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Re: [RC] what to feed starving horses? - Karen Everhart

The very best thing to do for starving horses is soaked alfalfa cubes 6 times per day for no less than one week, in small servings.  You can send a horse into kidney failure with the loving kindness of "grain". 
 
Beet pulp is a fermentable fiber, with good caloric emphasis, but I don't use it until after the first week. 
 
Then, slowly introduce a senior feed (I like pelleted with an alfalfa base - my choice is Patriot Senior from ADM Alliance) and soaked beet pulp and rice bran with a multi vitamin supplement like Gro Strong also from ADM;  6 feeding per day in small amounts.  Then move to a bit larger servings 5 times per day, then 4 then to 3 through the refeeding process(getting them to about a 3-4 on the Body Condition Scoring system).  Then you can move to a more normalized feeding regimen while they regain to 5 or 5+ over the course of a year.
 
BE CAREFUL, refeeding horses can be a problem.  This is what we do often here at the rescue.
 
 
Karen Everhart MEd
Co-founder and Executive Director
Rainbow Meadows Rescue and Retirement, Inc.
Serving the equine companions who have so loyally served us...
www.rainbowmeadowsranch.com
620-725-3402
 
Owner/Operator Horse Calls - Equine Management Solutions
Centered Riding Instructor
Distance Horse Conditioning and Training
www.horsecalls.com
316-648-5082
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 10:02 AM
Subject: [RC] what to feed starving horses?

Friday we rescued 3 starving horses.  After watching them for 3 days we have noticed that the oldest mare, 21 and a Samtyr daughter, is not eating.  She stands over her hay and makes noises of pure ecstasy but just noses the hay around, so we put her on a beet pulp mash, which she gobbled up.  What should we feed her?  Beet pulp isn't good for her only food, is it?  We have a pasture of really good grass to put them in but were afraid to put them in it right from the start so we have them in about an acre which has very little grass in it for now and they really seem to want the hay more than grass, what's with that?  We have also noticed the 10 year old seems very weak in the rear end and almost falls sometimes.  One year ago these horses were probably 100 lb. overweight and now I'd guess they are 200 underweight.  I was for putting the old mare down but she seems so smart and seems to have a will to live that I'm now willing to give her a chance.  I'm also concerned about finding homes for the younger two in the future.  Can they come back from this kind of starvation and regain their muscle tone?  We are getting a horse anatomy lesson from observing their starvation and what it does to their backbones.   Linda



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[RC] what to feed starving horses?, LRN8554