well fed mare has it every time she has a change of diet; even moving to a different field and it works a treat to firm her up quickly (only need to feed it for about 3 days).

For the hair loss, once you've treated the infestation, Camrosa or Stinky Stuff both work very well and are completely natural.

Good luck with her; I'm really looking forward to seeing photos. I have a real weakness for heavies - not keen on cobs but I love a big heavy.
 
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What a lovely story. I wish you well with her- I'm sure she will thrive. Another vote for some grass nuts and hay so its nice and gentle on her stomach as she gets used to good food.
 
Morning all, thanks for your kind wishes. Last night when I checked her at 9pm she was having a rest in her lovely big fluffy bed....awww a lovely sight! And I gave her a big slice of hay and this morning it was nearly all gone. I'm obviously feeding her from the floor.

Vet came this morning to check her over. Heart, lungs, eyes and limbs really....all fine and she wasn't too concerned about her condition. She is covered with lice and I'm getting deosect to sponge on her. Plus we started her injections too. She coped really well considering, then off she went out with her friend Tor for the day. Watching her trying to keep up with him is so funny.....a giraffe springs to mind. lol
 
cblover said:
Morning all, thanks for your kind wishes. Last night when I checked her at 9pm she was having a rest in her lovely big fluffy bed....awww a lovely sight! And I gave her a big slice of hay and this morning it was nearly all gone. I'm obviously feeding her from the floor.

Vet came this morning to check her over. Heart, lungs, eyes and limbs really....all fine and she wasn't too concerned about her condition. She is covered with lice and I'm getting deosect to sponge on her. Plus we started her injections too. She coped really well considering, then off she went out with her friend Tor for the day. Watching her trying to keep up with him is so funny.....a giraffe springs to mind. lol
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She sounds lovely and I'm sure will repay your kindness and care. I'm never to bothered about youngsters being a bit skinny, but to knowingly keep an animal that is covered and full of parasites is reprehensible and I'd be sending pictures of her to WHW. The breeder needs stopping NOW.
 
How lovely to read this, I do recall saying to cblover that there was a horse out there that needed her love and care.

Please do a HH thread like I did with my feral project foal. It is 4 years old now and still going ! It would be lovely to follow your progress.
 
Here we go with some pics....the first two were sent to me before I viewed her. The second two were taken yesterday morning. Believe me under that fluff there is nothing.







Good news though, her worm count has come back as <50epg. No eggs seen. When she can eat from a bucket I'll worm her with panacur 5 day guard to cover the tapeworm and red worm situation she may have.
 
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