I’d like to do a little series talking about classic equine myths that I grew up with (and you probably did too if you’re around my age). These are things that are absolute fallacies that horsepeople believed for years, and bad horsepeople still do believe. The only difference between us and them is the willingness to be educated (and of course, the brains to pay attention over our years with horses and learn from what we observe).
Here’s a big one this time of year:
He’s just skinny because he’s old. He doesn’t put weight on no matter what I feed him. You know those Thoroughbreds!
I’ve been through this myself – the horse who did not put weight on no matter what we fed her. She is a late 20′s Thoroughbred. Actually, what she did – and what is very common – is fatten up all summer and then drop 100 lbs. over the winter. I did all of the obvious things – she got a good waterproof blanket, she got her teeth done, we brought her in at night, we grained her. It didn’t make much of a difference. She never looked awful, but she didn’t look great.
This is the point at which I have seen people throw up their hands and say, oh well, she’s skinny because she’s old. And to that I say…nonsense. They’re always skinny for a reason and it’s not merely because they are old.
Here’s what I did with my mare:
1. Ran a blood panel which revealed some thyroid issues. Put her on appropriate meds.
2. Moved her to a warmer climate where she wouldn’t have to deal with temperature extremes. (Ontario, Canada to Tennessee)
3. Moved her to a farm where state of the art nutritional care was provided and even the soil was analyzed to determine what kind of nutrition the horses get from the grass. They experimented with different feeds to find the magic combination to puff this mare back up to weight.
Well, voila, another year has passed and while the mare is 28, coming 29, she has returned to perfect weight. She still looks 28 but her weight is just where I want it.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, an alert reader sent me this photograph of a school horse. The girl was upset because she went to a show and the judge knocked her for the horse’s condition. Well HOORAY for the judge. Wish I knew who she/he is, I’d like to award them the First Annual FHOTD Gold Medal For Responsible Professional Horsemanship. The girl feels like she got screwed, because the horse’s condition isn’t her fault and the horse is getting plenty of feed. To quote her: “he’s over 23 years old, gets 3 or 4 scoops of grain PER DAY! (which is a lot, our grain is like 25% fat) 3 flakes of hay per feeding, beet pulp, and supplements to keep his weight.” She also describes how she had to ride in spurs because he was dead sided (“like, complete breakdown right before the fence, basically landed in halt mode, so i’m crazy digging my spurs in him trying to get the six in”), how he refused, and how he was starting to get sore at the end of the day. And how her trainer was going to go yell at the judge for not placing him because he’s skinny “because that’s how cool my trainer is.”
Gee, I wish your trainer would go yell at the judge and can you video that and put that on Youtube for us, because I see a seriously amusing smackdown coming down the pike! (I am guessing Trainer figured out this would only make her look like the world’s biggest asshat and settled for pouting the rest of the day with her student.)
I understand you’re a kid. But your trainer has you showing a horse who is seriously underweight and it sounds like plenty sore to boot. The horse is not being a bad horse by refusing and “landing in halt mode.” He probably hurts like hell. He’s another good old boy that some greedy trainer is going to bute to the gills and wring the last possible $50 or $60 or $70 lesson out of. He doesn’t deserve that. He should be standing in the 20 acre field next to my mares enjoying his last years, but he’s not that lucky. So at the very least, kid, you might want to have Mom and Dad lay a little pressure on the trainer to get a damn blood panel run and see what is going on here. This is not normal. Not for a 23 year old. Not for a Thoroughbred. The fact that he eats a lot and doesn’t gain does not give your trainer the Oscar for Good Senior Horse Care…there is nothing noble about throwing tons of food into a horse that is not gaining because something is wrong with him.
FYI, chronic pain can be a major factor in inability to gain/regain weight.
He needs a vet exam. He may need a good dental, if that hasn’t been done. He needs a blood panel. Find out what is going on here and fix it, and until you do, stop using the poor thing for lessons and shows. Honestly, taking out a horse like this makes your barn look bad and it makes horseshows in general look bad. It just provides fodder for the extremist animal rights folks who don’t think horses should be ridden when they see your lame, skinny horse struggling around a course. Trainer, stop treating this poor old guy as some kind of carnival ride that earns money for you. He needs rest and care and I really do hope this post embarrasses you into giving it to him…although if I know your kind as well as I believe I do, we will probably just find him at the next auction.
I’d love to be wrong.
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3. Moved her to a farm where state of the art nutritional care was provided and even the soil was analyzed to determine what kind of nutrition the horses get from the grass. They experimented with different feeds to find the magic combination to puff this mare back up to weight.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, an alert reader sent me this photograph of a school horse. The girl was upset because she went to a show and the judge knocked her for the horse’s condition. Well HOORAY for the judge. Wish I knew who she/he is, I’d like to award them the First Annual FHOTD Gold Medal For Responsible Professional Horsemanship. The girl feels like she got screwed, because the horse’s condition isn’t her fault and the horse is getting plenty of feed. To quote her: “he’s over 23 years old, gets 3 or 4 scoops of grain PER DAY! (which is a lot, our grain is like 25% fat) 3 flakes of hay per feeding, beet pulp, and supplements to keep his weight.” She also describes how she had to ride in spurs because he was dead sided (“like, complete breakdown right before the fence, basically landed in halt mode, so i’m crazy digging my spurs in him trying to get the six in”), how he refused, and how he was starting to get sore at the end of the day. And how her trainer was going to go yell at the judge for not placing him because he’s skinny “because that’s how cool my trainer is.” 
AHHH FIRST COMMENT!!!
All I can say is… Holy Crap, do that poor school horse. That kid and its trainer should be flogged.
Sigh… I think you nailed the trainer’s ethics with the draining the last possible lesson dollars out of the horse. Bet it’s not the first time.
I wonder what the student’s parents think of “horsemanship” if this is the contact/example they have. Hopefully they are not just mad at the judge and horse. Hopefully someone in their circle of contacts shows them that they are supporting an abusive/neglectful situation.
jesus h christ. there is NO excuse for that.
ms. ‘trainer’, little miss ‘rider’, would YOU go to a doctor if you were in an equivalent condition no matter what you ate? wouldnt you start to think something was wrong… wouldnt you feel like living death most days and wish you could feel better?
imagine this horse was your grandmother. thats the treatment he should be receiving – he has earned your honour and respect, let alone proper care.
One of our elderly horses was just diagnosed with Cushings. We’ve also been told he’ll soon become Insulin resistent. So, what are we doing? Getting him treatment and frequent vet checks to make sure we keep up with his meds. We don’t ride him now or his companion, also elderly. We let them live and babysit our two young ones and these two elderly horses will be with us for the rest of their lives.
Doesn’t that make sense? Horses give us their loyalty, their love and their lives. It’s not possible to repay all that, but we can try.
How can they look at that horse and not understand why the judge would knock them? How can they look at that horse and actually drag the poor thing to a show! Don’t people think… Maybe ther is something wrong with my old horse if he’s not keeping weight on?
How can she RIDE a horse like that? I would be getting the vet out immediately.
