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Since this horse has been neglected, and I'll assume that you don't
know his history, you can assume that besides being under weight, he
probably has been neglected in other management areas as well.
First, de-worm him. (You said this was scheduled). Give him a month,
and then de-worm him again, with a different type. This will help get
rid of most all the worms. If he is infested with worms, he may
actually get sick as the worms die off. Some horse will colic the
first time they are de-wormed if they have a gut full of worms. Be
ready.
Second, vaccinate him. Don't do this the same week that you de-worm
him, just in case. But do get it done soon.
And third, check his teeth. Even as a five year old, he may have
problems. And unless the teeth can grind the food, you won't be
helping him by just adding more hay.
Do not try to put too much weight on too soon. You mentioned that you
wanted to get him back as quickly as possible. That should not mean
pushing too hard.
The basics still apply. Good quality, and quantity, grass hay.
Also, instead of just free-choice, make sure that you know how much
he is eating. So, put out six pounds of hay in the morning, and
check it in the evening. Just because you give him the hay, doesn't mean
he'll be eating it.
The warm water is good as well, particularly until the weather turns
a bit warmer.
Because the horse may have problems, due to the neglect, with digesting
his food, you might want to add a compete pellet that is made for
the older horse. Equine Senior is good. It is a highly palatable,
and highly digestable, complete feed. Keep feeding the hay, for
bulk, for chewing, and because you'll switch over to it completely
later. You can give him lots of Equine Senior (which will cause him
not to eat as much hay), without a problem. Then as he gains weight,
switch over to less pellets and more hay. How much you start with
will really depend on how much of the hay he can digest now.
Also, adjust the amount of grain you add (decrease the grain if you
add in the Equine Senior).
Beware of anything that has selenium in it. Depending on the area
of Colorado that you are in, you may have an excess of selenium in
your hay already. I ran into a toxic problem this year.
You can add corn oil to the grain. This is pure calories. Generally,
start with 1/4 cup of oil per feeding. Then up it gradually. Some
people say up to 1 cup of oil per feeding is alright. You'll know
when you've given too much. The manure will be running with oil.
So - Balance the feed.
A 900 pound horse (the weight he should be carrying) should be eating about
18 pounds of hay (2%) per day. See if this horse will eat that much.
Keep track of the weight that he does eat. If he wants more, feed him
more.
Decide between your mixed grains with oil, and/or Equine Senior. Pick
the one (or mix) based on what he is actually eating and digesting.
Keep track of the weight of the horse, and adjust his diet accordingly.
When he is back to a reasonable weight, you can start training him.
But start slow. Consider this horse as you would some one recovering
from a long hospital stay. They are not going to go out and run a
marathon the month after getting out of bed. Personally, I would not
consider even a limited distance ride this year. I would wait till
next year before stressing him.
As an extreme example, Pharalina was very sick and lost way too much
weight - skin and bones is a good description. It took her more than
6 months to recover weight enough to look "normal". And she had good
management all her life before the colic/surgery/infection. Now, she
is an older mare, so time was against her. But, you'll still need time
with this younger gelding. Don't rush it and you'll have a good horse
for much longer.
-- Wendy\|/ /\ -O- /**\ /|\ /****\ /\ / \ /**\ Here there be dragons / /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\ /\ / / \ / \ / \/\/ \/ \ /\/ \/\ /\ /\/ / / \/ \ / / \/ /\ \ / \ \ / \/ / / \/ \/ \ / \ \ / / \/ \/\ \ / \ / / \ __/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________
Wendy Milner HPDesk: wendy_milner@hp4000 Hewlett-Packard Company e-mail: wendy@fc.hp.com Mail Stop A2 Telnet: 229-2182 3404 E. Harmony Rd. AT&T: (970) 229-2182 Fort Collins, CO, 80525 FAX: (970) 229-2038
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