Help! Any horse people out there!!!!!!!

[jake&kiwi'smom]

I was told a few months ago from some one I know that I didn't need to feed my horse GRAIN.! I have always fed grain. They said just hay is sufficient. So where I board my horse the guys that is letting me keep Chester there said that he would feed him. So I didn't have to travel in the snow ect. WELLLLLL I went over there today and I started to cry and cry !!!!! My Beautiful horse went from 1200 pound down to skin and bones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Chester is 6 years old. I went and bought some 12% sweet feed and gave him a 2 pound coffe can full and hay. I'm bauling my eyes out typing this ... How can I get his weight back on him . Any help would be soooo appriciated!!!!!!! I'm beating myself up I feel i neglected him!!!!! This person was suppose to be my friend!!!!! I said wasn't you feeding him he said yes 2 slabs at night!!!! I said you dumb
%&*^%.​

 

[jasminlana]

Oh, I am so sorry. I don't know much about care of horses, so can't really help with food suggestions but I would either move the horse to someone who is reliable for her care and feeding, and/or make sure you go there daily to do the feeding yourself -- not sure if it's feasible to do this -- don't know how far away the horse is from your home.


my daughter loves horses. She is only 6 but has been taking riding lessons for over a year. We love to go and feed the horses carrots and apples they are such beautiful animals.

I hope you get your little darling back up to proper weight. I know you must be very upset. Please don't rely on this person to feed your horse in the future.

 

[Birdiemarie]

I'm so sorry. I hope you find a better solution soon.

 

[birdlvr466]

I hope this person is no longer "caring" for your horse. I would have him examined by a vet immediately if it were me. I hope he will be ok.

 

[jake&kiwi'smom]

Oh, I am so sorry. I don't know much about care of horses, so can't really help with food suggestions but I would either move the horse to someone who is reliable for her care and feeding, and/or make sure you go there daily to do the feeding yourself -- not sure if it's feasible to do this -- don't know how far away the horse is from your home.


my daughter loves horses. She is only 6 but has been taking riding lessons for over a year. We love to go and feed the horses carrots and apples they are such beautiful animals.

I hope you get your little darling back up to proper weight. I know you must be very upset. Please don't rely on this person to feed your horse in the future.

I'm 20 miles away. As we speak I'm looking into something closer!.

 

[rikkitikki]

I'm so sorry
It sounds like he lost a lot of weight pretty fast, I would certainly get him checked out by a vet to make sure it hasn't done any internal damage
Best of luck with the whole situation.

 

[Birdlover]

I agree on having him checked out, just to be safe. You also dont want to do too much too fast and shock his system if he has been starving, especially with grains and such. On average a horse needs 2 to 2.2 pounds of feed for every 100 pounds of body weight. An average 1000 lb horse would need 20 - 25 pounds of feed a day, in which the majority is hay.The more often you feed, the better (Ours are fed hay 3 times a day but many out here do 2x). Of course it will vary with the individual horse (if its an easy or hard keeper), the amount of work they get, if they are out in pasture grazing or stalled, the climate, etc.

If it were my horse, Id be giving him smaller portions of hay several times a day, supplemented with one of the pelleted feeds (again, not too much too fast - you dont want to wind up in a colic or founder situation). My warmblood tends to be a hard keeper - he is on grass hay (timothy) with some alfalfa supplemented primarily with oat hay pellets, and a multi vitamin & digestive supplement. We have had a lot of success putting weight on without the use of a lot of grain feeds. Out here grain is just way too much for these guys.

 

[Ming-Ming]

I'm so sorry about your horse! That's absolutely terrible!
Even our horses, who were older and retired, were fed some grain and not just hay! Ee-yikes!

