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| So I have a 13 year old barrel mare who in the last year has started to deteriorate in a weird way. She has a hard time keeping weight on when being rode consistently she's had two months off just sitting and eating and is still not putting on weight if anything just maintaining what she already was. She will one day be really energized but then the next day won't she has grown a lot of hair this winter as well..she did suffer from some ulcers this summer but as of now they are not acting up so I'm not sure if they are the problem and she's just not showing signs, Or if she's developed some sort of deficiency. She is on Purina senior active, free choice good quality Prairie Hey and alfalfa cubes. Its not her teeth they just got done she is up to date on everything,got her tested for EPM its not that.. so I'm kind of at my wits end my next thing will be to go and get her blood tested and tested for hindgut ulcers. Anyone have any input?? |
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Expert
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Location: Bandera, TX | I think your on track for thinking hindgut ulcers. Make sure that your giving her quality amino acids within 45 min to an hour of her workouts. |
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 Don't Wanna Make This Awkward
Posts: 3106
Location: Texas | The first thing that comes to mind is worms.. but I have no experience with that so just a suggestion. I would get a full blood test done and see what comes back. It could be a lot of things, has a vet seen her specifically for this? |
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| yes that is kind of what I am leaning towards it being I will definitely have to try that! |
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| I know it's not worms she gets wormed regularly. I did take her to the vet for it, that is how we ruled out her teeth and EPM but I opted out doing blood work at the time to see if a touch up on her teeth was the problem. She is not underweight but it is mainly a lack of maintaining a top line and muscle and for getting time off in eating as much as she is she should be getting fat and I'm not seeing it.... |
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Don't Wanna Make This Awkward
Posts: 3106
Location: Texas | Hannahd1992 - 2016-01-04 12:37 AM I know it's not worms she gets wormed regularly. I did take her to the vet for it, that is how we ruled out her teeth and EPM but I opted out doing blood work at the time to see if a touch up on her teeth was the problem. She is not underweight but it is mainly a lack of maintaining a top line and muscle and for getting time off in eating as much as she is she should be getting fat and I'm not seeing it....
It may be a simple fix. Get the blood work done and check for ulcers and that will rule out a lot for you, if those show nothing I would change feed and just, if not i'm sure there will be more to check for. |
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 Saint Stacey
| Hannahd1992 - 2016-01-03 11:37 PM
I know it's not worms she gets wormed regularly. I did take her to the vet for it, that is how we ruled out her teeth and EPM but I opted out doing blood work at the time to see if a touch up on her teeth was the problem. She is not underweight but it is mainly a lack of maintaining a top line and muscle and for getting time off in eating as much as she is she should be getting fat and I'm not seeing it....
You can be on the best worming program around and a horse can still get infested. I'd pull blood and do a fecal to start with. I'd also check her for sand. Get a long, see through plastic glove. Get a few balls of fresh manure from the top of a pile, put them in the glove, fill the glove with water, knot the top and hang it up. As the manure falls apart the sand will sink into the fingers and the solids will float to the top. |
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | what is she getting how much grain, is she blanketed for winter, whats your training program, blood work needs done.. |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| Current weight? Height? Age? Work load?
Current lbs she consumes of hay daily? Alfalfa cubes? Grain?
Is she cleaning it all up or leaving some? |
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 Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | worms, teeth, ulcers are all the top 3 things that come to mind. Might revamp your feeding program because it can cause chronic ulcers. I am a huge advocate for keeping feed in front of them 24/7 especially if they are the type that have ulcer issues and worry and fret. I know some that board can't do that, but the more feed you can keep in front of them, the better. You may think you are spending more on feed doing this, but it will pay you back 10 fold in the money you will save on ulcer treatments and colic. Horses aren't meant to have an empty gut. I distribute THE supplements, they have a great one for ulcers that also will work on the hind gut. GastroPLUS is being used by many of the top TB trainers. I have a few pictures I can send your email to show before and afters. I had a daughter of Takin On The Cash x TB mare. I wish I had known about this product when I had her. She sounds a lot like your mare and I just couldn't keep her looking good. She was a high stress mare and I am sure it was ulcers as we had her teeth done and kept her on a deworming schedule recommended by our vet. |
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | Hannahd1992 - 2016-01-03 10:49 PM So I have a 13 year old barrel mare who in the last year has started to deteriorate in a weird way. She has a hard time keeping weight on when being rode consistently she's had two months off just sitting and eating and is still not putting on weight if anything just maintaining what she already was. She will one day be really energized but then the next day won't she has grown a lot of hair this winter as well..she did suffer from some ulcers this summer but as of now they are not acting up so I'm not sure if they are the problem and she's just not showing signs, Or if she's developed some sort of deficiency. She is on Purina senior active, free choice good quality Prairie Hey and alfalfa cubes. Its not her teeth they just got done she is up to date on everything,got her tested for EPM its not that.. so I'm kind of at my wits end my next thing will be to go and get her blood tested and tested for hindgut ulcers. Anyone have any input??
I sent you a pm |
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Member
Posts: 18
| She has free choice hay and grass, gets 7lbs a day of the senior active and about 4lbs of alfalfa. |
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Member
Posts: 18
| She is up to date on all the first things that come to mind that's why I'm thinking hindgut problems. As much as she's eating she should look better! |
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Member
Posts: 18
| She's been off for 2 months with light work every once in awhile, she gets Blanketed as well. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | Hannahd1992 - 2016-01-04 2:22 PM She has free choice hay and grass, gets 7lbs a day of the senior active and about 4lbs of alfalfa.
I'd up the alfalfa and forget the grain but that's just me  |
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Sock Snob
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Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| Hannahd1992 - 2016-01-04 2:22 PM
She has free choice hay and grass, gets 7lbs a day of the senior active and about 4lbs of alfalfa.
Honestly for a hard keeper she's not getting much. I'd leave the grass hay free choice, pull the alfalfa up to at LEAST 12 lbs daily. I'd change the grain to 1-2 lbs rice bran. Consider feeding 1.5 whole oats twice daily. Nouvelle Research has a fantastic product called Stomach worth looking into.
This is what my hard keeping 16.2 four year old looks on the exact diet above.
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Member
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| Really nice! Yeah I think I'm definitely going to up her ration on the alfalfa for sure though hopefully that will help still going to get her tested just to rule out anything and if nothing is the problem then I'm just going to up her feed even more and maybe try some other things and see if it works better for her digestive system. |
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Member
Posts: 18
| Its not EPM I took her to the vet and had her tested for that, that was one of my first reactions that it might be that.
Edited by Hannahd1992 2016-01-04 8:38 PM
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