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

[Ranyart]

No worries Pam - he will plump back up with adequate hay and grain. Question - When was the last time he was wormed? Also beet pulp is a nice filling winter treat made with warm water (wait until it is soaked up well before feeding) - a little bit of molasses in it is nice too. He should be fine if you find another barn that will actually feed him. Good luck.

 

[SaraR]

Not saying that this is for everyone...or maybe my horses are just weird...I have NEVER feed grain on a daily basis to my 2. it's always been and after ride or to get caught treat. The one time i feed my horses grain on a daily basis for about 2 weeks they actually lost weight. They always have access to grass/round bales of hay. and i have never had a problem with them being under weight....

 

[jake&kiwi'smom]

No worries Pam - he will plump back up with adequate hay and grain. Question - When was the last time he was wormed? Also beet pulp is a nice filling winter treat made with warm water (wait until it is soaked up well before feeding) - a little bit of molasses in it is nice too. He should be fine if you find another barn that will actually feed him. Good luck.

He was wormed last spring. I was thinking maybe I should worm him again NOW? ​

 

[rikkitikki]

He was wormed last spring. I was thinking maybe I should worm him again NOW? ​

I think that's a question to ask your vet. If he doesn't need to be wormed, then it's just more stuff in his system he doesn't need, right?
I don't own horses, but I know if it was my dog, the very very first thing I would do would be to get him to the vet to make sure he's okay, then proceed with whatever the vet recommends. It might be okay to just feed more of whatever, but what if you're wrong? What if it's a different problem and maybe the lack of grain doesn't even have anything to do with it?

 

[Renae]

I am not sure about the worming, I think the best person to ask would be your vet. I do agree with everything that has been said though, you also do want to avoid digestive upsets. Our 5 horses don’t get grain.

 

[MaximotheMacaw]

Im pretty sure horses should be wormed every month. I think it depends on the wormer. Mine says every month.

 

[Sharpie]

A lot of horses can do just fine eating only high quality hay. The trick is that they're gonna need more food, especially if hay isn't the absolute top shelf stuff! You can't just cut out the grain and feed the same amount of hay. Four flakes of hay per day may not be enough for some horses in winter. If the hay isn't good, horses must have a ration balancer minimum and likely an oil or grain supplement too.

To get weight on him, he ought to get as much hay as he wants and gradually increasing amounts of grain, but start out slow so you don't cause him to colic or get laminitis. You can add in some oil for easy calories too if he'll eat it. I am so sorry that this has happened to you and to him!

 

[jake&kiwi'smom]

This all is making sence NOW , I know what was done wrong , as I'm reading through all these !
1... I took his grain away! After listening to other's
2... Chester wasn't getting the amount of hay he needed being off the grain.
3... The hay he was on was not a good hay!
4.... I don't believe he needs to be wormed , I'ts a high quality wormer that he gets every spring. BUT will check with the vet on this one.
5...6....7..8.. Chester is now back on grain ! Also going back to the hay I origonally had him on!!!! He will be checked on and fed daily evey day BY ME!!!!!!! I want to thank you ALL for all your help , advice & support!!!! You're all awesome people.
​

 

[Birdlover]

At least you know that his previous diet he did well on. Getting him slowly back to that he should fatten up in no time

 

[Blackford]

Horses need to be wormed every 6 to 8 weeks. I have never heard of a once a year wormer???? Is this a drench?? Id say that is the core root of your problem, he cant maintain his weight without grain if he is wormy....

Also is he rugged sufficiently? I have no idea about your weather, but making sure he is warm and not hot will help keep his weight on so he wont loose it to keeping his body warm.

Sounds like you are on the right track...poor thing.

Is he a TB?

 

[jake&kiwi'smom]

Horses need to be wormed every 6 to 8 weeks. I have never heard of a once a year wormer???? Is this a drench?? Id say that is the core root of your problem, he cant maintain his weight without grain if he is wormy....

Also is he rugged sufficiently? I have no idea about your weather, but making sure he is warm and not hot will help keep his weight on so he wont loose it to keeping his body warm.

Sounds like you are on the right track...poor thing.

Is he a TB?

Not for sure what a TB is , but, HE is a quarter horse. Most gentle hore I have ever seen ! Again there I go listening to other people about worming.GEESH! I contacted a mobile vet last night. Havn't heard anything from her as of yet.That is near by me. waiting to hear from her! Our weather is cold and snowy right now. But its been up in middle 40's the past few days. So that I hope will help some. I think I'm going to purchase a blanket for him.? Last night I got in a argument over this horse how I shouldn't feed him grain and NOT to feed him 2 times a day. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE! I kicked them out of my house!!!!!!!! Told them let me take care of him how I see FIT as they where leaving! Also he has a barn that he can go into . ​

 

[VeraGrace]

Unless he is "hot" there is no reason not to feed him grain. If you're worried about weight I'd also add alphalpha cubes to his diet. Give him as much as he can eat in a day. You can also add corn oil to his grains or on his cubes which will help put weight on. You can also order supplements and weight builders from smartpak or your local saddlery. Tractor supply also has some supplements. good luck and let us know how he is progressing. Also I think it's a good idea to vet him since he lost so much weight quickly.

