Horses Arabian - Severely underweight horse- diet reccomendations?

Severely underweight horse- diet reccomendations?

I have an Arabian (20y/o gelding) coming to my stable tomorrow. He is about 16 hand and weighs approximately 800 pounds now. No health issues other than weight. I have taken this horse in as part of a rescue. So he will be mine and I am responsible for making him as healthy as possible. I have never done anything like this before. My current plan is to put him on a high protein diet. Alfalfa cubes?? Hay-as much as he wants Grain? I need suggestions. Also, if anyone has any name suggestions for this guy, he is a light dapple gray. Very kind personality, a bit scared though. He belonged to a family who couldn't afford to feed him, then to a sale barn, survived a brush with a slaughter house and made his way to a rescue group who contacted me! No one knows his original name- sad, cause he's about 20 years old. FYI- I am a stable owner, I've just never dealt with a horse that is this underweight. I have already called the vet but spoke with someone who was clueless and am awaiting a call back. The vet came.. he said give the horse as much hay as he wants. 1 lb of grain the 1st week and increase each week by a pound. Give the horse 1 pound of alfalfa pellets soaked in water. Also put 1 oz of vegetable oil on grain.

Public Comments

Be careful with the alfalfa cubes they could expand in the stomach and cause problems. Do not give him as much hay as he wants you are looking at having problems unless you ment grass hay only. I would have a vet look at him and give you a diet plan. They recommend using beat pulp, you have to soak it in water and stuff before being fed. Vet is the best possible answer. Personally I only would ever use Alfalfa cubs as a treat and not a diet plan. Be carful not to give him to high of a protein diet or you will be looking at a horse ready to colic. This would not be a good thing. You have to bring him back slowly or you can do more harm then good, Please speak to the vet and get a diet plan Good luck Added: That is great that you have already called the vet. I also chatted with a couple of friends and they to recommend Timothy hay only 2 flacks twice day, with the beat pulp mix once a day and then grass hay when he wants. Good luck I have done this many times myself and it is a hard thing to do and do properly. Please let us know what the vet recommends. Oh and as for name how about something simple like Luckey sounds like he is very luckey to have gone through everything and now to be with you.
In January I rescued and severely under weight Quarter Horse. He seriously looked like a skeleton. I fed him Peanut Hay and a 12% all grain sweet feed. Now he is back to his normal weight. I know here in Florida peanut hay is about $10-$11 a bale. But it was well worth the extra $$$. Good luck.
We have raised horse for 43 years and have taken in on trades some really thin horses. The fastest thing I have used (many horse rescues use it) is Nu Image. Google it. It's not too expensive and will turn your horse into a new equine image quickly!
make sure the horse has been wormed, put mazola oil on/in his food, grain it, and buy senior supplement for horses.
You might want to rethink the high protein diet. As an older horse, he could have problems. High protein will raise havoc with his kidneys. I would suggest a high, digestible fat diet. Use a supplement such as Weight Builder or such. If he hasn't had a lot of food to eat, you need to gradually feed him up to the all he can eat stage. He could gorge himself and colic on you. I would feed him a little grain at a time in many feedings during the day. Since you have never done this before, talking to a vet would be the best idea for this fella. There are many diet regimes out there and your vet would know the best way to go about getting this boy healthy again. Good luck. It's great that you are taking care of and giving this guy a good home. He sounds like he deserves it.
Soaked beet pulp, boiled barley and boiled linseed are the 3 best things to feed to gain weight without being heating. Fed 3 X per day and he'll start to fill out by the end of the month. You can get mollichaff to add to fill out the feed a bit which is just chopped hay covered in molasses. Add corn oil to aid the skin and make it more supple and the oil is also good for the eyes and soft tissue. Of course, get a fecal test for worms so that you can get on a good schedule and perhaps find some complete mineral/vitamin supplement that you can add once per day.
