Very Thin Horse.....waiting To Bring Her Home Options

[LadyRebelJet]

Ok.. so lets say you see an add for a horse for sale. The price is low as they all are right now, so you click. What comes up is that this horse is a young mare, three years old and registered, Appy.
there are 4 pictures included in this add.
I wont link to the add for obvious reasons, or post the pics, but I'll tell you what I saw.

I see a young appy mare. She has lots of color which is irrelevant, but she is cute in that aspect. Her pasture looks to be semi clean, no junk laying around or anything that screams out me as a hazard. Then we get to the mare herself. I can clearly see her backbone. There is a big dip where her spine meets her hips. Her hips are clearly defined and she is sunken in on her rump. Her tailhead is very visible and there is little meat on her thighs as well. Just the way she is standing she almost looks like she is weak in her hindend, probably because of a lack of muscle. Along her back, either side of her spine, there is nothing there untill you get down to the ribs, and her skin is stretched tight over her ribs. Her neck is very thin, and even her face looks a little gaunt.

Now in these series of 4 pics, this mare doesnt have her head even an inch away from her "food" which looks like straw that I wouldnt even have fed to my sheep. Its pretty nasty stuff.

I have been hunting around for a "needy" horse to take in this year and this one is as needy as I have seen. Im going to go meet her this afternoon and hopefully just bring her home. I will obviously need to have the vet out when she can come out, but what I assume from what she was eating is that she just has not been fed. There is no nutrition in what she was eating, and was probably doing more harm than good. Ill feel around in her mouth to see how her teeth are if she lets me, but she is rather young to have teeth problems.


So based on the information that I have and what I shared with you, I would make the assumption that this mare probably has a wormload but mostly has just not been fed.

Anything else that jumps to mind right off the bat?

This post has been edited by LadyRebelJet: Nov 5 2009, 12:02 PM

[BuddyRoo]

teeth. parasites. nutritional deficiencies.

Yep. Check check and check. Those are the things I'd be considering too. Of course, doing the exam will give you the answers, but generally speaking, with stock type breeds especially, there's something WRONG. She's not just a hard keeper.

[DraftHorse]

Yes to all of the above + be wary of other illnesses that may be on board.

Keep her quarantined.

And of course update us often!

[Sprite's Mom]

And post pics.

[ozland]

When you get out there, check that nasty food for mold, just in case. Can make a horse pretty sick.

[LadyRebelJet]

well, shes pretty thin. She is right about 15 hands, but looks smaller because of her weight, and she has next to nothing for muscle mass. Her chest is no more than a foot wide. She cribs and has to wear a cribbing collar. She does not belong to the people who have her now, she belongs to an elderly guy who has decided he just doesnt want her. He asked his sons friend to sell her and dropped her off at his place about a week ago.

Shes been out in a pasture with many other horses who have run her away from her feed. From what I saw of her, she is just flat out hungry. She was a little moody and didnt want anything to do with me, but the other horses were eating and she was hungry. It seems as though she only tried to crib when she was run off from her feed and it may be something that is not a big deal if she is allowed to free feed. I could do that.

She moves very nicely. She has the absolute cutest little trot on her. She could turn out to be a really cute little mare in the long run, I think shes just been neglected.

She appears to move sound, her feet are ok, and even if the cribbing wasnt fixable, it is something we can deal with, not ideal by any means, but dealable.

It was dark when I got there, so no pics. Ill update when/if I decide to bring home.

[..::Felda::..]

Cribbing in this horse's case could very well be due to pain of having nothing in its stomach. May be a huge factor in why she doesn't thrive off of anything she does get.

Bring her home. Deworm her, feed her, have vet check for dentition isssues and run a course of ulcer meds.

[moondncs]

Cribbing in this horse's case could very well be due to pain of having nothing in its stomach. May be a huge factor in why she doesn't thrive off of anything she does get.

Exactly what I was thinking... stress cribber.

Please keep us posted on her and good luck.

[LadyRebelJet]

In addition, I guess the owner had said he was going to send her to the sale if she didnt get sold. Thankfully the guy who has her now knows as well as I do where she will end up if she goes to the local sale. She will bring maybe $25 and head to a feelot and then to Canada.

I made an official offer, he is not willing to let her go for free, so I am having to pay for her even in her condition, but hopefully we can get her out of there.

[Mudder]

Since she's a cribber, have her checked for a possible ulcer. I'd also be concerned about the state of her teeth. Be careful worming her, don't over do it the first time. Maybe get her some probio's too for when you worm her.

[LadyRebelJet]

Yup, Im going to have to be really careful of her. I have a call into the vet that I might be taking this mare in so she is ready to come out next week if I get her.

Last night it was SO cold, and I just kept thinking about this skinny little filly out there with no shelter. I have a fleece blanket that will be way too big for her, but it will be something. I usually do not blanket the horses, but its downright cold and this little thing has no meat on her. So I will probably keep her blanketed this winter, just to help put weight and muscle on her and I dont have a stall I can keep her in like I did at the last place.

I will wait probably a couple of weeks to worm her. I dont know what she was eating before, but now its brown and spotty grass hay, there is no green to it, and its dry and pokey. My hay is awesome. I pay way more than I want to pay for it, but its incredible hay, and it comes from the same field in eatern montana, ton after ton. I will try to get a bale of what shes on now, just so I can switch her to this richer stuff slowly. I think with just a couple weeks of reliable feeding she should gain a lot of weight. Then I will worm her at probably 3/4 dose and then again in another two weeks, then to a regular schedule.

just waiting on pins and needles to see if this guy will take my offer.

[Hibiscus]

If not, maybe the guy keeping her now should clue the owner into just how much she will bring at auction. I hope you can help this mare.

[Apps4Life]

When we got Dallas she was underweight, but probably not as bad as you're saying this filly is. It seemed to take forever to put weight on her.. after a few weeks I put her on U-Gard (pellets) and then a couple weeks later I gave up and put a cribbing collar on her. After I put that collar on her the weight seemed to dump itself on.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't try leaving her out without the collar unless you absolutely have to.

[spacytracy]

Can't offer any advice but I can't wait to see pictures of this little girl!