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Post by ride4fun on Sept 10, 2014 21:48:01 GMT -5
I'll have to try to find the website of the equine nutrition guru, or Trailpal may have it handy. She could advise on calculating total calories, usuable protein and etc and probably good labs if you wanted to test your hay or send in horse hair to see if E is deficient in something that might be stalling weight gain. And I think UC-Davis vet school or equine vet school is supposed to have a guideline for feeding severely starved horses. Actually I think E would be beyond the critical stage where one has to worry that the liver etc has to adapt to getting adequate nutrition again. I thought when you first got her that she must self-exercise a lot because she had a lot of muscle definition in her back legs so she is probably a tough horse to put weight on and with you mentioning now that she is also a dainty eater, its going to be extra tough. Some of the probiotics will also increase appetite so hopefully that helps. Sounds like she needs MMJ Well there may actually be herbs that calm and increase appetite that wouldn't cost $$$ and be illegal, I've never had that issue of fighting to get a horse to eat enough. The liver cleanse herbs might help. CJ is in good flesh getting them after his colic that they decided was due to eating some weed with liver toxicity or having some low level chronic liver disease. I think milk thistle is the main one but CJ gets dandelion and nettle too. Those are supposed to be good for general inflammation too I believe. Of course the other thing I did with CJ was move him to a pen of his own because even when he was with Sadie and was way top dog he chews so slowly; she would swoop in and steal some of his feed and then duck out of his reach. I should have asked how many lbs of alf. pellets since scoop size can vary so much that I didn't know if 2 scoops meant 2 lbs or 6-8 lbs or more but its a moot point if she won't eat more pellets anyway.
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Post by Idaho Linda on Sept 10, 2014 22:28:24 GMT -5
I don't know if shw would like them this way, but I soak my alfalfa pellets. I prepare the next meal as I feed the last, so they soak 8-12 hours. My horses think the mash is wonderful. Please don't tell them that it isn't grain.
I know you have had her teeth checked, but sometimes there is something weird, like.a.split tooth, that makes chewing not the most pleasant of activities.
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Post by ride4fun on Sept 10, 2014 22:43:53 GMT -5
Linda I think in FL soaking feed that doesn't dissolve right away can be a tricky thing with how quickly stuff ferments in that heat and humidity. Where we live even if its hot stuff is usually fine if there is a bit of extra water for evaporation cooling but I dont think it works out in the deep SE. Although soft feed is a good idea in case there is a dental or swallowing issue with E. I believe that that is one reason the purina SR feed is popular. It soaks up to a mush in 5 minutes or less. Nice at vet checks when the horses have limited time to eat Although our complete feed I buy instead of a 'sweet' feed also goes to a mush pretty fast too, depends on the brands I suppose. Many owners probably want their hay pellets to provide longer chew time for the horses but it sure sounds like E could benefit from stuff that eats fast and easy.
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Post by Idaho Linda on Sept 10, 2014 23:08:46 GMT -5
Good point--I forgot where she lived.
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Post by Trailpal on Sept 11, 2014 9:03:56 GMT -5
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Post by ride4fun on Sept 11, 2014 10:09:22 GMT -5
Thanks Trailpal. I was thinking of Susan Garlinghouse. I don't know if she has time to still offer web advise now, but she used to offer a lot of advise freely on the web, mostly for feeding endurance horses and broodmares and foals. She got her masters in equine nutrition from UC-Davis and then went to CSU here in CO for her DVM.
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Post by Trailpal on Sept 11, 2014 14:45:44 GMT -5
I did a quick search and from looking at her clinic page www.allcreaturesanimalhealth.com/equine-nutrition-articles.pml it doesn't seem like she's able to provide advice these days via emails. Probably someone who was active in ridecamp could get a short answer from her but she seems pretty tied up these days. However, I think the UC Davis protocol is pretty straight-forward and has been pretty successful.
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Post by Idaho Linda on Sept 11, 2014 15:48:27 GMT -5
Another resource might be Nicki Branch at Falcon Ridge Rescue near San Diego. falconridgeequinerescue.blogspot.com/Nicki has rescued many, many horses with starvation issues and has lots of resources at her disposal to be able to bring these horses back so they can find new homes. I am sure she would be happy to share information on what has worked well for her over the years.
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Post by Marci on Sept 13, 2014 1:56:51 GMT -5
Kerry has a hard keeper and we added Rice bran to his diet and he is putting on weight pretty good.
But he also is in a pen by himself now, its important to not have all the other horses stealing their food. The palomino mare was having that happen and got pretty thin, but now she has filled out and looks good again. If you can just giving them all they can eat of hay usually will help, I also like to feed Sr, and you can feed an ungodly amount safely. But if after all of this she is still losing, it might be time for the vet to come out and do some blood checking. And a power pack wormer (or a daily wormer for a few months) Kerry had one mare that though wormed regularly had a worm problem. She did the daily worming and she put on some weight. But in the end it was pain that kept her from eating. She had horrid knees, bute helped but in the end she had to be put down. I can say one thing, with my knee I'm glad I'm not a horse.
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Post by cathie on Nov 29, 2014 21:32:39 GMT -5
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Post by Idaho Linda on Nov 29, 2014 22:41:04 GMT -5
She looks like a different horse in the second picture. Boy, those are high withers! If you get a chance, try a highneck blanket on her. There is also a blanket "european cut?" That comes up farther on her neck. Getting/finding blankets that really fit and work well is not an easy task.
I think is looking much better.
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Post by ride4fun on Nov 29, 2014 23:51:10 GMT -5
Ulcers. Doh, now that you got her diagnosed. So happy you found the problem and she is putting weight on I put darts in the neck of a horse blanket once to improve the fit. Might not help any with hers but tossing it out just in case. p.s. I'll clarify that I feel like I should have thought of ulcers myself, in hindsight it makes so much sense with her not eating vigorously and so on. With all the reading I've done especially on endurance boards over the years where people have reported ulcers as a cause when they couldn't keep weight on their horse it should have occurred to me. But the important thing is someone suggested it and now the little mare is finally able to thrive with all your TLC.
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Post by snelson on Dec 1, 2014 14:27:40 GMT -5
She is looking sooooo much better. I don't have any experience with horses with ulcers so that didn't enter my mind...glad you got it figured out and she is putting on weight.
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Post by cathie on Dec 1, 2014 19:03:06 GMT -5
I never have either. So she is learning curve for me too.
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Post by Idaho Linda on Dec 1, 2014 20:02:32 GMT -5
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