weight on foundered mare

My foundered mare who is also experiencing the loss of hair (on the other thread), is also losing condition.

She gets a lower quality grass hay, mineral block, salt block, lickit, and is now being given vitamins syringed orally to her. I dont know what else to do other than to give her oil via mouth to put some weight on her..

Since her last laminitis attack, I cannot give her any grain what so ever, and have to keep her on a basically hay only diet. She does eat some of her oat straw though.

I will be contacting my vet tommorrow for help on this, as she is also currently in foal. I will most likely be putting her down this summer, as despite all of the efforts by me, my vet, and my farrier... I think she has finally almost entirely given up. She was such a fighter, and I love her to death... I just cannot watch her suffer anymore. But I wont put her down in foal.

Regardless, I want her to be in as best of condition as I possibly can while she is still with me.... and she was up until now. She isnt herself anymore, and when I had her almost back to 100% (when I got her she couldnt walk, and within a year she was galloping in my fields, and was maintained by a manicured specifically for her pasture) she was fighting to live... But she has lost the spark she had in her eye, as if she is finally giving up in her battle with founder.

If anyone has any ideas on how to possibly bring up her condition, it would be greatly appreciated.

I posted on the other thread...

Lynn M. wrote:

I posted on the other thread...

lol I replied on the other thread

How about soaked beep pulp? I cannot feed my stallion a lot of grain or alfalfa since he had a mild case of laminitis.. I started him on the beet pulp and DAC oil to keep some weight on him. He is doing very well on this..

Bluejay wrote:

How about soaked beep pulp? I cannot feed my stallion a lot of grain or alfalfa since he had a mild case of laminitis.. I started him on the beet pulp and DAC oil to keep some weight on him. He is doing very well on this..

Well we were pondering about what to feed the poor girl.... cause she is just so skinny, and doesnt look in foal at all.. So I got a fecal test done on her, and she only has some small strongles to get rid of..... and We were suggested to make a gruel (sp?) for her, with bran.... I fed her this a couple days (she LOVED it lol) however, I thought that something was wrong with feeding horses bran.... but couldnt remember. then I remembered especially for pregnant mares, that bran is not good, because of the way bran effects the horses calcium and phosphorus levels.... so I stopped feeding her that and my vet said that was a good idea.

I have since then been feeding her soaked beet pulp with flax, and a cup of structure (Tiz Wiz with bioten) with some carrots apples, and some canola oil. She gets this daily... So hopefully we will see some improvement.

Thank you everyone!

That sounds YUMMY.. I do not give my horse aflalfa anymore either.. It really is about cutting out the sugar.. He gets Timmothy cubes. good orchard hay and his little bit of grain with the beet pulp. He needed to slim down some.

I also have an older mare that thinned down a bunch this winter. I put her on Cadence and she is coming along nicely.. No founder troubles with her.. She just stops eating.. She has nver had to worry about anything in her 21 yrs of life so she does what she wants too.. Drive me CRAZY

Bluejay wrote:

That sounds YUMMY.. I do not give my horse aflalfa anymore either.. It really is about cutting out the sugar.. He gets Timmothy cubes. good orchard hay and his little bit of grain with the beet pulp. He needed to slim down some.

I also have an older mare that thinned down a bunch this winter. I put her on Cadence and she is coming along nicely.. No founder troubles with her.. She just stops eating.. She has nver had to worry about anything in her 21 yrs of life so she does what she wants too.. Drive me CRAZY

lol, I'm starting to wish I was a horse! LOL all this pampering! jeez... I wish I had that life!

My mare has just lost more weight.... things are getting worse, so now I am basically giving her unlimited hay, plus the extra feed.... her prognosis is not good, so basically, just after she foals, Im putting her down. I'll hand rear that baby, I dont care... just cant sit and watch her go down hill anymore... its heart breaking.

Hopefully we can get some weight on her, she is laying down a lot now... so we are basically putting the hay where she can lay and eat. we will see.....

But thanks for all of your help!

I recently learned that Progressive will ship feeds I know it is expensive but don't know if they will across the border they do carry a vitamin/mineral supplement called
http://www.prognutrition.com/RejuvenaideLiquid.htm
that is similar to the foal aid I use at times mine is about $12 for I think a 5 day supply and I really think you are going to need it.
There is a girl on the Pleasure horse forum her screen name is DVM2B2005 name is Sommer her hubby is a big wig of Progressive (his father owns or used to own it) and she is a vet she will help you if you ask her.

Have you ever tried feeding rice bran? It's high fat. I fed it to a mare a few years ago. Added it to a pellet mash. Don't see any reason you couldn't add it to beet pulp.
My mash had senior feed pellets, rice bran, and canola oil. I boiled and soaked it. That mare looked like death warmed over. Could fit your fingers between her ribs. By spring, she looked like a living horse rather than a skeleton.
I got the rice bran at our local Co-op feed mill.