pasorider
05-31-2010, 12:14 AM
Mela, who is 19 yrs. old now, started loosing weight. I had left her with friends in Ms. for the summer and part of last winter. She was on lots of winter grass, plus hay, plus grain and she maintained her weight pretty good. She has been a little thin since her last baby 4 yrs. ago. Not skinny, but not at a good weight either. I brought her home in Feb. and she started loosing weight. She was being fed 2x a day with 10% sweet feed from TSC, soaked beet pulp, TNT Timothy Alfalfa chops and all the Bermuda hay she would eat. She continued to loose, slowly, but still loosing weight. We left La. April 21 for our new place in Illinois, and I had her at a friends for a week on pasture, still being fed 2x daily, grass and hay. Oh, I had also started giving her Cool Cal from Smart Pak and she has been on Senior Flex from them also. Now she was beginning to loose rapidly, even loosing all muscle tone. Her backbone, ribs and what I call the 2 horns on the top of her butt were really showing, and sinking around her withers. I took her to a very good Vet here and he ran extensive blood work and stool exam. Everything came back normal. Her coat was very dull, but she still had winter hair, so it was hard to tell if that was normal. He told me to put her on Equine Senior and alfalfa hay, feeding 6 x a day. Well, it has been about 3 weeks, and her coat is glistening, she has put on weight, still needs a little, but I am amazed. At first, she wouldn't eat but around 4 x but now she will eat 5x daily. She won't touch the 6th feeding, so I quit with that one. She has energy, but not hot like I expected her to be. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? We still don't know what was wrong, but I really thought she was dying. Now, I have my beautiful black mare back, and she is still one of the best rides I have ever had.