# What do you think of my horse? Just for fun



## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Actually, i think he does look like a standardbred lol especially in the face. Their head is usually what gives them away.
As for his conformation, he's got a nice shoulder on him and plenty of depth through his girth
Can't say much about his front legs without him standing perfectly square, but nothing bad is popping out at me
High in the wither and rather flat-backed
Long in the back as well with a very short slope from the point of his croup to his croup
Again not standing square, but i think he would have slightly sickled-hocks regardless. Many standardbred's i have seen do


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## Enfocore (Oct 20, 2012)

His withers are the worst for bareback lol. Do you have any sugestions for putting weight on stbs? Thanks so much
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## rookie (May 14, 2012)

He kinda has my horses croup. Do you know his breeding and/or registered name? For getting weight on him. What is he being fed? how often and how much? is he being pasture fed or stall fed? How long have you had him? When were his teeth done? Who were his teeth done by ie a vet (who can tranquilize and get the back teeth) or an equine dentist? I would also ask how he is in the stall and have you ruled out ulcers? I have encountered a few thin standardbreds and I really like sentinel performance LS. Its a extruded feed so its kind of fluffy and the nutrients are easier for them to access. You have to give more by weight (ie two scoops instead of one) but they use more of those two scoops then they would the one.


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

This horse needs groceries. Best to get high quality hay or supplement his current hay with some Alfalfa Cubes. Add some corn oil to his grain (boosts calories) or supplement with fortified Wheat Germ oil. 

Long back, round sickle hocks are the first things I notice. 

More weight will help with bareback riding too.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I think he looks textbook Standardbred. He will be lovely once he is fed up a bit.


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Alfalfa cubes are good supplement. They were excellent for putting weight back on my old arab mare the other winter when hay wasnt as good.
There are also several store-bought supplements and beet pulp, though you may have to mix that with something sweet for awhile for i have never personally met a horse that would eat it plain at first.


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## Enfocore (Oct 20, 2012)

His race name is enforcore.ive had him sice july 1,2012. We feed him 1 coffe can of show ration morning and one at night. He has acess to hay all day and night. He has a run in stall so he is in and out of the stall. We feed him inside. Im not sure of the last time his teeth were done but it was probably by a vet. When he is in his stall he likes to pace in it. I have not thought of ulcers because we found the reason for he weight loss, we were bording him at a place that did not feed himvery much, and every time we asked them to up his feed they ignored us .so now we moved so we can take care of him ourselves. We had him out of there for around 2-2.5 months. But have been finding it hard to cover his ribs. He has a belly but ribs are still showing. I took more pictures today i will put them on. Thanks!!
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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

Feeding a horse is more than a "can of" grain and free choice hay. What does the can of grain weigh? What is the Neutral detergent fiber in the hay? What is its protien and energy? What is its digestability (NDF can help you know that). 

How many POUNDS of hay is he eating? 

After feeding dairy cattle for years and years it never ceases to amaze me how little (Often very knowledgeable abnd experienced) horse people know about what they are feeding! 

TEST the hay. Usually your local Cooperative Extension or Feed store will take cores and send it out for testing. READ the label on the feed bag so you know the Calories you are feeding. Test the hay so you know how much of the feed value of that hay the horse can utilize. Hay in the Northeastern US loses most of its protein value between June 1 and June 15. That same hay, if uncut until July also loses digestability after June 15.. (depending on the grass breed.. Timothy loses feed value and becomes stalky and undigestable and Smooth Brome retains digestability but loses feed value). 

If you know what you are feeding, you will know how much of what you need to add so the horse has a better shot at gaining or maintaining proper weight. 

I do not mean to be berating the OP, Enfocore, but everyone who says, "Oh I feed two cans of grain and 4 flakes of hay" to ol' Dobbin is telling me they have no idea what Ol' Dobbin needs.


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## sadiescreek (Oct 19, 2012)

He is looking great, compared to what he was like when he came from that other place. 
Not trying to be mean in anywasy but Elana, all horse people I know use "a flake" of hay as a measurment. I find it very hard to think of different way to measure hay.... Just saying, not trying to be rude.


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## Enfocore (Oct 20, 2012)

Thanks for all the info. I see were you are coming from elana, but were horses are not used for what they produce(milk,beef.) it is not as imortant but still probably should be done. I am going to be honest i probably wont do all of the things you said, but it is very good information to have i know it would help with his weight but i think he will be fine with what he is getting as he is not loosing weight. I was just looking for certaian foods or hays i should be feeding him like alfalpha hay or fat and fiber...
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## rookie (May 14, 2012)

Hi, 
I googled your horses name. Your horse raced in Turo and was bred in PEI. If you google his name you can find his breeder. Which means you could ask them if he was a hard keeper and see if they have any food choices that work for him in the past. I was so happy to see the names of NS places I went to school up there. Its a great province.


