[sdl1up]

I rescued a registered saddlebred yesterday. He is 4 years old, about 14.2 H, and only 600-700 pounds. Poor thing was being starved to death. There were two others in the pasture that looked terrific, so this (In my opinion) was out and out abuse. I have an attorney friend who is looking into filing abuse complaints. ( He is also on the board at the local humane society)Anyway, right now I am giving him only a cup(literally 1 cup) of grain a couple times a day and as much grass hay as he can eat. He is also sucking down the water pretty well so I am thinking the other horses did not let him drink much either. I will worm him and have his teeth floated when he looks a little more able to withstand it. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[cassidy]

i think what you have done is brilliant good on you

i think feeding him little an often is the best wayto go have you thought about giving it hay at all!! as grain might be a bit harsh if his body isnt used to it!

i would love to see pictures i would get before an afters an then you will really see the difference

good luck i am sure he will turn out to be a fantastic horse!

[sdl1up]

Thanks cassidy. yes, he gets as much grass hay as he wants. I am holding off on the alfalfa for now. I don't want him to colic on top of everything else. I have no clue how to post a pic, feel free to email me and I will send you a pic. I took pictures as soon as he came off the trailer, just in case my friend might need them. also because i felt that I may not be able to track his progress as well since I was seeing him everday. I cannot seem to get past the fact that this person fed her own horses while watching this baby starve. He looks as bad or worse than anything I have ever seen on rescue shows. Concave rear, no muscle or fat between his shoulders and withers, I could just go on and on.

[SammyDoodle]

Well done to you Please post some pics of him now and as he gets better.

I think you are doing well just giving him a little feed at a time right now - hay and grazing is going to be best for him. Just be careful with the grazing if he hasnt been used to grass - I know there is not much in the grass right now but any sudden changes can be bad.

Are you having a vet check him over?

[sdl1up]

Believe it or not there are vets aware of his condition. I am going to talk them about this on Monday. One is actually my vet. I am hoping that he did not know things had come to this point or I will be finding a new vet. He was given a vaccine by another vet on friday. I called there on saturday and told them I had rescued the horse. I will be having someone come out asap as I know he has a lot of needs and I want to make sure i do not do anything that might be detremental to his recovery. ( like worming him right away etc.) I already have a friend who has fallen in love with him and has requested they take him as soon as he is able. Fortunately. this is right down the road from me so I will still see him. You can imagine how glad i was that he was still with us this morning!

[Blistering Winds]

Did the Police not enlist a vet? usually, when a rescue occurs, the Police usually have their own vet that they deal with document the initial case.

[Top Dun]

As mentioned before in other treads you might want to consider Beet pulp to help with weight gain. Additionall a Senior formulate feed usually is a complete feed and is also beneificial in weight gain in ALL age classes of horses. Just because he's a younger horse does not mean you can't feed a senior formula. You deffinately do not want to over do it on the grains or you could end up with ulcer problems. So What you are doing is good. All the hay the horse can eat, might want to look at supplementing with a small amount of alfalfa hay or alfalfa pellets as well as an alternative to adding in more grains. I've rescued a few like that and I generally start them on free choice grass hay then add in one flake of alfalfa a day until they are eating at least two flakes of alfalfa a day plus the grass hay then I add in beet pulp gradually until they are eatting about 4 lbs of beet pulp at a feeding. ( FYI a 3 lb coffee can hold apprximately 4 lbs dry weight of beet pulp pellets) and you feed by the dry weight of the beet pulp. Then if necessary I add in a small amount of grains and corn oil. depends on the individual horse. but generally I don't add any grains unless really necessary.

Also just a thought, have the vet check for sand build up in the instestines. Even really young horses can get a lot of dirt and sand build up in the gut and no amount of additional feeding will make them look really good until that is taken care of.

Anyway to test for sand for those that don't know. Find the freshest pile of manure from that horse, Pick up a portion of it ( a portion that has NOT actually touched the ground ie the TOP of the pile) Now the easiest way to do this is put on a latex glove, pick up the piece, pull the glove inside out over the manure. Anywa then pour water in the to glove and swish the manure around. any sand or dirt will settle into the fingertips and the more dirt at the bottom = dirt in the gut.
IN severe cases you can actually HEAR the sand moving in the gut, but you have to have a trained EAR for hearing it, sounds like water rushing across the sand at the beach. Need a good stethascope for that though.

If that be the case then for a "purge" a recommended dose of a psyillium produce for a full MONTH then go back to the one week a month recommendations on the package should do just fine.

[Dawn]

If there were other horses in the same field that were in excellent condition and then this one that's on death's door. I'd say there's a 95% chance that there's something medical going on.

[Debralynb]

That's awesome that you took on a challenge and I hope he ends up being a great horse for you.


Deb

[Blistering Winds]

I'm with dawn, I must have not read that part.

EPM is one of those diseases that hits a horse, makes them look emaciated, and you are dumping TONS of food into them

Again, why was this horse removed and not the others? Did the owner give the horse up to you? What did the police say?