Rescued Pony

[Ellen]

We have a new pony. She was one of the Wauk A Ways we took in. She is 8. Very, very thin. We probably put 100lbs on her since she came home, but still, so thin. We are feeding a mix of Tribute Sr. and Tribute 14% 5 times daily. Small meals of course and constant hay. Her suppliments are Dac Digestive Aid, GUT and Healthy coat. We power dosed her, she is on probies and had her teeth floated.

Any Suggestions?

 

[Miniv]

Don't forget to worm her, if you haven't yet.

Good luck with her.....

 

[Marty]

Sounds to me like you are doing very well already with her. Sometimes when these horses are long and taller, it just takes a lot more time to bounce back. Don't know if you are having a heat wave like I am, but sometimes the heat doesn't help things. You can try making a nice sloppy beet pulp mash for lunch and use that for one of your feedings. Just go slow so you don't end up with founder. Good luck and best wishes.

 

[Ellen]

Thank you both. Beet Pulp is my best friend for this mare. Worming was the first thing we did. First equimax, then panacur power dose and then pyrantel. now that this is done, she has the runs constantly. Despite probies, and more thoughts? Mind you she has been here 8 weeks. So I didn't just push the wormer like mad, we did it in a reasonable fashion. Same with the additional meals. I appreciate ANY help.

Thank you for your already, and in advance to those who may jump in.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Alfalfa may well help the runs, but I think it is just her gut adjusting to actually digesting food!

Is she on grass?

 

[Barbie]

If she had been on sand, she could have sand causing the runs. I use Metamucil for my horses once in a while to help deal with any sand they pick up when they graze.

Thanks for taking care of her!

Barbie

 

[Leeana]

Ellen you are very thorough and I feel sure you will find something that works for her with time

I wonder if adding a fat suppliment would help or rice bran....

 

[shoegirl]

That was so nice of you to take this pony.

I took in a large pony last September that needed 175lbs. He was very thin and had the same problem with loose stools for about 3 months. After having him vetted and teeth floated I consulted with a nutritionist from Blue Seal feeds. They suggested to stop giving him the beet pulp and senior feed and give him a feed called Vintage Performance LS it is made for the performance horse as well as the rescue if you will in mind. I put the pony on the feed and he was normal after 3 weeks. As other have said go slow with the switch. Not sure if Blue Seal is available in your area but I'm sure you could find something equivalent. Good Luck and I'm sure that pony is great full for you efforts.

 

[Rocky1]

Flax seed, ground up works really well for putting on weight. A little goes a LONG way. Maybe 1/8 cup twice a day to start and (maybe) max 1/4 cup twice a day. Sprinkle it right on top of the grain.

 

[Contessa]

I think you have already done everything you can. All she needs now is time. I rescued a starving 2 year old mini mare a few years ago and it took her a good 6 months to look normal again. I kept hay in front of her 24/7 and like you, fed her many small grain meals per day plus a Farnum weight gain suppliment. It takes time and lots of love. I still have her and she is just beautiful and once again trusting of people.

 

[albahurst]

One of my friends' horses had the runs (scours) for a long time. One vet thought the horse had cancer (it did not), so did not do any notable treatment, I guess, at least as far as I can recall. She got a second opinion and it worked! The horse had a worm load that hadn't cleared up with routine deworming. The worms had irritated the linings of the digestive tract. The Neigh Lox soothed the gut, allowing it to heal, and the Strongid dealt with the worms. She also pasted initially, too, but kept the horse on Strongid daily after that time. Anyway, I wonder if your new pony has an irritated gut lining that would benefit from Neigh Lox? And, I wonder about ulcers? So many horses have ulcers from stress. I would consider treating her with Gastro Gard, too.

Have you had blood work done or a vet look at the horse?

 

[Ellen]

Well we have her on GUT, an ulcer prevenative. Dac Digestive Aid and Healthy Coat fat suppliment. When she first came and we were actively over treating parasites, we had her on GastroGaurd. We went through two tubes. She could use more. But I will look into the Blue Seal feed, or what is equivelant in our area. Oh I forgot to mention the optizyme(probies). Poor girl just looks like death warmed over. Even though it is June, we feel that it is a race against time with Ohio winters being so harsh. Our Vet politely told us she HAS to gain the weight by December. Or we may have a tough decision to make.

Leeana saw her. She is deathly thin, poor girl. Keep the womnderful suggestions coming. Thank you!

 

[chandab]

I really don't know, but just a thought, perhaps it all too much for her system (even though slowly put on all of it), and you need to simplify her diet. [Or just try a different brand of feed, they definitely are not all created equal.]

Perhaps try changing from all the commercial products to something simple like alfalfa pellets (or cubes, soaked), oats (rolled for ease of digestion) and soaked beet pulp (with maybe a fat supplement like rice bran or even flax for added calories). [Wish I could feed this simply to my couple that need a little extra, but I can't get decent alfalfa pellets locally, my horses won't eat what I can get, so I feed a really plain senior feed (first 5 ingredients: alfalfa meal, beet pulp, barley, oats, soybean meal). Its so nice to know what the ingredients are. Its 12% protein,3% fat and 20% fiber. (some horses may need a little more protein and/or fat than this provides, but it seems to be a pretty good feed).]

Good luck and I'm sure with time, she'll come around and be all you want.

 

[Katiean]

Poor girl just looks like death warmed over. Even though it is June, we feel that it is a race against time with Ohio winters being so harsh. Our Vet politely told us she HAS to gain the weight by December. Or we may have a tough decision to make.

Leeana saw her. She is deathly thin, poor girl. Keep the womnderful suggestions coming. Thank you!

I know she will most likely gain some weight between now and December. But, to keep her from using too much energy in the winter you can double or triple blanket her, feed her warm feed and keep doing what you are doing. I know that when they bring the wild horses into the facility near pyramid lake they will feed them a poor quality feed at first and work up to better feeds. I salmonella is the most frequent problem they have when they change the feed on these horses.