Blanketing + Weight Loss

[Feldspar21]

My gelding is a 16 yo Friesian/Morgan. He is boarded, and this is our first winter at this particular barn. I’m concerned about his blanketing and about his weight, and hoping COTH can put my mind to ease and either tell me that I’m being a giant pain and to relax or maybe someone has been in this situation and found something that worked for you?

In the past, it’s been a little bit of an issue keeping the weight OFF him. He’s been in two previous situations during the winter:

• 24/7 group turn out with a large run-in and full access to a round bale. Ration balancer (don’t remember exactly what), I was basically in charge of all his blanket changes. Kept a good weight. In medium level of work.
• Show barn (stalled at even the hint of precipitation, otherwise a few hours of turnout per day), 4 ish flakes of hay, a couple handfuls of low starch for the supps. He was clipped, blanketed up the wazoo, in consistent work, and a good weight-slightly overweight.
• Current situation: stall with a small dirt lot in and out. So far doors have remained open, resulting in a cold barn overnight. AM turnout with group daily. 6 flakes of hay per day, 2 qt low starch per day. Blanketing is… questionable (they’ve got muckers and kids who feed, who are great kids but not necessarily the most knowledgeable/observant). In very light work.

He’s lost a significant amount of weight, in both muscle and general weight. He’s been out of work for a few months, so I expected some muscle loss. But knowing him, he was going to GAIN weight when out of work, not lose it. He’s starting to get ribby, and I’m seeing weight loss everywhere. I’d estimate a BCS of 4 from a 5.5 in September. He’s recently started back into light weight and he’s been rather lethargic.

He’s had the same lightish medium weight on when I came the other day when it was 45˚F and when I came this morning and it was 13˚F. He was not shivering this morning, but definitely cool to the touch under the blanket. I’ve discussed with the barn owner, who basically said that they would keep an eye on it, add back the 6th flake which was apparently removed at some point, and keep a better eye on the blanketing situation. BO is rarely actually in the barn. BO discussed with main barn worker (basically BM but no title) who I talked to in person today and while she said they would be keeping an eye on it, I felt the conversation to be generally dismissive and the last thing said to me was “Well, the good news is, he won’t starve overnight!”.

Plan is currently that I’m going to make a blanketing chart for him, explaining what blankets are what and what I want on him when, so it’s clear to everyone. It’s not for lack of clothes, he literally has 7 blankets to choose from and layer (my old horse was same size, so he has doubles) They’re going to add back 6th flake of hay, and remind workers not to skimp on him (did I mention I’m paying extra $$ to have him fed hay at lunch and close??). BM(ish) offered to add more grain, but I declined for now. My gut instinct is that he’s cold, since we’ve never had a problem with weight loss, and he’s getting more calories via grain than ever before. I’m also leery about adding extra grain because he is 75% Morgan and I’m paranoid about metabolic stuff (yeah, it’s low starch, buuuut… lots of brands aren’t REALLY low NSC…right??)

Is it reasonable that this weight loss could simply be from the cold? It really has been quite warmer than average here in New England so far, but with wide temperature swings, but he is essentially in a stall but open to the cold… Is a vet call warranted? Should I just consent to more grain? I’m sure I’m making this into a bigger deal than it is, but I literally did not sleep last night worrying about if he was cold! This is probably mostly because I have always been personally in charge of/very closely involved with his care, and this barn is farther away so I don’t get there as often as I’d like AND I’m totally removed from his care now. Sorry for the rant. Hoping I’m not being a giant PITA to the poor workers/BO/BM (because I’ve been in their shoes with high maintenance clients too…have I become a high maintenance boarder? Ugh, the horror!)

[Simkie]

I think this barn is very likely grossly underfeeding your horse. Are you sure you want to keep him here? It sounds like a bad fit in several areas.

[Feldspar21]

Had no problems throughout the summer and through early fall, and it’s a beautiful facility. But now I’m rethinking! His care and well-being is obviously more important than the facility. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a ton of options around me that aren’t $$$$ show barns or barns that I find rather iffy in terms of facility safety, or actually turning horses out (I went to 3 beautiful barns for a tour that I then learned literally only turned their horses out in their indoor arena for 30 min a day!!). This seemed like a good place to be when we moved here last Spring!

[Feldspar21]

I would think 6 flakes per day and 2 qt per day LS would be just fine for a normally easy keeper, right? I’m assuming you’re implying that they AREN’T necessarily feeding him what’s on his stall card/we’ve agreed on, which I suppose could well be the case. It’s interesting because many of the horses around him have stall cards that say less hay/grain, and they all appear to be in fine condition.

[Willesdon]

At 16 years old, there might be other issues beyond rugs. How are his teeth?

[scislandsprite]

Can you add a slow feeder? It would make the hay last longer which may help keep him warmer. If your barn allows it, you could also make a blanket chart that has some general guidelines you’d prefer blanket wise. Ex: 40 and above = no blanket, 30-40 = blue lightweight, 20-30 = red midweight etc or something like that.

[Simkie]

You already know they’re not feeding him six flakes…

@Feldspar21

They’re going to add back 6th flake of hay, and remind workers not to skimp on him

There may be more going on here–he’s of age for Cushing’s; tick borne stuff has been terrible this year; it’s also been just an awful hay year so the hay quality might be poor, and that can all be worth exploring–but the horse is thin & you know the barn isn’t feeding enough hay.

In my experience, when the barn doesn’t feed enough hay, that doesn’t change. It’s a philosophical difference of opinion in approach to horse keeping. Save yourself the heartache & find a barn that’s better suited.