At the therapy barn I volunteer for, I work with horses who are mainly 23 years or older. We have a 28 year old arab who still looks fine and is happy. He lost some weight last winter and what did they do – they had the vet out to run tests. He is soon going to be retiring. They have found him a replacements because they feel he needs a happy, easy retirement. He will probably go to a horsey retirement home.
Argh!!! I buy and sell alot of horses…9 times out of 10 the horse’s dental work has not been kept up (If it has EVER had its teeth floated) People…if your teeth hurt,how much would you eat? not to even mention the pain inflicted by the bit!!!! Once I spend that 100 or so bucks getting this done, the horses usually begin to bloom. What’s wrong with you asshats? You would rather spend hundreds feeding the horse crap than have this simple veterinary procedure done?
I look at that poor horse and all I think about are the lesson horses that are older than girls horse who look awesome and show excellently.
That REALLY looks like a barn I know if…does anyone know if that bay schoolie is in Texas?
That poor horse. I can’t imagine making a horse like that carry my weight!
That is asinine of that trainer to make that horse continue to work in that condition! Can we put her in a stall, rip out a few teeth, and not feed her? I’m curious as to how well she’d feel. Then, after doing that, lets throw a kid on her back, and make her run and skip and jump! Ten bucks she refuses.
Poor guy.
As someone who as seen horses reach well beyond 30 years and still look decent, I can say SHAME on the folks who let their elderly decline into severe states of emaciation.
TAKE HIM TO THE DAMN VET, YOU CHEAPSKATES!
To all of the above ^^^
Agreed, wholeheartedly. It’s one thing if a horse comes to you skinny because it hasn’t been taken care of properly. It’s another thing ENTIRELY when the horse is getting “proper” (and I use that in the loosest terms possible in this instance)care and still looks like shit.
And what the HELL is up with those standing wraps? HELLO? Did nobody ever teach you how to properly apply them, because those need to come off NOW before that poor animal injures himself, or your shitty ass wrap job causes cording and makes him permanently lame! WTF…ack! I would NEVER post a picture of my horse in that sort of condition (unless he was a rescue and it was a before/after sequence) nevermind with that kind of f’ed up shit on his legs… COMPLETELY defeats the purpose of even wrapping them, nevermind how possibly dangerous it could be!
*runs in circles screaming*
Does a thyroid condition come with age? I have never heard of a young horse with a thyroid condition.
Also, I too live in Ontario -and couldn’t afford to move my horse to Tennessee to alleviate the effects of cold winters. We just had to do what we could to keep our old half Arab comfy and in good shape in his last years. He did start showing his age in his 20s but he never ever got old and ragged looking. If he’d suddenly dropped weight we’d have been alarmed.
Old horses do have a hard time staying in condition. It takes more help from us to keep them in shape. I agree though- age is no excuse for bad condition!
I think older horses are great for lessons because they have so much experience to give…HOWEVER absolutely NO school horse should be allowed to get that decrepit. I’d like to see that attitude of “Oh he’s just a school horse” eliminated.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the Equine Mythology series.
An annual vet visit is a cheap invetment into a schoolhorse’s survival and usefulness:
-blood panel (&appropriate treatment!)
-float teeth
-proper deworming program
-soaked or mashed feed
-if on bute, that can cause poor condition too, from ulcers.
I have my first aged horse, who is coming up to 19, all 1600 lbs of him. If you don’t look in his mouth, he is as fit and sound as any 12 year old. These guys are saints to continue to work into their 20′s and they deserve the best of care.
OK, I’ll be the moron.
How are you supposed to apply those standing wraps? I don’t use them…I don’t know anyone who does.
We are more in the habit of polo wraps or sport boots and shipping boots though.
I did get a VERY snarky lesson in the proper application of polo wraps (and vet wrap) that I will never forget though.
Don’t worry sarcastabitch, I was just about to ask the same question. We’ll be morons together!
Also, what was your snarky lesson about vet wrap polo wraps?
the way I learned standing wraps was, you wrap from coronary band to carpus–the pillow wrap should cover the top of the hoof and the the bottom of the carpus (knee), and the standing bandage should cover all but a centimeter or 2 of the pillow wrap (right to the coronary band and just below the knee joint)… will look for a picture for reference
oh yeah, and same for hindlegs except cover and wrap up to the bottom of the hock rather than carpus
Also, what was your snarky lesson about vet wrap polo wraps?
Oh dear. That’s an embarassing one.
I was riding a saint of a school horse. FANTABULOUS Monster of a TB. I was on a practice ride while my instructor was busy. I decided that big, beautiful TB needed some polo wraps for what would surely be an incredible workout (this guy could do a PSG test without working up a sweat) with me, his inexperienced beginner rider. Afraid to canter at that time.
Anyway, some Dressage QUEEEEEEEN observed our sleepy trot around the arena and started screaming at me to “get him tracking”. Well, idiot me thinks to myself, “we ARE on the track”, thinking she meant the little track around the arena.
She threw up her hands in disgust and made me ride over, at which point she discovered I had wrapped the polo wraps BACKWARD. And LOOSELY. She explained how I had probably already caused the horse to bow a tendon. He would surely be lame forever now. I almost cried, right there. I loved this horse, and I was terrified that I might have hurt him. At my previous barn, our instructor was usually happy if none of us got kicked putting on polo wraps…that was the extent of my horsemanship knowledge at the time.
I never forgot, ever again, that you wrap the way the tendon goes, not against.
And the horse was FINE. Of course. Her screaming almost woke him up!
I say all the time that the best way to learn to wrap perfectly is to work for a screamer. Worked for me!
^
I’ve learned that the best way to learn to wrap quickly is to learn on a kicker
Thanks cullin, that is EXACTLY how I learned it too! The inner layer (quilt/pillow, etc.) should just cover the top of the hoof, but not low enough that your horse is going to step on it if he moves, and the wrap itself should only leave a small portion (no more than half an inch absolute tops) of the quilting layer visible on either end.
There is no way in HELL that those standing wraps should be that high, ESPECIALLY on his back legs. Gah!
And I already looked for a reference picture, but I’m having a hard time finding one. There’s not a whole lot of REALLY good examples out there (at least on google), but if you search for “standing bandages” on google you’ll find some middle-of-the-road acceptable bandage pictures. They’re not perfect, and several are still way too high on the legs, but they a lot better than THIS picture!
I remember when I was worried about my 25 year old not holding weight and enquired of the vet (since retired). He said “nothing worng with him, just feed him more if you want him fat”. That was without any suggestions of tests or anything else – he was out to attend a cut leg on another horse.
In all the time I have had him, I have never managed to get him “fat”. He is just one of those lanky TB’s that hold their figures like a catwalk model (the nice ones, not the anorexic ones). He is still with me at 35. He has no back teeth at all and lives on his seniors mash. Has had his blood tests etc all up to date. Swapped his feed when he was getting a calcium build up in his urine.Had the vets out to vaccinate all our horses for EI and they commented on how well he looked and were suprised at his age. Sigh, to me I’d still like to see a bit more flesh on him. But you can’t see his hips and ribs etc, he just has no topline on his neck and his back is sagging and his wither stands out like a fin.
Of course he hasn’t been ridden for 10 years other than the occasional pony ride for a visiting child led around on him and he hasn’t done that for two years.
