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RE: [RC] Feeding underweight youngster - Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.From a nutritional point of view, your youngster is essentially an adult and can be fed like one. Somewhere around 10% overall protein is sufficient, which is more than supplied by a decent hay. The orchard grass you mentioned would be fine, or the orchard/alfalfa mix. Some access is good pasture is always nice for the vitamins and other goodies that don't survive the haying and baling process intact. Aside from getting him dewormed, you might consider putting him onto a good quality, all-round supplement. I'm not a big fan of feeding grain when the horse isn't working hard, and even then, I don't tend to feed a lot. So my preference is mixing a complete vitamin-mineral supplement into just a handful or two of wet beet pulp. There are plenty of good supplements out there, my personal favorite is Platinum Performance Equine Wellness. The website is www.platinumperformance.com . I'm not sure if you need a vet's referral to order it, if you do, you can use my name. You can use PP, or something else that strikes your fancy, but make sure it's a complete supplement, not just something for a shiny coat, or something for healthy feet, or whatever. Find a supplement that's one-stop shopping. As you've already mentioned, be patient about making feed changes, and you're good to go. JMO. Susan Garlinghouse, DVM, MS -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of chicamuxen Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 4:48 AM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Feeding underweight youngster I have just bought an underweight, just turned two, Arabian colt. He was raised on a decent ranch in Manitoba but was bought by a local woman as a yearling. He and another colt have been living in a large dry lot for the last year and from the looks of them their nutrition hasn't been great, not enough roughage fed, a generic sweet feed and very little worming done. They look poorish. I'm picking him up in a couple of days and I'm debating on how to work him gradually into a better feeding regimen. I've already discussed worming with my vet who is coming out next week to give him a health check and I'll ask her opinions of feeding also. Still, I'd like to hear other opinions on feeding procedures. At the age of two should I treat him as an adult horse or should I feed him a little higher protein level than my two 7 yr olds? I have an awful lot of good grass, heavy with clover right now but I do have two differnet dry lots also. I know I'm going to have to be careful to ease him back onto grass, especially considering the time of year. I have some nice orchard grass hay and some 3/4 orchard, 1/4 alfalfa mix hay. I have in my feed room some beet pulp; a 10%fat, 10% protein textured feed; and a low starch, grainless pellet by Triple Crown that is 13% protein and 6% fat. This horse isn't starved or runted and really needs to be wormed correctly but I'm wondering if he still needs more protein than my two older tanks require? And how should I work into a feed increase? Bonnie Snodgrass =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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