When is starvation abuse?

You have the obligation to provide adequate nutrients and water to sustain the horse in good health.

You have the obligation to provide medical care as needed. If the horse is not able to sustain healthy weight despite being provided with adequate feed and water, you are obligated to obtain veterinary diagnosis and to comply with any medical treatment prescribed to prevent starvation. If you cannot afford the treatment, or can't resolve the issue without continued starvation, then you are obligated to provide euthanasia.

You did what needed to be done in your circumstance.

Okay, well....to feed older horses you do need to give them more of like everything if the horses drops weight but your feeding it a lot of grain give it more hay, it also a good idea to check their teeth a lot of old horses can get snaggle teeth or their missing some, also older horses' teeth can become sensitive and will need a special grain that they can chew easily and digest easily. Make sure the horse has been wormed too. If none of this seems to help then contact your vet.

Your second question:If I provide free choice hay to a horse, and it still drops weight, am I morally obligated to do more? Yes you are right you are obligated to do more.

I understand your questions in your second paragraph, I have a 'Hard Keeper' His was very skinny at one point but I did everything I could to weight back on him but now hes the perfect weight because I did all those things above now I am 16 years old I've been riding horses since I was 7 but I didn't start managing horses or owning one till 3 years ago I had to ask complete strangers in what I needed to do because no one knew what to do and I didn't want people calling animal control on me and take my horse away. Your old mare you put down, I don't know if you were wrong or because I don't have enough information on her but you probably did the best you could for her, and you did the right thing. =)

I also agree with Arburbula =)

I don't really see starvation as abuse; I see if more as neglect. People will make excuses as to why their animal is skinny rather than trying to find an under lying reason. Some people will also think that just leaving a horse to fend for itself in the pasture is enough.

I think you've "done enough" to go as far as you can financially, emotionally, and physically. Many people do not have the means to have a vet come out every few days to search why their horse is drastically losing weight. Other people may not have the time or attachment to the horse to do the same thing.

Ethically speaking, you should do whatever you can for your horse without thinking twice or looking at the bill and frowing (this is coming from a rabid horse lover). Economically speaking - not a whole a lot people can do this. You have to remember that the horse is in their twilight years and therefore people come to the conclusion that a horse has lived a good life and it's time to cross rainbow bridge.

I feel that starvation becomes abuse/neglect when it's deliberate. You watch your horse deteriorate before your eyes and you do nothing in your power to help that animal. You don't have their teeth checked and god forbid you give them hay in the winter time because their on 30 acres of dead pasture.

As for when it becomes old age: I'm not sure. I haven't dealt with skinny, old horses. The two horses that were at my last barn (one was 31, the other was 33) were nothing more than a little ribby.

Starvation is always abuse in my book. It is a slow, painful death involving a lot of suffering.

When you had your mare euthanized, you saved her from that death. It was almost certainly the right thing to do by her. As to your question if you should have done more - the answer to that one is different for every person. My general default is that I only euthanize when death is inevitable anyway. However, some will not or cannot invest in horse care as much as I can.

Generally, with enough good management and access to proper feed, most older horses can maintain a good weight. For those that really cannot, their owners need to strongly consider what is best for them.

I think its abuse when they have no acess to food or water and hay in the winter.

I have a 17 yr old TB gelding who was raced. He is extremely hard to keep weight on in the winter because 1) hes older and 2) he's a lanky Thoroughbred.

I feed him hay and grain twice sometimes 3 times a day and they have a bit of grass left. I don't consider this abuse because my horse is dropping weight. I am doing all we can afford to do and I know that people say if you can't afford them then don't have them, well my horses are well taken care of and right now I just don't have the money to give them the best hay or the best feed but I do have the money to give them the best that i can. i don't believe that my horses need grain everyday in the summer. Infact they just eat grass. The wild horses werent fed grain everyday and I know its about concistency, but if my horses are healthy and have good weight just off of grass then Im not going to go out and buy unnecessary feed.

It's abuse when you don't care and you don't attempt.

You didn't mention having her teeth floated regularly or soaking her senior feed or trying to feed her soaked hay cubes or beet pulp or any number of other things you could have done to keep your horse's weight up. The horses on Fugly's blog are all standing on pasture that is going dormant for the winter so there isn't much nutrition in it and they are eating the tree bark - a BIG clue as is the dead horse in the pasture with them. Did the dead horse die of starvation or colic due to the tree bark or excess parasites? A necropsy will tell the story if it gets that far. If the grass they do have has been pooped all over they will avoid it (wouldn't you?) they do look wormy and unkempt. It is my belief that you have a moral obligation to feed your animal feed that is appropriate to his age and condition. You also have the obligation to provide the vet care necessary to keep your animal healthy and in good condition, which includes worming and teeth floating regularly as well as regular farrier care and vaccinations. To do less is abuse and neglect in my book

EDIT: To better illustrate how important dental care is to a horse. You have your toothless grandpa living with you, he has no dentures because you can't afford to get them for him yet you only serve him beef ribs and steak, and raw veggies in your salads and he has access to all the raw fruit he wants. That is pretty good food for anybody WHO CAN CHEW IT! You grandpa, of course can't chew it up and loses weight. He starts to have other problems too, gastric upset etc. Abuse? Neglect? You betcha..you did offer him good food to eat but the poor old guy can't eat any of the food you offered!

If your horse was bad enough that it was no longer eating and losing weight even though you were feeding it properly (hay, beat pulp, etc) then there is an underlying condition making them lose the weight. If that were the case I think that you did the right thing. What is worse than starving to death.

Horse abuse is so bad right now and I see how you are questioning yourself, but I honestly think that you did the right thing.

If at any point the horse is suffering, it is abuse. Those horses are CLEARLY suffering as they are eating the bark off of the trees, and no horse would do that unless it was starving to death.

Basically, I feel that if the physical condition of the horse could be improved but the owner is not taking steps to improve the horse's condition, then it qualifies as abuse and the horse should be taken by animal control.

http://www.fuglyblog.com/

There's the link, for those unfamiliar with fuglyblog.

It is abuse when the necessary care isn't provided. If a horse is old and dropping weight, more/higher quality should be provided, the vet should be called, or if its bad, just put the poor thing out of its misery. You did the right thing putting the old horse down.

I think its horrible when animals have to starve and be hungry but i really think people are more important all this fight and money thats going toward animals should be going torward little kids that are STARVING in different countrys and even in places near use..i personally love being around my horses and i feed them very well(just look at my mare) but children are 10times more important...P.S.i am against it though P.S. AGAIN i dont beleve starvation is really abuse as it is more neglect unless the person is intentionally trying to starve them to be mean or just to see it.