Old Mare with Arthritis and Swayed Back Needs Weight - Help?

I hope you have your vet "on board" with this, also. He/she can help you decide what to do to help the mare. A horse's gut is a fermenting system and that's part of the way they keep warm, so yes, they use more calories / need more feed in colder weather. Usually that translates into feeding more hay, but that would not help your horse (I'm assuming). Beet pulp is also a good 'forage' and easy for older horses to eat. It's actually a main ingredient in senior feeds. Ask your vet if it would be good for your mare to supplement her feed with some. You never feed the pellets dry. I've used it for my younger (13 y/o now) horse who has no eating issues. I'll put some in a bucket and pour hot water on it. It takes a while for the pellets to soak up the water. By the time it's soaked, the 'mash' is warm, not hot (I do this inside, not out where it's cold). My horse loves it and he gets the benefit of the calories, the moisture and the warmth.

Also, you might think of blanketing her, if you don't already. It's just another way to preserve heat and help her utilize the calories in her feed for weight instead of warmth. Just be sure to pull the blanket back and check the way she looks (and feels to your hand) regularly - probably at least weekly - so that she doesn't lose more weight without you knowing.

Finally, there will come a time when the kindest thing you can do is to euthanize her. Hard to think of, but you need to prepare your mind for that time. Good luck and bless you for caring for her.

Bless you for taking her in, probably the first time in her life she's been treated kindly and not like livestock.  Would steroid injections in her hocks help some?  I guess your vet would be the best one to ask.
 
Not much you can do for a swayed back, I would think, although once she gains enough weight, she might start adding more muscle and that will look better.
 
Maybe pouring some vegetable/coconut oil over her pellets would add some beneficial fats to her diet.  I'm assuming she has some sort of shelter w/ a wind break which is important.
 
Goodluck w/ her.

Durangogramma: I soak her feed twice daily, and I do blanket her, yes. She gets blanketed at night right now and blanketed 24/7 during winter. I've had her for a couple years now. She was at a great weight for a while after I got her and started feeding her proper grain, but I'm not sure why she started losing a bit. The vet said she looks in good shape, all things considered. He said she may be stressed for some reason or might not be as hungry, but she's very food-oriented and she doesn't seem stressed to me. She seems like her everyday self. I'm thinking about changing vets, because this one keeps saying there's nothing wrong but I'm not so sure. What do you think? If it's stress, what's an effective way to work out stress? I've been lunging her lightly, like I've said, and she plays out in the field. Could she maybe be lonely? We don't have any other horses right now(we had two at one point, but had to sell the other as she was too uppity for Expressions(my 28 y/o mare) and would be very bad about kicking out at her).

Danastark: Thank you, Dana, and they probably would help, I'm just not sure how well she'd take to them(she freaks out over worming and shots; I think the worming is more her being head-shy). I'll try pouring vegetable oil on her food and see if that helps. And, yes, she has shelter, but she is temporarily closed out from it after she put a hole in the floor, so my dad's coming over this weekend to re-do the floor with thicker boards(he's a licensed construction worker and a sub-contractor for Lowe's with his own business, so he knows what he's doing and can get it done quick). It's nicely sized, though, about 16x16 or 18x18. She's our only horse, so we just turned one of our large sheds into a stall/tack room(half stall, half tack room) and she can come and go out of it freely as it's attached to the pasture. There's also a gate in it so I can keep her in there in bad weather. All other horses we've ever had have been on pasture(have had three at once before, we have six acres pasture). We had no need for a stall before Expressions, as we'd board our horses with a friend for winter, and Expressions was boarded there for one winter, but our friend moved to about an hour away.

Wow.  You threw Cushings in there like an afterthought.  I'd have to do some research because I don't know much about it but I've seen a horse with it and it was really thin.  Then you said the vet says there's nothing wrong.  I'm sure you know all about it but she may be doing all she can just to maintain, mighten she?  How are her symptoms presenting? 
 
I have a horse who eats as much as the other two combined.  I feed a fairly high dollar feed - ADM Senior-Glo but it takes half as much so it works out.  By adding alfalfa pellets it becomes a complete feed.  My super-eater (and he's skinny, very poor topline) has a couple of bad teeth and he just doesn't process hay like his body needs.  So the pellets help him a lot.
 
I've been told you can work on their topline by backing them.  After a few days of easy repetitions you can back them up a slight slope.  Short of draw reins and a lunge line....  Of course there's a trick by poking their belly somehow they arch thier back like a cat.  Not sure how to do that.   Someone was recently talking about it.  That's supposed to strengthen back muscles. 
 
Please realize your awesome friend is finishing her days.  I hope she lives for years to come.  If not you should be very content that you did everything you could and she has known love and respect for the valuable creature she is.  You've given her dignity and she probably feels like a filly again in your hands.  You might have a gift for just that.  I hope you'll consider another once this sweet mare crosses Rainbow Bridge.

