Medical Check
It is important to get the animal vet-checked to rule out disease as the cause of the undernourishment. At a minimum, the vet should do blood tests for equine infectious anemia and coggins, as well as verify the teeth are not overgrown and that there are no mouth lesions which would interfere with eating. Examine the horse all over for sores or bumps/swellings prior to the visit and point those out to the doctor.
Hoof Trim
Many neglected horses have not had farrier care for a long time. It is likely that more frequent farrier visits than for a healthy horse will be needed initially. Getting the hooves properly trimmed and corrective shoes in place, if needed, will encourage the horse to bear its weight properly and be comfortable enough to stand and eat.
Reintroducing Food
Depending on the level of weight loss, it can take 3-5 months to return a horse to a healthy weight. However, a horse should gain weight slowly, no faster than 25 pounds per week. This prevents overworking the organs, which will likely be in a weakened state.
I recommend alfalfa hay in frequent, small amounts, increasing daily. For the first three days, feed 1/6th of a flake of alfalfa (1 pound) every 4 hours for a total of 6 pounds per day for the first 3 days of rehabilitation.
After 3 days, increase to 12 pounds (two flakes) a day of alfalfa, again fed at intervals. The intervals can be four feedings a day (every six hours) or more frequent, if preferred.
After two weeks, you can allow the horse to eat as much hay as she will take. At this point, you can also reintroduce a small amount of high fat, low protein grain. Start with the grain being 10% of total food intake, increasing to no more than 40% as the weeks go by.
Water and Mineral Salts
Make sure the horse is drinking by monitoring the water source or her urine if you catch her in the act (it should not be dark yellow or other off-color). Mix in a little molasses if the horse does not seem inclined to drink a good amount of water a day (several gallons for a large horse, less for smaller ponies and miniatures).
Provide a salt block from the onset of the rehabilitation program. Electrolytes (salts) are essential in assisting the horse to return to a nutritional balance.
Monitor and Observe
Check the droppings to see that they are not watery nor too dry, and listen for bowel sounds in the horse’s stomach. A lot of sounds are a good sign. Too few could mean colic.
It can be very beneficial to simply sit with the horse and observe her. You can learn a lot this way, and the animal can get used to you as well. Does the horse put all her weight on one hip or the other? Is she cribbing her stall or sucking wind? Chewing on only one side of her mouth?
Take notes on her progress, and remove problem behavior such as cribbing by providing toys to relieve boredom in her stall.
Emotional Health
Emotional rehabilitation of an abused or neglected horse can take a long time and require much patience. Initially, satisfy the horse’s herd instinct by allowing her the company of a healthy horse or burro somewhere nearby that she reacts favorably to (i.e., not all horses make instant friends, but it should be easy to find one that will not pressure her or steal her food). Re-establishing trust can take a long time, so for starters, sit and observe, gradually progressing to scratching her on the neck and talking gently to her. You will read many articles that horses cannot be rehabilitated, but indeed, they can, and many have been. Patience is the key.