It’s his last summer though.
On the other hand we had someone round here that ran a “riding school”. God some of those horses were poor. She was always getting sent home from things or eliminated for skinny horses or having the RSPCA called on her. But some of her horses were fat and healthy looking and she could show they were all fed so nothing done. In other words the good doers were fine, just the extracare not taken with the others. And yes, her young students thought she was cool.
She is out of business now thank goodness.
Wow. I just found your blog and I can’t believe what stupid things people do with their horses. It scares me, but it mostly just makes me sad. I’m a huge bleeding heart and if I had the money and resources I’d take in every neglected sick horse I could. But like most horse people I’m lacking in the cash flow department. Ah well.
It would be great if web pages like yours could educate these people on what it takes to be a responsible horse owner. However, I fear these people think they know everything. That must be so nice for them.
And sarcastabitch, about bowing a tendon with loose wraps? Not very likely. You can do much more damage by cording the tendon with a wrap applied too tightly (regardless of the direction which it is applied). I think a loose wrap is more of a harzard by unwrapping then it is a physical hazard to the leg. Actually I think there was a study done on leg wrapping and how much support they give, and I think the results were that most leg wraps, while they protect against cuts from the legs hitting objects, did not “support” the leg structures as much as people think they do. I’ll have to see if I can dig up that info…
hm… the way you guys are describing your standing wraps sounds like the US Pony Club’s shipping wraps. Standing wraps do not go beneath the fetlock joint. Don’t have my USPC book here to quote from, but I’ve been through enough ratings to know the difference
Could just be a different set of terminology than what im used to though. LOL
And the horse’s wraps are done pretty sloppily anyway.
Actually I think there was a study done on leg wrapping and how much support they give, and I think the results were that most leg wraps, while they protect against cuts from the legs hitting objects
That’s all we ever used them for…clumsy beginner approaches to jumps. Nice pillowy fleece polo wraps seemed to prevent gashes and bruises. The other reason (with bell boots) was to stop our young horses cutting themselves up with overreach. Silly Ayrabs.
Now, I mostly use my polos to bind up the Clydesdale’s feather in the trailer…or she poos on it. Damn white socks!
Some of you have read my story about my gelding Thunder on the blog (general horse-A Happy Rescue Story). He is 30 yrs old (according to the vet) and has no teeth left. He is fat. You have to squish his side to feel his ribs. And that’s right where I want him this week. This was the first week that it frosted here. I don’t doubt he’ll make it through the winter just fine. I feed him half and half Senior Equine and Alfalfa pellets soaked, usually in hot water. He is happy and going well. His vet check this year was a clean bill.
Wow, and I thought my 23-year-old gelding was underweight because he’s old. He’s about the same as your mare, there, FHOTD, maybe a bit fatter, just because he’s very stocky (QH’s, you know).
I’d like to get another 100 lbs on him, personally, but he’s looking pretty good for his age, I think.
He’s 16.2hh, and about 1050-1075 lbs; I prefer him to be 1150-1200 lbs. He gets 17.5 lbs of senior feed and 12 lbs of T&A daily, and he’s up to date on worming, teeth, etc. We have had blood work done, and it doesn’t come up with anything that would be a problem.
I’ve just come to the conclusion that he actually is just losing weight because he’s old. However, he isn’t actually skinny like that.
Poor horses.
can i please just say that i am currently bowing down to you for the above rant.
here i am, bowing
bow bow bow bow bow!
Why would ride a horse in that condition, let alone show it? I feel bad enough when our hard-keeper gets a little ribby in the depths of winter, and kind of feel like it’s embarrassing. And her condition never even APPROACHES this. How could you even face taking that poor animal to a show, let alone having the cheek to expect to do well. Poor creature.
As I have said before, my YO/employer has a separate yard for all the ‘oldies’ who have to be retired. Not ONE of the them has ever looked like this, and they unclude several TB-types and a pony approching 40. But then again, she visits them several times a day, and actually gets off her ass to deal with feeds, rugs, vets and medication. Older horses deserve respect for all they have given us, not tossed aside like some worn out piece of machinery.
Danny is a 28 year old Welsh D in our riding school. He’s semi-retired, only used for sedate walk-trot rides. He’s such a happy lad and loves his work, he spends most of the year in what looks like ‘show condition’ and, despite supposed arthritis in his hocks, can still be seen bombing around the field and seeing off the youngsters (he was a stallion until he was 12, and he’s still the boss).
There is no excuse for this horse’s condition.
“Doesn’t that make sense? Horses give us their loyalty, their love and their lives. It’s not possible to repay all that, but we can try.”
You said it perfectly, rdm! I lost my old horse (almost 27) in January. He wore many hats, including therapy horse and the complete love of a little girl’s life. When he went, he was ready, but he was in good shape at the end, at least.
sarcastabitch – I was always taught the direction doesn’t matter.
I was also taught standing bandages should *NOT* go below the fetlock. So, assuming the wraps aren’t too loose, aside from not covering enough of the wrap the wraps pictured don’t look bad.
Oh, and I was taught to start in the middle of the cannon bone, go down to the fetlock and then back up to the knee.
we have been boarding retired horses for over 20 years. in my experience, as long as the horse is healthy, there are ways to keep weight on. we had one old pensioner who was 38 and we actually had to put him on a diet because he was getting too heavy.
between equine senior, beet pulp, and corn oil (up to a cup a day), we can usually keep weight on even the toothless ones, god bless them. of course, you also have to provide the basics of fresh water, shelter and prompt veterinary care (when necessary). oh, and yes, you also have to care…..
I’m not sure what is worse. The trainer’s obvious cluelessness and lack of care or concern for the horse OR the fact she is teaching who knows how many students to be JUST LIKE HER.
Like the horse world needs more of that!
Ok, maybe you guys can yield some suggestions on my situation.
I have a 27 year old mare who looks very much like that photo. Granted, she’s not even had a person on her back in 3 years, much less gone to a show. Her condition has me and 3 different vets scratching our heads. Her bloodwork is good, her teeth have been religiously checked and floated for the past 10 years and the parasite count is low for the area (daily dewormer + periodic paste dewormers per vets’ instructions). She gets blanketed in the winter and we’re in a mild climate.
She gets free choice grass hay and 2 flakes of alfalfa hay, is out 24/7 weather permitting on grass and gets a mash mixture of sweet feed and pellets (Strategy). She is a FINICKY eater, won’t touch any of the senior feeds available in my area, won’t eat anything with any kind of oil on it and the powdered weight gain supplements do nothing for her.
She’s bright-eyed and seems content in her retirement, but I’d love to get some more weight on her. Her condition scares me, especially going into winter.
Equine Myth # 2 bites the dust! Testing has shown that either direction for wrapping is fine (as long as its done properly), and that it is not possible to wrap tightly enough to support the leg structures- both Equus and Practical Horseman magazines have done several articles on the subject. I can just imagine the reaction I’d get from the old guys at the track who taught me how to wrap legs! Standing wraps there went knee/hock to fetlock. Their purpose was to reduce stocking up, and , of course, for support. The horses literally lived in them, so you didn’t want the wraps dragging in the crap any more than necessary. We spent enough time washing the damn things as it was.
