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Discussion on Diet for the potbelly orphan yearling
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Posted on Monday, Jun 10, 2002 - 12:47 pm:
I have a orphan yearling with a pot belly. Her belly is fat and her ribs are showing. What do you think is the problem and what should I feed her to correct this? Would sure appreciate some help on this. Thanks in advance for any info.
Barb Hockemeyer (Toad)
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 11, 2002 - 7:45 am:
Hi Barbara
I had a similiar experience with my orphan. You can read about it if you run a search on: foal big belly.
Oh, and my orphan is now two and has outgrown the belly and is beautiful. 
Is your filly on a good deworming schedule?
~Barbara
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 11, 2002 - 12:23 pm:
I just want to agree with Barbara O. I was looking after a yearling that I honestly thought would have the welfare authorities investigating me. It had been an orphan foal, it had access to excellent grass yet it looked like a famine or abuse victim.
I wormed him determinedly to no apparent effect. In the end I gave him two lots of double tapeworm dose (strongid) and that seemed to do the trick but it could just have been one of those TB yearlings that do look absolutely awful until they are two. He now looks fine and has the makings of a nice big national hunt racer.
All the best
Imogen
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 11, 2002 - 8:10 pm:
Thanks barbara,
I have just started worming him. This week I used Ivermectrin and next week I will use Strongid paste and alternate this for one month and hopefully that will help a lot. What do you think. His ribs show but his belly is fat.
Barbara
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 11, 2002 - 8:12 pm:
barbara,
She is a filly not a colt, it was a typo.
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Posted on Monday, Jun 17, 2002 - 3:29 pm:
You could also try adding a probiotic to her diet - it is my understanding (and Dr O correct me if I'm wrong) that until they are 2 they don't adequately/correctly process hay to the extent that it needs to be, resulting sometimes in this hay belly. Probiotics can help with this.
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002 - 8:39 am:
Let's see, it is a bit of a complicated situation. Though I am not sure that it is due to inadequate processing, Jordana, rapidly growing foals do have a greater nutrient (protein, energy, and many of the macro and micro minerals) need than can be provided by grass hay alone or even most pastures. A lush pasture with clover might be an exception though a good mineral block would still be considered important.
As to whether probiotics might help is even stickier, there are more questions than answers with these products. Live yeast cultures might help with a diet of poorer quality feed but probably would not be of benefit with a good quality forage diet. After making sure the diet and management are optimum, better might be a good vitamin supplement. For more on feeding growing horses see Care for Horses: Nutrition: Feeding the Growing Foal, Nutrition for Young Horses. Barbara I do advise that any changes made need to be done slowly, this may be more critical in a growing foal than a adult.
DrO
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