I've rehabbed several starving horses. It just breaks your heart to see them at first, but it feels wonderful when they come back.
Yes, beet pulp mash is fine, add some senior feed to it for a nutritional boost. Give the old mare the beet pulp/senior mash a couple times a day.
They will regain their muscle tone in time. It's hard to imagine it now, but they will look totally different.
the one with the fallin down rear end concerns me. I'd have a vet check that one over. It might be EPM or any number of neuro problems.
I'd also start these guys on a handful or two of black oil sunflower seeds. horses LOVE them. they are chock full of vitamins and essential oils, lots of Vit E that is good for their skin, coats and nervous systems.
You will want to deworm them, but do it slowly. I do it in half doses a week apart.. starting with a wormer such as Panacur or Safeguard. Half doses because you don't want to flood their systms with dead worms and cause an impaction colic.
email me if you want more info. I'd be glad to help you with what I've learned about this....
“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” John Lennon
"If you see it in your mind, you're going to hold it in your hand," Bob Proctor.
--- On Mon, 8/25/08, LRN8554@xxxxxxx <LRN8554@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: LRN8554@xxxxxxx <LRN8554@xxxxxxx> Subject: [RC] what to feed starving horses? To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Monday, August 25, 2008, 10:02 AM
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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