They're here!! and I must get them to gain weight

[horsesdances]

yes, they are hard to catch, for now, even with the halters. We can touch them if we go very slowly, progressively and respect their rythm. That is the only reason why I leave the halters.

I must give 4 other doses of my herbal wormers this week and then I will relax, no more worry until I get tests results... but it will give me time to halter brake them.

They won't take any food from our hands either or any sort of treats... that makes it harder. Only a little hay sometimes.

I am not worried about taming them, just needs time. Had good results on worse abused horses, just not happy having to rush them a little.

I am so worried... almost considering removing the halters tomorrow or when I go for night check but it would be hard to do it alone.

Tomorrow night I will be with my boyfriend and together we can catch them.

I will check on them more often in the meantime.

I hate having to go faster than they are confortable, but I see the worming as an urgent matter. After that I will relax and go slowly.

It is not that bad, but I would prefer to take it slower if they were in better shape.

But they are happy and playfull and already better! and getting more stuborn lol! but that is a good sign, means they are doing better and adapting!

 

[mydaddysjag]

I have a horse that takes two people 20 minutes in a stall to halter, but I still wouldnt leave a halter on a horse unattended. I had a nightmare happen over the summer with emergency break away grazing muzzle, that got hooked on the fence. The "breakaway" was velcro, I cant imagine it could have been safer, but my horse DID get stuck on the fence, and it did not break away. Thank god I was right there cleaning stalls...

As far as supplementing, if they still need something after a good feed and deworming program, I like the supplement "body builder" by equiaide. I have had excellent results using it on thin or emaciated horses over the years

 

[horsesdances]

thanks!

I never liked the idea of leaving the halters. The breeder suggested it when he brought the foals and I tought it was not so bad, worrying mostly about the bad fitting.

But reading all your comments... I got more and more worried.

So finally I went back and took both halters off!

so I can sleep well tonite and be sure no horror story will happen. Well at least not because of the halters!

I was able to catch them by myself and gently convince them to let me take the halters off. With face scratching I won the youngest over quickly and could even put the halter back on and off again! Mine is a little more used to beeing grabbed by the halter and more spooky so I didn't try to put it back this time. But waited sitting on the ground (I have snow pants!) for a while with them while they ate close to me, sometimes petting his face when he allowed. He is harder to win over because he will have nothing to do with not treats so far (apples, apple crunch, molasses, alfalfa cubes... nothing! except hay on the ground, getting closer to my hand). But I am still astonished how fast it goes with them compared to the taller horses I have known.

In conclusion I don't care if it takes us all evening tomorrow to catch them in the paddock and put the halters back and give the herbal wormers, at least we will be sure they will be safe.

This forum is a gold mine!

I really appreciate the advice

 

[AnnaC]

Sounds as though you are making great progress already.

I find that these wonderful little mini horses respond very quickly to a bit of kindness and understanding. I would be very careful about offering treats from your hand - it can lead to nipping in the future plus cause jealousy/arguements between 'friends'. By all means offer hay if you want, but any 'treats' should go into their feed bowls - remember to slice anything very thinly (apples) as baby teeth do not always crunch things up properly - I also avoid carrots with youngsters for that very reason. Just my personal opinion!

They are a very lucky pair to have ended up with such a caring owner.

 

[REO]

Congrats on your new babies!

THANK YOU for taking the halters off!

They will start coming to you out of trust, knowing you're not going to grab their halters. They'll come to you because they want to. The best thing I've found to tame them is petting and itching them a lot! It feels SO good that soon they'll run to you for more! Itching them all over works better than giving them treats. It's a bonding thing.

I hope you can find some feed soon. They sure do need it. You'll see them blossom in no time!

 

[vickie gee]

They are so cute, both of them. Your big horses are lovely.

I was wondering what herbal wormers you use. My stallion adamantly is refusing to take his wormer. I got away with putting it into a carrot piece for a while. But that is no longer working. He can smell it and wants no part of it. The apple flavor certainly does not trick him. I have heard of herbal wormers but I want to make sure that I find one that works.

 

[MindyLee]

Too cute! And Welcome to the forum!

I am sooooo glad my horses dont mind being wormed. I even have one that chases me down and trys to steal everyone elses wormer cause she likes it so much. They think its a treat!

Heads up folks, when its time to use SafeGaurd, I cheat and buy the BIG size tube at TSC in the cattle section that is for horses or cattle. It dose x4 1000lb animales for only $26. I can do my whole herd of 8 -10 (pending on weights of my minis) on that one tube and it saves cause the horse tube SafeGaurd is $8.99 each.

 

[mydaddysjag]

Mindy lee, im not sure how much cheaper it really is. you can get 4 275lb doses out of a $8.99 tube of safeguard labeled for horses, so you can do 8 horses for $18, or 12 horses for $27. I have had huge savings using the safeguard suspension marketed for goats (its the same suspension as the safeguard marketed for horses, with no added ingredients) The price recently jumped from $16 to $20, but its still way cheaper. It looks like the cattle tube jumped to 29.99 in my area recently too..

Cattle safeguard $26 for 8 doses, $3.25 a dose or at 29.99 a tube its 3.75 per dose

Horse safeguard $8.99 for 4 doses, $2.24 a dose

Goat safeguard, $20 for 19 doses (6.3ml for a 275lb horse) is $1.05 per dose

Sorry, didnt want to steal the thread, just wanted to mention a more economical method of safeguard that my vet has OK'd. I actually learned about the goat suspension on the forum a few years ago, and it really saves my wallet when we do the 5 day double dose purge on all of the boys.

 

[Mareish Mom]

I would also be interested in knowing more about your herbal wormer.... Good for you for taking their halters off. My mini is very hard to catch, but there was no way I was leaving her nasty old halter on when she came here!