HS - You can take your hoof pick and just run it along the midline of their belly (firmly but not hard) and they'll lift their back. Some people can do it with their fingers or thumb. I can't.

ETA, you don't want to do it a lot of times. It's kind of like 'crunches'. The horse's muscles will fatigue just like ours will. Start with 2 or three and work up (but not to lots of them - just several).

The horse chiro does a "cat scratch" exercise where she runs her fingernails along the horse's rear from loin to tail, if I remember and it makes them arch also.  Careful to do this on a really calm horse!

Thanks ladies for the explanations!

I also say "wow" like Danastark on mentioning Cushings as an afterthought. That one is biggie. It does sound like the vet's on board, but may not be privy to the information of treatment out there yet for this. (not kidding!) It may be laminitic pain that's causing the weight loss. Has the farrier mentioned anything about stretched white lines or inflammmation in her feet? Does she move confidently? In order to confirm Cushings, you need to get an ACTH test (blood test) that tells you levels of glucose and insulin and whether they are high or not, whether the only medication available for it (Pergolide) needs to be prescribed by the vet or not. I would definitely explore this with both professionals and see if this is causing her discomfort and what you can do/not do/watch out for. Why do all this if she looks good out there?....Because Cushings won't go away...you must manage it. Always weigh the feed on a scale and don't go by scoops. You can also eliminate the sugar in her diet. That would mean soaking the hay for 30 minutes as well. Feeding it in a slow feeder will provide proper delivery for a grazing animal and you just plunge the hay filled net in a bucket of water and come back later to hang it up for her. The iron will be soaked out, along with about 30% of the sugar and soften it and make easier to chew. The delivery of the slow feeder will also stop choke and quidding from happening, and delivery is so regular, that ulcers will be avoided and weight gained. Gravitate to a "lite" supplement that touts low iron and sugar/starch...senior horse recipes are not. Once you investigate the Cushing's problem, the arthitic supplement may have to be quit. If it has Glucosamine, that can be a bad one to a sensitive horse. It always takes longer for a horse to put weight back on than lose it. Its a long uphill battle and it sounds like she's come along way...and with a broken jaw, the poor girl! The first/safest answer is more hay. Beet pulp is also a good one. Corn oil (not reg. veg. oil) does have its place in weight gain, but more for the high performance horse who is using it, but not here. Oil has several disadvantages in it limitations. What you need is fatty acids, the only lubrication she needs. A perfect balance of omegas for her that provides much more than oil....anti-inflammatory (help the arthritis), get that shiney coat Oil has no nutritional value whatsoever...its just fat. That would be 2-4 oz. of flax fresh ground in a $10 coffee grinder and feeding by hand or on food. 1tbn. of salt/day and free choice minerals would be by far the best move for her. If she ends up off the pasture for winter and on a hay only diet...1000IU of Vit E/day...which means the human 400mg gel tabs from Walmart slipped into her feed as well. If she seems stressed with anything, then the same amount of Vit. C for awhile helps...but it also aggravates Cushings. You need to explore this and find out what's safe for her, her needs are changing and you need to find out how to change properly with it, in order to insure that she is comfortable for the rest of her days. With Cushings, there are signs. Even some of these options I've mentioned may not be open to her in the face of it. I wouldn't go out and buy anything until I knew the right direction to move in and it usually means less in terms of diet, but the beet pulp (molasses free of course) the extra hay, flax, salt and free choice minerals are all good safe moves for now. Addressing Cushings with the vet is another. And think nothing of feeling sorry for the farrier, or hearing any complaints about the hoof lifting situation. He should know how to do his job and keep her comfort and she deserves his consideration. I care nothing if he has "issues" with it...I'll get somebody else. It would help if you gave her a light pain killer a couple of hours before he arrives, but use Previcox, not Bute. And don't come out of the stall cold turkey for the farrier...make sure she's been moving around and staying loosened up, doing the trim out in the paddock on softer ground or padding under the supporting foot. If there is no other "life" at the barn, other than you coming to feed etc., then I imagine, being a herd animal, she's lonely. But it doesn't have to be another horse, can be a goat, a mini, some chickens, barn cats. Whatever works for the both of you. A blanket is good to hold onto weight, and I'd also consider shipping boots for keeping the legs warm and maintaining good blood flow to hocks, legs and feet in the face of the cold. Keeping the ground level warm gets the blood flowing thru that hock better than the blanket keeping her organs warm above the hock. Make sense? Good luck! I'm entering into the same with my old girl. Hope this helps!

I never thought of shipping boots to keep the legs warm!!  I think I have some of those!  But it would be bad if it rained.  Wouldn't they just get soaked? 
 
I never thought of Sr.Feed as being "not good".  I have mine on it.  It has Glucosamine in it so I don't add supplement anymore.....  But if I apply all that stuff to Miles then I'm not doing everything right. 
 
missyclaire, I'm going to try to put yet another thread up on Master Miles, my OTSB rescue who is having so much trouble.  I hope you watch for it.  I'm at such a loss....