A weight question.

[Blazingkate]

Hiya, just a quick question to do with the weight of my horse. He's 15hh, a Cob X, and weights 420kgs. I was wondering if someone could tell me how much roughly underweight he is and if you've got any advice on how I can try and keep his weight on please say so! He looses weight hugely over the winter so I've been told (my first winter with him) and I've noticed in the past month his girth has gone up 1, nearly 2 holes and he's actually not been working as hard as he had been in the 3/4 months previously. I've got a rug on him now to keep him warm at night and to protect from the rain. Any other advice?

 

[AmyMay]

Cobs are usually really good doers.

But firstly how does he look to you? Does he look well in himself etc. Also, what kid of grazing is he on. Is he stabled at all? Has he been wormed recently? When you ride him how does he feel?

He does sound as if he could be a little light - but how much bone does he have??

 

[Blizzard]

My mare in the pics is a 14.2hh welsh sec D and weighs 500kg, she lives on fresh air, as most cobs do.

Is he well in himself, could this weightloss be a symptom of some kind of illness?

are his teeth ok?

All I can suggest is feeding build up or conditioning cubes and keeping him snug and warm, and if he is in, ad lib hay.

 

[the watcher]

OK, this would have to be a wild guess without a photo or bone measurements..I would have thought that he could be anything up to 500kg depending on breeding
the main concern is that he is losing weight now, the grass is still quite good and it doesn't bode well for him going in to the winter.

I would look at worming and teeth if they haven't been checked and then maybe with the vet, a low grade infection can cause loss of condition.

Only once you are happy with all the above and decide it is just down to feed, you could then phone any of the advice lines listed on feed sacks, they all have staff qualified in animal nutrition that live for cases like yours

 

[Blazingkate]

To be honest, it's one of the most bizarre things I've ever known! He lives out in 2 huge fields (and I mean huge) with 9 other ponies, but he's the boss so there's no worry he's been bullied away from grass/shelter etc. He's fine in himself and riding wise he's fine also. Visiably, you can see he's lost a bit of weight round his middle and rump. Teeth are fine and we had the vet out a couple of weeks ago and he gave him an all over check and said he was in fine health (apart from the weight loss) His worming is always up to date and his teeth are in very good shape. So you can see why I'm highly confused! The grass is also still good.

The only think we can think off, would be the weather. This may sound wierd but he's been loosing weight like this every winter since he was a baby (he's been with the same owners since 6 months old) and it always seems to be when the weather starts changing. For example last year he starting loosing the weight october/november time. But this year we've had quite cold nights and lots of rain early haven't we. He's not in a stable at the moment because we've got limited stabling and they're also quite small for him. But in a few weeks I'll be moving to a livery yard to start my job and he'll be coming with me and will be stabled in nice big american barn style stables.

 

[AmyMay]

Weather could definately be a contributing factor. Get yourself a good medium weight TO rug for those wet nights.

What are you currently feeding him??

 

[Blizzard]

We have american barn stabling and I must admit they are so much warmer than conventional stables, so that should help him.

Well if he is in fine health I wouldnt worry too much, perhps some conditioning cubes may help him keep the weight on over winter, my gelding who also loses weight in winter will be getting conditioning cubes, sugar beet and adlib haylege.

 

[the watcher]

I know I always ban on about this but finding feed with a high oil content will put on condition, something like alfa-oil as a chaff replacer and then a conditioning feed. If you feed sugar beet I would still go for something like speedi beet as high sugar isn't good for anything and can make them silly. Personally I would also avoid high cereal content.
I would still phone Spillers or Allan and Page or any of the feed companies and pick their brains, they are the experts and you might swing a discount of sorts.

I have put aloe vera juice in feed as a tonic before, which seemed to help..just as a thought

 

[beaconhorse]

Baileys ulitmate finish is fantastic for weight and muscle, it is expensive at nearly £30 a bag but you don't need to feed much. Even if you don't go for this one do consider a feed balancer as there is no point in just putting more feed into him if he is not using it correctly and to do that he needs the right vitamins etc. The traditional feed for weight gain as I know of is barley rings