Ah.
My lack of technical knowledge is impeding my sense of humor!
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As a boarding business owner, you are obligated to do more. If the SPCA is called on your property, you will need to show that the horse is under vet care or at least that the owner is aware of significant concerns (if it is determined to be under a healthy weight). You could be the one faulted if you canāt prove that you are communicating properly with the owner. It is unlikely that much would come of it, as obviously you can prove you are feeding the horse, but a business owner can be held to higher standards than an owner, something to consider. PLEASE communicate your concerns with the owner in a way that is trackable. Take time to write out what you want to say, and then reread it the next day before sending. Donāt be accusing, just state facts: You are concerned that Dobbin is not holding his weight with the current amount of hay provided (X lbs).
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I donāt have a dog in this fight and really just came to read out of boredom. Butā¦ can we really conclude that the hay provided is a quality hay? I would agree that rapid weight loss is highly likely a problem not related to caloric intake. Just bringing up the hay could be over-mature/stemmy/twiggy/high in lignin/otherwise poor quality. And the horse could have previously just been on the edge and maintaining, but with added stress, the quality of hay is no longer appropriate. I donāt think that quality has been addressed but I may have overlooked.
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I considered that too but it sounds like the other horses are fine on this hay and maybe verging on overweight. However overweight is in the eye of the beholder and we havenāt seen any of these horses so we donāt really know. And he is buying alfalfa from a feedstore (which usually sells pretty nice alfalfa in my neck of the woods) and the horse is consuming a good bit of it so that might counteract a lack of nutrients from the other hay. Hard to tell not being able to see.
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This is a reply to the first post and then I will go read the rest but if owner is ācost sensitiveā she should not have 8 horses. I own a hard keeper. He gets about 200 pounds a week of alfalfa, maybe 35 pounds of hay (give or take) and 2 cups a day of ground flax just to stay ahead of it. I offer to pay as much is needed to offset the cost. Most barns have an upper limit as to how much food they will provide. If your horse needs more, cough up the cash.
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Your horse eats about 28 pounds of alfalfa AND 35 pounds of hay EVERY day? Thatās over 60 pounds of forage a day
28 pounds a day of alfalfa and maybe 5 pounds regular hay every day. I should add he is a 17 hand 1400 pound Holsteiner.
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That makes more sense
BOs should never be put into this position! I have a horse that needs more than normal feed - and we pay an extra amount agreed upon with the BO!
I feel for you - now off to read the replies!
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If he was in good weight up until this issue I think he needs a vet out to do an overall health check. If he has a ( quote) āplethora of health issuesā already this incident may have triggered something that needs attention and it could be the cause of his weight loss. At the very least a fecal and teeth exam is a given.
I have a TB who has had a crazy plethora of issues as well. He was also my big FEI jumper for over a decade (he is - or was up until 8 weeks ago - still jumping 1.40m at age 22). And boy do I know him better than any other horse Iāve ever had.
He got what I think was a puncture wound (in hindsight) in a hind heel about 8 weeks ago. We treated it as cellulitis (we = his vets and I) and I would say the horse came as close to dying as a horse can without actually dying. He quit eating (mostly) for a week. I would say he lost 200 pounds. Every rib is now visible, his spine is jutting up a good couple inches above his back, and his hindquarters are downright terrifying looking with giant jutting hip bones and gaunt flanks. I have never seen such horrific or instantaneous weight loss in all of my years with horses. And having owned him for 17 years, have certainly never seen it with him despite some doozies of prior issuesā¦and other hunger strikes many many times over the years. He has always been borderline obese no matter the issue he faced.
The best I can figure is that the infection knocked him out and his body has been dealing with the rebound since it cleared. So he kept losing weight even once he started eating again. And it took a good 4 weeks before he stabilized.
My vets are not concerned at all and I have been trying to pull in literally anyone else I possibly can. We are at 8 weeks post-incident and he is still a frightening skeleton despite eating just about as much hay as he was before plus half as much senior feed as my other senior horse lives on (and is fat). I do think he is SLOWLY gaining weight. But IMO, not anywhere like he should be.
So all of that to say that it could be that the injury had an infection come along with it that did a huge number on his immune system and body. I am throwing food at my horse like itās going out of style, and itās only bringing weight back on as slowly as I think it could possibly happen.
But Iām also reading through this thread hoping someone has some other words of advice! We did do bloodwork on my guy and the only thing the vet noted was that he clearly had an infection and nothing else seemed out of place. His teeth are great. Fecal was fine.
I would not expect someone boarding my horse to pick up the bill on additional food for what seems potentially like a discrete issue correlated to an injury most likely. But with that being said, the cost of tossing a couple of extra flakes of hay (spread out over a bunch of horses) is nominal. But certainly anything like additional grain or a different type of hay would be an expected cost from my side. But also, you can take my opinion with a grain of salt since, like you, I keep my horses at home (and have boarded others to cover some of the costs in the past) - so I see it more from your side than from a boarderās perspective!
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Have you tried Ultium? I would also run a course of ulcer meds, that had to be stressful plus empty stomach for so long.
Yes, heās on all of the things that I have found over the years to work for ulcers (except for omeprazole, which I have posted about rather endlessly here as having caused him major issues in the past) - alflafa, smart digest ultra, gut X, ulcer eraser.
I think I tried to put him on Ultium years ago and he wouldnāt eat it. But maybe itās worth trying again. Hardest thing with him has always been the willingness to go on a hunger strike at even the tiniest provocation (which I have always assumed is just a āmy stomach hurtsā thing).
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