Anxious, fretful, poor eater

[4horses]

Any suggestions on getting weight on the anxious, fretful, poor eater horse?

Sometimes she cleans her bucket up, sometimes she doesn’t. She’s extremely buddy sour and you can tell she worries about where her buddies are and this distracts her from eating. And her appetite just isn’t great to begin with.

I’m honestly thinking a stall with a curtain over it to keep her from looking out, and a buddy horse next to her? During part of the day.

She gets a scoop of sweet feed with a cup of oil, which she usually eats (it took about 2 weeks for her to get used to the oil) and a second bucket of soaked alfalfa pellets, which she picks at. The problem is in these temperatures, anything she doesn’t eat is wasted. I keep putting leftovers in the refrigerator for the next day to prevent spoilage.

I spoke to her previous owner. He said to just fill her entire bucket with sweet feed and let her nibble all day, but then she can’t be turned out. But I don’t think that worked that well as she dropped a bunch of weight for him too. He did not feed hay, just hay pellets and sweet feed.

Not sure what to do about the anxiety issues. She paces a lot and that compounds the weight issues. She was eating hay today which I take as a good sign… As she barely touched the hay at first. I just don’t feel like I’m getting enough calories in her. Maybe I just need to give her more time.

She is on nexium for ulcers (not confirmed but I thought it worth a try). I picked up beautiful fresh cut hay today, so hopefully that might encourage her to eat better.

[luvmyhackney]

I bet she has some serious ulcers. I would scope her and see where that leads.

Get her off sweet feed and on a high calorie feed. I’m sure people here can make good recommendations.

[Calvincrowe]

Is she on hay at all? What does your vet recommend you feed? Will she eat hay? Would alfalfa hay be a better option than soaked feed— many horses don’t much care for soaked feed. Get her scoped and medicated for ulcers if the exam indicates that.

[Bluey]

Use alfalfa hay, not pellets or mash and give it some time, see if that helps.

We had one horse we bought that was very nice, except he would come in the pens with the others from grazing and start eating with them, but take a bite and run out, look around, then come back and repeat, many times, not settling.
Once he almost ran over me in one of his scares, as I was by my old horse, that turned his behind into the scaredy-cat and kept him from mowing us down.

We tried this and that, finally after over half a year, sold him to someone in town keeping horses in stalls, riding them in trail rides and he was a happy camper, no more over the top anxiety but rarely, when much going on outside.

We wondered if he was not wired right, his sympathetic system shut off was malfunctioning.
When excited by something he could not down regulate properly and in our larger pastures and wildlife and seeing the expressway some miles away just was too much for him.
Living in more confinement helped him cope.

Good luck finding what drives him and finding a way to comfort him.

[walkinthewalk]

1. Putting a curtain over her stall door so she can’t look out is just what the poor horse needs —- NOT😡!!! For crying out loud who came up with that hair brained idea —-

2. Sweet feed is another thing she does NOT need —-. Buy her something bland that she will eat and has all the vitamins/minerals in it.

When the WB got to my farm and his ulcers flared in a major way, all I could get him to eat was Nutrena Safe Choice Senior. It wasn’t my choice but it’s all that was a available in my area that had all the nutrients I wanted the horse to have. Once he got to where he had a good appetite, I added in rolled oats for weight gain.

I also switched my horses around and gave him the run-in stall at night —- so he could move around but still see my other horse.

I am sorry but everything being done to “help” your poor mare is bass ackwards.

3. She DOES need treated for ulcers. Buy some UlcerGard, it’s the same as GastroGard but does not require a prescription. Give according to the instructions at 1/4 tube daily.

If shes improves you saved her the grief of getting scoped, or you know she has ulcers and get her scoped to see how bad they are.

[clanter]

has this horse ever had her teeth examined ? very well could have a bad tooth

(and sweet feed really in my opinion is never a good feed for a horse, there are just too many very good feeds available)

[JB]

@4horses

She’s extremely buddy sour and you can tell she worries about where her buddies are and this distracts her from eating. And her appetite just isn’t great to begin with.

I’m honestly thinking a stall with a curtain over it to keep her from looking out, and a buddy horse next to her? During part of the day.

You can try the curtain, and a buddy, and see. Not all horses appreciate being able to hear but not see.

@4horses

She gets a scoop of sweet feed with a cup of oil

This is the first thing I’d change. She sounds like she probably has ulcers of some sort, and sweet feed can either cause that, or exacerbate the issue. What brands of feed to you have available?

@4horses

He did not feed hay, just hay pellets and sweet feed.

I would absolutely assume ulcers. Yiles - hay pellets and free choice sweet feed

@4horses

She is on nexium for ulcers (not confirmed but I thought it worth a try).

How long has she been on that, and how many pills a day?

[JB]

@walkinthewalk

Putting a curtain over her stall door so she can’t look out is just what the poor horse needs —- NOT

it may not be what she needs, but it’s worth a try. Some horses really are driven by sight, and want to see all that they can see. It might make her worse, but it might remove at least one distraction and let her focus on her food and her next-door buddy.

@walkinthewalk

She DOES need treated for ulcers. Buy some UlcerGard, it’s the same as GastroGard but does not require a prescription. Give according to the instructions at 1/4 tube daily.

She’s using Nexium, which is just as effective as omeprazole in raising stomach pH, when at the right dose.

GG/UG is a full tube for treatment. 1/4 tube is prevention. This is for the average 1000-1200lb horse. Ponies would get proportionally less, larger horses more.

[fivestrideline]

We had a horse like this. What helped was a diet overhaul, ulcer treatment, and routine.

First, drop the sweet feed. There’s much better options out there from most brands - even Chewy if you have to. What can you get? Senior or the highest fat performance feed (and give her enough by weight to meet at least the minimum on the label). Try the grain dry or very lightly wetted - saves waste and some horses just hate wet grain.