I would feed him pellets. Some horse owners don't agree with feeing them, but my horse was very underweight as well, and after trying everything else, pellets helped him gain weight the fastest. Remember that even though feeding him as much as he wants may be tempting, it could cause colic and other injuries. I would reccomend feeding him on a strict diet of a mix of Omelene Senior and pellets and alfala (no coastal) and as much grass as he wants. As much pasture time as he can get (if you have the facilities), walking in a pasture for at least a few hours a day, while eating grass can really help. Make sure that if he is out with other horses that they don't make him move around too much. Hope this helps! Good luck with the old guy. A very noble cause :]
I must agree with rethinking the high protein diet, especially for an Arabian. High proteins just turn into unspent sugars, especially in a non-working horse. I've also rescued for over 25 years, and "knock on wood" never lost a horse. Begin slowly, so the horse won't colic. I begin all my horses with cracked oats mixed with 1/4 to 1/2 cup veggie oil, well soaked beet pulp, and carrots, with probios added for gutt regulation.. Either look for as low a protein mix feed as possible, with good carb content. Purina carries a 10% protein feed, called Workman's Horse. Haven't a clue how difficult it might be to find in your area. Hay, as much as he wants, only if he is not a gorger. Otherwise you may need to only toss him a few flakes at a time, so he doesn't colic. Just keep in mind that a food deprived horse may have developed supplemental issues to replace his hunger issues, such as gorgeing his food, pawing the ground for morsels, or licking the dirt and rocks for minerals, causing alot of sand or dirt in his gutt. A good way to check for sand in his gutt is to take a clear latex glove. Grab a small portion of his most recent manure, and place it inside the glove. Fill the glove half way with water. Hang the glove on a knob or gate and allow the water to rinse through and settle. The amount of sand settleing in the fingertips of the glove is a good indication of the amount of sand settled in the horses gutt. Once you have him established on a decent diet, I would add phsyllium fiber to help counteract any sand colic issues. Slow changes are safer for any animal that has endured long bouts of hunger. Just to be on the safe side, I ALWAYS add probiotics to ANY new diet changes, as it is a gutt regulator, and will help prevent a myriad of digestive problems. Also, pedialyte is helpful to regulate electrolytes, lost through malnutrition , and prevent dehydration. You can just add a gulp to his water bucket. To check for severity of dehydration, just pinch the horses skin at the shoulder area. If the skin returns to normal quickly, his coat is not lacking in moisture for suppleness. Should his skin "tent", or remain puckered, or subsides slowly, that is a sign of dehydration. Should you find your new horse does try to woof down every morsel in a hurry, try adding large rocks to the feed bucket, so the horse will be forced to forage more slowly, and not gorge his food. I suggest against alfalfa cubes, as an unhealthy , older horse can easily choke with them. Soaked beet pulp is a wonderful additive, but again, you must make sure they are soaked well, or they will bloat up in the horses gutt. I soak mine overnight in a wheel barrow. Any pulp that has not fully absorbed it's maximum in water will do so in the horses stomache. Also, no corn of any kind, as it will only produce heat in the horse, and as he is ill enough, he doesn't need that tpe of energy feed. Veggie oil, unlike for humans will produce energy directly to the horses muscles, not his head. Once you have him doing well for a week or two, worm him, to be on the safe side. Much good luck to you. Helping save any horse in need from further suffering is a wonderful thing. Just wanted to add that I agree with having him vet checked prior to any feed changes. A truely emmaciated horse may only be able to tolerate small portions of light , grassy hay until his digestive system and heart health restore a bit. Still, adding probiotics to whatever you add in feed is an excellant gutt regulator and safe source for digestive repair. As for a name suggestion....Zafiro means silver. I named my spanish, marbled, grey mare , Zafira. It fits her. ;-)
There is a sweet feed specifically designed to put on weight and keep senior horses healthy. It is called Equine Senior. http://horse.purinamills.com/products/Equine_Senior.asp My ex-trainer used this on her underweight TB and in less than 3 weeks the horse is at perfect weight. It works very well and is also VERY tastey to them. I give my Arabian the same stuff when she was a little thin, but not as thin as your horse of course but in just a short amount of time was back to her weight.
