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
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
It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here.
