Cinnamon. Rescue mare: **FILLY**!!!!!!!!!

[amystours]

Hello! This is the first time in a LONG time I have joined a forum. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm almost always seeing snarky or rude comments, and I just don't have time for folks like that! I have lurked on this forum for a while, and I haven't seen any of that behavior here!

Okay, long story short, we have "acquired" a pregnant miniature. She is tiny, underweight, has a roachback and crooked legs. The folks we got her from had no clue what was going on. She had been in a pasture with ten or twelve other minis (including two stallions). They said minis NEVER have problems foaling and that she was young, at six years old, she would definitely have no problems...yet, they have only had them six months. *sigh*. Time to take her home.

So saying, we have her here now. Personally, I think she's at least 12-15, if not older. Her teeth have some angle on them, and she has a slight overbite. I have no clue if she is a maiden (I'd be willing to bet not?). She has a decent sized belly, although she has not bagged up at ALL. When I reach under her, she swishes her tail and picks her foot up, but does not deliberately try to kick, per se. When she was eating the other night, I put my hands on her belly, and I could feel the little one moving all over the place. We had our farrier out Friday to trim her, and he said her hooves were so hard that it was likely she hadn't been trimmed in at least a year.

How about I try to post some pictures, and we will go from there? Remember, we have only had her four days now. We are in the process of hooking a camera up to her barn, in order to be able to watch her closer at night.

Opinions, feedback, suggestions???

All alone in a draft horse trailer. No need to close the dividers because she could go right under them!

Front view in the lot:

Above shot in the lot:

Back view in the shed:

And finally a side shot, with a little photobomber:

 

[Eagle]

I am so glad you started a thread

First things first what is her name? she is a real cutie and thank you for bringing her home. She really does need some tlc bless her. The american girls here will give you all the help you need to get her on a healthy diet for her and baby.

Keep touching her down under until she gets used to it cos we will want to see lots of pics of her udder and hooha (yes we are annoying like that)

A good way to do it is to scratch her and move slowly down under whilst scratching and rubbing. Minis love to be scratched

I see you have lots of furry friends so please feel free to tell us all about them too. I am a Haflinger fan so can we have some pics too

Once again Welcome

Renee

 

[chandab]

she's definitely thin, I can see her backbone even with her long winter hair. I don't see a roach back in the pics you've shared, but you've seen her in person, so you'd know more (although, it could be partially due to her lack on nutrition).

About how tall is she? What is she currently eating (I know you haven't had her long, but she needs to get on a good feed program now)? [What feed do you keep on hand for the rest of your herd? Perhaps what you already have will be appropriate for her, and you won't have to buy another type of feed.]

Bless you for taking her on.

 

[blazingstarranch]

Poor little thing! I'm so glad you have her now, and she has a chance at the kind of life she deserves. She sure needs a lot of groceries but she's got such a sweet face! Everyone here is so helpful and kind hearted, you don't have to worry about the rude remarks. By the way I LOVE your photobomber!!! Please keep us posted on your new little girl!

 

[AnnaC]

Hi and welcome to the Nutty Nursery - you are right in that there are no 'nasties' or attitudes here, just very friendly folks all determined to help each other with any questions or problems that might be arising with the aim of getting these precious little mares get their equally precious little babies safely on the ground! (we are also known for calf and goat watching, even puppies and kittens too!!)

That's a very sweet little girl you have there, she's lucky to have found you. She certainly looks preggers to me, bless her, and if she is an older mare, then I would think it highly likely that she has foaled before, which will make things a bit easier for her.

I dont know what you are doing for her food wise, but, and forgive me if you already know this, you should be vey careful with her feeding programme as she has obviously not been treated very well in this department. May I suggest you start her on a balancer of some sort to get the essential minerals and vitamins into her as soon as possible while you sort out and slowly start her on whatever feeding regime that you are happy with. If she is fairly close to foaling, the balancer will at least get some 'essentials' into her to help the growing foal and her as well.

Many thanks for the pictures and again welcome - looking forward to watching your little girl with you and hearing how she is settling and improving over the coming weeks.

And finally, please could we have the name of your sweet lady - yours too if you dont mind.

 

[crisco41]

I am no expert on horse feeding...I am trying to straighten out a couple of skinny horses myself and have struggled with the feed requirements. My biggest problem is finding fescue free hay for pregnant mares.