If this horse's condition is totally emaciated - say a 1 or a 2 on the body weight scale - then you need to be very careful when you begin to feed him. Perhaps you've heard of anorexic people dying as they begin to put on weight? Well, with a truely emaciated horse this also can happen - there is a very dangerous period when their heart cannot tolerate their condition. And since your horse is 20 I would be quite concerned. Please talk to a very competent vet ASAP. Before you start following everyone's advice, because we haven't seen the horse and can only guess on what to best do. I would agree that if the horse is only thin, but not totally emaciated, then you can go with all the good, common-sense answers you've received so far. But I have read articles talking about the dangerous of extra minerals, high protein and even generous food for a horse on the edge of life and death with emaciation. Hopefully this boy isn't at that stage and I'm just being a big worry-wart! Good luck. It's wonderful that you will take the time, effort and money to help this horse.
PLEASE do NOT start this poor fellow off with a HIGH protein diet. If you start off in the way you described you can throw this poor guy's system out of whack completely and possibly do kidney damage. So wait for the high protein, etc until he's stable enough to handle it. Your horse, being an individual, has individual nutritional needs. If he's been treated as badly as you say, then it would be best to consult your vet to put him on a proper diet that addresses all of his health issues including his age. I once had an Arab (he was five years old) that I bought simply to rescue him from the horrors he was living in. Even though he was the best looking one of the five horses he was in with (and the ONLY one for sale) he was still quite under weight! I started my new Arab out on just plain Brome hay ...two flakes twice a day with a _half_ of a large coffee can of oats twice a day with small amount of Vitamin Supplement crumbles in the oats. (If you don't have Brome available to you then try Blue Grass, Timothy hay or something similar.) Once my boy started gaining weight I slightly increased the oats until he was getting a full can twice a day. When he finally got to where his weight was acceptable I gradually switched to Omelene 200 by mixing it with the oats but, again, started with a half a can twice a day once he was totally on the Omelene,with the vitamin crumbles. He then started maintaining his weight and looked as good as the Arab I already had. Edit: As usual, I get to an empty question and when I finally hit the Submit button a LOT of others have beat me to the punch!
At twenty years old you dont wont to give the horse too much starch if possible none at all at that age their digestive system tends to not work as well. I feed my horse who needed to put on weight High-Oil supllemtns. Its called Outshine its around £28 a bag and does the trick quite quickly If thats too expensive Soya Oil is also very good for weight gain. Sticking to oils at his age is better as you avoid the starch which may cuase him to go laminitic even if hes not overweight (been there got that T-Shirt) also a veteran horse supplement would be good for joints etc I let my horses eat as much forage as they want. Hay is one option but i feed my horses Haylage its nutrional value is a lot higher than that of hay. Any chaff will not help weight gain as its just grass so to speak, buut having it sliightly mollased will help too.... Good luck
Easy on the alfalfa cubes however all the timothy cubes he wants. Hay as much as he wants. Grain...easy until he starts gaining weight. Work up the amount slowely. Beat Pulp and Bran are excellent weight gainers and can be fed in large amounts without causing any side effects. As your farm supply store for a bag of both. To prepare both...soak in hot water until fully disolved. Feed as much as the horse wants and watch the weight go on and the horse look great.
I've taken in two such horses in 2 years You don't want to add fast weight, you want to do it slowly - don't let him free eat just yet. I live in Los Angeles and board my horses in corrals or stalls. You can feed cubes if you HAVE to but if its YOUR choice, then get hay Start with 2 flakes of Alfalfa two times a day about 10 hours apart (7am & 5pm) I wouldn't suggest letting him graze all day until about week 3 or 4 if you have grazing available. If he's gaining weight at about a week and a half- just keep him on that, its a standard feeding. If he's not gaininging after a week or so, add another flake mid day around noon (now at 5 flakes alfalfa on week 3) At week 5 he should be looking better and eating 4-5 healthy flakes of Alfalfa a day. If around week 3 or 4 he starts tapering off, you can add beet pulp about 1-2lbs a day for a week then slowly increase it to 5lbs once a day. This takes the place of an extra flake but gives you the calories to gain weight. Once you can barely see the ribs, start cutting his feed back to 2x a day and 4 flakes. On days of workout, give him a bucket of beetpulp to help keep the weight on if you notice him losing with exercise. I have a TB hard keeper that gets 10lbs cubes 2x a day, 1 flake alfalfa and 5lbs beetpulp (on the two non exercise days he doesn't get alfalfa). He also gets a scoop of Platium Performance, 2cups senior pellets (to mix the PP with), and 5oz canola oil daily.
