[Shannon]

From this thread...New mare diet ideas?

Mare has been on the following for a month now:

A mix of alfalfa, oat, and orchard hay. I honestly don't know what she is getting exactly now because they reduced the orchard (they were giving it to me for free) and upped the oat hay. I can find out though. Alfalfa is less than half of her forage.

2lbs TC Lite
MSM
Loose electrolites

And for the past 3 weeks or so, about 3/4 cup whole flax seed.

And the verdict?

She is in a good weight but could actually use a tiny bit more. I will get pictures. I guess the rice bran really was making her chubby! The back of her rib cage sticks out a bit.

But....

I do NOT like her attitude.

She does not like to be taken away from her neighbors at all, and will call to them and constantly look in their direction. She wiggles, paws, etc in the crossties quite a bit. She poops 2 or 3 times when I take her out, mostly in the crossties. It's normal looking, not watery or anything. She is better when being worked though.

Should I look into switching up her diet? Add some probiotics/Vit B? The bag of TC Lite is nearly out, so it's almost time to get a new one. I still don't think it's feasible for me to get my hands on any TC ration balancers, not for $43/bag when I lost my job. Plus, she's not a big fan of her supplements, so I need more than 1lb to mix stuff in with (there is no hose or water source anywhere near her paddock, and the barn worker feeds her supplements, so I don't have the option of soaking it to make it stick).

Boy this is fun

Thanks in advance.

[Dawn]

I wonder if maybe the things you're seeing are just her 'natural' personality? Hard to know really since you've not had her for long and she's just now getting settled down and into the routine of things. If she needs a bit more weight, I'd up the TC Lite to 3 lbs probably (or even 2.5). You could add in a bit of rice bran, but I wouldn't do that since you're currently feeding the bare minimum on the Lite.

I must say though, I looked at your pics from the other day and didn't notice her being the least bit underweight. (I know sometimes it doesn't translate in photos though.)

[JBandRio]

I would be much more inclined to view this as a training issue and not dietary.

She's gotten comfortable in her new digs, and she is probably a horse who is pretty clear about what makes her uncomfortable. Ignore what she is doing, unless it's a dangerous act towards you, and continue to ask her to do things you want her to do.

If there is an area in which you can work her where she's not so concerned about where she isn't and where others are, then work her there for a while. Then you can start moving her farther away, coming back to her comfortable places if she gets too wiggy outside them.

It's an approach and retreat method that slowly expands her comfort zone, and teaches her that it's YOU she should be paying attention to, not anything else "out there"

[raisethebar]

It deffinatly could just be her natural self being more comfortable and learning her boundaries rather than feed.. try giving her some Peppermint Tea and Raspberry Tea with her feed (either an infusion or the interior of the tea bag).

[Shannon]

I'm on the run but...I should have mentioned that I worked with her 5 or 6 times at her old home before I got her. She was mellow and one of those who would "fall asleep" in the crossties. That's why I'm thinking it might be diet related? She was a downright angel previously.

[Dawn]

Originally Posted by Shannon

I'm on the run but...I should have mentioned that I worked with her 5 or 6 times at her old home before I got her. She was mellow and one of those who would "fall asleep" in the crossties. That's why I'm thinking it might be diet related? She was a downright angel previously.

What was her living situation/setup there?

Could be stress related. And adding in B vitamins and/or magnesium might help. (Though be careful, more so with magnesium than B's, as you can have too much.)

[Shannon]

Originally Posted by Dawn

What was her living situation/setup there?

Could be stress related. And adding in B vitamins and/or magnesium might help. (Though be careful, more so with magnesium than B's, as you can have too much.)

Stalled in a 24x24 pipe at night, turned out during the day. Got timothy morning & night, oat for lunch. 3 lbs rice bran & daily Strongid. Not really messed with much other than moving in/out & farrier/etc.

She's now living in like a 50x100 paddock, about half the size of her daytime turnout at the other barn.

[Preppy_Ponies]

I know the TC lite is supposed to be a good feed but honestly I've tried with several horses and never really liked the results. Maybe it was just me but all 3 times I switched it out for something else.

What about trying rice bran and one of Purina ration balancers? They can be a little easier to find and cheaper as well. They're not quite as good as the TC ration balancers but it might work for her.

[Preppy_Ponies]

Originally Posted by Shannon

Stalled in a 24x24 pipe at night, turned out during the day. Got timothy morning & night, oat for lunch. 3 lbs rice bran & daily Strongid. Not really messed with much other than moving in/out & farrier/etc.

She's now living in like a 50x100 paddock, about half the size of her daytime turnout at the other barn.

Was she getting any alfalfa before?

[Shannon]

Okay now I'll respond to everyone...

