It is always a very sad situation to find a horse that is malnourished and in desperate need of care. Losing weight to a horse is very similar to losing weight in humans. Basically, fat is lost first and then the malnourishment goes on to break down muscle tone. When you find that you have come to care for a horse that has been undernourished, there are many things that you can do in order to help them get back to a healthy weight.

To begin with, you can always work with your veterinarian to see if there are any special treatments that may be helpful to the horse. Your veterinarian can check to see if there is anything else wrong with the horse such as dental problems, which can lead to a lessening of appetite. Once any other problems are ruled out, you can then work on a decent diet to help bring the horse's weight back up to normal.

Always be sure to offer plenty of hay as added roughage for the horse to consume. When you find that the horse is not grazing well with the hay, you can always look to your local feed store to try certain partial hay replacers to help them out with added diet. You can also bring in an extra supplement of feed compared to what you would normally offer the horse. Bringing in extra calories and feed that is higher in fiber can help their diet without having any adverse affects on their behavior.

Labels: horse-care

Just as with humans, it is important to take care of your horse's teeth. Not only will regular check ups and dental care help to ensure that everything remains healthy as your young horse grows, but you can also help to get your horse used to their mouth being handled and worked with. When you are looking to make sure that your horse has regular dental check ups, there are a couple of things that you can keep in mind to make sure that you are working with a good schedule.

You can make sure that your veterinarian does a check on your young foal to see if they have the right amount of teeth, with twenty-four being the normal number. This will help to ensure that nursing will go smoothly with the mother horse as well. Once the horse gets to be a couple of years older, the permanent teeth will begin to come in. A veterinarian check at this time is also a good idea to make sure that they are coming through properly without and irritations or obstructions.

As a horse grows older, somewhere around six years and older, it is important to have regular dental check ups with your veterinarian still to make sure that there are no signs of damage to the teeth. This can also be a good time for any repairs including shaving down rough edges on the teeth. Your horse will be much happier with a healthy mouth and teeth that can last them a lifetime.

Labels: horse-care