She is on free choice grass hay. She has been dewormed and her feet trimmed. 4 days ago, I started her on a supplement called Tribute Essential K, at the rate of 3.5 to 4 lbs a day. This is a video I took today.
Her muscles are like jelly, no muscle tone. I expect that riding her regularly will be what is needed there. She is still gaunt in the flanks. She isn't skinny, she just isn't thriving. Very slow improvement after 5 weeks here compared to Belle at 5 weeks when I brought her home. So I am hoping the Essential K will give her the boost she needs. Another point is that I feel that I wasted my money taking her to the local vet to get her teeth done. She still can't hold her feed in her mouth, it dribbles out when she eats her ration, so I have to make sure she keeps her mouth over the bucket; and she is still getting wads when she chews her hay. I can see them in the water tub after she drinks. The other horses don't do that. That might be part of the problem of why she isn't gaining like I thought she would. I'm pretty sure it's because he didn't touch her incisors and I would bet the molars are not quite touching. So I guess I'll have to find someone else and get her redone, I won't take her back to that vet.
Way too gaunt for my liking. I'll do a weekly update on her and hopefully we shall see improvement!
8 comments:
If anyone can get Gussie back on track, it's you! Looking forward to seeing her progress.
Isn't it worth talking to the Vet that did her teeth? Ask for a redo...free:)
You don't know our vet Far Side..... he would do her again, probably not for free, but why take her to someone who didn't do it right the first time?
You know how to get your horses looking and feeling good. I'm going to try that flab test on my horses. Sorry about the float not going right.
Boy, she is flabby there. Doesn't look skinny, just not good. Have you had them check for a periodontal pocket which could be causing her pain? That could explain the problem chewing her feed properly. Does she move her mouth around oddly, like she's trying to get something out that's stuck?
With you in charge of Gussie, I'm hopeful she'll make a full turn-around. Good food and lots of exercise is what's good for all of us! :) Speaking personally of course...
C-ingsport- you would think that since it was a vet who did her teeth, if there were any strange things going on in there he would have noticed. This is why I prefer certified equine dentists to vets for this job- I don't get general practitioners to do my teeth, why should a vet be the only one legally allowed to do a horse's teeth. Our equine dentist had a cease and desist order slapped on him by the vet's association in this province.
An 'equine 'dentist' once took all the ridges off my mare's molars and I rang the vet because her usually good condition was dropping away. Until they grew back, I had to feed her porridge made from parboiled rice (as recommended by my vet) to help get her condition back up without needing much chewing. I was ropeable! The guy was much lauded by local horse people, but my vet knew exactly what had happened as soon as I told him who had done the job, because he had done it to other horses too. Just one of the lessons I have had to learn that plenty of positive word of mouth does not equal good when it comes to horse people.
TL, the equine dentist we used to use does a very good job. This local vet does very few horses. I don't consider him to be a good horse vet.
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