New Mini w/ weight issue

[hrselady]

We went to a sale today and found one lonely mini standing off in the back.. I ended up buying her and bringing her home. She is very underweight and I need some thoughts on getting her back up where she is. Right now she is snuggled in a stall with clean, fresh water and hay. I feed my mini's equine senior and hay. I always move them up 1/4 cup every 2 to 3 days when I get a new one. But I have never gotten one this underweight and I dont want to do anything that would be damaging to her.

She is AMHA reg. Her sire is Rattlesnake Bayou Rowdy Suger Buck .. her dam is White Fences Crackers Sweet Buns ... her name is K Nells Cinnabun .. foaled 04/16/1999 .. Could someone please do a lookup on her for me and see if she's had any babies (reg. number is A 103468).

Here she is right off the trailer...

Mendy

 

[Frank]

I don't know where you are, or just what you have available in the way of feed, but I will make my suggestions. Aalfalfa hay is generally considered one of the safest feeds to give to undernourished horses. Start her on it nice and slow and build it up until she is getting at least 2% of what would be her normal bodyweight. As an example, if she is 32" tall, she should weight about 230 pounds and, therefore, she should receive approximately 4.5-5 pounds of hay in a 24 hour period. I would add a good supplement designed to work with the hay from either Buckeye or Progressive. Given time your new horse will look and feel just fine. I would not give her any grain just now as her system is not used to it and she might end up with ulcers.

Frank

 

[faithfarm]

She's had 3 foals, 03,04,05.

 

[Becky]

What a shame that someone would let a nice mare like that get in such pathetic condition! Lucky for her, you came to her rescue!!

I bet feeding as Frank suggested, she will pick up and be the beautiful horse her pedigree says she is. She has had foals in 2003, 2004, 2005.

Good luck with her and be sure to post 'after' pictures in the future!

 

[Keri]

I would put her on a worming regiment too. That is alway best with underweight horses. Never know if its becuase she's just not fed right or is she has worm problems. Do a good regiment on worming and then give her some probiotics. That will help.

Let her have unlimited hay and them give her lots of grain and love!

Thanks for helping her out!!!!!

 

[chandab]

Last fall, I bought a stallion that was only a little more filled out than your new girl (31" light-build).

I started him off on free choice grass hay for the first week, then slowly added in some senior feed (til he was getting about 4 cups per day); then after a month to 6 weeks on the senior feed and hay, I slowly added in my usual ration balancer and decreased the senior (he now gets 3/4 cup senior 2x day, plus 1/4 cup ration balancer 2x day, a little bit of flax and free choice grass or grass/alfalfa mix hay). I wanted to start out slow and not over tax his system with too much protein too quick; so I went real slow before adding in the ration balancer, since it has a high protein level. He has filled out so nicely and only needed his blanket the first two weeks of moving to the frigid north.

Edited to add: I was told he had been wormed just before I brought him home, so I waited 4 weeks before doing a 5-day Panacur purge on him. And, yesterday, he was given a dose of ivermectin, along with the rest of the herd; so now everyone is on the same schedule.

 

[hrselady]

She doesnt seem to be sick but I am going to have my vet check her out Monday. No nasel discharge, clear eyes, good teeth, and no loose stool.. but I want him to run a panel on her anyway to make sure there isnt any underlying problem. I have spoke with a previous owner and they were astonished at her condition, to say the least. They were very helpful and I am sure she'll pull out of this and live a long and happy life.

After about a week on the hay, should I start her feedings 3x a day in VERY small amounts or just do my regular 2x a day?

 

[chandab]

After about a week on the hay, should I start her feedings 3x a day in VERY small amounts or just do my regular 2x a day?

A third meal a day would be a good idea.

I forgot to mention in my first post, I feed soaked beet pulp around noon (my third feeding for the day, only in winter). My little stallion does get 1/3# of beet pulp soaked every day; I can't remember for sure, but it took him a few days to decide beet pulp was a good thing to eat (luckily we have cattle and I just dumped his uneaten soaked beet pulp over the fence for the heifers, and they ate it right up). I started him out real slow with the beet pulp, more for him to get used to the taste, as its a very safe feed.

 

[Becky]

Here is an excellent article on feeding the starved horse Nutrition for Rehabilitating the Starved Horse

It explains why alfalfa is an excellent choice for putting on weight and condition in starved and underfed horses. I've had very good luck using alfalfa here on horses in poor condition. They pick up quickly with less worry about digestive upsets.

 

[littleones]

Here is some more information on your mare:

Pedigree:

****1***2***3***4***5***6***7***8***9****************************************

| | | | KEWPIES SUN - UNREG.

| | | ROWDY - A 03622

| | | |[05/05/1973 : S : SBA : BT : DC : 34.000]

| | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | NFC ROWDYS RASCAL - A 20673

| | |[06/19/1987 : S : SBA : DN : - : 31.500]

| | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | | | KOMOKOS KING TUT - R 00242P

| | | | |[00/00/1968 : G : SBA : BT : DC : 30.000]

| | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | | KOMOKOS BABY JANE - A 04095

| | | |[03/25/1973 : M : SBA : - : DC : 30.500]

| | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | | | KOMOKOS TRIXIE - A 03455

| | | | |[00/00/1970 : M : SCS : - : - : 31.500]

| | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| RATTLESNAKE BAYOU ROWDY SUGAR BUCK - A 65726

| |[04/27/1993 : S : SBS : DN : - : 32.500]

| | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | NFCS SUGAR BABY - A 07062

| | |[00/00/1979 : M : SPA : DN : - : 33.500]

| | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

K NELLS CINNABUN - A 103468

|[04/16/1999 : M : SSR : DN : - : 32.500]

| | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | | BOND BULLDOG - R 00014P

| | | |[00/00/1969 : S : SSR : - : - : 29.000]

| | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | BOND CRACKER CRUMBLE C - A 05103

| | |[05/18/1982 : S : SCS : DN : - : 33.500]

| | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | | | BOND LITTLE JOE - R 00012P

| | | | |[00/00/1966 : S : SSR : - : DC : 28.000]

| | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | | BOND SERENDIPPITY C - R 02114P

| | | |[04/12/1976 : M : DGR : - : DC : 32.500]

| | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | | | BOND ZENITH C - R 00895P

| | | | |[00/00/1969 : M : SCS : - : DC : 33.000]

| | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| WHITE FENCES CRACKERS SWEET BUNS - A 50794

| |[07/13/1992 : M : SSR : - : - : 32.000]

| | | | | MITZYS TRIGGER VB - UNREG.

| | | | CHOCOS LITTLE SPECKS RED BOY - I 01273

| | | | |[06/04/1977 : S : SCS : BT : DC : 30.500]

| | | | | CHOCOS LITTLE SPECK - UNREG.

| | | J JS LITTLE MACHO - R 03724T

| | | |[05/04/1980 : S : DCS : DN : - : 30.500]

| | | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | | | | CHOCOLATICO - A 03735

| | | | | |[00/00/1967 : S : SBR : - : - : 31.500]

| | | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | | | CHOCOS LITTLE LADY - I 01321

| | | | |[04/25/1973 : M : SCS : - : - : 31.000]

| | | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | OAK FOREST SWEET CHEEKS - A 24282

| | |[04/27/1988 : M : SSR : - : - : 30.000]

| | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

| | | CODYS STORMY DAY - I 00943B

| | | |[06/05/1977 : M : PCS : DN : VO : 33.000]

| | | | UNKNOWN - UNREG.

****1***2***3***4***5***6***7***8***9****************************************

Other:

K NELLS CINNABUN

NAME REG. NO FOAL DATE S CL BT ST HT

K NELLS CINNABUN A 103468 04/16/1999 M SSR DN - 32.500

SIRE RATTLESNAKE BAYOU ROWDY SUGAR BUCK A 65726 SBS DN - 32.500

DAM WHITE FENCES CRACKERS SWEET BUNS A 50794 SSR - - 32.000

BRDR KEN OR NELL JACKSON

OWNR ROSE MARY WILLIAMS ROSES SMALL WORLD

FOAL(S)

[Top]

NAME REG. NO FOAL DATE S CL BT ST HT

FOAL ROSES SMALL WORLD CINNAMON SUGAR A 139822 02/23/2003 M SSR PD - 00.000

PARENT MINI BITS LITTLE RED COAT BAR

FOAL RSW DOTCOM A 152676 04/01/2004 S SSR - - 00.000

PARENT GLENN STAR BANDIT

FOAL RSW POCKET ROCKET A 159780 04/04/2005 S SSR - - 00.000

PARENT GLENN STAR BANDIT

TOTAL 3 Foal(s)

 

[muffntuf]

Frank has the right idea, your vet can give you an idea of where she fits on the scoring scale. To me looks like a 2 or 2.5. Hay for awhile and then add in some feed. If the vet agrees, I would do SafeGuard wormer for 5 days. But vet might ask you to hold off until you get a little weight on her.

I don't know if I would do beet pulp right away. I think her just adjusting to getting some hay in her and getting her guts going first is very important.

Probiotics - definetly will help guard against ulcers. I would check out Conklin FastTrack, for a 5 lb. bag - would be about $25.00, much cheaper that way than the Probios that is $7 for the little container.

Make sure you change her water bucket everyday to encourage drinking. And maybe sprinkle 1 -2 Tbl oil on her hay - might help her not to have impactions right away.

Just some thoughts. I had a QH mare last year that scaled at 0- .5 on the scale, the picture included here is her with her filly, yes she had a filly on her. When we brought them home, she ulcered on her coronet band on the right hing leg, which we eventually after 4 months lost the fight to and had to let her go home. But at least she hung on so her filly had her until weaning. This pic shows her around 2.5 -3 on the scale.

 

[albahurst]

Great article, Becky! Thanks for posting it!

Peggy

 

[Jill]

What a sweet looking girl

I know she is VERY happy to have met you

 

[WeeOkie]

Her pedigree is wonderful.

I bet you bought a "diamond in the rough."

Rita

 

[hrselady]

We just came back from the vet.. he said visually he couldnt see a thing that would put her in this condition. He did pull blood to run some tests to be on the safe side. He checked her teeth, said they were in great shape, he gave her a b12 injection and told me to worm her 5 days in a row with safeguard (for a 250 lb horse, said it would be overworming her but not by enough to hurt her). Said to leave her strictly on hay for the first week then really slowly start with her alfalfa multiple times a day for a week, then slow her alfalfa back and start her on small amounts of grain with an added ration balancer and said to limit her salt until she's used to everything else (say in a month or two). But he did say he thinks she's gonna pull out of it rather quickly and be fat and sassy in no time. Makes me feel so much better. She has been eating her hay and drinking plenty of water.. so far so good!!

Mendy