AboutLynne Curtis Expertise I do not participate in shows any more so some of my show specific knowledge could be out of date.
Experience I have been involved in horses for approximately 45 years. I showed hunters, jumpers and stock horses. In the 80's I was licensed as a trainer on the race track. I have run broodmare operations, delivered foals and taught everything from what to feed and which end the shoes go on to advanced jumping. I tend to be impatient with owners who think their horses prefer to be locked up in confined spaces. Even my show and race horses rarely spent more than only the night before an event in a stall...the rest of the time they had room to run. In 1975 I rode a Quarter Horse Stallion and a Thoroughbred Mare solo from Minneapolis to San Francisco.
Organizations The Long Riders Guild (an international organization of equestrian explorers who have ridden over 1,000 miles for non-commercial purposes)
Publications "The Long Ride" Published in Women Sports Magazine March of 1975 an article regarding the author's cross country horseback ride from Minnesota to California.
"A Horse is a Horse,of Course" An article regarding investigating horse incidents and the Equine Liability Act for investigators and attorneys. published in The Legal Investigator, February 2004
"Investigating Animal Cases:" A chapter written at the request of the editors for a professional textbook entitled Advanced Forensic Civil Investigations published by Lawyers and Judges Publishing June, 1997
"Murder by Another Name:" An article published in The John Cook Fraud Report, December 1994 regarding the intentional killing of horses for greed and insurance fraud.
"The Responsibilities of Horse Owners in Rural Communities:" A paper presented before the Regional Seminar of the National Association of Legal Investigators in November 1987 at Phoenix, Arizona.
"The Old Gray Mare is Worth $10,000,000 Now." A professional paper on the investigation of cases involving bloodstock and racetracks presented before the National Conference of the National Association of Legal Investigators in Washington, D.C., June 1986.
Education/Credentials 3 years of confined college....no degree. Advanced degree from the university of experience :>)
Awards and Honors Receipient of the 1st place Anthony M. Golec Editor-Publisher Award 2004
Question we hava a TB mare who was starved while pregnant and is now nursing an 8 wk old foal.
she was on unlimited alfalfa and grass hay, with flax seed.
we have wormed her and checked her teeth, she is missin a few.
we were also supplimenting with alfalfa meal until there was an incident...
we had her feet trimmed and she went lame on all four,,,one would think the farier quicked her...her feet were overgrown however that doesn't mean her soles weren't thin...anyway the strang thing was the swelling in all four legs but with no heat.
it was decided that until we knew wether she was foundering or was the trim job, we would back off everything except the alfalfa hay.
my concern was that the incident was more arthritis...in people, calcium deficency manifests as joint pain and swelling in the limbs....i have a daughter with downs syndrome and she suffers from arthritis and calcium absorption issues so i have done some reading on people and arthritis...
i am asking you...could it be calcium deficency...could it be arthritis?...my sister reported to me this morning that the mare was down...though she got up and ate and pooped, she laid back down right away...we are concerned about colic...however if the mare is experiencing anything like what my daughter does on a moist cool morning....then the mare was laying down from pain.
again, the mare has been in our care for less than a month...it has been warm because it is summer.
we are feeding the dickens out of her and are creeping the foal...the foal is cleaning up all her creep...
the mare stands 16.3 to 17 hands, she is at least 200 lbs under weight, her foal is already standing 11 hands...approx. i am 5'5" tall and the foal is chest high to me.
i am concerned that this foal is not recieving proper nuturition through the mares milk. fat and calicium.
i need your advice as my mother is hard to convince that the mare did not teeter on the edge of founder but the it could be calcium deficency and arthritis, by the way, calcium deficency causes muscle spasms and cramping in people more that potasium deficency.
i look forward to your response about wether to suppliment, and how much and how soon.
i may be way out in left field...but my gut tells me to be way, way concerned about the foal and what the mare is able to provide through her milk.
mares name is wish
the foal is cayanne born june 22nd
Answer Dear Crystal
Many of the starving concentration camp survivors of WWII died AFTER their rescue as a result of the generosity of their rescuers. Malnutrition makes an organism not only more sensitive to various toxins and infectious agents, it cannot be reversed overnight. Critters who have been starved may have problems suddenly being provided full feed whether they are horse or human. Your mare COULD have been bordering on founder; it also COULD be a vitamin or mineral issue.
If this were my mare I would check with local feed suppliers and see if there is an animal nutritionist around. I would immediately take samples of your hay and grain to the nutritionist and explain the condition of your mare. Animals that have been starved need the absolutely correct balance in their feed. You cannot guess that. A nutritionist who can test the feed she is given can either compound or recommend a supplement to balance what is missing from the particular feed you have available. Just saying what kind of hay you feed is not exact enough as the mineral balance in hay is dependent on the soil where it was grown.
I would also urge you to be a bit cautious about your creep. The Horse.com has a good article on creep feeding at http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=14266 An important point is that you do NOT want to give your foal all the creep she can eat. 1% of body weight per day is the recommended amount. For a 200 pound foal, that is no more than 2 pounds per day. Exceeding this amount has a multitude of consequences including the danger of Epiphysitis. In trying to be kind and furnish enough nutrition, you can exceed optimum levels and cause problems.
A nutritionist will be your best bet for taking the guess workout of EXACTLY what this particular mare and foal need.
