|
|
 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
   
Location: Kansas | My mother and I are suckers for animals, so about 6 weeks ago when we found out that some friends of ours had moved across the state and left their older gelding alone in a pasture with no one to check on him, we decided that he deserved better. Mom got on the phone, got permission for us to take him, and we offered him to my brother for his wife, who had been wanting a horse of her own to ride around the home place.
Ace is in his 20s, stands 16.1 1/2 hands tall (according to my vet....I can't see over his back LOL), and was about a body condition score of 2 when we picked him up. He's had his teeth done, been dewormed, and is happily devouring our low starch grain mix plus Weight Builder and all the grass he can get his teeth around. He has probably gained a hundred pounds already, and is healthy enough that we've ridden him (at a walk) a couple times. I don't think he'd been ridden in 10 years when I first got on him, but all the controls work and he's super calm, so going to be a great first horse for Rachel. She has no intention of doing anything besides riding him at the house and down their dirt road for fun, plus her nieces and nephews will be able to ride him without their parents worrying.
However, he is a little bit stiff moving around, and he seems to be pretty tender footed especially on gravel. We talked about putting shoes on him a couple times in the summer when he'll be ridden more, but right now we're thinking he could benefit from some joint or anti inflammatory supplement. I've never bought supplements for anything besides my barrel horses, so I'm not exactly sure what ingredients we should be looking for when shopping for Ace. Obviously, we'd like to do this as reasonably priced as possible because Ace is not going to be ridden every day......probably more like 2 or 3 times a month.....so we can give him some bute if they're going to ride longer than normal. I was thinking MSM but are there other things we should also look for? |
|
| |
|
Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | Anyone? |
|
| |
|
Location: KS | I would start with MSM and see how he does on it. Thats what I feed my old horse and helps him. |
|
| |
|
Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | Fever - 2014-10-06 11:07 AM I would start with MSM and see how he does on it. Thats what I feed my old horse and helps him.
Good deal....I wasn't sure if all the other glucosamine, HA stuff was necessary on a non-barrel horse. |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 631
Location: Oologah, Oklahoma | I highly recommend Actiflex 4000. I have all mine on this because it's not very expensive. Plus it is guaranteed. |
|
| |
|
 Expert
Posts: 1379
Location: Coffeyville KS | MSM is what I would give him and fast track.....as far as his feed maybe after trimming on a schudule his feet will get better. Great job on saving him. |
|
| |
|
Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | kansas02 - 2014-10-06 3:25 PM MSM is what I would give him and fast track.....as far as his feed maybe after trimming on a schudule his feet will get better. Great job on saving him.
I got some MSM ordered - that stuff is really reasonable in terms of supplements!
I'm hoping the feet improve with regular attention. My guess is they probably hadn't been trimmed in several years when we picked him up. Poor guy - his teeth were terrible too. He's a sweetheart and Rachel is happy to have a horse of her own....Kyle had told her next spring she could look for one, but when we came up with one for free, he told Mom and I that would work too. |
|
| |
|
  Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | Vitamin C is a biggy for this. |
|
| |
Folks on-line