Now I have a rescue also

[DorothyB]

I didn't intend to do this. In fact, I avoid looking a pictures of or reading about starving or abused animals as much as possible.

However, I received an e-mail from an acquaintance asking if I or anyone I knew might be interested in a horse. The family that owned him was "unable to feed him" and he was "very underweight". I asked age, training, etc and was told that he was a papered QH, broke to ride and 9 years old. I offered to give them a bale of hay while they looked for an owner.

Then I ended up deciding to go 1 1/2 hours away to get him. My intention was to probably just pass him along to a rescue, but . . . for now I'm going to keep him and see what he is like with some meat on his bones. He seems really sweet right now.

Introducing Lucky:





He is munching coastal hay. Keet will rasp his feet a bit tomorrow and vet is scheduled to come next week (Tuesday??) to do teeth and overall look at him.

[kimkats000]

Thank you for doing this. It looks like he needs you!

Kim

[Jenni]

That poor young man. Looks like real gem - a diamond in the rough. Get him some groceries and I bet he's gorgeous. I'm helping my husband's uncle with a mare that looks about like this. He also didn't intend to get another horse but couldn't leave her once he saw her.

[DorothyB]

Someone looked up his pedigree, etc for me. He is just over 10 1/2 years old.

[snelson]

He's still such a young guy. I love how alert he is....it will be interesting to see how he feels out and to watch his personality What a nice thing you are doing for him.

[Jenni]

So what is his registered name and some names on his pedigree?

[Idaho Linda]

I think you found a diamond here. It won't take long to get him back in shape.

[DorothyB]

Lucky had an upset tummy, but pulse stayed low, so I did a LOT of walking with him this evening and am now going to bed 2 1/2 hours after bedtime. I think he is OK now. Alarm is set for 2:30 to check on him and give him a teeny snack of alfalfa and coastal.

[DorothyB]

He seems to be all better from before I finally went to bed last night. He had cow patty poop from mid-afternoon, then wanted the soaked feed but refused the coastal, gurgly tummy and laid down while Denise & I were in his 10 x 10 stall with him. After some homeopathic stuff and lots of walking, he stretched out to pee and immediately became much more difficult to walk because he wanted the grass where I was walking him. 10:45 PM, I put his smaller amount of soaked feed on top of a very small handful of coastal and he cleaned it up and seem to feel fine at 11:30. 2:30 and 7, he gobbled down his smaller portion of soaked feed, then got busy on the meager handful of coastal. Coastal is up to about 1/2 of a basketbal of loose hay. I'll keep increasing the size of loose hay each meal. Too tired and too muddy out to look for poop this morning - will do that after another nap.

[cathie]

I would strongly suggest putting him on something for ulcers. It did wonderfully for Emeriah. He did what she did before she quit eatting. The meds from the vet, then the supplements she is on now have worked wonders. From what I have learned now, after the fact for me is Ulcers are VERY common in rescues. Her treats are not expensive (and they are local to me, but she shipps worldwide). WHOA NELLY Horse Treats is the name. She does treats and supplements. her website is down for some reason, but you can get ahold of her thru facebook if you wanted.

[DorothyB]

The treats are different than the ulcer meds? I'll talk to vet about that when she comes. It makes sense that a starving horse would have ulcers.

[cathie]

The "treats" are the meds they are herbs. They work better for some horses than what the vet gives. Look up her website, its fixed now. I'm not sure why it was offline earlier. Emeriha got tubed with the vet meds, 2 days of the stuff he left, then these "treats" ever since and we have not had a problem since. She is gaining weight and happy as can be. The treats are $7.50 for a month there abouts. I buy 2 lbs at a time so I am not so sure on how long a bag last for sure.

whoanellyhorsetreats.com/

[DorothyB]

Cathie, that is a great price. What symptoms made you suspect ulcers? You give the "belly" treats?

I'm exhausted! Just counted up - after I give him a last feeding of the night shortly, I will have made 13 trips to the barn to feed Lucky in less than 24 hours. Granted, a couple of those were close together and included two trips that he got a handful of hay so I could carry stuff through his pen to the other horses' stall. He will have had 7 small feedings of soaked alfalfa and 11 servings of coastal hay. I'm gradually increasing the size of the coastal hay feedings. I am NOT getting up in the night and he will probably only get 6 or 7 total feedings tomorrow. Slow feed hay net goes up when I go out for his last feeding - but it won't have a lot of hay in it.

[Kit]

He will be a whole new horse by next spring.
What's his registered name?

[cathie]

Emeriah just stopped eatting. She would eat alittle bit, but it would only be a bite ot two. She was laying down, A LOT, but not rolling, so I let her be. In the 4 days she was like this (yes I waited 4 days because she ate alittle more each day) she lost all the weight I had put on her plus some. I called the vet and was prapared to put her down. The night he got there, she went from normal small poops, to cow patties all over. I was shocked to see the stall/ paddock she was in. He tubed her, said no food tonight, she had hay, but only what I could not pick up. He told me 1/2 the tube of stuff morning and night for the next 2 days. Then I talked to Cara. I got toe whoabelly 'treats' and she has not had a problem since. She had doubled in weight, and Im not doing anything I was not doing before. All I added was the whoabelly. I can't remember the stuff he gave her, but with that being the only thing that has changed. It only makes since. You can see in her photos how her weight has gone.
Here is her Facebook album:
www.facebook.com/cathie.gorsuch/media_set?set=a.10201196117145561.1073741828.1849630184&type=3



The day she stopped eatting:


11/28/14

she has a full winter caot now, but you can still see the difference.