Can I have some help

[chevycouple]

There is a picture in my conformation critique post. My colt is thin I just changed his feed for the better nutrition hay wise. We were having a VERY hard time finding quality hay. He is now getting about 4 lbs of Chaffhaye (alfalfa) per feeding (2-3 per day). He is wormed on a regular schedule but is due to be wormed this week. I posted the exercise schedule that I planned to start but will be delayed somewhat. I will still take him on his quad walks (not jogs) and how about every three days or so. I would hate to see him stuck in his pen and stall. Anyway I am feeding my big horses XTN for weight gain is that safe for him? What would you recommend since he won't eat beat pulp. Or how do I make it likable for him?

 

[kaykay]

i just posted on your other thread and ill post here. Im so glad you are asking for help. But I dont think you realize how thin he is. I would not do any walking, excercising etc AT ALL while he is in this condition. I believe if you looked at the body condition chart your colt would be about a 2.5 which is very low. His big pot belly is due to malnutrtion. Hay alone is not going to be enough to get this guy where he needs to be. Please get a good complete feed like equine jr to start feeding him. Remember it takes much longer to put weight on a horse then to take it off. Its especially important to get his weight up before winter. I have never heard of the hay you are feeding but if you cant get good fresh hay buy some cubed compressed hay. Sending good thoughts to your colt

edited as i just read your new post. yes you can feed equine jr as hes so underweight it doesnt matter what his age is. remember to make all feed changes gradually and discuss it with your vet. I have used equine jr on many underweight horses of any age. Just switch to sr as soon as they are at a good weight.

Kay

 

[chandab]

What would you recommend since he won't eat beat pulp. Or how do I make it likable for him?

Sorry, I can't help you with the other part of your question, but I'll give this a shot.

When I first tried my minis on beet pulp, they weren't thrilled; neither was my half-Arab gelding (I have plain pellets). I started out with a really small about like 2 cups for 3 minis and the big gelding, soaked it and it expanded so that each got about 1 cup soaked. I added their current concentrate to the beet pulp to entice them (two were one some senior pellets and two were on junior); I added the senior/junior dry to the soaked beet pulp, like right before I fed it so it wouldn't get soggy and they could tell what it was. It only took a few days for them to start eating it. Once they were eating it well, I gradually increased the dry amount upto 2 pounds (total for all 4); put it in an 8 qt bucket and filled it about 1/3 full with hot water, after that had a good start on expanding the pellets (about 1/2 hour or so), I added warm water to about 3/4 full. Fully expanded each mini got about 4 cups of soaked beet pulp (I used a scoop from the calf milk replacer bag, it hold about 2 cups, maybe a little more) and they wanted more; and the gelding got about 6-8 cups soaked pulp and it was all I could do to get him to eat that much (he's not a big fan of soggy feed, although as he ages, he seems to enjoy it more).

Hope this helps a little.

 

[CharmedMinis]

I also posted this on your other thread. But I feed XTN to all of my horses, who are normally rarely worked. All of mine do great on it.

 

[Leeana]

I was just looking at your other thread. If he were mine i'd have him on Buckeye Grow N Win feed 3x a day and i'd keep him on a good hay. No way would i ask him to exersize or burn anymore calories or fat then he has to. I would start him out at 1lb of Buckeye grow n win a day and move him up to 1.5lb daily over a week or so. Being that you can see his hips and backbone is not good and his neck looks almost like a ewe neck which i think will fix itself as he picks up weight.

Do you change wormers regularly? If your going to worm this week i would not use the same one you have been using since they can build up a tollerence (sp) or something along those lines for it.

A suppliment that is safe for foals is NutraGlo and you will see results in the coat and weight within a few days.

Good luck with him, it took me forever to get a feeding program for Harley right and he is a yearling ..he never was underweight but it took us a while to figure him out a feeding schedule to keep him at a steady good weight.

 

[Hosscrazy]

I agree - a complete feed such as Equine Junior would be terrific for him; it's a very popular feed and I am sure your local feed stores carry it.