 

[VeraGrace]

And believe me as a horse owner and rider- people have VERY different ideas about the nutrition and diet of horses. I would do your research and in the new barn I would print out a feeding schedule and make sure that whoever will be taking care of the feed adheres to your feeding schedule. I would do the following...

Hay- as many flakes as you think necessary. In my barn we throw hay many times a day and when the weather is cold we make sure the horses always have hay to eat.

Grains- We do morning and evening feedings 1 scoop out of a coffee can as you described before

Alfalfa cubes- get a big bucket of these and wet them down with warm water and pour about two table spoons of corn oil on top. you only feed this once a day.

Also make sure that you are exercising the horse as well to keep their metabolism up.

Oh and in case you were wondering I have two horses And a TB is a Thoroughbred

 

[VeraGrace]

One more thing- when increasing his food you need to do it slowly so he doesn't colic! and exercise is important!

 

[jake&kiwi'smom]

And believe me as a horse owner and rider- people have VERY different ideas about the nutrition and diet of horses. I would do your research and in the new barn I would print out a feeding schedule and make sure that whoever will be taking care of the feed adheres to your feeding schedule. I would do the following...

Hay- as many flakes as you think necessary. In my barn we throw hay many times a day and when the weather is cold we make sure the horses always have hay to eat.

Grains- We do morning and evening feedings 1 scoop out of a coffee can as you described before

Alfalfa cubes- get a big bucket of these and wet them down with warm water and pour about two table spoons of corn oil on top. you only feed this once a day.

Also make sure that you are exercising the horse as well to keep their metabolism up.

Oh and in case you were wondering I have two horses And a TB is a Thoroughbred

That's what I thought TB was the more I thought about it. How much of the cubes do I use.So scared of foundering. Also they have this stuff that I used with my other horse to put weight on when I first got her. Dang can't remember the name of it. Very expencive . But worth it. Thoughts on that? Making a schedual is a awesome Idea!!! I've had other horses & never had issues. I guess the saying goes "If you want something done right DO IT YOUR SELF!" Thank you again , All of you Thank you . You don't know what a comfort this has been with all your support! ​

 

[Welshanne]

Our horses have to be wormed on a regular basis as they do get re-infected by other animals using the land and near them.
Done regularly and there is no problem. A vet will put you in the right direction with what to use and how often. They do get re-infected naturally if on grass etc so it has to be a regular treatment to keep them free of any parasites.
Should your horse continue to lose weight with all the extra precautions in place then you need to look further for a problem. One thing at a time though and it will get sorted. No need to panic, and putting the weight back on if nothing seriously wrong healthwise is much better than trying to get a horse to lose it believe you me! Good luck.

 

[jake&kiwi'smom]

One more thing- when increasing his food you need to do it slowly so he doesn't colic! and exercise is important!

Please tell me .... What are the signs of colic ? I have learned so much lately!!!!​

 

[Welshanne]

You will know when your horse is in pain from colic,they sweat and kick their feet to try and get rid of the pain. Years ago young boys rode a horse without my knowledge and got him into a lather then let him go free without giving him a rub down and in the cold night air he went down with colic through getting chilled. He had to be drenched and went down in agony. He had to be put down eventually as he got weaker and could not get up again despite 24hr care from us.
They are restless, kick their feet, move around relentlessly and cry with the pain. Drenched in sweat and grind their teeth. Thankfully there is modern treatments now that help a lot and they do not have to suffer like the old days. Also tender to the touch when their colon goes into spasm. Nowadays they are helped long before this happens and thank goodness for modern technology is all I can say.I still to this day miss Bush as he was named and through ignorance and no fault of his own he lost his life.

 

[jake&kiwi'smom]

You will know when your horse is in pain from colic,they sweat and kick their feet to try and get rid of the pain. Years ago young boys rode a horse without my knowledge and got him into a lather then let him go free without giving him a rub down and in the cold night air he went down with colic through getting chilled. He had to be drenched and went down in agony. He had to be put down eventually as he got weaker and could not get up again despite 24hr care from us.

They are restless, kick their feet, move around relentlessly and cry with the pain. Drenched in sweat and grind their teeth. Thankfully there is modern treatments now that help a lot and they do not have to suffer like the old days. Also tender to the touch when their colon goes into spasm. Nowadays they are helped long before this happens and thank goodness for modern technology is all I can say.I still to this day miss Bush as he was named and through ignorance and no fault of his own he lost his life.

