Not cattle, but still in need of advise- Equine

[Weaverv3]

I have three horses. A 12 year old paint mare, a 18 year old arabian gelding and a 28 year old QH gelding. The paint and the quarter have lost a large amount of weight. They look pitiful. There diets have not changed. They get fed, and are taken care of. But obviously not everyone knows that, for many people have said stuff. WHich, had I seen them I would too. But I honestly do not know what to do. The mare gets 5 lbs a day of sweet feed plus free choice hay. The gelding gets 3 lbs of Senior feed and 2 lbs of sweet feed and hay. I have never had this problem, so I am not sure where I need to start!

 

[dori36]

Horses' teeth continue to grow all throughout their lives.  If they were continual grazers, like they were during the evolutionary period, they would wear them down as needed.  However, in their "civilized" state, they just don't grind enough to keep the teeth ground properly.  Therefore, the teeth can grow unevenly and even grown down/up into gums or roof of mouth or cheek tissue.  Get your Veterinarian (or Equine Dentist, if you have one in your area) out to check their teeth.  Horses in double digits of their lives need teeth care.  They can eat and eat but if the food isn't being processed correctly in the mouth, it never passes to the digestive tract so the nutrients can be utilized.

Call the Vet.

I have three horses. A 12 year old paint mare, a 18 year old arabian gelding and a 28 year old QH gelding. The paint and the quarter have lost a large amount of weight. They look pitiful. There diets have not changed. They get fed, and are taken care of. But obviously not everyone knows that, for many people have said stuff. WHich, had I seen them I would too. But I honestly do not know what to do. The mare gets 5 lbs a day of sweet feed plus free choice hay. The gelding gets 3 lbs of Senior feed and 2 lbs of sweet feed and hay. I have never had this problem, so I am not sure where I need to start!

 

[Cowboy]

Dori is spot on for the teeth in these horses. We are Quarter Horse people, we love em and USE them all the time.

Ours are bot as old as your's are at this point , but will some day be there. A routine Equine Dental checkup annualy is a good way to assure you are doing everything you can to properly take care of the older horses.

Also, make sure you follow a good 90 day alternating worm program. If you get some info on the Smart Pak products, they will have a flier to tell you what to use and when during the year. As in any animal, it is always good to change up the products used to avoid immunity to them, plus during different times of the year, different parisites are targeted.

I had a 25 year old cutting horses years ago that looked like any 5 tear old, internal and external are both important -- plus of course the teeth!

Love em and they pay you back a hundred times over!

Best of luck

Terry

 

[farmboy]

You might look into worms

 

[firesweepranch]

Terry is right on about the teeth (and Dori). Another thought, parasites in the water? My niece moved to South Dakota several years ago and took her horses with her. She has major problems keeping weight on the older ones, and ended up sending two of them back down here to Missouri. Seems there is some sort of parasite or something in the water. They are on free choice hay all the time, in a little corral. They wormed, had the teeth floated, and vaccinated but still could not get weight on the horses. Anyone else in SD have that problem???

 

[knabe]

http://www.elkgrovemilling.com/

try something like above link.  they also have a sr. blend with the joint supplements.

they get fat fast if nothing else is wrong and if fed at maintenance or a little more, it's about the same cost or slightly less than alfalfa without the ulcers.

also, you can feed a little less and give them some lower quality hay to nibble on and feed even less of above.

i have a doc olena bred mare and she gets about 12 lbs/day plus some forage mix hay and is in great condition.

 

[SlickTxMaine]

Teeth definitely need to be floated, if you have never had it done, or it's been a long time.  You don't mention how long you have had the horses, or if you have done any health/dental care.  Get the teeth done and get them wormed.  Also, don't know where you are located.  In Texas we are in extremet drought so the animals are not getting anything out of grazing, so you may need to increase feed or ad protein supplement.  Keep us posted. 

 

[jaimiediamond]

If your teeth, and worming are up to date and an vet has been consulted another option for senior horses is extruded feeds. Extrusion is a process under which the ingredients are cooked under pressure with high temperature steam for a short period of time.  Some of the benefits I have found with extruded feeds are that it improves digestibility and energy availability by breaking down bonds of starches, proteins and oils. The results of the digestibility being increased means a healthier horse with less feed required. Nutrients become more readily absorbed in the small intestine. This helps prevent overload in the hindgut by reducing fermentation which helps prevent colic. Extruded feeds encourage chewing and saliva production. Saliva is essential for preventing gastric ulcers because it acts as a buffer to stomach acid. I have had huge success with Viterra products products especially step 8.  



Step 6 - Senior

A maintenance, extruded/pellet feed blend designed specifically for the unique challenges faced by very mature (senior) horses or hard keepers.

Features & Benefits

   *

     An easily consumed combination of pellets and extruded kibbles
   *

     Best blend of ingredients designed specifically for senior horses
   *

     Great for hard keepers
   *

     Contains yeast culture for improved digestibility
   *

     Fortified with organic Selenium
   *

     Contains Botanical Guardin™ horse mineral supplement


Step 8 – Hi Fat 20

A high fat, high fibre, low sugar extruded horse feed for horses with higher energy requirements or sugar sensitivities.

Features & Benefits

   *

     The highest non-hydrogenated fat level in a complete feed
   *

     Fat sources include canola oil, flax and rice bran
   *

     Great for hard keepers and performance horses.
   *

     Very energy dense means an economical lower feeding rate
   *

     Fat energy will not make horse hot or cause sugar spikes
   *

     Fortified with organic Selenium
   *

     Contains Botanical Guardin™ horse mineral supplement

 

[Weaverv3]

Teeth definitely need to be floated, if you have never had it done, or it's been a long time.  You don't mention how long you have had the horses, or if you have done any health/dental care.  Get the teeth done and get them wormed.  Also, don't know where you are located.  In Texas we are in extremet drought so the animals are not getting anything out of grazing, so you may need to increase feed or ad protein supplement.  Keep us posted. 

I have had the mare for about 6 years..which would actually put her at 15. The gelding about 4 years now. I have never had issues with them. I wormed them with a strong dose of ivermectin, I had gottena bit behind with it. I also started feeding them rice bran, and the mare gets a liquid supplement called whoop ass. I cant give the gelding it because he fights syrignes and anything near his mouth lol. We dont have good pasture, were tryign to get another area fenced in to do rotation, but we never had to prior to this year, the drought has stunted the grass.

 

[DL]

OK I am confused - horses should get about 2% of their body weight in roughage - hay or pasture.

You say you have 3 horses but "the mare gets 5 lbs a day of sweet feed plus free choice hay. The gelding gets 3 lbs of Senior feed and 2 lbs of sweet feed and hay. I have never had this problem, so I am not sure where I need to start!" What does the 3rd horse get? What kind of hay and how much? What do you mean by free choice? How much do you expect your pasture to provide?

While I agree that teeth need to be floated and horses dewormed, if they aren't getting sufficient calories they are going to lose weight. This is fairly common in drought areas, esp when hay is expensive, very poor quality or non existent. Maybe an extension agent could help you assess your equine nutrition/mineral program?