In case this helps out, here is a link to Dr. Garlinghouse's website; she is an equine nutritionist in my area (So. Cal.) and has a great page on body condition and also some valuable information on beet pulp in case you want to try beet pulp again at some point in the future.

http://shady-acres.com/susan/conditionscore.shtml

Best wishes,

Liz R.

 

[chevycouple]

He hasn't been starved at all. It's just he wasn't getting the nutrition from the hay we were getting no matter how much I put in front of him and my big horses. So I don't think he would get sick from hay in front of him at all times. But the hay that I feed I don't feel that is the best way to feed it. I had thought about buying regular hay to keep in front of all the horses at all times on top of what I am feeding.

 

[Estelle]

I wanted to chime in on the worming issue...I'd have my vet do a fecal count on the little one..it doesnt matter if you have had him on a regular worming schedule or not, he still may very well have worms and the only way to be sure is for the vet to do a fecal count for you. Good luck!

 

[Estelle]

Me again...

: I want to again stress how important it is do do fecal exams on this guy, now that I have gone and seen his picture in your other post. Here is a link to a site that you can send your own fecal sample into and it is EXTREMLY resonable priced, probably cheaper then you vet. http://www.horsemenslab.com/testimonials.html

I would contact them ASAP and I would also get some more calories into this guy as quick as possible...a good high quality, calorie dense, with good protein feed of some type. The oats are not going to do crap for him, he really is very skinny...his rips, point of shoulder and hips all show and he has that belly, not good. :no: Good luck with him and please do the fecal counts. And get some decent food into him soon.

 

[Jill]

If he were mine, I wouldn't do any excercise with him for a few weeks.

Have you tried Purina Equine Junior for him? It's a complete pellet that the horses I've offered it to really like. It is also balanced and it actually contains EVERYTHING he needs. You do not have to feed hay with it.

What I would plan to do if he were mine would be to feed him 3x a day if possible about 5 cups of the purina equine junior each feeding (so 15 cups a day) and let him have small amounts hay each time you give him the complete pellets (I do think they should have some long stem fiber).

I'd also probably de-worm him with a 5 day double dosing course of safe guard / panacur.

The complete feeds are very easy for a horse to digest and get all the nutrients out of them. When I have used complete feeds to put weight on a horse, I have been pleased and started to see a difference quickly.

I would not feed him sweet feed.

One reason I was so alarmed at his condition is I myself had a yearling filly who'd been with a trainer. I went to a show where she was (I hadn't seen her in person in a while -- my bad but I trusted her care to the trainer...) and I was so embarrassed and scared at her weight. I felt her health was very truly at risk and she was not yet as thin as your colt. The next day, I got my filly out of there and I put the weight on her doing what I described above.

Good luck and keep us posted. I bet he's going to be "blooming" soon with a new feed program

:

 

[Frankie]

I think you have been given great ideas. You will just have to see what works.

Just wanted to add, I had one who needed weight, would not touch beet pulp, until I tried it dry. I also added Calf Mamma to his diet and it did remarkable things.

Good luck!

 

[chevycouple]

Thank you everyone for you input. I appriciate your honesty. I will be going to the feed store when my little one wakes up(very grumpy if woken up). I will be picking up equine junior for a different feed store since mine doesn't carry purina. I can't give him free choice hay with the type of hay I am feeding and I don't think its a good idea to feed the poor quality hay that got him into this situation in the first place. I will take him to the vet for a fecal sample this week (today if he's not busy). I took my old man in who got tested for a variety of things and he only showed sand. I have started everyone on a sand clear type and that was a month ago then I left for two weeks now I feel like I'm starting all over again. None of the horses got pumped with feed like I can do when I am home all day. My farrier found me some small alfalfa bales from out of town that he is bringing me. I will be feeding that ontop of what I am already feeding him. Thanks again you guys.

 

[Marty]

You sound like a gal that is trying to do the best you can for your horse and you are very attentive about.

When using your sand clearing products don't forget to divide the recommended dosage by 4 since you are administering to a mini. And again, I'd de-worm him now before I'd blink an eye.

