Reignmaker Minis - Question to Reply

[GAILS]

I WAS THE ONE ASKING ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS FOR THE ORPHAN FOAL. HE IS 5 WEEKS OLD AND WEIGHS 60 LBS. DUE TO WORK SCHEDULE HE EATS AT 7AM ,12 NOON,5PM, 10PM AND 3AM. SOMETIMES HE DRINKS ALL THE FOAL-LAC (1C POWDER TO 3 C WATER) AND SOMETIMES HE WON'T DRINK ANY OF IT. HE HAS ACCESS TO GRASS AND HAY AND DOES NIBBLE ON IT. HE ALSO HAS LAX TENDONS WHICH HE IS GETTING SELENIUM(SP/?) SHOTS EVERY 8 DAYS FOR. BUT HE JUST DOES NOT SEEM VERY PLAYFUL OR INTERESTED IN THINGS LIKE THE OTHER FOALS. HE IS IN A SMALL PASTURE WITH A MARE AND HER FOAL. ANY ADVICE OR IDEAS WOULD BE VERY APPRECIATED. THANKS AGAIN

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

OK lets see, first his weight seems good for his age. Does he seem underweight at all to you? You should be able to tell pretty well by feeling through his fuzzy baby coat. As long as he isn't boney he is likely getting enough calories. I don't know what your climate is like there but by the time Dyna was 5 weeks old she was not on the bottle any longer. I switched her over to a low feed dish and I feed her 2x daily. Morning she gets 8 cups and evening she gets the same. My powders all mixed 1 to 4 and if I mixed it to strong she would either get loose poop or start refusing it. She has access all day to hay (mostly the leafy chaff) and grass. I also give her (sorry its not weighted) 1 cup of phase 1 (foal ration) morning and evening and fresh water is always available. If it isn't so hot there that it will go bad why not feed in a dish so your little one has access when he wants it (as he would with mom)? Then you could go back to sleeping at night as well. He is certainly old enough to self feed. Was he a premie? I ask because sometimes the lax tendons are a result of being born early and it takes them awhile to straighten up. Also the selenium shots, is this something your vet recommended? I have never heard of continuing the selenium shots so long. If you start your foal on a good foal (or mare and foal) ration it will probably have selenium added so you will want to be sure not to over do it, too much selenium can be harmful too. Could his lack of playfulness be just his personality? Perhaps since he is an orphan and so in the horse world 'without status' he is just being careful not to step out of line. How does the mare treat him? What is his place in the group?

I know I have probably not given you much help here, I seem to have more questions than answers If you'd like e-mail me and we can compare notes on what has been working and not working.

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[zoey829]

If you are interested when I get home I have a pick of a mini donkey using an igloo jug to suck from. It really works and well worth trying. Let me know if you are interested.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I printed out the pattern for that as weel.

It is a slick idea, the only problem I had when I tried to set it up was I could not seem to find a nipple my foal would accept that could be fittedon it. So it didn't work for this particular foal. If I am ever in this position again I will try it again tho.

Something I forgot that I have given Dyna, she seemed to be eating dirt and non-food items too much and had a bit of a pot belly so I got some active bacteria capsules from the health food store (some people use live bacteria yogurt for this) and emptied the powder out of them into her foal ration everyday for a week. It seems to have stopped the eating odd things and her belly looks much more normal now.