Wow! so sorry ! brought tears to my eyes.
I heard back from the vet , this is what she said.
Hey Pam,

I understand your concern!!

There are a number of reasons for weight loss in the horse....one common cause is not enough calories, especially during the winter (they burn a lot of calories just trying to stay warm). There are a number of different medical conditions as well....parasitism, dental problems, etc. I charge 50 cents a mile for a trip charge (round trip), so we are probably looking at $35-45 for the trip charge (I base it from my home office in Ogden) and an exam fee would be $35. Depending on what we thought was wrong....we would incur more charges for things such as a fecal analysis to look for parasites, blood work, dental work, etc.

Without seeing him, it's hard to say exactly what would need to be done. A common work-up for a horse that has rapidly lost weight is to do blood work (check for systemic illness), check for parasites, and do dental work to ensure that they can eat properly. Lab charges for blood work and fecal analysis are around $135 and dental work is an additional $75. So......if we did all that, with the exam fee and trip charge we are looking at around $280-300. If we just came out and did a consultation and physical exam you are looking at around $70-90. However, understand that to correctly diagnose a medical condition (if that's what is going on) often blood work, etc. is needed in addition to just the physical exam, so I can't guarantee results based on just a physical examination alone.

It sounds like it could just be a grocery issue, so adding an equine pelleted feed (not sweet feed, corn or oats.......very lacking in overall complete nutrition and not good for weight gain) to his diet along with increasing his hay intake would be a place to start. A good rule of thumb is to feed for the body condition of the horse, not a set amount.........meaning that if 2 flakes of hay isn't enough to keep weight on, than he needs 4, etc. That's where a lot of people get hung up in feeding horses is that there is no set amount as each horse has an individual metabolism, etc. Your guy may be a hard keeper and need more calories than another.

I would get a pelleted feed formulated for horses, such as Nutrena Complete or Nutrena Senior (to help gain weight now even though he's not a senior horse) and feed according to bag recommendations on the back. That could be anywhere from 6-9 pounds of feed a day. Weigh the feed so you know how many scoops that is, and never feed more than 4 pounds at one feeding. Start out slow with the grain and build him up to his daily requirement over 7 days or so.

Hay should be fed at 2-2.5% of their body weight per day over at least 2 feedings/day, so for a 1300# horse (if that was his ideal weight), that would be 26-32 pounds of hay a day. Again, since all bales vary in how densely packed they are and no two flakes of hay will weigh the same, get a fish scale from Wal-Mart, put your hay in a garbage bag, and weigh it out. Make sure the hay is good quality......alfalfa hay is high in protein and has more calories than grass hay, so keep that in mind too, often grass hay alone is not enough for hard keepers. The other thing you could do right now is add some corn oil to his diet....starting with 2-3 tablespoons a day and building up to putting 1-2 cups of oil on his grain each day.......pure fat to help gain weight.

Since I haven't seen him I can't give you any recommendations of worming him, but I would caution you to seek a veterinary exam before grabbing wormer off the counter at the farm store as we are facing a lot of resistance issues with OTC wormers and many of them aren't working anymore like they should due to over use and incorrect use over the past 10-15 years. If parasites are the issue, without knowing how badly (if he is) infested he is, if you grab the wrong wormer you could cause serious health issues for him.

If he is depressed, has diarrhea, or is not eating with what was his normal vigor, than I would have him examined without question. If you want to bump up his groceries and give him 30 days or so.....that's an option too as long as the weight loss doesn't continue during this time or he starts getting depressed, etc.

I would be more than happy to come out and examine him for you, so just let me know what you would like to do. I take appointments during the day Monday-Friday and would love to set up a time with you. Since you are a new client for me, I will also let you know that I don't bill or invoice clients but do payment at the time of service (so there are no surprises for you....). Good luck and thanks so much for contacting me​

 

[Archiesmom]

Just seeing this now, hope your guy will be ok!
We feed a sweet feed mix to our horses, along with with hay and supplemental pellets from a brand called Assurance. I HIGHLY recommend Assurance if you're trying to get weight back on your horse, and soaking alfalfa cubes. We had one of our older mares come down with a sickness where she dropped her weight very quickly and it was almost like she was having mini-strokes. We were seriously thinking of having to put her down, and we were convinced that she wouldn't make it through the winter. Started her on soaked Alfalfa cubes (because she wasn't eating) and the Assurance pelleted feed mixed with sweet feed. She put on weight, and she's happy as ever, made it through the winter adn looking good.

We also had some sort of top dress for her feed, it was an oil, apple-flavored, and it REALLY brought the luster back to her coat and helped her put on some weight. I'm going to see if I can find the brand name for you.