Question: I have a 20-year old paso fino gelding who looked like a 3-year old, great muscle-tone, he had the perfect weight, et cetera. We also have a miniature mare who he despised until we brought home a paint draft gelding and a pony stallion. Now, Arthur (the paso fino) won’t leave the mini’s side and is stressing himself out over trying to take care of her and keep her from the stallion. He’s lost weight and the vet said to increase his weight to a bucket and a half (hand-held feeders) of grain plus a cup of oats per feeding twice a day. He’s still not gaining any weight, so we upped his weight to 2 buckets of grain and a cupful of oats. Tomorrow we’ll be getting sweet feed for him to see if it bulks up his diet, but his weight just isn’t improving. Are there any supplements you’d suggest?
Answer from April Reeves: Your gelding was the herd leader of his herd of 2 (he and the mini) but when you brought in two others, his natural instincts went from leader to protector. He’s just doing his job.
In this situation you will have to decide whether to fix the problem (separate Arthur and the mini) or change his diet.
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