how to get a horse to gain weight

i have a two year old gelding and i bought him on the skinny side i give him hay, grain, treats, i don't work him a whole lot and he has 18 acres of pasture to roam and he still wont gain weight. I have wormed him and the vet looked at him and told me to keep doing what i am doing but it is not working what should i do?

Answer: Well I need a lot more information before I know how to answer that question. For instance, what kind of feed do you feed him? How much does he weigh? How long have you had him? If you haven't had him for very long, it will take him a while to put his weight back on. The feed that you feed him will have a lot to do with it too. I feed my horses strategy, and they are all fat and healthy. If your vet says he's ok, then it will probably just take a while.

My horse's legs are redish-pink and the skins falling off what do you think it is?

by Daniella
(Minnesota madison 56256)

Mojave's legs are a little better but the fly's are just killing him?

Answer: That's probably what it is. Fly's and gnats will tend to bite the same area's over and over again. This will make the skin very irritated and will eventually make huge sores.

You should put some type of antibiotic cream on the wounds and then get some fly spray to keep the flys off her.

How do I know which plants are poisonous in my pasture?

by Tina
(Montgomery, AL)

There are a lot of plants in my pasture and there is a lady that lives right across the fence, who has a lot of flowers planted in her back yard that my horses can reach. How do I know if they are poisonous?

when pasturing horses and cattle together in the same pasture, how should the worming regimine change?

by liz
(ny)

I will be moving to north carolina from ny with my two horses and have heard that if you leave horses to graze in a pasture with cattle, you have to change the worming schedule, but am not sure what needs changing. Any help?

Answer: I don't know what schedule you are using now, but I would de-worm my horses every three months. Make sure at the beginning of the summer months, you use something to control bots. As long as you stick to that schedule you should be fine.

What's an easy fix for horse dandruff?

by Emma
(Seattle, WA)

I'm a member of the USPC (united states pony club) and when I'm showing at Rally's I always get exceeds expectations on my formal inspection, but the one comment I ALWAYS get with my black mare is that she has dandruff in her mane!

I've tried shampooing her with dandruff shampoo before our shows and I've also tried spraying her mane with Listerine (a suggestion from a judge), but nothing so far works.

Answer: First you should have your vet check it out and make sure that it is dandruff.

There could be many different things going on here. If it is dandruff, it could be caused by leaving soap residue on the skin after bathing. If you don't get all the soap off then it will dry out the skin.

It could also be dermatitis or seborrhea. In this case an antibiotic cream may be needed.

If it is in-fact just plain old dandruff. Try Santa Fe Instant detangler. It's made for untangling mane and tail, but it has an oily feel to it and it will soften the skin and maybe get rid of the flakes. Let me know what happens!

My horse is drinking too much water and urinating a lot, why?

by Enrique
(México)

My horse is a 14 months old quarter horse, he is HYPP + non symptomaic so far, I just buy him and was great, I live in México and he has to stay for a while in the border, when he arrived he was full of parasites, way too skinny, all his bones where visible, he was changing his winter coat, he was in a very bad shape.

He has been dewormed and is gaining an average of 1.3 pound a day since he arrived, he has almost changed all his winter coat by now and is looking good, he needs to gain more pounds an muscle but is going fine.

The thing is that he is drinking too much water and urinating a lot, we need to change his beeding almost once a week, why could this be?

He is gaining pound, his coat looks good, he is acting like a normal horse, he is not doing excersice until now because he was too weak, the wheather es hot now but it is not affecting any of my other horses not even a stallion that came along with the colt form US.

He is feeding free amount of hay and 14 % protein commercial horse food.

Do you have any sugestion?

Tanks.

Answer: I'm not really sure what you mean by too much water. How much is too much?

His bedding should be changed once a week anyway if he is kept stalled.

I really don't know how to answer this question because I don't know exactly how much water he drinks. A horse can drink up to 30 gallons of water a day. And the more he drinks, the more he pees!