 

[jake&kiwi'smom]

I agree on having him checked out, just to be safe. You also dont want to do too much too fast and shock his system if he has been starving, especially with grains and such. On average a horse needs 2 to 2.2 pounds of feed for every 100 pounds of body weight. An average 1000 lb horse would need 20 - 25 pounds of feed a day, in which the majority is hay.The more often you feed, the better (Ours are fed hay 3 times a day but many out here do 2x). Of course it will vary with the individual horse (if its an easy or hard keeper), the amount of work they get, if they are out in pasture grazing or stalled, the climate, etc.

If it were my horse, Id be giving him smaller portions of hay several times a day, supplemented with one of the pelleted feeds (again, not too much too fast - you dont want to wind up in a colic or founder situation). My warmblood tends to be a hard keeper - he is on grass hay (timothy) with some alfalfa supplemented primarily with oat hay pellets, and a multi vitamin & digestive supplement. We have had a lot of success putting weight on without the use of a lot of grain feeds. Out here grain is just way too much for these guys.

I had always concidered Chester to be a easy keeper b4 I had always givin 1 1/2 slabs 2 times a day and a 2 pound coffee can of grain 2 times a day never had a problem . And that's how I had always done my other horses I had . Till' i let some one talk me into not giving grain and just hay . I will call vet on Monday. And will go back out later this afternoon and give 1/2 coffee can of grain and some hay. Also will look into getting better quality of hay too.​

 

[Birdlover]

Equine body score system (this is a pdf file)

 

[marian]

sorry to hear about your horse.I've never had a horse i didn't have to grain an dhay daily.horses are grazing animals and my guys always had access to grass or hay pretty much through out the day.you'll have to bring chester back slowly.jill pretty much said all I have to say.Keep us updated on his progress..

 

[Birdlover]

I hope everything checks out okay. I am so sorry that this happened, I can only imagine how upsetting it is for you

 

[April]

Im so sorry that this happened,I hope your horse will be ok.

 

[Billie Faye]

So sorry! Just be careful about the amount of grain coming back into his system...you don't want him to colic and if I understand right, they can from grain....Call her vet ASAP in the Morning...will he go out there and check him out for you????

 

[Welshanne]

If your horse is healthy and nothing else causing the loss of weight but diet then you are better off putting on the weight than taking it off.
I was forever having to watch my horses did not put on too much weight and not the other way around.
you need to increase his daily intake slowly and same goes for changing his diet from one thing to another. It should be done gradually and over a period of time not suddenly.
The positive thing is better to have a horse underweight than over, so work out what it is you are needing to feed him with what excercise he has daily and what his needs are with age,breed and activity is taken into account.
Good luck and hopefully it is just diet and nothing more serious.

 

[Anne & Gang]

that is a wful....absolutely get him checked out and moved out of there asap!!

 

[MaximotheMacaw]

You can try and feed this supplement called Red Cell. You just drizzle it on the feed and it helps. It worked on my horse.

 

[jake&kiwi'smom]

If your horse is healthy and nothing else causing the loss of weight but diet then you are better off putting on the weight than taking it off.
I was forever having to watch my horses did not put on too much weight and not the other way around.
you need to increase his daily intake slowly and same goes for changing his diet from one thing to another. It should be done gradually and over a period of time not suddenly.
The positive thing is better to have a horse underweight than over, so work out what it is you are needing to feed him with what excercise he has daily and what his needs are with age,breed and activity is taken into account.
Good luck and hopefully it is just diet and nothing more serious.

He is very healthy trail rode , He was in parades , Flag carrier ect.. He was fine 5 months or so ago . Till' I listen to that person to take the grain away. And switched hay source. OMG what the heck did I do ​

 

[Billie Faye]

Pam, look, you found out and now you are on the way back...Don't beat yourself up..that won't do him/you any good...Look, you could have saved someone else by posting what you did...give yourself a hug (from all of us) and go forward...We learn by our mistakes...

 

[birdlvr466]

Pam at least you found out before it was too late. Just have him checked out by a vet and ask the vets advice on how to proceed. You have gotten some good advice.