Showtorque is only 1320 calories/pound.
T.C. Senior Gold is 1800 calories/pound (I have all my horses on it and my oldest at 34 looked great). If it’s available, I recommend it. Everyone likes it better than T.C. Senior and none is wasted so it’s worth it to me.
Yes, there’s a big calorie difference, but if she’s only feeding 2lb, she’s got room to double. And if the horse really isn’t thin, that may be all that needs to be done.
But if she’s feeding 5lb of that, and 5lb of alfalfa pellets, then 100% I would look for a higher calorie feed, which will be based on what she can get.
My 33yo prefers regular Sr over Sr Gold, and prefers Complete over Sr, much to my dismay!
Grabs wallet & winces
A vet may treat a horse medically just fine and with competence and have no actual horse owning, riding, handling or caring for experience.
That will make a big difference in how they accurately advise their clients on some things.
This^ × 100.
Time for a thorough vet work-up, advice from an equine nutritionist (Cornell used to be really good with telephone consults), no riding only groundwork, not stressing her by taking her off property unless necessary.
Sorry if this isn’t what you want to hear, but this sweet mare is not making the progress I would expect to see going on three months.
A very thorough and sensible response. This sounds like a great plan and what I would do if she were mine.
I belive the OP said she was getting 10lbs of hay a day. It’s what made me look again at her lack of weight gain.
Someone mentioned somewhere that they wondered if the reason the former owner was being cagey about the papers was because the horse is substantially older than presented. It’s possible honey has undisclosed issues.
As for the vet, he/she can make recommendations, but the vet doesn’t continue to see the horse unless the owner reports or calls him out again. His initial evaluation isn’t the end all and be all of what this horse needs, and if the horse isn’t improving, the recommendations could well change but only if the op says something, or Sks the vet to take another look.
And this is a vet who gave the horse a body score of a “C”. What does that mean? What kind of scale would that be from? I’m unfamiliar with a body score scale that uses letters. Why didn’t the vet use the regular body score scale?
I would be looking into the quality of the hay. I’ve been lucky that my OTTBs were very picky about the quality they would eat. If they were eating it, it was good quality. Not all horses are, or can be, as picky as my hothouse flowers (or so they thought) were.
It would be something to look into.
I tried to scroll though the posts and see if hay amounts were given and couldn’t find it.
That would certainly be a reason that she hasn’t gained nearly as much as she should have. She should have free choice hay 24/7. Not netted and fed in a way she doesn’t need to work at getting it.
I hope the new boarding situation feeds abundant, good quality hay because in many places, with this overly dry weather any grass she has access to won’t be worth much and it would be awful to lose what she has gained.
Honey was not eating what she was provided initially. So the OP has been patiently trying to refeed her. I’ve spoken to her privately about her struggles and she’s doing a fabulous job. She is trying to learn, and she needs to have something that Honey will eat — priority #1. Because if she won’t eat it, it won’t matter. And by the way - TC was something I used to love, but the horses here started refusing it (even the less picky ones) last summer and I got the memo.
Anyway, she’s also been trying to get the other parts of Honey straightened out. After years of neglect, there may be arthritis issues, training issues, and other issues that have cropped up. Though she’s not talking a rescue refeed, she IS talking about a horse who has not, in the past, been well taken care of.
OP is a new horse owner. She’s going through a lot. She had a ROUGH go with her former horse. Harsh words do not help. They never do - not for ANYONE. No one takes them well, and if you think you do, I’ve got a few for you. She wants the best for Honey.
This girl isn’t going out there galloping endless circles with an unfit underweight horse. She’s not jumping courses, like some 4H kids I’ve seen doing exactly that on older lesson horses with far worse BCS (and yes, I was horrified and reported it to the show management). Older horses CAN and DO have a harder time keeping weight on, and the fact that she likely hasn’t learned to come over her back yet is going to make the lack of muscling worse.
With that, I’ll say the OP is working really hard to help her horse, and it’s obvious that she cares for her. I did worry when she first started posting that the COTH-claws were going to come out, and they did.
It’s a shame, because it chases away the people that we could help the most as a community. OP doesn’t want cheerleaders per se, but she DOES want people to give positive, constructive feedback and we can all tell the difference.
Positive, constructive feedback: 10lbs of hay per day, if accurate, is nowhere near enough and the horse needs 30+ pounds of good nutritional quality hay per day. If the barn doesn’t provide it, you have to find it and feed it yourself.
The “claws” (as they’re being referred to here) are coming out because there has been almost zero change in the horse in now nearing 90 days. I don’t even care about the muscling or lack thereof. I see no real material change in the appearance of the horse’s weight. Something is not working and therefore it needs to change, for the well being of the horse.
Just because other people at some 4H show rode horses that looked worse…it has nothing to do with this particular horse and this particular situation.
Actually I see a fair amount of change. And yes, I see claws.
And I don’t know why anyone is saying 10 lbs of hay. Y’all are crazy. She did NOT say she gets 10 lbs of hay. Maria said that in HER post where she was asking for more details. Go ahead and search the thread, you can find it easily.
OP does not have to justify what she feeds her horse to you. But going off without facts is absolutely vicious.
Oh, and why does the 4Her matter? Because in comparison that isn’t remotely what she’s doing. She’s feeding her horse. She has changed it up to try to get her to eat more and eat more calories. Upon her vet’s recommendation she has walked her a few times under saddle. It’s the people here, who DO NOT have the facts, who are creating drama and not being helpful.
And of course, I don’t mean everyone. Lots of people HAVE been helpful. But there have been some comments that are just horrifying. And extremely not helpful.
The defensiveness and refusal to clarify what is being done as far as feeding amounts is eyebrow raising….
Honestly for COTH this has been downright sunshine and rainbows. And COTH is tame compared to most other sites. The people getting snarky and “vicious” (which I haven’t seen, honestly) have been other posters at each other, not even involving OP.
I hope OP checks back in with an appropriately conditioned Honey.
Not refusal. In fact, I see that she left the thread long before some of the demands started.
But you can’t see why she might be feeling attacked? Someone who is under a lot of pressure, is in a vulnerable position, and is being accused of cruelty when she’s got a horse that is difficult in almost every single way?
More than two accusations of cruelty, including using that word - that’s pretty vicious.
Look - I know we’re all used to it. Most of us are hardened horsepeople. Heck, you can say what you want to me and I’m tough as nails (good lord, yes I changed it, had a moment) having been in this industry for a really long time. But new people haven’t had that exposure. I don’t know that we help anyone being like that.
This would’ve been an easy train to get back on track if they had chosen to do so. However, I don’t think OP owes anyone anything.
I could be brutally honest here, but I won’t be. The holes in this story speak for themselves as to what has happened.
Why did OP buy such an inappropriate horse if they were working with an instructor?
Why were none of these physical issues discovered on a PPE? Why were the training issues not in evidence when OP tried the horse?
Yes, it’s very clear OP loves the horse, is doing her best, but that doesn’t mean people should sweep their concerns under the table.
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