I know people that have a 36 year old QH gelding that looks fantastic! I couldn’t believe that was that old when they told me so I looked at his teeth, or should I say what is left of them, and sure enough he’s up there. He should be the poster horse for Blue Seals’ Vintage Senior!
I think there is some confusion here about standing and shipping wraps. Standing wraps are for sweats, liniments, etc, and are sloppy but correctly done in the above pic as to how low they should go. Shipping wraps should cover the entire coronet and heal to the knee. As for polo wraps as long as they are in decent shape and still have good stretch to them and as long as you don’t pull them tight against the tendon you are fine. Always sung against the cannon bone as you wrap back. I had a comment from a riding buddy today on a trail ride on how she liked my “don’t shoot me†blaze orange wraps (hunting season here), and that my wraps always looked perfect. I told her that I had a trainer who use to make us practice all kinds of wraps, and if you got it wrong that’s what you did for the day, keep practicing. Basic skills that I feel everyone should learn. Never know when you’ll need to wrap leg.
Wow….so glad to see other people feel the same way about wraps as I do! However, I’ve lost track of where I found the actual research articles talking about the lack of support…does anyone know where to find those publications?
Jessica Jahiel talks about sports medicine boots versus polos for support.
http://www.horse-sense.org/archives/2000041.phtml
suzanr -
Your mare sounds just like ours…only she looks WORSE than that poor thing. And she’s a hard keeper.
We tried everything, and just found out she has heaves, don’t know why we didn’t catch it earlier. She is 26, also a very finiky eater, and has always been slim. She was getting her choice of whatever quality hay, fancy grain (now she just gets strider) and supplements she wanted. Now she’s finished her antibiotics and gets 1 strider, 1 omegatin (fat supplement), 2 1/2 – 3 hay (as much as she’ll eat – we save the better stuff for her). She also gets a dollop of vegetable oil in the morning and 3 stretcher (hay extender) at night. We’d like to work her up to two strider but she just won’t eat it. She should weigh about 850, give or take 50 lbs, I’m not good with weights! Oh, and our ‘cans’ of grain are coffee cans, I think it’s 13 oz each can?
I know people that have a 36 year old QH gelding that looks fantastic!
Wow that’s amazing! Congrats to them! I’m almost looking forward to my Arab getting old (almost!)since they live into their 30s. It’s so sad to see them old in their 20s, seems like they’ve only lived a little.
What??? She’s jumping a 23 year old? No wonder he acts like he’s sore – his poor joints. Put a load on your elderly grandmother’s back and ask her to take some fences and see what she says.
This girl is an eejit but the trainer is money-grubbing scum.
To be fair, there are horses in their 20s who are fine with jumping… but generally they’ve been treated really well throughout their lives and don’t have a lot of underlying conformational flaws to cause soundness issues. I’ve ridden a few of these old schoolmasters, and it’s really quite the experience.
This is clearly not the case for today’s featured horse…
Farmgirl – it’s definitely a case of horses for courses. Charisma was still cantering down hopping over pologround boards and doing flying changes not long before his 30th birthday. Glengarrick was still competing at Advanced HTs at 20. In this case though, I think the trainer needs their butt kicked.
I think the wrap thing really depends on how you learned about it. There is no single one right way with them.
You can go in or out on the wrap but many still go by the old way of you only wrap in…..or out I have heard both. lol
People that swear that you only wrap in(pulling the tendons inward) and others that swear you only wrap out(pulling the tendons outward). But the more common medical idea of it is that it is prefectly fine to do it either way you want as long as you aren’t making it too tight. The tendons do not really go in or out on their own so either way it shouldn’t matter.
I also learned that Standing wraps do not go all the way down, Shipping wraps do. But I have also known people that use shipping wraps as standing wraps. I do not correct them, it was just the way they learned. I can’t see it hurting anything but your washer and drier. Using Standing Wraps for Shipping wraps would be worst because they wouldn’t get the protection needed.
triple crown safe starch forage – amazing product. Put weight on picky picky 27yr old for first time in years.
Those of you that have older horses that just aren’t picking up like they should, and blood panels, etc are good-think about some other sources of fats (BOSS, Flax, for example) AND, run a course of whatever your vet chooses for ulcers. You might be quite surprised at the results
And don’t overlook giving the horse purpose. Not necessarily a daily job, but something that involves a bit of light exertion a few times a week. Sometimes, the mental attitude is every bit as important as the physical condition. jmo
I grew up with an amazing Arab brood/show mare. She taught 3 generations of my family to love horses and was the equine equivalent of Mother Theresa. Last summer, all those years of babysitting, showing, camping and anything else that we could come up with including dressing her up to go trick or treating with us, caught up with her. She went down under her favorite tree and went out with my cousins and I comforting her the whole time. She was 38. Never once was she ever in the condition that old school master is. There is absolutely no reason the elders should look like that. Anyone who allows any horse to get in that condition should be hung, drawn and quartered.
I have a mare that isn’t that old. Bought her from this man who lost his job and thought it much more important to buy beer and cigs than feed her and her 6 week old foal. We paid WAY too much for her, he really should have given them to us, but we wanted to get them out of there NOW. (spent more on vet, feed and farrier, worst feet I had ever seen!)
She is lame in one rear leg (we were hoping she just needed a few trims) and we found out after we bought her she has heaves. It is now 5 months and she has gained a lot of weight and we have the foal weaned but she seems to be going down again. We are feeding her grain, a fatty feed, alfalfa pellets, oil, various suppliments and all the hay she wants (soaked hay of course) We are considering putting her down, the vet has seen her several times and has given us some medicine to give her when the heaves are bad, it helps but doesn’t stop it. But then they are days she is breathing perfectly normal.
It breaks my heart, she has had it so hard, he would ride the crap out of her then just put her in the stall. Now she has land and good hay, feed and a regular farrier care and to do what is right by her is to end it for her.
It breaks my heart. She was not friendly when she came here, now she is a pudding, loves treats and baths and hand walks. *sigh*
Despite it all she is losing weight. She looks a LOT better than when she arrived but still…. I hope to wait a few more weeks and see……never had to put one down and it tears me up everytime I start thinking about not seeing her pretty little sweet face anymore. Well sweet now that she doesn’t pin her ears at me anymore! LOL!
I’m going to start adding soaked beet pulp again to her feed, maybe that will help….
There is tons of research now going into horse diets ( about time) and one of the main problems with hard keepers is TOO much of the WRONG thing. Horses are not meant to digest high amounts of carbs, and not meant to have large meals. Alot of people will try and over feed a skinny horse with excess grains and large amounts of food in meals with tons of rich hay… all of which is totally wrecking the digestive system of the horse and literally causing starvation because the horse simply cannot digest what it is being fed.
Research is showing that diets high in fiber and low in sugars, with free choice low sugar hay is the best way to keep the weight on a horse, or in the case of easy keepers, keep it off! It’s what horses are meant to eat and their bodies use it correctly. Sugarless beet pulp, no grain or molasses in the feeds, and low carb hay with a well managed turnout area are all things that will keep horses healthy!
