Colt

Question
Hi,,,, I have a colt that a friend gave me cause the mother died,, he was born may 21st 2013,,, he did get to nurse for 48 hrs. When he got here I started him on milk replacement till about 10 weeks 4 times a day around the clock,,,, I could tell his weight was dropping a little bit,,, so I got him some calf mannna pellets and soaked them with his milk and he did great , I slowly backed off the
Milk and started just the pellets,,, he was eating hay and grass also,,, I talked to the vet and told them he was bloated and back bone was showing and they said  put him on equine junior (purina) over a period of 3 bags,, I could tell he was putting on a lil bit of weight but still very bloated,,, so I wormed him with the 6 to 8 week wormer ,,, his bloating is alot better but just can not get him to fill in ,, everyone was out of equine junior so I had to get him something so I got horse performance 14.% Sabine valley ,,, could u please help with me with deciding what to feed him ? Thank u

Answer
Hi Julie,

Thank you for your question, and good for you for taking on such a huge task.  Just a quick background on the 'bloating' issue your colt is experiencing.  You see, horses are born with the ability to digest mom's milk and some grains, but their hindgut is not yet populated with bacteria that will help it break down and use grass and hay.  Young horses will eat Mom's (or other horses) poop starting at about 5 days old, and do so for a week or two.  They do this to consume beneficial bacteria that has been lost through the poop of adult horses, and that good bacteria makes its way to the cecum where it takes up residence.  It is this bacteria that then digests forages and converts them to energy that the horse can use.  Without that bacterial population, young horses have difficulty breaking down forage and the grass and hay that they instinctively eat just creates volume in their gut that comes across as 'bloat'.  And of course because they're not converting it to energy they also have trouble gaining weight.  For future reference, if you're ever working with orphan foals again it helps to provide them with fresh (parasite-free) horse poop to eat.  Gross, yes...but essential!

So what I would suggest is that you find a really good pro-biotic that is made of the bacteria that your young horse is missing.  Try SmartPak's 'SmartDigest Ultra', I think it will be of tremendous help for your colt.  I would continue with Purina's Equine Junior right through his 2 year old year along with quality pasture and/or grass.  I would also suggest that you only worm as required, and take fecal samples to decide when to deworm and with what product.  My main concern with wormers is that along with parasites, they will destroy healthy bacteria in the horse's hindgut and your young lad is already struggling to populate that cecum.  More wormer is not always better.  I think you'll find that once your colt's cecum gets healthy, his body weight and growth will follow.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, Corlena