Just need to vent about my horses.
- Thread starter hunterjumper999
- Start date
My Appy mare got Strangles two months after I bought her, and ended up dropping all kinds of weight. She, too, is NOT an easy keeper, especially in the winter. The vet suggested I give her grain SOAKED in corn oil; it worked like a miracle and she bulked back up in no time!
- Mar 20, 2008
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You might want to try a wormer for tapes. I think zimectrin gold works for tapes.
A friend was having trouble keeping weight on 2 of her horses, she did the teeth floating, supplements and increased feed with no results. When I went to see them I noticed they had punky looking coats. She wormed them for tapes and all of the weight came back on.
If your's has already gained 200 pounds he might just need more time though.
That has to be frustrating to have 3 horses and nothing to ride.
A friend was having trouble keeping weight on 2 of her horses, she did the teeth floating, supplements and increased feed with no results. When I went to see them I noticed they had punky looking coats. She wormed them for tapes and all of the weight came back on.
If your's has already gained 200 pounds he might just need more time though.
That has to be frustrating to have 3 horses and nothing to ride.
i would go with a second worming..... we never feed alfafa to our horses (we also have 3 of them) we give our horses pm6 or pm8 grass, my horses are in a pasture on my farm 24/7 all year around. i used mare and foal on my stud last year when he lost weight due to a bad flaot job and it did bulk him up........but we had to use a lot per feed. have you tried beat pulp yet? or brewers yeast?, i had a old hunt mare on that and it worked wonders....Good luck!!
Ohh I know what your going through.
My first, and most special gelding suddenly lost weight this winter. He got so thin he was on the verge of looking almost dead.
He is on 3x the dose weight gain, free choice hay, grain, sugar beet pulp, and pasture.
Basicly all he can eat, and he is still thin. But he has improved a bit.
It worries me, cause I've owned him for years and he has always been a SUPER fat horse. I mean like huge. He probably lost more than 400 pounds this winter. Even with all the food. I have no clue what the problem is.
I am showing him this weekend. And I am a little embarassed to bring him. I'm afraid people will think I am starving my poor baby. His ribs, hips and back bone are still visible. But not nearly as much as they were a few months ago. Poor dear.
My other horses are fat as cows right now, but they are getting all the free choice hay as well.
We had the vet come out, and he was like 'oh I don't know. Feed him more.'
He is already eating all that he possibly can. Which is a lot by the way. Stupid vet. I live in a hugely livestock area. And we have no large animal vets.How dumb.
It really worries me. And I am thinking my boy won't last aother winter or two.
((He is only 14.))
My first, and most special gelding suddenly lost weight this winter. He got so thin he was on the verge of looking almost dead.
He is on 3x the dose weight gain, free choice hay, grain, sugar beet pulp, and pasture.
Basicly all he can eat, and he is still thin. But he has improved a bit.
It worries me, cause I've owned him for years and he has always been a SUPER fat horse. I mean like huge. He probably lost more than 400 pounds this winter. Even with all the food. I have no clue what the problem is.
I am showing him this weekend. And I am a little embarassed to bring him. I'm afraid people will think I am starving my poor baby. His ribs, hips and back bone are still visible. But not nearly as much as they were a few months ago. Poor dear.
My other horses are fat as cows right now, but they are getting all the free choice hay as well.
We had the vet come out, and he was like 'oh I don't know. Feed him more.'
It really worries me. And I am thinking my boy won't last aother winter or two.
((He is only 14.))
Oh as a sidenote.
I got a rescue a few years ago. I paid $1,000 for her. Even though the lady was selling her for $300 for dog food. She was in foal. But extremely skinny. So she lost the baby. She is now super fat and a great horse. She is also registered with great lines. So you never know what treasure you will find with rescues.
I got a rescue a few years ago. I paid $1,000 for her. Even though the lady was selling her for $300 for dog food. She was in foal. But extremely skinny. So she lost the baby. She is now super fat and a great horse. She is also registered with great lines. So you never know what treasure you will find with rescues.
Well, welcome to horse ownership! Sounds like you have yourself a typical problem fur ball child. And when those fur balls go and get hurt they drop weight like nothing. That is what I hate the worst. Weight gain is going to take some time.
However, I would add more in the way of hay and not grain and all the additives. I know you say he is getting a bale a day, but what kind of hay? I get mostly coastal bermuda here for our horses - good quality grass hay. However, when I need someone to gain weight, there is nothing like an extra flake or two of a good quality alfalfa. I have QH and some are easier to keep than others. With other breeds there isn't always an easy keeper ever found.
Also, with all the medications and additives we put in everyone needs to watch for stomach issues. I know I just took off one of our horses from his red cell and ran him on pen G to help his stomach. I was seriously afraid I had burned it. I also ran him on pro biotics for a week and will do so every time I worm him. I can probably quarantee your horse needs at least some probiotics.
Just get yourself some more roughage ---- alfalfa and even soaked beet pulp. I also found a new product Purina is putting out (since plan beet pulp is so hard to find here) called Omolene 400. It is mainly beet pulp with some grain. More natural.
Good luck
However, I would add more in the way of hay and not grain and all the additives. I know you say he is getting a bale a day, but what kind of hay? I get mostly coastal bermuda here for our horses - good quality grass hay. However, when I need someone to gain weight, there is nothing like an extra flake or two of a good quality alfalfa. I have QH and some are easier to keep than others. With other breeds there isn't always an easy keeper ever found.
Also, with all the medications and additives we put in everyone needs to watch for stomach issues. I know I just took off one of our horses from his red cell and ran him on pen G to help his stomach. I was seriously afraid I had burned it. I also ran him on pro biotics for a week and will do so every time I worm him. I can probably quarantee your horse needs at least some probiotics.
Just get yourself some more roughage ---- alfalfa and even soaked beet pulp. I also found a new product Purina is putting out (since plan beet pulp is so hard to find here) called Omolene 400. It is mainly beet pulp with some grain. More natural.
Good luck
We have a 10 yr old Thoroughbred that was also a rescue. We thought once we got him over his weight issues last year, that it would be smooth sailing. Nope. Once the weather got hot again, he dropped weight like crazy. He is definitely not an "easy keeper". We are giving him a good senior feed that has rice bran and beet pulp in it. I'll have to double check on the name, because we switched and I get them confused. DH usually buys the feed.
We also give him black oil sunflower seeds and quite a bit of corn oil in his feed twice a day. If you do the corn oil, start him out slow so he won't get diarrhea. We started with about a 1/4 cup for a few days, now he is on about a cup twice a day. This is a guesstimate, because we just pour it over the top of his food.
Once it hit triple digits here the weight just fell off. It is a pain and expensive, but he is DH's horse, and he loves him.
Good luck with him.
Shelly
We also give him black oil sunflower seeds and quite a bit of corn oil in his feed twice a day. If you do the corn oil, start him out slow so he won't get diarrhea. We started with about a 1/4 cup for a few days, now he is on about a cup twice a day. This is a guesstimate, because we just pour it over the top of his food.
Once it hit triple digits here the weight just fell off. It is a pain and expensive, but he is DH's horse, and he loves him.
Good luck with him.
Shelly
I bought an older mare that was thin once. She wasn't emaciated or anything, but she needed some weight. I fed her and fed her, wormed her, had her teeth floated, but she only gained a little weight in 5 months. Finally we treated her for ulcers and she started packing on the pounds so fast I had to cut her feed down. She turned out looking great, not only weight-wise, but just all around healthier.
This would have been my comment as well. If he is a worrier he may have an ulcer. You might ask the vet about it and have your horse tested. There are treatments for it.
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