I will second the recommendation that older horses need a “job.” The mare I ride has had a much easier time keeping weight on since I started riding her twice a week late last year. She’s a 24 year old TB, high strung, a natural athlete who wants to do more than just hang out in a paddock. Before I started riding her, she’d spent several years being hardly worked at all. She has soundness issues, so two to three rides a week is all she’s really up for.
BTW I’ve posted photos of her on the Conformation Critique thread on the message board. People are saying nice things about her, which warms my heart
The photos were taken on Friday, the first day I rode her after she had a two-month lay-up for lameness. She definitely dropped condition during that time. Her senior feed is being increased gradually because she really could stand to gain 75 to 100 pounds, especially with a cold New England winter ahead of her.
Having done more than a few starved rescues, I can vouch for calf manna as my feed of choice for these guys. Also, all the feed and care in the world can’t over come a lifetime of neglect in some cases. I have had a few we just couldn’t save. One we had a necropsy done on, and the vet said her intestines were scarred and practically destroyed by worm damage. Once that has happened, they can’t really recover.
Chardavej said…
I have a mare that isn’t that old. Bought her from this man who lost his job and thought it much more important to buy beer and cigs than feed her and her 6 week old foal. We paid WAY too much for her, he really should have given them to us, but we wanted to get them out of there NOW. (spent more on vet, feed and farrier, worst feet I had ever seen!)
She is lame in one rear leg (we were hoping she just needed a few trims) and we found out after we bought her she has heaves.
My old mare had heaves and in the spring and fall when there was a lot of pollen they got bad. No problem in the summer and winter. It takes a lot more. We fed her a lot of equine senior and she held her weight fairly well. We just worked hard to keep the dust down and as you said soaked the hay. But she was a good horse and worth all the extra work.
Thank you, Ann and Jo – I didn’t know older horses were capable of jumping without injury. Live and learn!
We are in agreement about the trainer. I hope that girl gets disgusted and finds someone else to train her (she thinks she’s cool? Argh!) and that horse gets a new home with a knowledgeable person who actually cares.
Wendland’s One n’ Only is great for bringing back a rescue, or helping keep weight on an older one.
My 17yr old gelding has what my vet called ‘Summer heaves’. He coughs and has a runny nose in the summer, which, here in Texas is about 9 months long.:-) I’ve taken him off of hay. Instead, he gets 1 pound of a dry grain, alfalfa pellet mix, split between 2 feedings, and 2 lg scoops One N Only, which looks like dry dog food. He also gets about 1 pound of soaked beet pulp twice a day. He is holding his weight well on this. When he is coughing a lot, he also gets Cough Free( herbal), and Anahist, a non-prescription cough and runny nose suppliment. My vet says, as long as these control his cough, he can continue to work, and I don’t have to mess with giving him steroids.
suzanr,
Have you checked her for ulcers? Yep, even with no real “cause”, if she ever developed ulcers in her stomach lining, the lingering effects are there. The BEST indicator I have found for ulcers are weight loss when the horse has good feed ALWAYS available (free choice hey) and being very finicky about what they will eat (have had 2 that would not TOUCH feed with added oil, or Purina Ultium, or added rice bran…until the ulcers were treated and cleared up).
Omeprazole does wonders! Now they’re easy keepers, after a 2 month course, and will eat most anything!
Just a thought, good luck!
For heaves I feed spirulina, it works wonders for my horse and it’s cheap. I get it from herbalcom.com. It is an acquired taste however, I feed it in beet pulp and every time I get a new batch my horse looks at me like I’m poisoning him the first time I give it to him. He always eats it though. A few doses and he’s as good as new.
I also agree that a high fiber low suger feed is good for keeping weight on, sugar is bad. Oil is fine. Grain has tons of sugar in it and sweet feed is loaded with molasses. Bad for feet too. Good grass hay, beet pulp and oil if it’s needed are my choice. Of course, pasture is the best for horses that aren’t IR but not everyone has it.
That horse looks awful… and is definitely not being taken care of properly. Poor old guy. The trainer should be embarassed.
Maybe someone here can help me as my situation is a little different in that my scrawny TB is only 6 years old.
My vet knew the BO of the farm where she spent 6 mos before I got her and he said he couldn’t believe she came from that farm.. that BO takes great care of her horses.
So the 1st thing vet thought when he saw her was that she might have a heart problem.. but her heart sounds great and bloodwork came back normal.. she’s wormed and floated, she’s blanketed, and the only thing we can think of now is possible hormone and/or steroid use on the track screwed up her endocrine system.. Vet is hoping it’ll resolve over time. She’s been off the track since November.. here’s a pic the day she came here, and she looks about the same now:
http://i21.tinypic.com/2e2plp2.jpg
Maybe someone here would have some suggestions for me.. she’s on beet pulp, 14% sweet feed, microvet viatmins, oil, red cell, calf manna, and a scoop of weight builder every day plus free choice hay (really good hay).
She’s not deathly skinny but 2 things make me nervous.. winter.. and the fact that someday she will be in her 20s!
So how about… My colts testicles haven’t dropped yet. Any takers?
Oh I should add to above post, she does not have ulcers and she always cleans her dish. Uh, and I meant to say she’s DEwormed. People tell me she’s not as skinny as I think she is, but it drives me nuts heading into winter like this.
Hello all, sorry this is off topic but I’m a little lost and wondering if any of you can help. I’ve been enjoying this blog since I discovered it and you all seem to be people that can get things done (while I obviously can not). To get to the point, I’ve got three horses, and our family has been forced to move in a hurry. Of course I’d love to take them but don’t have any way to transport them, and I am just trying to find them good homes. They are not in danger of starving or anything like that poor old gelding because my sister is helping to care for them as well as sell them, but I feel awful laying that on her on top of everything else she does. I am definately not well versed in the buying and selling of horses as this is the first time I’ve tried it and I am at my wits end. Anyway to avoid writing a book, I’ve tried posting them on craigslist (inspired by this blog – I know thats a little backwards, but it seems to get a lot of traffic), but all we’ve gotten have seemed to be scamers. So I will try adding the links for 2 here. The third is a seven yr old miniature gelding – good confo, I think, broke for pony rides basically, some long lining. My sister doesn’t mind keeping him, but I wouldn’t mind him finding a more using home. I guess please conact me through these adds if anyone has any suggestions, or is interested in more info. I’ll try to check back here though once we’re moved, I don’t know how often I’ll be able to get online. My sister also has an add on dreamhorse with her contact info.
http://cnj.craigslist.org/grd/458208678.html
http://cnj.craigslist.org/grd/458225836.html (he might be a fugly and needs to be gelded)
They are in Central Jersey
Sorry if this in inappropriate.
Thanks a bunch if anyone can help
I have to admit that I look after a senior who is very thin, but not from lack of care or feed.
This horse is a 14.3 hand 33 y/o arab gelding. He has Cushings’ and is on appropriate meds for it and has regular checkups. His blood work continues to come back clean – no problems there. He’s also wormed every six weeks.
He has almost no teeth left, but even so he sees a dentist about every 10-12 months (dentist said if she worked on him more often it could actually be detrimental. I was surprised to hear it, but her explanation made sense – turns out doing his teeth more often would cause problems with his enamel and pulp given the condition of the teeth).
