Can someone help me ...Very Skinny Horse

[rcouron]

I am ashamed to say I am very new to all this. I had a horse when I was 16; but really didnt get involved in the feeding end of things ...he was boarded at a stable

I have an Arab mare that I bought in June. She is very thin...aprox 793 lbs. I am not sure If I am not feeding enough, or if she has a problem. She was thin when I bought her, but seems a bit thinner to me now ( I didn't weigh her when purchased, so its a bit hard to tell for sure

I feed her twice a day. I feed her 1 flake grass hay and 1 flake alfalfa at each feeding. She also gets one 5qt scoop of hay pellets at each feeding(which have alfalfa, grass, corn, etc). I am also giving her weight builder at both feedings. I started this regime about 3 or 4 weeks ago

I am so afraid of "overfeeding" or foundering her.

[galadriel]

A horse's diet should consist mostly of forage (grass or hay) with a little grain as needed. A horse's body is designed to digest forage pretty much continuously, and their overall health and weight are much better maintained if they have access to either grass or hay all the time. Forage also won't be as likely to make them colic or founder when you feed a large amount of it.

Have you dewormed her? If a horse is wormy they'll have trouble putting on wieght.

Also, I have observed that some horses will not gain weight much, if at all, when fed too much; instead of putting on weight, they turn all the extra food into energy, and burn their weight off with fretting. You can try to make sure that she gets only enough to help her gain weight, but no more than that. Exercise to build muscle will help her to gain more weight.

If she is really sucked in around her withers and spine, you may not be lookng at a weight problem. Around the spine it's often muscle damage due to a badly fitting saddle.

Oops, gotta run--perhaps someone else will have a chance to talk about muscle wastage for you :)

[carrie160]

When i got my horse she was poor and i was told she loses weight in the winter, but i kept the weight on her with ease. I fed her hayledge rather than hay (she was on hay before). If your horse is a fussy eater haylege is better as most horses prefer it and they dont need to eat as much of it as hay.

[500]

I agree with everything the others said too, but personally I think she has worms. It sounds like your feeding her a lot, so I'll bet you anything that she has worms. Try worming her and be sure that it has at least 1% of Ivermectin in it as the active ingrediant.:)

[pandapotato]

One more thing-dont' forget to have her teeth checked! SHe may need her teeth floated and be having difficulty chewing her food fully, which keeps her from digesting it properly.

When she eats, does a lot of food fall out? Thats a sure sign of teeth problems as well.

If she's older, try soaking alfalfa pellets so that she can eat more of a mush then the hard pellets. Its easier on the teeth.

[rcouron]

Thanks all. Everyone's advice sounds good. I think its time I had the vet out to make sure its not her teeth, worms or some other problem.

She does not appear to have a problem chewing; the food seems to be digested in her stool. I've tried worming her myself, but don't think I got much into her...she fought me on it.

I really appreciate the help.