I am presently trying not to imagine any bots in her gut. Ick.
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She’s getting a fecal done Monday and I’m guessing if the vet says that she is strong enough for it a full 5-day round of wormer.
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You are doing right by that old mare.
Almost exactly a year ago a neighbor took in (rescued an abandoned gelding) a horse who looked like your mare. The gelding was “10 years old”…back in say 1999. He did have a few molars and all the other teeth were worn down to the gum line.
Anyway, she fed him heavily watered down molasses free beet pulp (he couldn’t eat hay) and within one week a lil bloom was appearing on his body and a sparkle was returning to his eye.
He had to be euthanized the second week because what she thought was a hoof abscess was his coffin bone coming through the sole. The blessing was his last week he never wanted for a thing.
Good luck with your mare.
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Oh my. Yes, frequent soaked meals. Poor thing I bet she will need a complete ration of a complete feed eventually. You might try also watering down the alfalfa hay and see if that helps her at least eat the leaves. If she can get some nutrition info her body, some of the skin stuff might go away. You are doing a very kind thing.
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So pooped and peed between 430 n 530, she ate the 1/2 flake of alfalfa, pooped 2 or 3x it was scattered so I am calling it 2, and peed again between 530 and 930.
She got her 3lbs of senior n lb of alf/tim pellets super soaked into a slop basically at 930.
At around 2am I will go back out there n give her 1/2lb soaked pellets and around a 1/2 flake of hay so she still has solids going thru her gut as well. When she first got here n was eating you could hear her stomach grumbling and growling n churning. She probably had not had any real food since this morning.
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THIS, this thread is COTH at its best. Someone helping out a horse in need, with plenty of expertise offered and encouragement from COTHers. Thanks all!
Reminds me of the Old Chestnut Mare thread for Always Funny. Very much a tale of the COTH community helping a horse fallen on bad times.
Always Funny, the Old Chestnut Mare from CL tearjerker to well-deserved retirement
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Love this post! We all know a lot about a little, but can always learn more!
I told the owners if they cannot find hay in North Carolina even though they are 2 hours away I could probably find them some around here if they need it come winter, and I reminded them if any of their other horses get in that condition the most Humane thing they can do is not sell it but put it down. If they cannot care for it, horses don’t know about tomorrow and leaving on a good day is always better than leaving one day too late in pain.
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I think it’s great you took this mare in.
Something about the sellers just doesn’t seem right, but I can’t tell what it is. But anyway, hurray for maresie, she got a nice soft landing with you!
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Such a sweet face! She sure landed with the right person to love her and do what’s right for her.
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When they are that bad, hopefully you will see a difference the next day with a real feed. Fingers crossed.
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Oh she definitely has some Mare in her! I just went to feed her again she’s very excited and very give me that bucket I am hungry! Soaking half a pound of pellets does not work it just turned into a watery mess. So she got a pound of the regular hay which she is munching on right now.
She has not drink any new water since I was out there at 9:30 and she has not laid down she has a thicker fleece hooded cooler on and there are no shavings on it. She peed again and had four to five poops but they were all cow patty which I’m thinking is because I soaked her last feeding quite a bit and of course the alfalfa hay and protein. I have a large calendar that I’m writing each time down and what I feed her and her output and what it’s like for the vet on Monday.
Now to get another 4 hours of sleep!
Giving her probios and electrolytes in her food and I might take her for a 10 minute walk at her next feeding around 7:00 after the Sun is up just to move around a bit and then she’s going back in her stall.
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Shes probably getting more water than she’s used to drinking from the soaked feed.
Poor old dear. Its a really good sign that she’s excited about eating, though.
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The cow patties may be due to an upset in her gut bacteria. Different bacterias are required to break down different foods and the population increases and decreases based on what is going through the gut at that moment (which is why refeeding protocols indicate only alfalfa for a period of time - so there is no need for bacterial population growth and die offs in relatively short timeframes as bacterial die offs can affect the horse’s health and insufficient bacterial population for the food present can result in less nutrition getting from the food to the horse).
Sending you good wishes and jingles! 
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Thank you! My vet said since she had been getting senior n alf pellets 2x a day before this that pulling that nutrition away could upset her gut bacteria worse. She was getting them dry though, and she has no teeth.
I am sure me soaking her feed along with the protein in the 1lb of dry alfalfa hay I am giving her every 4 hrs between her 2 daily feedings is a huge part of it. But before now she was only getting those 2 meals dry as a bone and barely anything but weeds to pick at as they did not give their horses hay at all.
She is also covered in bot fly eggs, something I am going to tackle removing today, vet will pull a fecal but I would not be surprised if she has a worm load that needs to be treated as well. She just needs basically everything checked and tons of tlc. Hoping the probios and just settling in will help the runny butt poops a little bit at least.
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I wonder if feeding her the exact same thing every time would help. Smaller amounts of each could reduce the bacterial population required to break each food type down, and shorter periods between feeding of each type could reduce that bacterial die off. I don’t know - it just seems reasonable! 
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I see the point, but I also do not want to overwhelm her stomach and gut with too much at once. She does need the soaked feed 2x a day but the dry alfalfa hay she is cleaning up and the rough forage going thru her is important too.
Once again a horse who feels desperate sends out to the Universe a desperate cry for HELP!!!
And once again a true horsewoman “hears” the cry and buys the horse.
I’ve brought back horses in almost as bad condition. Be mentally prepared that she may end up being “spicier” than you thought as she revels in the fact that she is being fed and cared for.
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I’m happy to see she arrived safely. It sounds like you have a good plan in place, and she will look like a different horse in a few weeks. You are doing such a kind thing.
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Jingles for your new baby. Poor dear has walked a rough road it looks like.
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Poor girl. She’s in the best place for her now. I’m sure she’ll be a different horse in a couple of months.
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