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

I would be very concerned living in Canada and him being that thin. He will truley suffer in the cold weather. Please seek some vet advice on feeding, worming, teeth and general care. That horse is extremely thin.


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## PunksTank (Jul 8, 2012)

lilruffian said:


> Alfalfa cubes are good supplement. They were excellent for putting weight back on my old arab mare the other winter when hay wasnt as good.
> There are also several store-bought supplements and beet pulp, though you may have to mix that with something sweet for awhile for i have never personally met a horse that would eat it plain at first.



Alfalfa/Timothy hay cubes are the BEST for skinny horses, it's like they just reinflate the horse!
At our rescue all our old horses are on hay cubes, soaked (obviously) the 3 boys, that are your horse's size get 4 feedings of 2 quarts thoroughly soaked throughout the day, on top of their grain and good quality hay. 
We have a TB stallion who just won't keep the weight on, this works wonders for him.

Honestly I'd be very concerned about his weight, but if you can't afford to have your hay tested and all that, which I completely understand, hay cubes just can't hurt if they're soaked (but not so long they ferment). They're also good for horses with bad teeth, so if it is a mouth problem this is a good temporary fix until you can get a dentist. If he doesn't gain weight on hay cubes there's a big problem, and a vet Needs to check him. A big belly can mean either worms or just that he's getting a lot of hay, but a hay belly isn't really healthy either. His food is just going right through him, not being properly digested. So if he doesn't gain weight on hay cubes get a vet out, he could have some sort of inability to digest grains properly too.

Hay cubes are so easy anyway, you just soak em up and feed em


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## Enfocore (Oct 20, 2012)

I will for sure try the hay cubes! His previous owners had said he is a hard keeper. In the winter he was double blanketed as he did not grow a winter coat, but were he is out all the time now one is starting to grow. He is looking a lot better then when we got him out of the bad boarding situation. But were he is a stb and he does have a higher matablism than most it is very hard to get him to the desierd weight. If the hay cubes dont work i will defenatly get a vet out. I am not overly conserned about it now as he isnt looseing but just not gaining.. Also i dont want anything that would just bloat them as i heard beet pulp does that. I am looking for a more perminant solution. I hope the hay cubes help!  thanks!
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## PunksTank (Jul 8, 2012)

No problem, I've honestly had no luck at all with beet pulp, it just seems to go right through them - maybe it works for some horses but not any of mine.

Personally I'd be very concerned with your horse going into the winter with his weight the way it is, with hay cubes I watched a very skinny 30 year old gain a great deal of weight in 3 weeks. I hope your horse gains as quickly, please update us with pics  I love to watch the transformation.


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## nikelodeon79 (Mar 3, 2008)

Has he been wormed? That could be the cause of the belly. Otherwise, horses that aren't getting the proper nutrients often have a belly with ribs showing.

ETA: I really like Triple Crown feeds.
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## Enfocore (Oct 20, 2012)

I will for sure put pics up in a few weeks  also how expensive would you say hay cubes are? he is getting wormed within the month.
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## rookie (May 14, 2012)

I am not a fan of beat pulp I had a horse colic on it by a well meaning co-boarder. That was not fun to explain to my vet/father why we had to go tube my hot arabian mare horse at 9 in the evening... 

I have grown up around standardbreds and most of them have been really easy keepers. I would get the vet out and run a fecal egg count.


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

Enfocore said:


> I will for sure put pics up in a few weeks  also how expensive would you say hay cubes are? he is getting wormed within the month.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I would worm him now and again in 2 weeks


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## PunksTank (Jul 8, 2012)

Enfocore said:


> I will for sure put pics up in a few weeks  also how expensive would you say hay cubes are? he is getting wormed within the month.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Hay cubes are pretty cheap honestly, here they're less than $15 a bag 
Personally I believe you shouldn't worm your horse until you do a fecal, he already has stomach issues giving his gut a total overhaul of worming drugs isn't going to help. You need to find out what worms he has and kill those. Fecals don't cost much, specially if you don't do a farm call, many vets will let you bring in a bag of fresh poop and they'll do it for pretty cheap. This is _worth it!!_ rather than totally overhauling his entire stomach, which is already having issues. I see far too many people saying "my horse is skinny, I need to worm them" then the horse takes months and months to get back their gut balance. Please don't double up on wormings either, within a couple weeks. Get a fecal done and get the vet's recommendation on which wormer to use to kill what your horse actually has.


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## Enfocore (Oct 20, 2012)

Okay thank you very much!
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