Why is my gelding's throutlatch swelled and hard

Last week I noticed that my horse's throatlatch had a hard, large lump on either side, however, a couple of days after it was just on one side. It's back and so swelled his bridle dosen't fit very well. Otherwise, he hasn't acted or looked sick or out of the ordinary. Should I call the vet or is it nothing serious? He has had a tumor in his eye and it had to be removed, but nothing relating to his throat.

Answer: Better call the vet, it could be a tumor or it could be Strangles. Either way it doesn't sound good.

Can you worm a foal as young as a week old?

by Judy Holbert
(Spokane WA USA)

Baby is rubbing his bun on the fence. to the point of rubbing hair off. He did have a sore bottom from a case of diahira which looks ok now. Cleaned him and treated with diaper rash ointment

Is it safe to treat him a dewormer, of course based on his weight.

Answer: Most wormers recommend that you start at 6 to 8 weeks of age. I suggest that you consult your vet before giving a foal any type of medication. It would be very easy to overdose a foal, and you certainly don't want to do that. So please, check with a vet first.

Girthing up, horse shoes and eye

by Susan Kmet
(Mt Whitestone. QLD. AUSTRALIA)

When girthing up the saddle my horse seems to object by hitting her teeth against the wooden rail. I always girth up slowly to ensure she doesn't get pinched. The last couple of holes is where she "complains". Do you have any suggestions? She is never girthed up too tight, only to ensure the saddle doesn't slide when mounting. I thought she might have pain, but running hand over the area doesn't result in any problem.


Answer: Sounds like you have what they call a cinchy horse. Have you always owned this horse? Maybe she had a bad experience with a cinch before. Try putting a rope around her, where the cinch would normally be. Pull the rope tight, then release, try this a couple of times and see how she reacts.

re: horse shoes.

I live on a property in Qld Australia. The property is quite rocky and there are a lot of rocky hills. Is it better to keep my horse shod or barefoot? I notice even with shoes on she knocks her hoofs around.


Answer: Is she a pasture horse or is she stalled most of the time? If this is her natural habitat, where she roams freely all the time, I would say that she is used to it.

If she is kept stalled most of the time and only ridden out on the rocky slope, then shoes may be needed.

If you have a good farrier, he should be able to tell you if your horse has good hard feet. I would watch her closely and if her feet don't appear to get soar or worn down alot, I would leave the shoes off.

re: eye

Recently my horse had an infection in her eye ie watery and a lot of accumulation of what appeared to me like conjunctivitis. I obtained cream from the vet and the condition went away. It has returned again with a lot of mucous in the eye. Is it normal for horses to get eye infections and what is the best way to deal with same other than ointment??

Answer: I have one horse that seems to get eye infections more than any of the others. But I always go to the vet and he gives me the ointment and it usually clears up. Thats about all I know to do for it.

Thanks for your assistance.

Brood Mare back to trail rider

by Judy Holbert
(Spokane WA)

I have a 16 year old brood mare who has just had here last foal. She has not been ridden since she was 3 years old.
Her back bone is pronounced and rib cage shows even with efforts to fatten her up. Even so she still looks pretty healthy, just maybe has lost a lot of muscle tone with all of the years of carrying babies.
I would like to try and get her back on the trail. Do think there is hope?
She is in a large pasture 10 acres with 7 other horses and gets to move around a lot, actually she has a tendency to pace, that may be why I can't keep weight her.
Very sweet and beautiful.

Answer: My mare did the same thing last year. After she had her colt, she lost a lot of muscle mass. She is 16 also. I started feeding her Strategy, Equine Senior is good also. I also got her a supplement for building muscle (something high in protein). She is now back up to 1050 lbs. She looks great! Try that and see if it doesn't help. You should start now, especially with winter coming on she will probably loose more weight.

What are some things that are safe to feed my horse?

by Jeffery
(Austin, Texas)

I would like to know if there is anything that I can feed my horse besides peppermints, carrots and apples? I'm sure he gets tired of the same old treats all the time. I'm scared to feed him anything else, because I don't know if it's safe.