Drop the oil, or switch it for a dry fat supplement like Empower Boost or a powdered fat - sometimes you have to add these little by little. Oils can have an inflammatory effect and also make the grain rancid if it’s left, better to try something else for calories since she’s picky.

Drop the pellets for straight hay - alfalfa if you can. This will help her ulcers as well. Or try fewer pellets and offer the hay, see which she prefers. Again, since you have to soak pellets if she’s not eating them you’re just tossing money down the drain, so it’s worth trying something else I’d think.

What’s her routine like now? Do all the horses come in just to eat, or are they in for half the day? Has she been there long? It may just take ulcer treatment kicking in, plus her getting used to the routine to settle enough to eat. Switching to better nutrition and dry feed that you can offer her later if she doesn’t clean it up might do the trick. It did for our anxious one.

[StormyDay]

What kind of feed, exactly, are you feeding? Sweet feed means a lot of different things to different people.

You could try feeding her in a feed bag. Then she can eat with her buddies with no worries of them bullying her off of her food.

[JB]

@fivestrideline

Oils can have an inflammatory effect

The depends on the kind of oil. Flax, camelina, ahiflower, are all oils high in Omega 3, and low in Omega 6

It’s also not really accurate to say that omega 6 is pro-inflammatory, and O3 is anti-inflammatory. They don’t cause inflammation, or remove inflammation.

What they do, is support that processes, both of which are necessary for life. We need inflammation.

The problems arise when there is too much supporting the inflammatory processes and not enough supporting the anti-inflammatory processes.

Canola oil is around 2:1 Omega 6:3, the lowest ratio of the oils that are still higher in O6, and a very good choice for a lot of horses. I personally wouldn’t feed corn or soybean oil, as those are quite high in O6 without any beneficial O3 to help the balance.

Wholeheartedly agree on replacing alfalfa pellets with hay, if that’s an option. Not everyone can find quality, affordable alfalfa hay.

[Jackie_Cochran]

You could try the Fenwick Face Mask (http://fenwickequestrian.com/collections/calming-mask). It has really helped a horse I know calm down though this horse never had any problems eating as much food as possible he was SCARED of every strange thing and would fixate on it and ignore his human.

[candyappy]

I have never personally had anything against what is called “sweet feed”. Just depends on who makes it and what exactly is in it( ingredients, vit , min) .

It is just a blend of grains sweetened with molasses after all and many horses do fine on it. Not all horses have metabolic issues and if you are not feeding huge amounts of feed to begin with , then it is up to the owner. It is a cheaper option for sure.

Alfalfa hay in exchange for the soaked pellets. Doesn’t sound like she is crazy about them at all.

[4horses]

She has free choice hay. Both coastal and perennial peanut hay available. I’m hoping this is just ulcers and I’m probably just being too impatient on the weight issue.

Alfalfa is rather expensive in this area. If she’ll eat the peanut hay, that is similar in protein and cheaper.

I agree sweet feed isn’t my first choice, but I needed something I knew she would actually eat.

Trying to adjust my turnout schedule so she’s not stressing and pacing the weight off. She gets very agitated at sunset when I start turning everyone out.

[PaddockWood]

I have a high anxiety horse that until I got home to my own farm, displayed fence walking, weaving, calling. If you can, how about getting her turned out first and can she have access to out all the time? Since moving my girl home she displays almost no anxiety - ie fence walking, calling etc because she has access to either in her stall or being out.

In my past boarding situations she mostly was not in control of her environment and that caused her stress. And I learned that her prior owner or boarding facility kept her from going out or being with other horses maybe thinking it would “teach her” or who knows what but when I got her she was a basket case. She’s come a long way and key was 24/7 access to turnout.

If you can figure out what calms her and provide that setting. It’s not easy with these critters I know. My girl just lost her boyfriend - he passed at 29 and first she was super depressed and shut down and then displayed anxiety again. We’re working on taking my other horse away and coming back after a minute or two and she is making improvements.

Until she gets mental calm you’ll be fighting all the other issues.

[starsandsun]

You might try chopped forage - comes in bags and must taste great … my horses are nuts for it.

[Incantation]

Alfalfa hay is good for ulcers due to the high Ca in it. Even if you can give a flake or two a day, in addition to the other hay, it would be helpful.
I have an OTTB that failed on Nexium, and straight Gastrogard. He ended up being put on Gastrogard, misoprostol, and sucralfate for 6 weeks, then needed Succeed for a while after that.

At first he would not eat much hay. I gave him quite a lot of beet pulp and Fibremax, and a flake or two of alfalfa . He still dropped weight, until the ulcers were under control, (part of that was him settling in and starting to feel safe). Now he gets free choice hay and enough beet pulp to mix his VM in.

[EventerAJ]

A “fretful, poor eater” is always a sign of ulcers. Always. Horses with happy stomachs eat their food in a timely fashion, even with a bit of anxiety. That said, I would do whatever possible to minimize the anxiety while ulcers are being treated. If she is happier outside with friends, vs being in the barn alone to eat for hours, consider using corral panels to make a “feed stall” outside in the field so she can still eat with her herd and feel safe (but also not get chased off her food).

All the nexium or GG in the world won’t help if you don’t change the cause of her ulcers. Ditch the sweet feed. Find something low starch. I feed soaked beet pulp to all of mine, and add ration balancer or a little extra low NSC/high protein mix if they need more calories. I also feed free choice alfalfa or 25lbs of quality O/A hay. Yes, it’s expensive in FL. But its a lot cheaper than ulcers, colic, and a thousand supplements. And it makes a healthy, happy horse with a great topline. You may be able to get by with PP hay, but I wouldn’t bother feeding coastal to any horse that needs significant nutrition.