Feeding Rescue Mare

[EquestraDreams]

Hello all!

I took in a 9 year old rescue mare (approximately 35") about 3 months ago. She had basically been starved and neglected for her entire life, was disgustingly thin, never seen a farrier, had skin problems and lice, FULL of round worms, and of course had been in foal for most of her life (I was forced to leave her this years foal at the previous "owner's" and she aborted about a month after I got her).

I have been able to deworm her a few times, vaccinate her, trim her feet and she has put on some weight. However her weight gain progress has been much slower than I would like and I think I need to tweak her feeding program. Currently she get 4 lbs. of Buckeye Safe and Easy pellets (didn't want her to founder), about 1 lb. of beet pulp, and good quality all-grass hay every day split into 2 feedings. I am considering going to a complete feed - perhaps Purina Equine Senior? In your opinion would this be a good switch, or do you have any other feeding suggestions? I have access to Buckeye and Purina products. Thanks!

 

[littleones]

The only other thing that I would add would be vegetable oil. The rest of your regime is good and she should come along nicely. Please PM me and I will share some before and after photos of an emaciated four year old mare that we turned around in a two month period.

 

[nightflight]

I am a fan of the purina product line and would go full steam ahead with that. When we're trying to pack on the pounds we also do free choice grass. Second the veggie oil, and a very pocketbook friendly way to add some extra protein is soybean meal.

I would really encourage you to do the panacur 5 day worming routine. If we had known about it years ago we could have really saved ourselves some big vet bills.

 

[chandab]

I didn't see it in your list of things, so has she had her teeth checked and then floated if needed? If she has bad teeth, all the feed in the world won't get her where you want her, as she won't be able to chew it properly.

She might need a more high powered feed than the Safe and Easy; Safe and Easy is designed for easy keepers and founder-prone horses so lower in calories, your mare may need a higher calorie feed to put on more weight. You don't want to rush her weight gain, slow and easy is best; but while she needs to gain weight you may need to try a higher calorie feed. Perhaps a senior feed, they are easy to digest and have a moderate calorie content. Buckeye Cadence might be a good one to try while she still needs to gain some weight, its high in fat, so should help her to gain weight; and you would probably be able to feed less of it to get the needed calories into her. If you want to stay with the safe and easy perhaps you could add a fat supplement, such as, Buckeye Ultimate Finish or the Ultimate Finish rice bran (if you add a fat supplement, you might want to decrease the safe and easy a little bit). [Reading the feeding directions for a horse the size of your mare, she is probably being fed a bit too much of the safe and easy at 4#. At 35", she probably should weigh about 300-350#; so according to Buckeye's feeding chart for Safe and Easy, she should get about 2 to 2.5# per day. If the recommended amount plus hay doesnt' keep her weight, then she needs a higher calorie feed. ]

 

[Jill]

I have had good luck putting weight on horses (even weight, too) using complete senior feeds. I think your hunch to use Purina Equine Senior is a great idea

 

[MiLo Minis]

I helped out with an emaciated horse and was recommended to me to use alfalfa hay in small handfuls frequently throughout the day. Worked very well for the mare I was feeding. Rice bran was another suggestion from the nutritionist I was working with. I mixed vegetable oil and rice bran into an equine senior feed and fed that along with the alfalfa hay in many small feedings per day. You need to take the amount of feed suggested which will maintain her weight and up that by 1% of her body weight per day to allow her to increase weight.

 

[albahurst]

I really am sold on the Buckeye products. You might try some alfalfa, as someone above suggested. We had good luck with Beet pulp, alfalfa, Buckeye alfalfa balancer, brome. Have you treated for Tape Worms?

I wish you the best.

Peggy