I have seen a big improvement on my minis that i recently got by free access to decent hay,feeding a small amouint omalene 300, a cup of soaked beet pulp. a vitamin supplement that has selenium ( we are in a low area here) along with timothy /alfalfa cubes. with a small small amt of calf manna.Hoping it is a decent combination..and since they are looking better after a month I am thinking it maybe is ok.

Bless you for taking this lil girl in. I am finding it very rewarding to do it and am certain you will too.

 

[countrymini]

Welcome from Australia! The nursery is definitely the BEST place to be. On the main forum some "seasoned owners" sometimes forget they too had to learn how to care for horses at some point.

Your little girl is skinny but you can still see what a beautiful little thing she is, and she'll be thanking her lucky stars she ended up with you. Who is the cute little photobomber?

 

[amystours]

Wow! Such an outpouring! Okay, let me see if I can get everything answered!

Renee:

We haven't really decided on her name! My mother mentioned that she likes "Cinnamon", and I think it would fit her just so! We do have two Haflingers. Both are carriage horses, but Ike is retired, as he develops foot and leg issues after working a full day.

Chandab:

Her weight may indeed be her back issue. She has absolutely no curve to it whatsoever, so maybe you're right, it's a nutrition thing. We have started her on Life Design Mare and Foal. Going VERY slowly, as I'm sure she wasn't fed much of anything at all before. We also placed a mineral block out for her, and she can have all the hay she wants, with limited grazing when we take her out of the dry lot (LOTS of clover here, don't want to add a bellyache on top of everything else). I haven't measured her yet...will do that when I go to put her in for the evening.

Blazingstar:

My little photobomber is a large mini, she is part of a driving team, and the cutest little booger you ever did see!

Anna:

I mentioned her feed above, and we are thinking we are going to call her Cinnamon! My name is Amy. Nice to "meet" you all.

Crisco:

We are feeding a senior feed as well as weight builder and beet pulp to an OLD Percheron. He is 25 years old, and is retired from the carriage business. He has always been a bit of a hard keeper, but he just isn't keeping it. His teeth were done about three months ago. I wonder if beet pulp would help this little lady?

General question: since she is so underweight, and we are 99% sure she is expecting, do you think we should worm her? I would be willing to bet she never had it before!

Just a little history on me...I'm 37, have three kids, and I operate a carriage tour business in our small historic town. Horses are my life, and I cannot remember a time in my life where we didn't have at least three. Right now, we have fifteen. I have two dogs, two cats, a couple of cichlids, a peahen, a bunny, and an obnoxious male Eclectus. I have read forums and watched videos and looked at pictures till my eyes cross, trying to prepare myself for this birth. It wouldn't be as hard if I had any clue as to when she is due! *whew*

 

[amystours]

Let me see if I can get some of these critters up in an album so y'all (that is indeed a word here in the South) can check them out!

 

[chandab]

The hay and the mare and foal feed is a good place to start, go slow as you already mentioned, and see what this does for her before adding any more feed items to her diet, give it at least 2-3 weeks after she is on full feed to see what it is doing for her before adding more products.

The Life Design Mare and Foal instructions are to feed; 1/2-3/4# per 100# BW for late gestation. So, lets get a height on her, so we can at least estimate what she should weigh so we know how much we need to work her up to. [Nutrena now has a feed calculator on line, looks to be on each feed page (the feeding direction tab), so you should be able to plug in her weight and activity and it'll spit out an amount she should get. http://www.nutrenaworld.com/products/horses/life-design/mare-foal/index.jsp ]

If she hasn't been dewormed in awhile, start with a mild dewormer (dosed appropriately for her weight), like SafeGuard; and then two weeks later give her a dose of plain ivermectin. [You already have a couple minis, but in case you didn't know, do NOT give Quest (moxidectin) to minis; its mode of absorption and safety margin aren't compatible with minis.]

 

[targetsmom]

Welcome! Good advice so far and certainly you don't want to stress her any more with too rapid feed changes. But if you can get alfalfa cubes (soaked), I think that would be my next suggestion to add to her diet. The Calcium will help prevent ulcers, which she might be prone to from the stress of all the changes, and the extra calcium will also help her milk supply. Good luck with her! She is already lucky that she found you!

