Rescue filly

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Ike

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I am wondering if anyone knows if there is anything special feeding and care wise I have to do on a yearling I just rescued. I had the horses and had to get rid of them because my grandparents needed their pen for calves so instead of taking them to auction my good friend said he would take them. He did just fine with them up until a couple months ago when he started to blow me off every time I was planning to come out and give shots. I got fed up and said they need to be done so I will do them myself. Immagine my surprise yesterday when I find out that he moved and three of the four died of starvation because he quit feeding them and this filly is tied around the neck to a light pole with a pile of really crappy hay. Needless to say I immediately threw her in the trailer and brought her home. I gave her a small handfull of feed (she did not dive into it and inhale it either), wormed her right away, and left her to eat some grass.

I have never delt with a neglected horse like this before so I was wondering if there is any special feed ration or type of hay I should get to help her get some good nutrients and put on some weight or anything other sugestions for care?

It is hard for me to tell how far gone she is with her winter hair but I would say she is probably between a 1 and 2 on a body score.
 
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Good, clean, totally dust-free hay - free choice. At this point if she truly is a 1 or 2 body score, I would not feed alfalfa as that would be hot, could cause her to get diahrrea and become dehydrated. Grass hay would be best at this point because her gutt will take some time to adjust. A good grass hay for your part of the country (I used to live in Wisconsin) is 2nd or 3rd crop Orchard grass...soft and easily digestible. Slowly introduce a high-fat, high protein grain and eventually (over a period of about 2 weeks) get her up to 2 to 3 pounds a day. If she didn't chow down on the grain you did give her, chances are she has no idea what it is, or perhaps it is a little bit 'off' and smelled stale (how long has it been in your barn??). Since she is a young horse, she will need vitamins and minerals for healthy bone development. And please - don't ever speak to this so-called 'friend' ever again!
 
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If you Google for it you will find a couple of really good articles on feeding a starved horse- I actually would not give free choice hay, not in one big pile- I would tend to give as much as she wants but in loads of little helpings- it depends on what her appetite is like but if she pigs out on dry hay she is going to potentially hurt herself, I think- if she just picks at it she will be fine. I do hope you called AC on this unspeakable son of an unmarried mother??
 
I agree hay is the best choice, good quality grass hay and start grain slowly, you need to be very careful about refeeding syndrome if she is as bad as you are indicating. Also I have recovered a horse so debilitated he no longer cared about food, actually had to make a mash of hay pellets and equine senior and place it into his mouth to get him to eat....he would chew so slowly......took almost 2 weeks to get him back to wanting to eat and without the hand feeding I am very sure he would have died.
 
Because you gave this horse to the person, you should notify the sheriff that you took her back. Take pictures to document. You never know what a scumbag will do. Protect yourself.

I've been on the boarding end of a "stolen" rescue horse, and luckily had the good sense to protect myself by signing an affadavit at the sheriff's office. The abusers charged the rescuer with livestock theft, a felony, and I was able to show the DA that the sheriff knew I had the horse and that it was harbored until resolution.
 
Thank you all for the advise. I have thought about calling the sheriff believe me because I am so ticked off and hurt that a close friend would do this but all the paperwork is in my name and he is telling everyone that it is my fault. Instead of he wanted the horses and I gave them to him, now that he is caught in the act he is laughing about it and telling everyone that I drug them there and he never wanted them and it was my responsibility to care for them. So more than likely they wont do a thing about it or I will be the one to get in trouble.
 

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