Hi, I have a 15 year old mare, that belongs to my sister in law, that we keep on our land. She is in very poor condition. We have been desperately trying to put weight on her to no avail. I have been feeding her 3 times a day but each time when I go out to feed her, she hasn't finished up the previous feed. She is not eager to eat and most of the time I have to fetch her from the back of the pasture for feeding. She has been under a lot of stress the last 3 or 4 months. She had a colt about 18 months ago and, although weaned long ago, until recently they had never been seperated. We moved him off the property about a month ago and she has never recovered. She seems extremely stressed out and depressed. Right now she is fed three times a day (if she will eat) with sweet feed and crimped oats. She also gets alfalfa cubes once a day, along with free choice of hay. What should I change in order for her to put some weight on? She tends to be a very finicky eater at times. Her coat is also in very poor shape. What can I do to help her out??

Thanks in advance!

Jennifer

Where are you from? Texas

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Hi Jennifer,

My, my – she sounds so sad. (Any chance of bringing back her colt?)


Yes, her lack of appetite is likely stress related. You need to be very careful because she could easily colic.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Stop feeding the oats and sweet feed – this causes excessive insulin release. Instead, continue to feed the alfalfa cubes – moisten them to prevent choking. Or you can feed alfalfa hay or pellets.

2. Add to the alfalfa some stabilized rice bran to offer her a safer energy source and additional fat. This will put weight on her much more
effectively than feeding more grain.

3. Pick up a B complex vitamin Supplement – B-Plex by HorseTech is worthwhile. This will help calm her stress and improve her appetite.

4. Provide her with a probiotic to improve the condition of her bacterial flora.

Keep me posted on her condition.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Jennifer, one more thing...

If you are not able to bring back her colt, you should seriously consider getting her a companion. Horses are herd animals and feel very vulnerable without another horse. Even a goat would help.

Just a suggestion.

Dr. Getty

Dr.Getty,

Thanks so much for you response.

I don't know if we can bring back the colt. As I said, these are my sister in law's horses, and when the colt was born they kept him a stud. He is now 18 months old and has "discovered" himself if you know what I mean, and his first love interest was his mother. We were afraid he would breed her and we would have an entirely different problem on our hands. Also they had gotten him used to eating out of the same trough as her, and he was eating all the feed. He is a fast eater and she is a slow eater. So in the interest of the mother, we removed the colt from the property. Now I am afraid that has put her in even more stress, so we are not sure what to do. My sister in law SAYS they are going to geld him, so maybe after that we can bring him back and she will be happy again!

I will try the stabilized rice bran and the supplements. Will that also help get her coat in better shape?? I just feel so sorry for her, she is in such poor shape. She used to be a little feed vacuum, you could never feed her enough, and now she won't eat anything

Thanks again for all your help, and I will let you know how she does!!!

Where are you from? Texas

How did you locate this forum? Ask Jeeves search engine

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for explaining the situation. Perhaps you can coordinate a way to get her some companionship – I expect that will improve things significantly.

Yes – the rice bran and other supplements will produce a dramatic improvement in her coat as well as the inside of her body. A healthy coat is truly a snapshot of what is going on with the inside.

Please let me know how her condition is progressing.

All the best,

Dr. Getty