Weight Moan...

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Pasture Mix

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As many of you probably know, my littlest mare suffered a bad bout of lami last year & has recovered to the point where she can live out 24/7 again with heartbar shoes on/muzzle, etc.

She was doing so well, putting weight back on (after losing ALL of it when on box rest) & starting work again, she then started to muscle up too. She looked a lot healthier too.

Last week, she colicked :( Turned out, she wasn't getting quite enough to eat through the muzzle once the grass got a bit lower. One day she looked a touch thinner, so we fed her some soaked hay too. The next? Colic. Drawn up, sucked in & slightly dehydrated. Gutted :(

Nursed her through it, fed her sopping wet hay to get water back in her (awkward sod wouldn't drink) & kept her in, trickle feeding her soaked hay through the night. She was much better the next morning so me & mum trudged, sleep-deprived, back down the field to turn her back out & she was checked frequently for the next 2 days.

She's had no more colic symptoms since, so now we just need to get the weight back on her that she lost again when she colicked. She gets put into a small paddock, set up on a bit of field that has already been grazed by my other mare (it is left open the rest of the time so there is no fresh re-growth) & has her muzzle off for a break for an hour or two per day. She can munch the bit of grass in there & is fed soaked hay & a feed of HiFi Lite & supplements while she's in there. The weight is coming back on slowly, but I'm so scared of feeding her too much since she went back on the grass.

I know I'm holding back too much & I need to win the battle in my own head. But I really needed a moan & to let it all out to someone other than my long-suffering mum - thought some of you guys might understand..

Other thing is, they're having their vaccinations today while I'm at work & I'm terrified the vet will report us to the RSPCA or something. Another girl was given a harsh talking-to on our yard by another vet because her 24yo Arab cross mare who has melanomas was showing some spine & hips (her back has dipped a bit due to old age) & told her that if she didn't put weight on they were going to report her. She was already feeding her to bursting, but the vet wouldn't listen about her age, etc. Eventually her mum rang the vet & gave them a talking-to back & they retracted what they'd said & apologised, but now I'm worried my vet won't listen to our situation like hers didn't :(

I know I'm a worrier & I'm TERRIBLE for it - everything will probably be fine & later I'll be embarrassed about worrying so much.. But until then I just can't help it!!

Anyway, moan over..

Bottle of wine & box of choccies for anyone who made it all the way through :D Doesn't matter if nobody did, I got it off my chest!
 
First off hugs.

Second if my vet spoke to me like that I would be finding a new one. We have a lami horse and with vets advise keep him lean, meaning yes you can see ribs more than the perfect weight but it has kept him lami free for the last three years. *hugs wood*

I don't muzzle as he would hurt him self trying to get it off so he is on 7hours grazing and then in with soaked hay. A small feed of hifi molasses free with his metformin in (has IR) and worked either everyday or every other day.

At the end of the day if horse needs to be kept lean for health reasons vet should know. Or if horse has old age going against putting weight on vet should know that is what happens to some older horses.


I will take the choccies:)
 
My first thought would be is she drinking enough in the field with the muzzle, re colic. Couldnt the muzzle come off now and you bring her in at night.
 
Thanks for the hugs SC :)

Think I will if mine speaks to my mum like that to be fair.. We'll have to wait & see (they should be arriving soon).

Aww bless him! My girl doesn't exactly love the muzzle, but she doesn't hurt herself.. & tying in with your suggestion putasocinit, thank you for your suggestion but she hates being stabled with a passion, which was the reason for using the muzzle in the first place, so she can stay out :)

With regards to drinking, she does drink through the muzzle & I've seen her do it many times. There has always been plenty of water gone from the buckets every day since she went back out. We are 98% sure that she neglected to drink after moving from a paddock with short grass to one with long, old grass - as she was too busy trying to eat as much as possible. The grass was wet then too, so we're assuming she thought she was getting enough water from that! Silly mare.

She does need to be kept lean, but she's over the lean line by quite a lot - she seemed to drop so much overnight when she colicked. Am on the mission of putting weight back on without threatening lami reoccurring.

I do have some fantastic news now though! Since posting this thread the farrier has been & the little lady has normal shoes on again - she no longer needs the extra support of the heartbars! :D Progress! :D
 
Vet visit went well - apart from Short Stuff rearing for only about the 5th time in her life & Long Legs trying to bite the vet - so I was worrying about nothing!

Vet did say she needs some weight back on, but I know that anyway :)

Things are looking up though..
*Runs & staples biggest piece of wood possible to hand** :p
 
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