Originally Posted by Dawn

I wonder if maybe the things you're seeing are just her 'natural' personality? Hard to know really since you've not had her for long and she's just now getting settled down and into the routine of things. If she needs a bit more weight, I'd up the TC Lite to 3 lbs probably (or even 2.5). You could add in a bit of rice bran, but I wouldn't do that since you're currently feeding the bare minimum on the Lite.

She's been acting this way since the first couple of days since she got to this barn unfortunately. It hasn't really gotten better or worse as time went by. If it HAD been gradual, then it would be a bit of a different story.

And yeah, if I was overall satisfied with her behavior and condition, and her being slightlyyyyy underweight as she is, I probably wouldn't even have posted this thread LOL. I would have just upper the TC Lite and maybe gone to a full cup of flax.

I must say though, I looked at your pics from the other day and didn't notice her being the least bit underweight. (I know sometimes it doesn't translate in photos though.)

Honestly, she's probably fine. Her ribs are just eeeever so slightly noticeable to the eye, but the back of her ribcage sticking out bothers me. She does have very well sprung ribs so I'm sure that has something to do with that. I guess I'm just being a perfectionist.

Though the pictures in my last thread (from yesterday) didn't show her from the side LOL.

Originally Posted by JBandRio

I would be much more inclined to view this as a training issue and not dietary.

She's gotten comfortable in her new digs, and she is probably a horse who is pretty clear about what makes her uncomfortable. Ignore what she is doing, unless it's a dangerous act towards you, and continue to ask her to do things you want her to do.

Yup, like I mentioned above, it definitely isn't her having settled in and being bratty now that she's comfortable there. It's been pretty much since day one.

She's not dangerous and luckily does not test boundaries like Reina did-- she respects the crossties and doesn't try to pull back or anything. She just wiggles, chews the nylon crossties, paws, and is constantly looking/calling towards her pasture neighbors.

I have been pretty much doing just that though-- still asking her to do what I want her to do and ignore her for the most part. She still picks up her feet, stands to be saddled, takes the bit in her mouth, etc etc. I DO smack her shoulder if she's pawing though.

You should have seen me yesterday! When I was trying to put MTG on her tailbone and then put it in a tail bag, I was having to follow her butt back and forth as she wiggled. I just kept braiding it though LOL.

If there is an area in which you can work her where she's not so concerned about where she isn't and where others are, then work her there for a while. Then you can start moving her farther away, coming back to her comfortable places if she gets too wiggy outside them.

We have two sets of crossties-- one where she can see her paddock from(that is maybe 250 feet away), and another on the other side of a barn that faces away. She's equally bad in both unfortunately.

Originally Posted by raisethebar

It deffinatly could just be her natural self being more comfortable and learning her boundaries rather than feed.. try giving her some Peppermint Tea and Raspberry Tea with her feed (either an infusion or the interior of the tea bag).

Unfortunately, like I said a couple posts ago, she was a doll when I worked with her at her last barn. The only thing she did is get excited if we were following someone with a bucket, or try to grab grass as I lead her. That's it

I have been considering raspberry leaves though!

Originally Posted by Preppy_Ponies

I know the TC lite is supposed to be a good feed but honestly I've tried with several horses and never really liked the results. Maybe it was just me but all 3 times I switched it out for something else.

That's good to know. I know not every feed works for every horse, so maybe this just isn't right for her.

What about trying rice bran and one of Purina ration balancers? They can be a little easier to find and cheaper as well. They're not quite as good as the TC ration balancers but it might work for her.

When I was trying desperately to find the TC RB, I asked the closer places what other brands they carried, and if they carried Purina or LMF, I asked if they carried the Purina RB or the LMF Super Supplement. No one did I guess I could call around again...

Maybe two of the places I called within a 50 mile radius carried the TC 30%. Now that we know that it was just the ridiculous amount of RB making her fat (and she wasn't even quite as fat as I thought-- just very well sprung ribs, a deep heartgirth, and slightly wasp wasted creating a "beer belly" illusion LOL), maybe I DON'T need to go with something super low in calories. TC Complete is very readily available, though I don't know if that would make her hot.

I was honestly considering maybe just giving her a little rice bran and a good multi vitamin, and while I don't even know if that would compare to an RB, I don't have a water source near the paddock/her feed bin. I mentioned in the OP I think that the barn worker feeds her supplements since I just have them bagged and ready for him, and I can't expect him to walk all the way across the barn to put water in her bucket. I guess I could get a big jug of water and refill it every so often.

Originally Posted by Preppy_Ponies

Was she getting any alfalfa before?

Nope. I'm sure the oat hay could be the culprit too. I really can't afford to switch to all grass hay at this time though since I lost my job She was owned by the lady who owned the huge equestrian facility she lived at for the past few years, so I'm sure she could afford to feed her caviar with her rice bran if she wanted LOL.

I'll get pictures tomorrow