He’s fed as prescribed by his vet. There’s never a time when there isn’t food available to him – he always has alfalfa hay for him to munch on, which if it’s pulled apart he is still able to chew ok. He also gets two meals of a soaked concoction made of senior feed, alfalfa-oat pellets, beet pulp and a little grain – a total of about 9 lbs per feeding (he takes his time eating, so such a big meal is ok – he’ll eat some, then go take a nap or something, then come back and eat more ’til it’s gone, takes him about 2 hours).
Even with all the special feed, meds and vet checks he’s thin. However, he remains sound (vet can’t find any arthritis whatsoever), eats everything that’s put in front of him, and enjoys lounging around the corral and going for the occasional hand walk. He’s comfortable, bright-eyed and happy, and has a good quality of life – he’s just really thin.
He has a home for life and when the time comes that he’s starts to look/act weak or his appetite wanes, or whatever then he’ll be humanely put to sleep.
While I agree with FHOTD that 99% of thin horses, old or not, need their teeth worked on and a blood panel/appropriate vet work done, there really are horses out there, like the one I mentioned, who are thin even though everything is being done right. That said, there’s no way a horse in that condition should be ridden, let alone shown, EVER, and that “trainer” should be ashamed.
Thanks for this: too often I hear that old TBs just can’t hold their weight myth –AND the annonying “It’s okay to race/pound the developing legs into the ground of 2 and 3-year old TBs in because they mature faster!” myth.
That “trainer” makes me sick. I hate the “just a school horse” mentality. Several of my trainer’s schoolies are in their late 20′s or early 30′s and they’re healthy, happy, sound and adored. And when they can’t do their job comfortably they’ll usually be given to a home (usually a young student’s family) where they can retire and finish their days being pampered by the kids that love them (all homes are evaluated by my trainer). If that isn’t the best option for the pony they’ll be humanely put down with dignity they’ve earned. All horses deserve as much, especially the saintly schoolmasters. My heart breaks for that poor old school horse who will probably just get used up and thrown away when he has no more to give. He must be a real saint to put up with such crappy people.
FHOTD – Can we e-mail again? Are you caught up? I have some Myths I’d like to e-mail you!
Would anyone happen to know who owns that poor skinny guy? Because I really want to pick up th phone and report that trainer for abuse. I will if someone can tell me who owns him.
for reference, here is a whole thread of golden oldies, NONE of whom look anything like the poor starved beast in this post, some of whom are well past 30.
http://www.ultimatedressage.com/forums/
viewtopic.php?p=5427288#5427288
Has anyone seen this? I couldn’t find photos..I want to see how they fit 59 horses on any trailer.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=66005
I had a 37 year old that got pretty skinny and with no molars to speak of, hay was kind of out of the question. Even with soaked SR and beet pulp, he stayed quite thin. What worked the best with him was adding a probiotic (Focus SR or Fasttrack) to his food. It helped him digest all of his food and he put the weight back on.
Another equine myth is that white hooves are weaker than black hooves. My grandpa was an old cowboy and he passed along that bit of wisdom to me at an early age. Since then I’ve seen white and black hooves that suck. My Appendix mare is a case in point. She has black hooves and they are weak and crack easily. When I was growing up we had a gelding with all light hooves and they were great. Hooves are a product of genetics and health.
I hope that post embarasses the shit of whoever did that to that poor old horse… and makes them see what we all see, a poor sad, underweight lame old man who needs a rest and some TLC!
A friend of mine just put her two elderly geldings down, at the same time. One was mid-20′s the other late 20′s.
She struggled for the last couple of years to keep weight on the old guys. She would find something that would work for a while, and then they’d start losing again. She is an extremely experienced horsewoman, been riding for longer than I’ve been alive and I am 48!
My friend did what she could and decided that her geldings could not stand another winter and had them both euthanized.
I believe that in certain situations old horses do get skinny, and even with the vet’s assistance, they continue to go down hill.
Now, I have a going-on 23 year-old. Though fugly, in terms of conformation, she is far from skinny. She gets 1.5 lbs of pellets and a half lb of oats daily, plus pasture or hay. I have never had a problem keeping weight on her.
My point is: SOME old horses do get skinny. Some do not. You need to do EVERYTHING you can to help the skinny ones before just passing it off as “being old.” If you can’t move your horse to a warmer climate, or afford the medications/supplements, or the supplements and medications are still not helping, then put the old guy down for pete’s sake. Don’t let it suffer and don’t pass it along to someone else for dispatch.
please help:
Take this out of your ad:
In the pic of him as a youngster, he wanted to come play with Brandy and I, but got stuck in the fence. He just waited till we came to save him, well on his way to bombproof. Make an offer.
And offer the horses for free. If you just want homes for them, give them to someone who has the space and is willing to take them.
n
Have you discussed your mare with an equine nutritionist? I believe most grain companies have nutritionists you can call, write, e-mail. I know that Poulin, Blue Seal and Purina do, as I have consulted them in the past.
They can do a complete profile that includes information on the soil (pasture) & hay analysis. (They can tell you how to get your soil and hay analyzed or they may be able to do it for you if you provide them samples.
Then, they can then make a recommendation for grain based on what is lacking in your pasture/hay. Many grains now come with higher fat content and lower sugar levels. In a nutshell, that creates a slow-burning energy that doesn’t peak and valley and allows for proper weight gain….
I encourage you to call a couple of equine nutritionists. Some do it for free, because they want to sell you their product, others will do it for less than $100.
Anyone see this 3 year old trainer???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLqsn1V6OUg
please help:
I can’t help but be wary of your motive…I actually saw your ad on craigslist and passed it on to FHOTD because of that pic of the baby stuck in the fence, with your statement of “he wanted to come play with Brandy and I, but got stuck in the fence. He just waited till we came to save him, well on his way to bombproof.“
This tells me that you don’t know much about horses or their care, and that your “situation” arose out of that.
If you were “forced” to move in a hurry, you wouldn’t be so concerned with making a profit off of your horses, you’d be trying to find them loving, forever homes.
If you don’t have the knowledge, quality horses, and are unable provide proper care, YOU SHOULDN’T BE BREEDING, which is where it appears that your horses came from.
When we rescued our Appendix mare and her filly, the mare was 19 and looked like shit. They hadn’t had hoof care in a year and were dull coated and wormy. The mare had no topline and her hips were protruding. All they had to eat were yucky mold round bales and one feed pan they shared where they got a little sweet feed. The filly was allowed to nurse on her for 9 months which really dragged her down. The girl who told us about them knows the people and told them to separate them immediately and wean the filly. Anywho, Mama is doing pretty good now. I immediately dewormed them twice in about a 2 week period. Vaccinated them and had the farrier out. I started Mama on Nutrena Senior, black oil sunflower seeds, apple cider vinegar and corn oil and plenty of grass hay. Within 6 weeks she was shiny, getting flesh on her and much perkier acting. She’s now a lovely, sleek 20 y/o with a bit of fire left. I love the old girl and she’s not going anywhere until she crosses the Rainbow Bridge.
