Skinny horses?

[dianneS]

Is there ever a valid reason for skinny horses with visible ribs, spine, and hip bones showing?

I know as horses age, it gets harder for them to keep weight on, but isn't it the responsibility of the owner to keep that horses weight normal?

I was visiting a friend who has several older horses. Their ages range from 15-30. ALL of them were skinny. I was giving the "older horse" excuse and I know that this person takes good care of the horses and is well informed about equine nutrition, supplements etc, so I'm confused as to why these horses look so bad?

 

[RockyToggRanch]

I have an old horse who struggles with founder. I have to be careful not to put weight on him. He gets more grain and hay pellets than my big fat QH mare, but still looks skinny. He's a twh and they're typically a more narrow horse anyway, but he looks thin. He is in the best health he can be in and is happy and pain free. But if you didn't see me feed him 3lbs of feed a day and unlimted hay...you might not think I was caring for him well enough.

 

[chubbydog811]

Sometimes with older horses they just need a little extra. You can be feeding them more food than a running thoroughbred gets, and they can still look like crap (mind you, we have a 25 year old being boarded here, and he looks awesome. Just depends on the horse)

Younger horses are the same way as they are growing...I have a Belgian stallion who is just barely over 2 years old. You can tell when he went through a growth spurt - one day he will look nice and filled out, then a week later he will look like you never feed him.
For an older horse, adding beat pulp or a weight builder would help put weight back on (as would extra hay/grain).

Back on topic - even if she is taking care of them pretty well, they might just need more. If you say she has several ranging from age 15-30 that are ALL skinny, then I hate to say, but I think it is her not feeding enough over old age.

 

[carolinagirl]

15 is not old. There should be no reason a 15 year old is hard to keep weight on. Most of the higher end Dressage horses are in their teens. The last several horses I had were all over 14 and all looked wonderful. How many horses does she have? I could buy the "old horse" excuse if it was just one or two out of a group, but if they are ALL thin, something isn't right. It may be not enough food, they may need ther teeth floated or they may have parasites.

 

[dianneS]

Four out of five are skinny in my opinion. The youngest of the three is the only "normal" looking horse.

I have an 18 year old mare myself and she's a thoroughbred and a cribber. She's looks great, absolutely beautiful I might add! She doesn't get a bit of grain, she's on pasture 24-7 in the summer months and free choice hay in the winter. Only if its extremely harsh in the winter do I slowly start feeding her small amounts of rolled oats, BOSS and a few senior pellets mixed in. She has no trouble keeping weight on.

I was just concerned because it seems odd for someone so contientious to have such skinny horses? I know that I've seen horses in their 30's look pretty thin and haggared and just thought "oh well, he is 30 after all." but for two of these horses to be in their teens, just seems odd?

 

[carolinagirl]

You are kind of in a sticky situation since she is a friend. If they are skinny to the point of starvation, I'd intervene, friend or not. I'd call animal control or something. But if you value the friendship, you have to tred carefully on this. Show her pics of older horses who are of a good weight and gently explain to her that the two in their teens are NOT old enough to be having weight problems. Ask her if their teeth have been checked lately.

http://hher.webs.com/neglectstarvation.htm

This link will explain in great detail how to determine the level of body conditioning in horses. Maybe you can use this to evaluate her animals or help her evaluate her animals so she might see that their weight is not normal.

 

[dianneS]

I know a few of her horses are getting their teeth done this weekend.

I'm concerned about worms. I don't think she uses chemical wormers, only natural/organic. One horse's coat seemed to be falling out. Not shedding, but falling out. I rubbed his back and the hair literally came off.

The horses aren't starving, but very thin. She knows she needs to work on their condition, I just don't understand why she let them get to this stage? Unless its something that can't be helped, but I'm not sure I see any signs of that?

 

[carolinagirl]

she needs to get a fecal done by a vet to see what the parasite load is. It may be that her natural dewormers are not enough. Are you sure it's hair falling out or is it the last of the winter coat shedding?

 

[patandchickens]

Is there ever a valid reason for skinny horses with visible ribs, spine, and hip bones showing?

Yes. For instance,

-- got horse recently, in process of putting weight on but it's a gradual thing (*extremely* gradual in some cases)

-- horse is ill (cancer, etc) and is impossible to put more weight *on* despite owner's best efforts

-- horse is being kept on skinny side for healthy reasons (this wouldn't be "spine" showing, but ribs showing certainly)

I know as horses age, it gets harder for them to keep weight on, but isn't it the responsibility of the owner to keep that horses weight normal?<snip> I know that this person takes good care of the horses and is well informed about equine nutrition, supplements etc, so I'm confused as to why these horses look so bad?

Well of course it depends on how bad they really look. I mean there's "ribby saggy older horse" and then there's other things. And of course it also depends on whether by "old" you mean 20 or 30 or what.

But in general, while it would be nice to live in a world where all that it took to keep a horse in good health and good flesh was good intentions and hard work, it doesn't always work that way. As they age, their teeth become less efficient (and there is not that much a dentist can do), their digestive tract becomes less efficient, they may lose muscle mass (which covers bones) as their kidneys age, etc etc. There's only so much waving of magic wands that a person can do.

I would tend to suspect the hair is not "falling out" but rather it's simply the end of shedding and if they haven't been being groomed regularly (which is not a big deal) then yeah when you rub the horse a whole lot of "backlog" of loose hair can come out at once.

I really would not want to place bets from your description what the actual deal is. Maybe they are perfectly normal elderly horses and your eye is just calibrated differetnly. Maybe they are fairly normal but carrying a bit of a wormload and being expected to depend too much on pasture that they can no longer process as well as they used to. Maybe they were allowed to get skinny over the winter and they just haven't bounced back yet. Or maybe it really is a serious situation. <shrug>

If you think it's serious, call Animal Control or etc. If you don't think it's *that* serious but you think they're like a 2 on body condition score, print out the standard body condition scoring chart for the owner. If you look at the condition-scoring chart and think they're at least a 2.5 or 3, then maybe it is not such a big issue.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[dianneS]

She's had all of these horses for many many years. One horse does have cancer, and that is the skinniest of all of them.

The others just might be "saggy ribby older horses" although I think they're a bit thinner than just "ribby". They have long toes too that are overdue for a trim, but none of them are being ridden right now.

I know that these horses don't get vaccinated or chemical wormers and probably haven't seen a vet in years, but they're not starving and they're not in a cruelty situation.

I guess I'll just keep an eye on things for now and make sure they're all getting the care they deserve. I just worry about those who depend upon natural cures for everything. Sometimes I think that "organic" lifestyle can be taken a bit too far.

My eye probably is just calibrated differently since most old horses I've known have always maintained healthy weight and looked great until the end of their lives, but that's just been my experience up until now.