Don't give up on the beet pulp. Mine hated it for a long time. I think it's an aquired taste and it smells too. P U !!! Just make a sloppy mash of it in a small quantitiy about a cup and ease him into it and eventually, he'll go for it. You can add a bit of applesauce to it. Presently with this heat wave, I'm mixing mine with gatorade and they are loving it. I use it as their noon time feeding in the barn to keep them occupied in there during the heat of the day. Don't forget to rinse out that beet pulp bucket as soon as you are done because it lingers and sours in there something pitiful.

I get the idea that all you have availble is that little pen to keep your little guy in, so if that's all you can offer him right now, then I would go with a nice short daily walk with him about 10 minutes to keep him from going stir-crazy in there and getting depressed. Too muich confinement in a tiny area will only cause mental problems so as long as you are not excersizing him, go for the walks and enjoy the scenery with him or just sit under a nice tree with him while he grazes.

I didn't know what Chaffhaye was so I looked it up. Sounds good but probably too good for what he needs at the moment. I would again encourage you to do some serious traveling for some decent grass hay as I understand there is a shortage this year in many areas. I"ve even had to go out of state in the past for good hay. No fun.

Here is the link for anyone else that isn't familliar with it:

http://www.chaffhaye.com/

Best wishes to you. I think you are going to make a very good horse mom. Seems you are on the right track.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

Been in your shoes just recently, with a mini I got from an auction. He is also a yearling. So I sent you a PM.

:

 

[Sunraye Miniatures]

Equine Jr. or Omelane 200.

Omelane 200 is a sweet feed. I really, really like the Omelane grains. But the Equine feeds are good too. They are a complete feed. The Omelane has more fat too it, but the Jr. has a tiny bit more protein.

http://horse.purina-mills.com/products/build.html

Also like I stated in my post, this guy does not need exercise now. If you are worried about him getting bored, I will say it again, do some halter obstacle training. I start training my yearlings that I feel like can make a obstacle horse. Its not much exercise at all, its more just to get his mind going. I will even say do some halter training. Do some showmanship training. Just be careful with his joints if you piviot him to much. He just needs some training to get his mind going, no exercise for him right now. Winter is coming up before you know it, and you need your guy a little heavy to survive winter.

Also please do a fecal test. I know you said you have a good worming program, but that belly could mean a sign of bad nurtrition, or just be plain wormy.

I also want to thank you for trying to get your little guy some help. I've seen people not even care.

 

[Gena]

IMO I would recommend Buckeye GroNWin and alfalfa. If you are able to let him graze a little each day on grass too and add the turnout time slowly.

 

[lyn_j]

[SIZE=14pt]Chevy, I know you were not intentionally starving him BUT his body says he has been starved. It isnt just a matter of bad hay, it is a whole program also, you are not feeding him together with the big horses areyou? Sprry but I had to ask. At least you are a caring owner and want to see a change.[/SIZE]

Lyn

 

[Ashley]

I had a yearling come out looking almost as bad as that this spring. I was horrified to say the lest. I knew she was a bit thin but I didnt think she was that bad. However this is what I did. I put her on grass pasture, free choice grass hay and slowly worked her up from 4 cups of grain to 6 or more. A month later you would have never known she was thin other then her pot belly she retained. NOw if you look at her today she looks perfect. She has a layer of fat all over, no bones sticking out at all. Belly is gone, but sill is a bit lacking muscel but I dont work her as I dont work yearlings.

 

[chevycouple]

No Lyn I don't feed him with the big horses. He has never been with the big horses and never will be. Some people say there big horses are nice enough but mine are not. They get enough bit marks them selves if I turn them out together. We only have one dirt (sometimes weed)paddock at the moment so they all get rotated on it. I was hoping to get Pistol his own turn out this summer but it hasn't gotten done yet. My hubby has been to busy. I might just have to get out and do it myself LOL! After I wrote that about not being starved I started thinking about it more and do realize he was nutritionally starving even if there was something in front of him at all times. Anyway I went to the other town to get the Equine Junior and of course they were out. So I ended up getting Omelen 300 and Nutrena youth and beet pulp. I shreded carrots and apples to mix into it and he did eat that. Thank goodness I have 6 apple trees or that could get expencive lol!

 

[bcody]

You have gotten some great advice on this board, good luck getting weght on him. Please let us know how he s doing.