New horse

[NewToMini's]

I got a new horse today. The girl that sold me my last horse gave me this one, because it didn't get ridden anymore. It does have a couple of problems, which is probably why it was free (needs a joint supplement, one of her feet turns in, and she has stiff stifles, but she is sound for riding).

She is very underweight, though. They didn't get good hay over to he winter, and had too many horses on not enough pasture. So she lost a lot of weight.

I'm wondering if it's ok to ride her, or if I should let her gain some weight first. Her spine sticks up, you can see her tailbone and her hips, and her ribs.

 

[chandab]

Weight first. Good hay will probably get her there with time, if you need to after a week or two, slowly add in your preferred grain (many like senior for putting on weight).

 

[NewToMini's]

Thanks

I'll probably put her on safechoice senior feed in a week when I get paid (in the meantime, I do have good hay to feed). I do have a small amount of safechoice original, and some hay cubes. Would it be a good idea to soak a bit of the hay cubes and mix in some grain for her now, or just wait until I get a new bag of grain? The small amount I have left now isn't enough to last a week, even if I just give her a tiny amount.

I had her hooves trimmed and I dewormed her with zimectrin gold today, she did very well for that, and hopefully the Dewormer will help a bit with the weight gain.

 

[chandab]

Just the hay to start so her system can get used to regularly scheduled feeding again, then after a week or two if she's handling that well, add some hard feed to her diet (the senior sounds like a good choice).

If you choose to add the hay cubes to her diet, they should be soaked; especially since she lacked consistent food supply for awhile, she might be a bit piggy and could possibly choke on cubes if not soaked.

 

[Jill]

I'd have her teeth checked and deworm her. I'd go with complete senior feed (regardless of age) and good hay to add healthy / balanced weight. First and foremost, though, teeth and deworming so you aren't wasting feed that can't be used or is used by worms. Also, I'd make a red mineral salt block available if that's not already in place.

 

[Jill]

PS, we always have dewormed any new horse as soon as he or she gets here no matter where the horse came from.

 

[NewToMini's]

I dewormed her yesterday with zimectrin gold. And I should be able to take some money that I had put back for their vaccines to get her teeth done. I believe I was told she hadn't had her teeth floated in 12 years, so she does probably (definitely?) need it done.

And I have 3 different salt blocks available to them XD A white salt one, a brown mineral one, and a flavored horse one (it's not sweetened, though).

 

[NewToMini's]

Should I exercise her any, or just let her rest until she gains some?

Also, if I hand graze her in the yard, how long would she have to graze to get enough to make a difference?

 

[Jill]

Let her rest and move freely (not in a stall all the time if at all). I think she should really gain significant weight before being made to exercise. Best of luck. I think she's going to be a looker when her weight is up.

 

[NewToMini's]

She got her teeth done today. She did really well for it and was really calm (only part that even fazed her was the thing holding her mouth open, and she just backed up - once he took it out of her mouth she just stood there for the rest of the floating). She needed tarter scraped off her teeth, too.

 

[NewToMini's]

I made a small pen in the yard to let her graze on better/longer grass. I plan to let her graze in the yard for a couple hours per day. I don't know if letting her graze this way will actually help her get more calories, but at least it makes her happy and will get the yard mowed down a bit XD

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Wow looking good already!

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Look at all that beautiful grass ( very jealous) you will have her looking and feeling great in no time

 

[NewToMini's]

So it's been a week. She's only been eating hay and grass, and I can't tell if she's gained any noticeable weight (though it has only been a week, so maybe I shouldn't see change yet). But here are some update pictures.

 

[NewToMini's]

Here are some side-by-sides. Left and top is last week, bottom and right is today.

 

[chandab]

I think I see a bit of improvement.

If she's handling the regular meals of hay and grass, you should be able to slowly start adding in a commercial feed. I think senior feed is one that was mentioned, and it is a good choice for rehabbing. From the looks of it, she's a full-size mare, so can probably handle a bit more than a mini; but I'd still start small, like 1 cup 2x daily for a few days before slowly starting to increase 1 cup at a time (so after those initial few days, add a cup to one meal daily for a few days, then add a cup to the other meal for a few days, and work your way up to at least a couple pounds a day for a full-size horse). [Most commercial pelleted feeds are about 3 cups per pound (standard dry measure kitchen cup).] I'd probably plateau at 2# for awhile and see what it does for her before increasing more, but others may have different ideas.

 

[NewToMini's]

Thanks for the tip on how much grain to start her out on. I was planning on starting her at a pound per day and working up to 2 pounds, but I was concerned that starting at a pound would be too much.

I will be getting her grain tomorrow and starting her on it Wednesday morning.

 

[chandab]

Thanks for the tip on how much grain to start her out on. I was planning on starting her at a pound per day and working up to 2 pounds, but I was concerned that starting at a pound would be too much.

I will be getting her grain tomorrow and starting her on it Wednesday morning.

Well, 2 cups daily is about 2/3#, so pretty close. And to be truthful, 1 cup pellet (for a meal) for a full-size horse isn't much, but we are starting totally from scratch with a horse that was very down in condition, so we don't want to go to fast. [Perhaps I'm a bit too cautious, but that is probably better in the long run.]

 

[NewToMini's]

I'd rather start out feeding her too little (worst case scenario, she keeps gaining weight very slowly) than to start out feeding too much (worst case scenario, she colics, and could die...). So I think I'll use your advice to start with just a cup of feed morning and night and work up from there

 

[NewToMini's]

I got her grain and joint supplement today. They didn't have safechoice senior, so I got sentinel senior. It was a couple dollars more expensive, so hopefully it means it's better grain XD