Advice needed on extremely thin horse I have rescued! please help!

[hickerybobp]

Ok, so I found an advert advertising a 19 year old trakehner, retired dressage mare suitable for hacking and light schooling... sounded perfect. Only when I went to view the horse it was not at all what I was expecting. She was just a thin tired old mare in a field with almost no grass or shelter. I went home after just a few minutes but then thought about it for a few days and so yesterday, against my better judgement (and VERY much against my partners better judgement) I went back and purchased her out of pity, i just couldnt leave her there in that state. (I didnt pay much for her)
She's very very underweight, I didnt see her without a rug on until I unloaded her and she has lost a lot of muscle from her bum and you can see her spine along her back.
She has stringhalt (i was aware if this before) but traveling her seemed to aggrevate it a bit and made it worse.
When unloaded from the trailer she was very stressed and out of breath, I think she may have a breathing problem as she was roaring a little.
I also wasnt told that she weaves, when I put her in her stable she began to weave a lot, she was so distressed she even did it facing the wall. I gave her her feed and she ignored it in favour of weaving.
I looked on her passport and the horse is actually 22...

This morning I rugged her up and put her out in the field with my little welshie as she was still very unhappy being stabled, she seems a lot more relaxed now and even had a little jog about but really I want to stable her at night.

I'm currently feeding her small amounts twice a day on speedibeet, calm and condition, and some chaff mixed in. She also has as much hay as she can eat in her stable and available in the field, the field she is in has good grass though and she is more interested in that at the moment.

Any advice on any of her problems would be greatly appreciated. sorry for length :(

thanks everybody

Its great she has found a good home just a word of caution refeeding syndrome can be an issue in strarved horses.
www.starvinghorses.com/Refeedingsyndrome.html.
I have seen it once before, it may be wise to get vet advice on a feeding program, best of luck.

Thanks for the advice, If I cut back her feed do you think I should buy a tub of balancer to improve the quality of the small portions?

If she doesn't like being in I'd leave her out with good rugs. If she's getting stressed while in she's not going to get the benefit of her feed and may even be more likely to colic, plus it won't be doing her breathing any good.
I agree a cautionary vet visit would be a good idea as it wouldn't hurt to get her teeth checked if she has been so neglected, plus you will be able to ask advice about any other worries, like worming.
Good luck with her, hopefully you will find a lovely horse in there once she is sorted out and it will all be worth it. I once took on a pony for the same reasons as you, he was starving and lame and I felt sorry for him (bought his saddle, got him thrown in free) but he turned out to be a wonderful character and my best friend for 23 years, best thing I ever did! I must admit, we didn't do anything special (don't think he was quite as bad as yours, though he was really thin his breathing was ok), just took it slowly so we didn't overload his system and it didn't really take long for him to blossom. It was this time of year too, with spring not far off and Dr Green soon did his magic.

We have a veteran (much loved and cared for, I hasten to add, still very fit and in full work) who struggles a bit to keep his weight on in the winter and has previously had laminitis. Last year I used Bailey's outshine combined with speedibeet, with success, but I am now using Equi Jewel (plus speedibeet) and am really pleased with it. There are two really old horses at the yard also on the same, and doing really well. It's high fat stabilised rice bran and high calories for small volume. Introduce slowly, and I'd feed a balancer as well (I just always give a balancer to all our horses so I know they've got their vitamins and minerals)

Dear Hickory,

You have been very kind to this horse.... bless you for taking her on. You have also had really good advice from everybody here.... specially Pixel - and a vet visit seems to be a must.

I am not big on feeding horses anything other than fibre, but do have a 17 year old IDxTB that really struggled to keep his weight on last winter. This year I have fed him Spillers Senior Conditioning Mix and it really seems to be working (or maybe it is the fact that we have had a milder winter...)

Keeping her out, in company, with natural shelter/rugs sounds like a really good idea too if she is stressed about being in a stable.

Good luck with her - I am sure she will pay it back 10 fold! Let us know how you get on.

I did something similar in August and we are just starting to see the results of some decent feeding. The mare I bought is 21yrs old, hasn't done anything work wise for a couple of years, well hadn't until we got her. We had her checked by the vet, all fine, teeth are awful but dentist has advised against working on them after all this time, she also cribs.

She is fed on hifi, baileys's number 1, and veteran vitality (allen and page), her feeds have gradually been increased to what I would call normal quantities and hse has as much hay as she can eat. We have also started working her, very gently and only in walk but lots of country roads and some slight hills.

She is now also rugged up as she should be and the results are showing, she looks so much better than when we got her.

It will however take time, ime, you need to feed to put the weight on but need to do it slowly, work imo is also very important as the muscles waste so quickly and the fat has nothing to cling to.

Good luck and I'm sure it will all be worth it, our girl has turned out to be a real gem and has the kindest nature.

I did similar. I can recommend Biocare, from Falcon. It's excellent. It has the highest oil content of any of the feeds we looked at, a good range of vitamins, and for a stressed weaver, is totally non heating. We feed it to all of ours, from a mini Shetland, right up to an 18hh warm mood youngster, and none of them ever gets fizzy! You don't need to feed much, warm blood is on a scoop a day plus chaff, to maintain his weight.
The pony we took on was very thin, but is filling out nicely on it, slowly and steadily.
Falcon also does a great chaff that lasts for ages, and there is a rice option for sensitive souls! They are the only feed company that I'd recommend!

Hi all, thanks for the advice and support. I thought I might regret buying her with so many issues but I really dont, she's so sweet she she really wants to do what she's asked to. I'm having the vet out to do her teeth and give her a check over.
This morning she was eager to get out with her friends, but I have found her weaving is much less severe if I stable my welshie next door and leave the doors open.
Has anybody here ever dealt with stringhalt before? I know it cant be treated, and she has had it all her life (apparently). I'm just wondering if anybody has any tips? especially when it comes to picking up her back feet. This morning I picked up her front feet, and bless her she tried to lift her back foot for me by herself, but she didnt have the strength in her other back leg to support herself so I put her foot down quickly :( that was really sad. I was also worried that if she did the stringhalt twitch with her other leg she might land on me! my farrier is going to love me!
Thanks again everybody

I've only ever known one pony with stringhalt and that was years ago so I know very little about it I'm afraid. I don't remember it really affecting him much though, he would sometimes snatch his legs up as he crossed the yard but it certainly didn't affect his ridden work, he was a nutter and could go all day! Could just have been a mild case though?

Do you know if she is up to date with worming? She won't be able to put much weight on if she is full of worms so get that sorted first.
Turn out as much as possible as she sounds like she gets quite stressed in stable
Have a routine - feed, turn out, bring in etc at same times every day. This will help with the stress and encourage her to eat more and relax
Try warm boiled barley, good for older horses that may not have great teeth, warming and good for putting weight on.
Good luck, you is very lucky to have you, poor thing

Ooh yes, good one! I forgot we used to feed nice warm barley to our oldies in the winter . We used cooked flaked barley though as you don't have to actually boil it up, just put some boiling water on it from the kettle and leave for a few minutes so it goes a bit porridgy.