.
"...sellers said she was 14.2hh, but she looks more like 14hh...six years
(old) ...a bit long in the back....drafty type. She is more figety than I
imagined...quite a chore to groom and adjust bridle...is ribby and looks like
she needs a layer of fat all over...seller had lost his job over a year
ago...had stopped feeding grain in the winter as well...lack of quality feed
shows. She looks wormy too..."
.
Don't let the slightly smaller size alarm you - Haffies can handle it, with
ease! ;-) My own girl is (measure by me) 13.2 hands now, short
backed, and drafty built. I am a hair under 5' but not aaaaah, skinny myself
;-) ( EllieMae & I, near the top of the Continental Divide, in the
Colorado Rocky Mountains - _www.rockymountaintrails.net/TrailBuddies_
(http://www.rockymountaintrails.net/TrailBuddies) ) Ellie carries me over some
pretty rugged terrain without breaking a sweat - they are hardy and strong
little horses! ;-)
.
When Ellie came home, our vet rated her barely a 2 on the 1-10 scale -- for
a Haffie to look emaciated, is saying quite starved. The sellers were a
family moving out of the continental U.S. - they basically just stopped
feeding her. She was a bit thin when I saw her that winter, and put the money
down on her ... and a month later when I picked her up (had to wait for a
break in the mountain winter storms to get back to her) ... she was
emaciated. Give your girl a good worming, bring up her body weight - she'll come
back for you! :-) Haffies are very easy keepers - my girl gets chubby
on air, LOL! (Honestly, there's no excuse for someone who lets a Haffie
get that thin - they *do* stay healthy easily.)
.
"...am thinking ... what ...kind of weight gain feed..."
.
Ellie's complete recovery - and in pretty short time, too! - was very
very simple. After checking with the vet that she did not need her teeth
floated (so that was not an excuse from the prior owner's either) .... I gave
her 2 flakes of plain grass hay in the morning and again at night (4
total), plus Senior Equine pellets in a 3lb coffee can snd soaked in simply water
(so was oatmeal consistency) ... free choice clean water, free choice
mineral block (equine type from any feed store) and salt block (same source.)
The senior equine pellets have the extra fatty content that's helpful.
That's ALL that I did for her - and in just over 2 months, she went from an
emaciated "2" back to a healthy "6" (vet monitored her, very helpful!)
.
Right now, I have a foster horse here - Rusty is a 20 yr old
who-knows-what-breed, a gelding. ( www._rockymountaintrails.net/Heidi3_
(http://rockymountaintrails.net/Heidi3) ) His former owner let him get into this type of
horrid shape, too - using the excuse he has lost his job, blah blah blah.
Frankly, a person should sell / give away *before* they come to this shape
- that's responsible ownership. Rusty's owner was going to shoot him -
literally - when Heidi (my friend) took him in. Heidi has the funds to
provide his feed but working two jobs she did not have the time to nurse him
back to health. I have the space (private stall with yard), and the time (my
business is closed for the winter, so I'm home most of the time), plus I
could provide the goat milk (I raise dairy goats, too.) That's how Rusty
comes to be fostered here for about two months - I'm helping Heidi to nurse
Rusty back to good health ;-)
Anywhooo, Rusty, much like my Haffie Ellie was when she came home - is in
pretty bad shape, due to the prior owner's lack of feeding. The only thing
new apart from Ellie's simple feed-plan that I added, is goat milk. I mix
a quart of goat milk, plus water, into the equine senior pellets - to an
oatmeal consistency. Goat milk is known for being used for all sorts of
breeds of animals, high in healthy easy-to-digest butter fat. Rusty LOVES his
"senior soup mix", twice a day ... and it's doing WONDERS for him.
.
So, the "formula" I use is neither expensive nor difficult. Good hay,
mineral block, salt block, water --- NO grain (NOT a good idea!!) No beat
pulp, none of that sort of thing was ever needed for Ellie. I just checked
that her teeth were not in need of a float, and gave her good basic food.
For a Haffie, you can easily skip the goat milk - Ellie didn't have it, and
look how good she's doing! ;-) And yes, she was almost as bad as Rusty
is, in the photos of his first day here. Rusty's breed (whatever it is) is
not as hardy as a Haffie, which is why I added the goat milk booster.
.
"...Feet are all different sizes too!..."
.
As for feet - just get your farrier to come out - see is a simple
corrective trim will get him back on track. It might take 4-8 months, depending on
how bad it is .... but in most cases, a series of corrective trims will
get the hooves balanced again. I did not do any special feeding to return
Ellie's nasty feet back - just got her onto an every 8weeks trim program -
and she's now solid again. Same for Rusty, who also had every hoof at a
different angle, different lengths - REALLY sloppy work, and a long time since
he'd had it done, too.
.
"...She was buddy sour to the horse she was with and refused to go anywhere
alone..."
.
Sounds like one part insecurity, trying to figure out her place in her new
home ... and one part testing. Our big Haffies are known for their
"pony-tude" (aka attitude) ... but that is also a part of their charm ;-)
My job these last 13 yrs, has been working with ponies (Welsh, Shetlands,
Minis, etc.) I do about 150 kids' home birthday parties (pony rides) from
Feb. to Nov. One thing I know, is "ponies"! ;-) (
_www.APonyRidePlus.com_ (http://www.APonyRidePlus.com) )
.
Ellie went from very very quiet and amiable (not surprising since she had
no energy to be onery with) ... to back in health and full of herself. We
went through ground work, respect exercises, bonding exercises. It took
about two months of this, when the "inner Ellie" came out. I think it's as
important to form the bond between rider and horse, as it is for the ground
work / manners reminder. It's all "interwoven" - how can our Haffies
respect us, if they don't know us as a worthwhile "leader"? ;-) As we need
to trust them, they need to know we can be trusted to lead them. :-)
.
Hang in there Annie! Do your "homework" of building her body back up,
and build that bond/trust as a worthwhile leader ... and your mare will be
that Haffie you were looking for! :-)
.
Sher & EllieMae in CO
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Community email addresses:
Post message: haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: haflingerfriends-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: haflingerfriends-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: haflingerfriends-owner@yahoogroups.com
Shortcut URL to this page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/haflingerfriendsYahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/haflingerfriends/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/haflingerfriends/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
haflingerfriends-digest@yahoogroups.com
haflingerfriends-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
haflingerfriends-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