 

[jyuukai]

I'm not really an experience mini owner, but when my mini was very young she had a case of the skinnies too! I had no realized how thin she was until I clipped her the first time. I switcher her to Omolene 300 and beet pulp, but she still could not keep weight on even with good hay and a ton of pasture.

I went to TSC at my wits end to buy some weight builder and I came across this stuff called Omegatin I believe. I added that to her feed based off of the instructions on the back and she blossomed! It's very super high in fat and it never made her hot. it's reccomended for foals/yearlings as well.

I kept her on that until just about her 2nd birthday and she never had weight problems again. I only ever bought one bucket (5lb bucket) and I'm glad that I gave it a shot

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I would have all the halters off, right now. There is no such thing as "nothing to get caught on" and I have had two horses, one the best mare I have ever had, the other a foal I just could not persuade my friend to take the halter off, hang themselves and die, both in pastures with nothing they could get caught on- except of course the one thing they got caught on!

Or they could just scratch their ear with a hind foot and get it caught in the head band or noseband- no halters on horses for me, ever.

 

[horsesdances]

thanks everyone.

the herbal wormer: full site: http://fiascofarm.com/herbs/

I have been using this for a few years now and my horses are in amazing health. I do have a 3 horse herd (now 5 with the minis) and no change in the pack. No new horse, no borders, etc... so this limits the risk as well. I also maintain the pasture and mock the eating (they have hay all year) area twice a day and use nibble nets spring, summer and fall so the hay they eat is as clean as possible.

This helps to.

I give one type of wormer once a week mixed in soaked alfalfa cubes (find them dusty otherwise). and every 2 months a different type for 3 days in a row.

I did monitor with fecal analysis the first years to be sure and always had very low counts. Not 0 but regular low counts. Horses are super healthy, no huge bellies, not hard to keep weight on, shiny coats, bright eyes. My cross arabian tends to have a bit of a hay belly at times, and I can tell every 3 months it makes a difference after the wormer. It is super subtle but I can tell most of the time.

I love this wormer. I even made my own for a period but find Molly's better so I buy hers.

I will run fecal tests next week on the minis to make sure. They are young and may have different needs.

If I find they have hight counts I will start with Safeguard. thanks.

I have lots of experience with horses, just not minis and haven't had a foal in 10 years. I am an equine massage therapist to and helped some of my clients with behavioral problems with their horses. I even am asked with difficult horses and some think I have a gift. I think I am just very observative and able to communicate with body language.

But I never know everything and I greatly appreciate your advice

I am not worried about treats. your advice is great, thanks, appreciate it. I can easily train them to be gentle and never bite, just like all my horses and the ones I massage. I really like my hands lol! and make it very clear that I am not one who can be bitten! no matter what! but very gently and firmly. Never slaping, that simply has no other result than making the horse head shy,

and finally, don 't worry HALTERS ARE OFF! and will remain off unless we are with them and need them for training or other issues.

Just like my other horses.

I thank you all VERY MUCH for sharing the sad stories... and found a few more horrors on google and that is why in the middle of the night I went back to remove the halters feeling I will never be sorry enough if an accident happened and that was fare more urgent than wormers. A dead horse ... is not something I can live with, especially for such a stupid accident.

thank for your kind words,

thanks for the advice

sorry for the loses due to halter accidents

will keep you posted!

today they hate on my lap! (the hay was on my lap) and I could touch both their faces a little.

 

[Barnmother]

As to leaving halters on, you can always purchase a couple of those breakaway ones that have the leather tab on them designed to break if a horse get's hung up. They are certainly worth the investment if you find you simply have to leave a halter on.

There is always that one thing that you don't expect them to find. The worst wreck I ever saw was when I worked for a vet. Two horses in a field, one had a nylon web halter on; when one horse tried to bite the other and got it's lower jaw hung up in the halter; then the struggle ensued until the one horse ended up with a mangled lower jaw and had to be put down.

Before the invention of the breakaway nylon halters we always told folk if they had to leave a halter on it needed to be close fitting, leather (because it will stretch and break) and removed at least once a day to check for rub marks, etc.

As an experienced horse owner I am sure you know all this, just my two cents worth.

 

[horsesdances]

thanks Barnmother (love your user name). I didn't know about breakaway halters. Great idea!

Even when you are experienced there is always something to learn and therefore I thank you and appreciate your 2 cents very much!

One can never know everything.

For instance I didn't think about horses getting caught together! my little studs play a lot and with them that risk is higher! so no way halters go back on. I don't like them anyways. I train my horses to follow me freely, play at liberty and rarely use them, only for the farrier or for safety reasons if the horse could decide not to follow me and endanger himself.

 

[horsesdances]

hi,

sorry I forgot to answer...

they have the same father and 2 different mothers. So they half brothers.

Precious little woolly monsters. Are they related?

We went back tonite (around supper time) and brought hay with us in the shelter to try to convince them to stay in there... been raining all night and all day and it is supposed to get colder tonite. They were not cold, but I will check on them later on. Just in case... and make sure they have plenty of hay.

We could pet their faces, put the halters back on, and off. Mine accepted the wormer with molasses, the other kept spitting it out. I will get some grain, I think Omolene 300 and try to mix it in tomorrow.

I am happy, they are reallly getting more and more confident and very quickly! just amazing!

We spent 1h30 with them, for fun and beeing with them.

I will put on and off the halters everyday when I go and have time, so in not time it will become routine and not such a big deal for them.

For sure I feel better with halters off!!

this is tonite's update! thanks for beeing there. It is great to have a place to share!

 

[barnbum]

They are adorable!

 

[horsesdances]

thanks!

our biggest challenge is keeping away from them to work at our real jobs!