Skinny New Horse - Feeding Suggestions?

[RayNC]

MissDanni,

When I got my horse he was very skinny. He was also called a hard keeper. A woman bought the horse and planned on nursing hiim back to health. Ended up that I rescued him from her. He is a 16 h quarter horse and was 15 yrs. old at the time. From what you have discribed my horse was in the same shape.

Best suggestion I can give you. Have the vet check the horse when he gets home. Have his teeth checked. If they need to be floated, do it. That was the fisrt thing I did when my horse came home. Having his teeth floated was the answer to a lot of problems. They hadn't been done in a very long time. One of the reasons he was so thin.

Find a good feed like Safe Choice or one similar to it. If your horse is a senior then get senior feed. Also, I suggest adding beet pulp to his diet. Start off with 1/2 lb and work your way up to at least 2 lbs a day (dry). Horses can eat up to 6 lbs (dry) per day but you won't need that much. Feed a 1/2 lb morning and night till you can do at least 1 lb in the morning with feed and 1 lb with feed at night. You can add 1/2 cup black oil sunflower seeds to the beet pulp. Soak the beet pulp with the sunflower seeds. That's what I do. Just dump his feed in his feed bucket and the beet pulp/sunflower seeds on top of it. He will gain wieght nicely and not to fast. I had to put over 100 lbs on my horse. Also, free choice in hay is a great idea. Don't bother with weight gain.. they don't work. If your vet says use supplements fine but otherwise don't bother spending the extra money. I would stay away from any oils. They really aren't good for him. You can always add flax seed (milled/ground) to his food. Also, find out if you need a probiotic. You may need it if there is a drastic change in his feed.

 

[patandchickens]

Its understandable that most people don't actually have vet checks done on the animals they buy. Those vet checks cost a fortune, at least where I am. <snip>to get a really good idea of the health you need to do x-rays as well, not just a basic exam.

Uh, it only costs about $150ish to have a basic health exam done (eyes, heart, lungs, and general look-over to opine on whether there's anything conspicuous to worry about).

Honestly, Xrays don't tell you much for prepurchase. They are useful for figuring out why a horse is lame, once you know you HAVE a lame horse; but they are not terribly useful for telling you WHETHER a horse is lame, or whether he's likely to become lame. Horses often have clean xrays but questionable soundness, and likewise often are sound as a rock for years and years despite fairly ugly looking xrays. The popularity of xrays for prepurchase exams is driven NOT by a sound veterinary basis, but by client demand... people often don;t mind paying some hundreds of dollars for the *feeling* that they have done what's possible to minimize the chances of buying a horse that will not hold up. It is a FEELING, though, much more than actual statistical fact.

Whereas a basic $150-ish heart-lung-eyes-and-eyeball-the-horse exam often makes good economic sense as a prepurchase exam; it will help you avoid horses with early stages of moonblindness or compromised lungs, two things that are not terribly common but can put a SERIOUS dent in your plans if you wind up buying 'em, and you cannot expect to detect them yourself. Also there are any number of things that a typical horse buyer may miss, that a vet will point out to you -- sarcoids, obvious lameness or hoof dysfunction that you did not notice, odd muscling suggestive of lameness or soreness, teeth in dire need of doing, age of horse seriously misrepresented, likelihood of special worming or feeding procedures being necessary if horse is purchased, etc etc.

Just sayin', for the consideration of other people who might be thinking of buying horses sometime (please not I am totally NOT criticizing the o.p., and indeed if you have it set in your mind that you will buy the horse no matter what, it really doesn't matter whether you have this exam done *first* or done once the horse arrives as the o.p. is doing),

Pat

 

[Ashmeade]

Definitely follow your vet's advice on feeding program and you do NOT want to start loading a horse up on grain that has not normally been fed grain or you will likely have a colicking or dead horse.

For a weight building feeding program, beet pulp and veg/canola oil are good supplements with grain and hay, as well as alfalfa pellets.

Depending on how underweight the horse is, you can actually do a schedule with multiple feedings throughout the day__but again follow your vet's advice on this and do not implement in all at once.

Also, definitely check into a deworming program for him as well as have teeth checked.

***one thing to keep in mind with this horse is that if he is underweight, he may not stay the horse you looked at to initially buy when he gains weight and feels better. Temperament can definitely change once they feel better and a seemingly "mellow" horse can turn quite the opposite...

 

[RayNC]

Ashmeade is right about the behavior change. Once your horse feels better he just might be a different horse. You want to keep an eye on that. I'm sure he will be a very nice horse but when animals don't feel well they aren't there true selves.

A great way to bond is just to spend time with him. Sit in a chair in his pasture and read a book. Brush him, talk to him. You can even work around the area so he can see you. It does make a difference to the horse it will to you too.

Also, I agree that you can feed several times a day but I'm not real sure about oil in the food. Last resort if possible. Your vet will give you the best advise since she/he will be checking the condition of your new horse. Good luck with him. Get a picture if you can.

 

[lupinfarm]

I totally agree on temperment change. Our pony, Luna, was a totally mellow pony when she came here.. but she was also 150lbs underweight. Now she's fat and happy, she's sassy, hard to lead, and a littl hard headed. We're pushing past it, and her temperment has stayed the same for the most part but things like her excitableness is definitely different because now she has the energy

 

[MissDanni]

Thank you to everyone for your advice. I appreciate you taking your time to share your experiences with me.

Looks like we are getting him home early. He will be coming home Saturday evening.

I will for sure take lots of pictures and post them.

Also, I have set up a dental exam for him just to make sure we are ok there.

I picked up his dewormer and will give him that when he arrives home and again in 10 days.

Got lots of work done today and will be back at it again sunrise tomorrow. For now I'm off to "count sheep". zZzZzZz

 

[blindcalfmomma]

I rescued a 30 year old Arab mare with a body score below 1. I have had her since feb. And she had made a huge turn around! ( I'll post pics soon) our equine vet suggested feeding her a complete feed like senior, a minimum of 3 times a day. Also free choice high quality hay. Since feb. This mare has gone from all bones to just looking thin and is right on track as far as expected weight gain.

I also figured she would have an attitude change
after feeling better so I began working with her from moment one. We did some streches everyday I
groomed her a ton and hung out with her as she ate. She quickly took to me.