Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition
Welcome to my forum.
Here you will find more than 6 years of questions and my answers. It is searchable and offers a great deal of information.
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All the best,
Dr. Getty
Hi Tesa,
First, let me commend you for taking this horse into your life and bringing him back to health.
You are on the right track -- excellent! He would benefit, however, from a vitamin/mineral supplement that fills in the gaps and provides omega 3 fatty acids. I recommend, at a reduced dosage, Glanzen Complete(since he's getting Equine Senior)if he's strickly on hay or Glanzen if he gets at least 8 hours of good pasture grazing each day.
Since you've wormed him, hold off on doing it again for 6 to 8 weeks. If you haven't already done so, give him an Invermectin/Praziquantel combo wormer to take care of tapeworms. You'll give him this combo once each year and the other times, plain ivermectin.
The only other thing to consider is Ration Plus. This will boost the overall health of the bacterial flora in his hind gut, making forage digestion more efficient. He'll get more calories from his hay as a result, and gain weight.
Please keep me posted on how he's doing.
All the best,
Dr. Getty 
I was just took on a 22 yr old gelding because I felt so bad for him - that he is very underweight. I think he is about 15.4 hands high. He is a grade bay quarter horse. He was used by an outfitter and the last 4 years by the forest service. They say he had always wintered well on just hay before this winter. He is so thin, his hips stick out, ribs show, he had ticks and I assume worms. His hair is a mix of long winter hair and short hair and missing hair. He eats hay and senior feed with no trouble or dribbling. The people who got him from the forest service think he is thin because he wasn't getting his share of the hay due to younger horses. I am on a limitted budget, but here is what I am doing. He has free access to hay that is a mix of grass, timothy and alfalfa, I give him a coffee can of nutrena senior feed twice a day with a scoop of hard keeper. I've only had him two days. Today I let him graze new grass in the pasture for two hours. I'm thinking of adding 1/4 cup of corn oil once a day and clovite. The people that got him wormed him and I will again in three weeks. How am I doing? and What else should I be doing? Thank you!
Where are you from? Bayfield, CO