>>I had a 37 year old that got pretty skinny and with no molars to speak of, hay was kind of out of the question. Even with soaked SR and beet pulp, he stayed quite thin. What worked the best with him was adding a probiotic (Focus SR or Fasttrack) to his food. It helped him digest all of his food and he put the weight back on.< <
Yes! I was about to mention that for those who have posted and say they are still having trouble with weight. Probiotics definitely help many horses make better use of their food.
With a COPD/heaves horse, here’s what we do (and ours is both great weight and breathing well):
24/7 turnout
NO hay. Soaked hay pellets and pasture grass only, and a scoop of Safechoice, also soaked, morning and night.
Anihist and Cough Free (just as someone else posted)
Also, to those who mentioned a low carb/low sugar diet, that is also something to try that helps many older horses pack on the pounds.
Finally, I agree 100% about checking for ulcers. You’d be amazed. Even babies can have them. Cimetidine will fix them up and it’s not expensive at all.
It’s important to remember that a vet may tell you it’s fine when it’s not because a lot of the old school VETS believe this particular myth. You really, as a horseowner, need to always educate yourself. Read, read, read and work with as many different horses as possible so that you learn from experience what works and what doesn’t.
On the standing/shipping wrap issue – yes, one of you explained it well. Standing wraps for support and to prevent stocking up only go to the fetlock. Shipping wraps go all the way down to cover and protect the coronet band. I am a “wrap in and only pull on the bone to tighten” person and you’ll never convince me otherwise. I agree that wraps do not provide a lot of support. They are light support only. The main point of polo wraps historically was protection against a strike from another hoof. These days, most polo players use polos with hard shell tendon boots or sports medicine boots over them. When we have a polo pony with really iffy tendons, we use an ace bandage under the regular polo wrap – now that’s something that is actually supportive but of course you have to be SUPER careful about ensuring you apply it perfectly, with no wrinkles, and not too tight. I wouldn’t recommend that for anybody who doesn’t know they are an expert wrapper.
Lots of horses in their 20s can still jump, but behavior like refusals and losing forward motion on landing are big red flags of pain and that the horse’s jumping career needs to end. He may still be fine for flat work or the little walk-trotters but you really do have to know when to draw the line. And if you are going to keep oldsters going as schoolies, you gotta stick a crowbar in your checkbook and pay for the adequan, legend, msm, glucosamine, whatever they need to stay comfy.
OT for this thread but not this blog….
The October & November issues of Horse and Rider contain a great two-part series on the Horse Slaughter debate, with the November issue including some potential solutions… (one of which is what we’ve been preaching here… stop breeding average, run-of-the mill, fugly horses….)
Whoever posted the video of the 3 year old. Wow. That is dangerous. I know my trainer only just let his daughter start lounging this year – at the ripe old age of nine and only with my horse or her old trail horse. I have seen a kid get dragged and caught up in a lounge rope at a horse camp. The kid was a small 10 year old – weighing less than 90 pounds and the horse was a greenie who spooked at something and took off with her. I am glad that someone is there with her at least, but someone needs to take the whip out of her hand (which she is using too much anyhow) and takeover. Mom, Dad, where are your minds? That huge horse could take off with her at a moment’s notice! Also, no matter what you are doing on the horse – the little one needs a HELMET. Sorry, I guess the whip is just the end of the lounge line, but still, get her out of there!
While I agree that if you simply need to rehome the horse, making a profit should not be the goal, kill buyers often look for free horse ads, so offering a horse for free (especially on Craigslist) is probably not a good idea. Site checking may help, but you would have to know what to look for, which you don’t if you are inexperienced. You might try posting on the FHOTD boards asking what to look for.
Dreamhorse.com is also be a better choice of advertising venue than Craiglist.
“What??? She’s jumping a 23 year old? No wonder he acts like he’s sore – his poor joints. Put a load on your elderly grandmother’s back and ask her to take some fences and see what she says.”
My very first jumper mare wasn’t retired from fences until she was 24. That old gal didn’t hurt and loved every fence. Some horses are able to jump at an older age. Granted she had been a 4′ gal in her younger years and in her last 2 years we dropped her down to a 3′-3’6″ range.
We had a horse at a show this summer that the judge kicked out during the first class. It was an Arab that looked to be 100 pounds underweight. The mother of the daughter showing the horse pitched a fit, then loaded up the horse and left. I so appreciated that judge and I look forward to showing under her again.
On a side note, I tend not to use swear words in my daily vocabulary. I find swearing to be the work of a slow mind. With that said I have found the words Fucktard and Asshat have made it into my vocabulary. They are not just swearwords, they are the only way of decribing some of the complete morons featured in the blogs here. Thank you FHOTD for my new words!
I saw a new soultion to the problem of fucktards (he,he) owning horse and now being able to care for them. There is a toy at Walmart called “Butterscotch the real pony”. It’s a stuffed pony about 4 ft hight. It neighs, turns it head, shakes it tail and seemed to interact with people. It responds to touch. I found the whole thing to be really creepy and facinating at the same time.
It looked like a nice alternative to buy a horse when you have no idea how to care for one.
animageofgrace -
Yes Fucktards and Asshats – I have picked up those terms here as well – they are so appropriate in some cases that you can’t help but use them!!
On Butterscotch – I saw that at Target last week. I would have DIED for something like that when I was a kid!
But to give someone the most real experience, however, ol’ Butterscotch needs to poop and pee, get diarrhea ocassionally, colic now and again, come up lame, have hooves that grow, teeth that bite, feet that kick….
NOW that will give you a TRUE feel of real horse ownership (and that’s only the tip of the iceberg)!
…oh and don’t forget, when Butterscotch has to be sent back to the manufacturer for “repairs” he needs to refuse to get into the box…
Actually if Butterscotch were a real pony, when the kiddie gets on him, he should drag his nose to the ground to eat and refuse to move.
Just experienced first hand this same situation. The barn owner has lots of excuses for skinny horses on the property: old, young, bad teeth, hard winter, worms, hyperactive.
She was such a sweet person, you believed the BS she dished out, but after two different vets told me there was no logical explanation for my horse’s weightloss (he was fine when he got there), I quickly learned she was underfeeding them and being less than truthful about it. When I began to question her, she kicked me out.
Now my horse is gaining weight nicely at another facility, soley by eating HAY!
You want to believe that you are receiving what you pay for, but frankly, I don’t trust anyone anymore!
Regarding the very underweight school horse:
Damn, I’m so mad I can barely see straight. I absolutely DESPISE these spoiled kids (usually girls who think that ridings horses is just like playing with their My Little Ponies) who have no concept of what horsemanship and horse ownership entails.
I think any young person who wants to get on the show circuit should FIRST spend a year doing nothing but mucking out stalls, feeding, medicating, wrapping legs, cleaning tack, etc. so that they learn right away that having a horse isn’t just about ribbons and fancy knee-high boots.
I always want to throw up when I hear about spoiled brats who only focus on what the horse is doing “wrong” and don’t even begin to think about what THEY are doing wrong.
Grow the hell up, you narcissistic twit.
Oh, I forgot the link to the conformation board for the mare I ride:
http://p068.ezboard.com/ffhotd64476frm13.showMessage?topicID=114.topic
Is she as pretty as I think she is? And is this one who should have been bred, at least in comparison to some we see here?
