We adopted a new horse today

[Ottakee]

We adopted a 26 year old horse from a local therapeutic riding center today. BJ is in need of some TLC. The director had a serious accident and can't get out to do chores and the volunteers weren't able to keep up with his special care.

He has only a few teeth so needs a special diet and feedings 3-4 times a day. He is a little underweight right now but will be a nice looking horse with a few more pounds on him.

Check out my blog at www.xanga.com/ottakee for some pictures.

He will be a private therapy mount for my special needs 12 year old and 11dd to share. He will only do light riding but is a wonderful babysitter type horse.

[Cindyg]

Wow. What a nice horse mom you are!

It's always interesting for me to see pictures of older horses. Here's a website on caring for elderly horses.

[Ottakee]

The website didnt' come through. I am interested in it though.

Wow. What a nice horse mom you are!

It's always interesting for me to see pictures of older horses. Here's a website on caring for elderly horses.

[TwinMominTX]

That is great that he is a rescue, but will also help add to your "riding" stable. Our oldest horse is 18, but she is an OLD 18 - literally rode hard and put up wet. It is amazing what a little TLC has done for her in the last several months.

Thanks for rescuing this horse. May he live out his last days in peace! :o

TK

[Ottakee]

The math of the day is figuring out WHAT to feed him, in what amounts, for what cost. Enough numbers to make your head spin.

[Cindyg]

Oh, duh! Sorry! Here, let me try again:

http://www.equineelders.org/comparefeeds.htm

[Ottakee]

I think we have figured out what he will be getting.

Buckeye Senior complete feed
Buckeye Ultimate Finish (oil supplement)
Beet pulp pellets---soaked
Alfalfa pellets--soaked

He just seems so hungry. We don't want to over do it though at first and shock his system. We are weaning from what he was on to our goal of the Buckeye Senior as his main feed.

We are also feeding him 4 times a day instead of the 1 he was getting.

He needs a good bath and likely "boy" cleaning but it is so cold and windy now that really isn't an option.

[Cindyg]

Feeding him 4 times a day will make a difference even if you don't feed him any MORE. Does he have pretty steady access to hay or grass in between the 4 feedings? Or did you say he can't really eat hay?

I have an automatic feeder that drops grain every three hours around the clock for my guys. I love this. They now make a model that drops (a tiny amount of) grain as often as every hour around the clock. If mine every breaks down, or if Ivan gets to where he can't chew hay, that's what I'm getting next time!

If you're interested in the automatic feeder, the company is called Sweeney. (http://www.sweeneyfeeders.com/home.php?cat=7&sort=price&sort_direction=1) I've been using a Sweeney feeder for many years, and it's a wonderful product. If you're interested, call them, and they're very helpful.

Good luck with your new guy.

[Ottakee]

This feeding thing has us really thinking. He wasn't getting enough and only being fed once a day. We are trying to switch him over, make sure he gets enough to eat, but not too much where we shock his system either.

He has some soft grass hay out for him but he quids it so no real nutrition from it. We still have 1-3 feet of snow here so NO pasture yet--what isn't covered in snow is covered knee deep or more in water.

The feeder sounds neat. Problem is that we are, at least for now, making his food into a mash. Once it warms up we might try just the pellets but he seems to drop more then and with the price of senior feed, I need him to eat what I buy.

He got a good brushing this morning by my friend and her daughter this morning and they took his blanket off him for a while. He had had the blanket on 24/7 for weeks or months now.

I will try to post some more pictures later. He is missing hair on the side of his face where his halter was on--likely for years without being removed. He has marks on his nose too from it--not too tight, just rub marks. He is very easy to catch so we will just halter him to bring him in and lead him out, otherwise he won't wear a halter.

It IS interesting that my girls who are 4'4" or so tall have the TALLEST horse in the barn. He is 15.3hh and my horse is only 15hh.

[Remudamom]

hey, good deal. i'm sick, have to catch up later.

[Cindyg]

Yikes. They were only feeding him once a day! Can you imagine only eating once a day yourself? And for a grazing animal, that's just awful! That would have been very stressful to him -- both physically and emotionally.

And, no, I can't think of any way to get mush through the automatic feeder. LOL! But keep thinking about it. The senior food is really soft, and it's possible that if he were eating more times a day, you could actually get by on less food. I haven't actually studied that out; but it seems sensible. In nature, they would eat a very small amount of very low calorie food nearly 24/7. (I've read that in nature, horses only sleep a few hours a night.)

Well, whatever. I'm sure he's better off with you. It sounds like he's been terribly neglected.

[Ottakee]

We are hoping he will do well with 4-5 feedings a day. We have to soak the beet pulp pellets so we just add water to that and the grain to make a mush. My friend where we board loves a challenge and has a heart for hurting horses (and kids). He is getting EXCELLENT care.

He had good care until the director of the therapeutic riding center got injured and had surgery. She can't even get out of the house to the barn. They were depending on volunteers and then some wouldn't show up, didn't know what they were doing, etc. That is why BJ was available for adoption.

I am hoping, for my pocketbook, that he will do well on less senior grain once he gets to a good weight and is feed 4 times a day. He will get his grain at 7 and 4 and then soaked alfalfa pellets at noon and 9pm. If he tolerates the oils well, we ill increase those as they are a great source of calories and he needs them. I can feed up to 6 cups of the Ultimate Finish a day but we are starting with 1/3 cup twice a day and working up to 1 cup twice a day and see from there.

Any other hints are welcome. Later today or tomorrow I will try to post some pictures of him without his blanket to get some ideas of his body score. He is a thinner built horse though, unlike my bull dog quarter horse.