Mr Easy Keeper vs Mr Hard Keeper

[jaybird]

I have a dilemma that I could really use some help with!

I just brought Jay and Oliver home to my new place after a month of living on nothing but pasture grass. They both looked great for the first several weeks they were there, but Jay's weight has plummeted, and right now he is shockingly thin. Oliver, on the other hand, looks like the TB that swallowed the quarter horse.

Trouble is, until my barn and paddocks are built, the two of them are living together in one pasture. Which means I don't really have a way to feed them separately. I've put Jay back on grain, but he has to fend Oliver off from his bucket the entire time he's eating. Today I had the bright idea to feed Ol some rolled oats while Jay eats his grain, which helped for a while, but as I write this, Oliver is hovering over Jay trying to get at his food. Jay can stick up for himself just fine, but I am so worried about his weight that it bothers me that he might not get to eat all his food.

Also I'm worried about Oliver getting too much to eat since he's on grass all day long. I thought about getting him a grazing muzzle, but somehow I don't have the heart to put something like that on him...he's a feedlot horse who obviously was starved at some point and is very devoted to eating.

So any advice out there for taking care of a hard keeper who is sharing a pasture with an easy keeper??

[pdevlieg]

Ah ha - my specialty! I simply use the feed bags for graining my horses. That way, Ms. Azalea can eat all of her food and everyone else can walk around forlornly with their empty bags on until she is done!

Luckily for me, my herd dynamics work where I can throw a flake of alfalfa out when i feed and I know that Azalea will be getting that, sharing with Skittles of course, though he is quite good at maintaining his weight him self.

As much as I hate to say it, Mr. Oliver might need a grazing muzzle. He didn't look overly hunky to me at the clinic though, just a beautiful well fed horse!

[cardicorgi]

My teacher uses grazing muzzles for all of her horses when the grass comes in - they can still get SOME grass in there, but aren't the eating machines they normally would be. None of them seem to mind, and the muzzles come off for longer periods of time as the days go by.

How IS Oliver (besides Rubenesque)?

[safehorses]

Yes! I would love to know how Oliver is doing after his adjustment a couple of weeks ago.

[cat67]

The feed bags sound like a great idea!

Back in the day, I used to just stand there the entire time and throw a bucket at anybody who tried to steal the old rescue mare's grain. And that was in WI in the winter....BRRRRRRRR.

[jaybird]

Ha ha, Cat67, I've tried that a few times myself, I put on my mare ears and chased Oliver away from where Jay was eating. He looks so heartbroken though that I end up feeling sorry for him.

Oliver seems to be doing very well since his adjustment - I've tried putting pressure on his back with my fingers and haven't gotten the knee bucking response that Dorothy got. I need to get established over here in Silverdale with a good equine vet and hopefully a chiropractor too so we can continue the good work that Dorothy and Rick started.

I will give the feedbag idea a try, thanks Peri! And you guys need to tell me a few times that it's crueler to let Oliver overeat and founder than it is to put a grazing muzzle on him.

I have another worry...I was picking up poop this evening -- both boys have diarrhea, yuck! -- and I found some little white worms in some of the manure -- about 1/2" long, sorta fat, and they dive down into the poop if you expose them. I don't know which horsie this manure came from, but I will try to find out. I gave them both a dose of Strongid, but again I am very worried about Jay because of his rapid weight loss...obviously I need to get fecal samples to a vet ASAP, but has anyone ever seen live worms in manure? I am wondering if they are parasites or just maggots.

Either way -- YUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKK!

[pdevlieg]

Icky - I haven't seen worms yet. Those actually sound more like maggots to me, I dont' think internal parasites get that fat and round look that maggots do. This August has turned into fly haven and with extra flies are those icky buggers! I love our sunshine, but HATE the bugs that come with it!

[safehorses]

Yeah, and it's always AMAZING to me how fast the fly larvae can appear in something moist. I just about had a cow lately when I went to clean out my cat's feed bowl (I'd splurged and gotten the little fatty some wet food) and it was infested with those maggotty little fly larvae! EEeeeewwwwww! In less than a day, very gross!

[jaybird]

okay, well that comes as somewhat of a relief...and yeah, this was in less than a day too! Ack.

[jennywho]

I have one pen that has both a hard and easy keeper in it. I have to tie one up while the other eats. She doesn't tie very reliably, so I just have her attatched to a piece of twine. If she freaks the twine breaks and she gets Folly's food once in awhile. I only forgot to untie her once, but remembered about a mile from the barn. LOL.

[gypsygirl]

Here is a really good website that sells a bug that eats the maggots of flies. My neighbor uses it and her fly problems are way less this year. I have talked with all the other neighbors about it and we are all doing it next season. They send them to you in the mail ever so many weeks and tell you where to place them. They don't kill the adult flies only the larvae, so if you start early like March and April then you can get a jump on them. It cuts your fly production in half. If you can get your neighbors to do it when you do it, well it works even better. Here's think, see what you think

408.spalding-labs.com/home.php

FYI, fly's lay their eggs in up to six inches of the manure pile and they have to have something wet to lay their eggs in, which is one of the reasons why they like the eye goobers etc..