Ann, I think she’s a very nice mare. Nice type, and certainly not fugly. If you find out her bloodlines, please post them here. I always like to see the bloodlines of a horse.
That poor school horse in the last photo, makes me hurt all over for him, and all the others out ther in the same sad situation. She was spurring him to get him around the course? Shame on her, her trainer and her parents, as well as show management- for not asking her to leave. I have seen show managment ask people to pack up their horse and leave, refunding all entry fees. It gets folks like that off the grounds, and sends a message (very loudly and clearly) that this type of behaviour will not be allowed or condoned, by the show committee or any of the folks involved with organizing or hosting the show.
There’s a farm here, which brings their similarly skinny as a rail, horses to the local schooling shows. Of course they arrive driving a brand new, sparkling clean and shiny truck, pulling a several horse gooseneck trailer with tack room and all the goodies.
They show in everything from halter, SHIH, and under saddle both western and english. My husband was walking past the entourage and told the trainer-in front of all her clients- “Maybe if you spent less on your truck payments, you could afford to feed your horses properly.”
Then there’s another place up the street – Care-More Equine Manor. What a fucking joke! Should be more like Care-No-More. The stalls are about as makeshift as they come, being comprised of sheets of plywood, baling twine, baline wire, galvanized panels, corrugated aluminum and just about anything else they can find, drag home and rig up. Sadly the plywood and corrugated alum. are not being used for any type of shade or cover. The horses have no shade. Not even a tarp or tree and not even in the hottest of summer temperatures. They also have no bedding- just stand on the hot hard ground- waiting to heat founder.
Neither of us are vets, but we do a lot of horse evaluations as part of the pre-training assessment, as well as for people who want to join the mounted unit (we require both the human and the horse to be assessed individually). If a horse is nutritionally imbalanced or underweight, in addition to asking the owner to call out the vet, we also recommend:
1. Probiotics. They are magic!!
2. Discontinuation of the daily dewormer, because it keeps a constant level of toxicity in the horse. Some can tolerate it, others struggle with it.
3. Have your hay AND your grain tested. Last summer we saw a LOT of horses develop sudden behavioral problems on one particularly popular senior feed. We sent a sample to be tested and found that while the nutritional analysis was pretty close to accurate, there were massive levels of lithium, aluminum and cadmium in the grain – none of which would be included anywhere on the nutritional panel or the company website. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS. All but one of the guys we saw returned to their pre-poisoned behavior within six weeks of getting them off their old brand of grain. Sort of related to this, if your horse has both weight and behavioral problems, have the soil tested as well as the feed: heavy aluminum buildup is a byproduct of acid rain, and if it’s in your soil then it’s going to be ingested through your grass.
FTFOTB — thank you
Somewhere in a box I have two photos of my school horses from when I was a teenager. The first, poor Toby, an OTTB with a lovely willingness about him, is a bag of bones. At 11, I was a brand new rider and only barely aware of how skinny he was. This was at a very fancy show barn in San Diego (La Jolla Farms, no longer in business); they should have known better! The second, Max, was also skinny and definitely a hard keeper. Supposedly she had had some kind of illness that made it more difficult to digest her food… but the barn owner was giving her nothing but hay and an occasional bran mash, so we can’t say she was trying to bulk Max up at all.
This was ~30 years ago, and I was so happy, when I started riding again, that I could choose amongst several lesson barns, so I could pay attention to the condition of the horses as a deciding factor. In the current barn, if anything they have a hard time keeping the horses from getting too fat… much better IMHO.
Wow, I would never have the balls to take a horse out in public looking like that. I had guilt taking my mare out to a show this last weekend with a small cut on her shoulder. We did reasonably well, though.
We’ve owned several oldsters in my lifetime. We currently are keeping a 28 year old QH mare as a babysitter for the weanlings, and despite having no teeth, she’s fat, glossy, and sassy. She gets soaked alfalfa pellets and rolled oats to gum, plus senior feed, MSM, a daily vitamin, and rice bran pellets. We also give her a flake of leafy alfalfa since she likes to pick through and lip off the leaves.
My old horse that I grew up on had COPB. He was in fabulous condition when we put him down, but he had a soft tissue injury in a hock that just couldn’t heal because I had to have him on dexamethazone for the COPB flareups he was having due to the bad spring we were having. He managed to hurt the other back leg and just couldn’t stand. Poor buddy.
We also received a free horse from some twitty friends of my mom. She was a palomino paso, skinny as fuck, and spastic. The other people were RIDING her like that! She was even skinnier than the school horse in the OP. I have NEVER seen pelvic bones stick out like that before. They complained that she didn’t want to “go”. Well no shit. I doubt whatever crappy wintec saddle they threw on her even fit her properly, she had no meat on her anyways. We got her teeth done, wormed her, and put her on a good weight gain diet and she looked pretty healthy in short order. She was still a twit, though.
once upon a time…
Last year at a small county fair in a small town, I was showing a horse for a friend and on the “youth day” There were two well trained older arabian mares competeing in all the classes, the girls riding them rode nicely but the horses were extremly skinny(thinner then the horse in the picture, you could see not only ribs but backbone) and one of them had girth sores.
I got my friend who is a vet to look at them, she of course talked to the steward, the horses were not allowed to be shown for the rest of the weekend.
The judge did not kick them out of the show because they were his students and he owned the horses. But you know they horses were like twenty-one so its understandable right?
grrr….
I know a 35-year-old Anglo Arab gelding, a former lesson horse. A real sweetheart, but I swear, he’s the most fussy, finnicky, OCD horse I think I’ve ever met. “I want to go outside NOW!” “Let me back inside NOW!” “No I can’t eat that now, there are people across the street I have to look at!” “But HE’S being brushed, why can’t I?” Drives me crazy sometimes.
Anyway, he’s perfectly healthy, eats two buckets of senior mash/alfalfa a day (he loves to snorkel in it! lol) along with as much hay as he’ll eat. Bu there’s always some left. He’s not exactly a prime example of good weight, but it’s certainly better than a few years ago when his owner decided to finally retire him.
As far as I know he lost at least a hundred pounds, got really depressed, hardly wanted to eat anything or see anyone. He went from being the bouncy hotblood old-timer to standing by the gate in the pasture.
Of course his owner put him back under the saddle and he was back to his old self within about a month or two. He gives regular light walk/trot lessons to kids and lives for it.
And yes, his withers are a little finny, his hipbones stick out a bit and his ribs show a little, but nothing NEAR that poor schoolie. To think that that trainer is having her students ride him with SPURS when he’s obviously in pain…poor old boy.
Ah, and about the wraps –
I was taught to wrap BACK, starting down by the fetlock and finishing with the velcro pointing back, usually on the outside, right under the kne. Like polo wraps, but with felt underneath.
-shrug-
I met a 39 y/o TWH named Joe last summer and I was blown away that he was that old. He was 16.5h and a little lean but in pretty darn good shape for that age. The same guy has owned him his whole life which I think is really cool.
One of our hay suppliers has an old stallion named Leo and he’s 28. He looks pretty good too for his age. There’s no excuse for horses being allowed to get in such horrible condition.