[eli47]

Hi, I am trying to find out some info about horses and weight. I am a huge animal lover, but being raised in the city, know nothing about horses. I have lived in the country for the last 6 yrs. and have seen some deplorable things. I always worry about the cattle as we have been in a major drought (S. Texas) for a couple years. Anyhow, I want to know about this horse. I hope you can see from the pic that you CAN see his ribs and his neck is very skinny. Or hers. A few yrs. ago there was another horse at the same place that looked even worse so, under the guise of taking pictures of horses for a school project of my daughter's, talked to the woman, who seemed very nice. Told her I didn't know jack about horses but wondered why this one was so skinny. She said it was old, like 23 yrs. or something, if I remember. So FF 2 or 3 yrs. and here's THIS one. I talked to people after speaking w/ her who agreed that it's hard to keep weight on older horses, but today heard that's not true if they're being fed properly. So I've been looking around town and there seem to be lots of horses that are on the thin side. This comes as a surprise because, even though in a drought, we have had lots of rain in the last 6 mos or so. Ok, so I want a general run down and maybe a pic or 2 of a healthy horse or description of to use as a guideline. If you're wondering why I haven't called the police already it's because this is a very small town, and they don't much take to a newcomer from the city poking her nose around in other people's business. Not to say that I won't!! But I just need to make sure they can't tell me she's/he's fine, blah blah. The last call I made was about cattle literally starving to death right next to the Hwy that goes through town. Dying! In front of my eyes! They told me they couldn't prove it was starvation : coulda eaten cactus, whatever whatever. You see the predicament. Thanks for any help.

[eli47]

This is my first (well, second really) time posting here so I uploaded my photo but i guess it doesn't stick to the post? I'm going to look under horse pics to make sure it's there. thanks!

[touchofdandy]

Do you have pics of this horse?

[touchofdandy]

Ok...I'll be waiting.

[touchofdandy]

Is this the horse?

[Solsalia]

Could be an old horse, just like people they don't eat as much and their bodies start to give way. Giving a heads up just for someone to go look at the horse shouldn't be a problem. May be fine and old just living it's days out, or could be young and not enough feed, or sick. Who knows

[Jenje!]

Just looked at the picture...

Honestly, as far as weight being hard to keep on older horses... it can be. It's more about the individual horse and their needs than opinions flying around. I've seen horses not much older than that looking much worse, and I've seen them looking much better. But I wouldn't go making any phone calls without further information (the woman talked to you once, why wouldn't she talk to you again?). The horse could be older or have health problems that are being treated (you can't see that while driving by). Ulcers, problematic teeth... it could be anything.

[eli47]

Yes, this is the horse. I look at the picture so large on the screen and it just makes my heart hurt. Jenje, can you tell approximately the age of this horse? I guess I don't go back and talk to her again cuz...what would I say? " Remember me? I see you've got another skinny horse here..."And I don't mean that sarcastically, but I feel like she would wonder what I wanted. Is there anything I could do or throw over the fence, veggies, etc. that would help, or is that just asking for trouble. I seem to get into that alot when it comes to animals...

[Solsalia]

Originally Posted by eli47

Yes, this is the horse. I look at the picture so large on the screen and it just makes my heart hurt. Jenje, can you tell approximately the age of this horse? I guess I don't go back and talk to her again cuz...what would I say? " Remember me? I see you've got another skinny horse here..."And I don't mean that sarcastically, but I feel like she would wonder what I wanted. Is there anything I could do or throw over the fence, veggies, etc. that would help, or is that just asking for trouble. I seem to get into that alot when it comes to animals...

Yes you could get into lots of trouble! This horse could be on a special diet and things added could hurt it more, plus that is the womans property (horse) so feeding it could end up making things worse legally for yourself.

[cowgurly02]

She looks thin, but far from "starving" to me. She's in a big field of grass, looks like she's on free choice pasture to me. Older horses can be hard to keep weight on despite a good feed program, she does look like that could be the case. We had a horse who was in his 30's who was as thin as she is, but he was happy and eating and had a nice coat like that. Her coat looks nice and she appears alert.

No, I wouldn't go feeding her things over the fence. Her owner might have her on a feeding program and you don't want to mess with that, and as solsalia said that horse is her property and you could get into trouble. I wouldn't want anybody feeding my horse anything over the fence.