I just pulled a horse from a kill pen who is arriving tomorrow. He needs weight and muscle, and I am sure could use some good foot care.
It has been a long time since I was involved in rehabbing underweight horses. What supplements would you recommend I put him on? I am planning on Weight Builder already. Looking for the best all around hoof supplement, and recommendations on anything else that may be beneficial.
It probably largely depends on why heās underweight.
I would say the best start is a thorough Vet exam and 30 days quarantine.
I would say lots of good quality hay and a ration balancer or vitsmin mineral supplement.
Ultimate Finish 25 by Buckeye. You can even get it shipped by Chewy for a good price. Free shipping if you buy 2 bags.
Most of the horses in the barn are on it and they all look great. We had one horse come in pretty thin and between the Ultimate Finish and the Triple Crown Complete he gained weight quickly. He got ulcer treatment, dewormed and teeth done too.
Get the vet to run blood work on vitamin E and selenium.
I used aloe, flax, cool calories, tri aminos and equisureā¦ but only after he was back on grain. Until then it was hay, alfalfa pellets, beet pulp. Then added in essential K and Resolve.
For us, good quality hay was the best āmedicine.ā
Yes, already planning on good hay and slowly adding grain, as well as a thorough vet work up. He will also be QTāed of course. I feel comfortable with the basics, just want to make sure he is receiving the supplements he needs as well.
Supplements will be your choice. A lot of time, just getting them good quality care will turn them around. It takes time, though.
We say we rescued a horse last year (although we paid full asking price for him). He looks SO much better. Heās still got a little ways to go. Heās got about 3/4 new hoof growth since last year and his coat overall looks better, and he looks ābrighterā too. Just takes a long time to undo years of malnourishment.
I would see what 3 months of good quality care does before adding any supplements. Once the vet looks him over, start with hay and de-worming. After a few weeks, add a ration balancer so he is getting all his vitamins/minerals.
Be careful of the wormer you use. Make sure itās OK for an underweight horse.
Feed it a good quality feed with high calories and alfalfa hay. No need for supplements. Get teeth checked and a fecal done then go from there. just use common sense. I bring home horses from auction barns and never quarantine, never been an issue. Last one i brought home went right in with current horse within a week.
Your lucky, Iāve seen some sick ones get pulled and infect the whole barn,
I always start with alfalfa, ration balancer, soaked beet pulp for 1 month and adjust as needed via adding other grains or whatnot. I always give Vitamin E if not on green grass and MSM year round.
The ucdavis protocol is excellent for a severely underweight horse, op how much weight does s/he need to gain?
THIS.
a) Donāt feed anything other than HIGHLY digestible (i.e. alfalfa) hay to a truly starved horse, in very small quantities, multiple times per day. Well-meaning people can literally kill a starved horse with kindness.
b) Supplements for most horses are, at best, useless and, at worst, extremely dangerous. Do not add anything to a horseās diet without hard evidence that the horse in question truly requires the additional dose of the nutrient in question. This is ESPECIALLY important when working with truly starved horses.
Supplements are things to be added after the horse is full time on a proper base diet, which is at least full time good quality forage.
If this horse is a low BCS 3, or less, then you really need to follow something like that UC-Davis re-feeding program, as excess nutrients too soon for those horses can cause Refeeding Syndrome which can easily kill them.
Fast weight gain is not your friend.
The best 'all around" anything for this horse is going to firstly be good quality hay, to include as much horse-appropriate (as opposed to dairy quality) alfalfa as you can get for the Winter.
He doesnāt need a hoof, or coat, or energy supplement, before he settles into getting back to eating like a normal, healthy horse, which is free choice good quality forage, and then, if he needs more, a ration balancer or high quality low NSC regular feed.
I used the UC Davis protocol on a gelding we rescued. Worked well. Vet did add in Vitamin E supplements once we had him stable.
Yes, Ultimate finish will put weight on right away. You will see the change in days.
Is this the horse from the auction house in PA? Thank you for buying him.
That last paragraph is what I was trying to sayā¦ āneglectedā could mean so many thingsā¦ and be attributed to so many other things.
Thin can be because heās not had decent feed in a while.
Or heās in need of a dental. Or he has ulcers.
Or all of the above. Or something completely different that you will not discover until a Vet does some routine exam/bloodwork.
The best course of action, the least costly course of action as well, is the one that actually addresses the problem, by first identifying it.
I would not be worried about supplements at all for a while. If you give him a bunch of stuff with rich hay and grain you are asking for a colic or worse. I would go ahead and schedule the vet to be there the first day he arrives for a once over and fecal. Medium quality hay only for a few days, then a LITTLE grain, work him up SLOWLY to a reasonable amount. You donāt want to overwhelm his poor little body too soon.
All are safe except moxidectin (Quest).
I would definitely do a FEC first. If iās ācleanā, then do another in a week just in case itās a false clean (unlikely if the horse is really loaded, but still a good idea on a clean FEC for a horse with no history, just to make sure).
If itās less than 500, Iād have no problem going right to Equimax.
If itās high triple digits or more, then if the risk of impaction colic bother you, then do a single dose of either Safeguard/Panacur, or Strongid paste, then in 2 weeks do Equimax.
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