Mary

 

[amystours]

Busy morning here! Daughter and I both have eye appointments, need to replace a panel in the fence, and *may* bring the other Belgian and Clydesdale to the pasture in town. I'll have to watch them a while, but promise measurements and pics coming later!

 

[Gone_Riding]

Thank heavens you got her as soon as you did! The poor little girl! There's been a lot of great advice. It was smart to join this forum as the people here are awesome. They've been a big help to me too. Worming is a must, and safeguard is a great starter for a pregnant mare. I actually just used it on my mare Saturday.

She looks so terribly skinny... I'm glad you're able to feel the baby move for peace of mind. Mini's can have a lot of issues with foaling, but hopefully, she will do fine. It's a lot of work to take care of a rescue like that, so Koodos to you! I've been there, but it was with a 6 mo. Arab. You might also want to check her for lice, just in case.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I never visitied the marestare forum before because I don't breed. But I checked it out a few days ago, and you guys seem to be having so much fun, I had to come back for another visit!

Now that I've been introduced to some of the mares, I know I'll want to keep up with them and the foals.

One of the first things I'd consider with a thin, unknown horse is an equine dentist. The one I use here in OK travels all over the US. She is incredible. Do not know if dental work is acceptable for expectant mares, though.

Good luck with her; she has a beautiful face.

 

[Eagle]

Welcome to the Nutty Nursery Marsha

 

[Never2Mini]

Sure glad you rescued the little dear. She has such a cute face and kind eyes. Can't wait to watch her bloosom under your TLC.

 

[amystours]

She may very well need some dental work, especially with that overbite...our day just kept getting better and better. When daughter and I came out of eye doctor (I have to have bloody surgery!), the tire on my truck was flat! After running all over the southern United States this past month, I guess they (tires) just couldn't take any more! Got six brand new ones, so I REALLY hope there are no new minis down here needing homes! I can't use the tire excuse any more! Had to go get groceries cause we had NOTHING in the house, and I picked up wormer for everyone. I have a weight tape around here somewhere...would Cinnamon's pregnancy affect her results since she's underweight and the measurement is taken right behind her front legs?

 

[amystours]

Okay!! Update! She measured around 33 inches, and according to the weight tape, she weighs a bit under 225. Just wormed her, and she had to curl her lip at that! (I think it's cute when they do that).

Okay, today's pics!

New tires! (Hate buying tires...) truck is nasty cause there has been lots of rain here.

Met old Bert and Harley yesterday.

Meeting Bud today:

Here's Bud. Found as a baby in a slaughterhouse in Canada. A lady saved him, brought him to Oklahoma to train, and we bought him and will use him with our carriage business. Sweet, sweet horse. Only 5 years old, has gone through sooo much.

Backside of Miss Cinnamon today:

Side view today:

Okay, sorry about pic overload!

Edited to add: will get udder and hooha shots tonight when we stall her.

 

[chandab]

My complete total chunk of a 33.25" mare weighs in at 330# (actual scale weight), here's Dolly:



[Weighed about two weeks after pic was taken. She's been on a diet, and looks much better, can't weigh her til the snowbank is off the scale, so probably June.]

Here is Baybe, she's 32" tall; a bit chunky and likely prenant, she weighed 320# last Aug (pic from this Jan, so probably heavier):



Like I said mine are chunky, so I doubt your girl needs to be over 300#, but 250-275# would be a good goal to shoot for and see what she looks like when she gets close to that weight. [Weight tapes aren't overly accurate for minis, but are good for measuring changes in weight.]

 

[amystours]

Oh dear...I wormed her for 225#...hope I didn't mess anything up! Didn't want to under/over dose her, but she's getting adjusted to her new diet. The feed has added selenium, which I'm hoping is enough. I think this gal is the thinnest one on the whole forum. We did get to replace the panel on the fence today (see above pic with Bert), and they are all out getting clover. Another small concern...Cinnamon HATES to be locked up at night. The other two little ones are less than courteous to her, but she calls for them and paces a bit as soon as we stall her. I'm hoping that she adjusts to that and it doesn't stress her out. Camera is up and going, although we don't have it online just yet. Gotta work on that!

Chandab, you have some CUTE little chunks! And you're not sure if Baybe is expecting?? She looks huge to me! However, I would always rather see a heavy horsie than a boney pony!