If there’s just no other option, perhaps you can work with other boarders to get him fed more.

[Catherine616]

IMHO I don’t think he would be losing “significant” weight from being cold …

[quietann]

Is the barn close enough that you can do blanket changes, give him an extra meal of something like alfalfa pellets every or almost every day, etc? You shouldn’t have to do this, but… if the barn workers are that careless or just lacking knowledge, you’ll need to do something. If they’re doing the blanketing, keep it simple. Don’t ask for layering. Can he just stay in a medium weight turnout for a while? That seems to be the blanket of choice around here (MA near Boston) when blanketing by barn staff is iffy.

[luvmyhackney]

Test for cushings. He’s the right age/breed and if he currently isn’t doing well on his normal diet. Teeth as well.

[Scribbler]

I agree, I’d be suspicious about him not getting all the hay, or the kiddies’ idea of a flake not being your idea of one, or he’s getting run off his hay in the field. Unpaid kids feeding boarders’ horses hay by the flake in a field in winter is a recipe for skimping if it means extra trips with a wheelbarrow or dumping the hay in mud by the gate where half of it gets trampled instead of hiking to the back of the field or obeying too carefully the barn ownerstruction to not overfeed.

I would look at hay first, and I would snoop around the property and see how it’s being fed on the field, is he getting enough? Also look at the quality. Useful to see how much a flake weighs too. If after a month of guaranteed correct feeding he is doing poorly then you can get a vet to do diagnostics.

But 90 % of the time when a horse loses weight it’s because it’s not getting enough hay.

[Feldspar21]

DUH I feel so silly for not thinking of this myself. Guess I’m just too worked up about it to think logically hah. He’s had his teeth done every 6 months since I got him with nothing significant to report. He’s had the same general practice vet do them the past 3 times (that’s just who the barns had). We all know that general practice vets aren’t necessarily the best dentists all the time (due to no fault of their own) so I think I will have a qualified equine dentist check him out this time around.

[Feldspar21]

Unfortunately the barn is not close enough for me to get there daily, for the first time since I started boarding! Which I think is one of the reasons this situation stresses me out so much. Previous boarding barn was 2 minutes down the street, last barn I worked at full time and so it was easy to have everything about his care just how I wanted for the most part. I am in the same general area as you, and that has been the go to. He didn’t roast in the medium weight at 45, but was definitely too chilly this AM when it was 13 out in it!!

[Feldspar21]

Agree with the kids part of this! The kids are great, but employing kids is…hard sometimes. He actually does not get hay in the field (he’s only turned out in a group for 3ish hours a day), and otherwise spends his time in his stall with a small dry lot attached. All the feeding is done in the stall. Flakes here are definitely variable, and the kids may not be observant enough of that.
Entirely agree with weight loss correlating with not enough hay usually. Adding more hay and keeping better tabs on his temp under his blanket was my gut feeling as well, thank you for confirming! I don’t feel like throwing grain at this situation would be ideal, unless he’s not finishing hay, but he gobbles all of that up quickly, and it is always gone before next feeding (fed AM, lunch, PM, close)

[quietann]

New England hay flakes are highly variable this year! Try having a horse on a diet… when flakes can be anywhere from 2 to 5 pounds each!

[Pally]

If your hay year was anything like ours further north, I’m inclined to say look at your hay quality extra carefully.

[lenapesadie]

@Simkie

but the horse is thin & you know the barn isn’t feeding enough hay.

That’s what it sounds like to me too

[trubandloki]

I agree that this does not sound like a blanket issue at all.

I want to add in that at his age (not saying he is crazy old, but not as young as he was), loss of muscle can make a horse that used to look fat look thin depending on conformation.

If I was going to annoy my boarding barn about something, it would be hay long before tons of random blanket changes.

(Note, my horses live at home, they get no mid day blanket changes because I work all day. Some days they have too much blanket on, some days they have less than ideal blankets on. The old horse is not wearing any clothes at all, just his self groan yak coat. They always have hay, they are never appear to be cold even when it is a total blanket fail day.)

[Feldspar21]

There is definitely a blanketing issue going on. He shouldn’t be feeling cold under his blanket. He never ever had a problem with staying warm when he was out 24/7 at his old barn, but there were fundamental differences that I believe were at play regarding that. He was out with buddies, he had a round bale at all times, and he was moving around. Here he is staying completely still in a stall, with the doors wide open, a concrete floor, and he doesn’t always have access to hay. So the blanketing changes wouldn’t be random, they would be necessary as the temperature swings from 45 and sunny to windy and in the single digits! Which apparently they have been neglecting. I hope to rectify this with a sign taped to his stall as to what blankets I want him wearing when (approved and encouraged by BO).

More hay is definitely needed but I don’t think that fixes the entire issue.

He is losing muscle mass but he is also losing a lot of fat. He is sunken in past his last ribs, the caudal portion of his ribs would definitely be visible if he were not fuzzy (very clearly felt), entirely sunk in around his withers, no crest to speak of, tailhead clearly present

[candyappy]

@Feldspar21

I would think 6 flakes per day and 2 qt per day LS would be just fine for a normally easy keeper, right?

No. How good is the hay? How much does 6 flakes weigh? Are the flakes consistent in size from one feeding to another? Are they weighing the hay at every feeding?

You talk about barn kids doing the work and no way would I entrust my blanketing and feeding to barn kids alone unless horses are getting free choice hay or the BM is right behind them supervising what they are feeding.

My easy keeper would need more than 6 flakes a day if that was all she got in the Winter.