You should get a vet out and have him look at the horse. You need to be carefull when taking care of an underweight horse as they can collic and die from eating way to much. The vet will tell you what to feed and how much to feed. You can also name him second chance or lucky (as he has a good home now) spirit, Message me with an idea on what he is like and I could find you a good name.
Beet Pulp, Beet Pulp, Beet Pulp...That puts weight on quickly, but you must soak it first. Are you sure that diet is the only reason that the horse is not gaining weight? Has anyone had his teeth checked lately? I know--sounds simple...but horses' teeth are sneaky, if they are bad sometimes it doesn't matter what you feed your horse, if their teeth are in need of care (floating) the horse's digestion is compromised. Good luck...
if you are going to feed beet pulp you need to mix oats with it, otherwise you could throw off his calcium: phosphorus ratio. also rice bran is good to help build weight.
You got a lot of good answers!! Just a few things I'd like to add. Fats offer more than twice the calories per gram than do grains. Corn oil, rice bran, flax seed (get to help clean out sand from the belly) & sunflower seeds these are all good sources of fat. A pint of corn oil will significantly boost the caloric intake 3840 calories per pint. Eggs are an excellent source of protein. Hardboil them, them crumble in their food. Good luck!!
I know a horse at my stable who gained weight after being about 100 pounds underweight she is 22 years old. We fed her two scoops of beet pulp, and we got a grain for older horses. She gets a scoop of cool calories, and hoffmans minerals. We feed all the other horses a grain called Life Line but I know she gets a different one for older horses.
We have had really good results by adding soybean meal to some sweet feed. We start with a cup per day for a few days, then go to two cups. What we like is that it helps the horse add weight without making them hot, or overdosing them on alfalfa. We have used this on a couple of skinny pasture ponies, and an ott thoroughbred without problems.
Hi, I have done this before. It is very rewarding and the horse knows you saved it. You will have a better relationship with this horse than any other as it will be greatful. Let your local police/council/animal protection agency know he is comming and in what condition. Take lots of pics. That way someone who isn't in the know can not make a false alligation about the horse. I put a sign on the gate letting people know the how and why of the horses condition. Step 1, do his teeth and worm him. Ok I feed mine the amount of food it would need at a healthy weight. Then I feed 10% over the energy required. I feed in Australian names and kgs, sorry thats what we talk here. So for a 400kg horse who should be 550kgs I would fee about 15kgs (about 35lb) of feed a day and about 120MJDE. At 60% roughage 40% grain. The roughage should be hay copera and chaffs. The grain I feed is boiled barley, lupins and cracked corn, as these have the least amount of heat. They also have high oil/fat content. Premix feeds for older horses tend to be easier for horses to digest. The only addative I use is called cool calories, it is a fat addative that will put weight on a horse. You will need to watch the calcium: phosphurus ratio. It should be 3:1. Use a suppliment if needed. I also restrict their exercise as this way they can not burn up the energy you feed them, thus convert it into fat. I also rug them again to conserve energy. There are many good books on his subject. Your feed supplier may have some one who knows about this, could be worth a call. I have incuded a couple of links, one is for the cool cals. As for a name, well name him for what he will be not what he is now. Give him a name of hope. Or ask the local school to get involved and part of that would be to pick a name. That way you also teach others about horse abuse. Best of luck to you and your charge.