Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Silly Beau-y

Beau is eating more aggressively – diving into his senior feed and finishing almost all his hay pellets. His total feed for the day is 20 pounds of Purina Equine Senior and 12 pounds of orchard grass hay pellets. (I finally hauled the bathroom scale out to the barn and actually weighed it.) He has become very vocal at feeding time, and knows which gate to stand at for the begging!

He was a brave little man this morning when I put the flymask on from the off side. He wasn’t quite sure what I was doing to him, but he tolerated it nicely, pulling away only once to stuff some more in his mouth.

He does NOT have rainrot! YEA!!! It seems to only be an accumulation of dirt and dander from lack of grooming. After I brushed it out the other day, I put M-T-G on him. It’s oily and loosened the dirt and gunk, and lifted it to the surface. I took the stripping wand and pulled off the grimy, little mud balls off his back. Some hair came with it, but he looks better already. He does have a few little sores along his spine, but other than having bald patches, there’s no oozing sores.

I had to giggle at him last night. He was drinking and instead of pursing his lips like most horses, he used his upper lip and his tongue like a foal would. So cute!

He is totally mothered up with Angel, who, aside for tossing him an occasional pissy look, seems to be tolerating his presence. She is no longer charging the fence or baring her teeth at him.

He will be getting the top of his tail braided tonight. He’s pulling tail hairs into his sphincter when he poops. (Icky, I know) So, I’ll be braiding his tail for him so this won’t happen anymore.

He is looking a TON better, but you’ll have to wait until Saturday for new pictures!

I spoke with the wife of the former owner this afternoon. She admitted EXACTLY what Fugly always preaches about... CHECK UP ON YOUR HORSE!!! Beau was her daughter's horse, and the daughter now lives in the Seattle area. She is coming to Pasco to gather some more things, and to say a last goodbye to Beau. I told the mother that to see Beau in this condition would probably break her heart, BUT she needed to see what her father had done to her horse.

Beau's age is also in question and the subject of much debate between the people who knew him. His age is currently between 20 and 28 years old. Maybe the vet will be able to give me a better estimate.

15 comments:

Horse Filled Days said...

It's great that he's doing so well! That MTG is great stuff,I use it all the time on minor cuts and scratches, and it heals and grows the hair back in no time. That poor girl, she must be devastated that this has happened to one of her former horses, I don't know if I would ever get over it...so sad....

http://horsefilleddays.blogspot.com/

Karen V said...

I don't know that the daughter knows yet. I didn't ask.

Be sure to click on the ads...

Rachael said...

Can't wait to see pics! I'm glad to hear that he's doing great. :) I don't know what I'd do if I found out that something like this had happened to one of my former horses. But at least he's safe now.

Alee said...

Glad to hear he is doing so much better! OMG I can't imagine how much you feed bills are! Will Beau cut back once he is back up to healthy weight?

Karen V said...

Alee - YES! Right now he's getting fed at least double, maybe more. My husband had a point...the Senior Feed might be a little high in protein for him, so I'm cutting his amount in half and "pushing" the grass hay pellets.

Normally, the cost isn't such a hit if you're prepared for it. I wasn't expecting this.

Drillrider said...

I "bought back" two former horses (after a so-called rescue starved them) and at first (the first 3-4 months), they ate A LOT, but after gaining their weight back, I was able to cut back on their feed.

You are smart to cut back on the equine senior, as you don't want to create problems by too much concentrates. Better to load up on the hay pellets, with less senior feed.

I boarded at a barn where a horse foundered because of too much senior feed. The barn manager tried to tell the owners of the horse, but they wouldn't listen. It was very sad!

Alee said...

Encouraging the hay pellets sounds good to me too. Are you buying in bulk from a feed manufacturer?

Nikker said...

I clicked on all the adds...I am not sure if they are things Beau needs or if they help you help him...if they are helping you help him, I will click on them everyday!! LOL!! (: If they are things Beau needs, please let me know in what order of importance they rank! Will be happy to order one for him!

Drillrider said...

I used Equerry's Plus also:

http://www.equerrys.com/plus.htm

It is a combination of vitamins, minerals, yeast culture, probiotics, and biotin (for hooves) that I found very helpful in rejuvenating the loss of "everything" in starving horses.

It is relatively inexpensive too!

Alee said...

The way adsense works is that it picks key words off the website or blog that it is on and targets ads towards those topics. So words like horse will get ads targeted towards equine services. Clicking the ads gives a few cents per click and more for more time spend on the site the ad takes you to. The person who is hosting the site/blog can get a check sent to them after they earn something like $100

Nikker said...

Alee- Thank you for the info! Good to know...I'll wander around their pages as I have time!

fuglyhorseoftheday said...

>>Better to load up on the hay pellets, with less senior feed. <<

Yep. Lots of hay pellets, just a bit of senior for flavor. Especially until you have x rays and really know what you are dealing with.

You can also flavor the pellets with apple or carrot shreds. I take a potato peeler to a carrot. :-)

Alee said...

Fugs- you need a food processor with a grater setting (often advertised as for cheese), They shred carrots and apples in about 2 seconds with minimal juice loss.

Karen V said...

nikkers Baby Doll - I just love you! I haven't even met you yet, but I love you! Right now, I'm only adding the probiotic, and the daily dewormer. *baby steps* Besides, you have already helped so much, I hate asking for more!

I am not buying the hay pellets in bulk. BUT - since I DO have a vaild business license (from a failed on-line retail business - long frickin story!), I probably COULD. Depends on the cost and the minimum order. I know Purina has a 6 ton minimum total order. YIKES, can't do THAT, but the pellet dudes are here pretty much local, so I will look into that.

Nikker said...

I promise I won't do more than I can afford to! ( : Plus I'm asking you, you are not asking me!! ( ; Just know I'm happy to help when I can!