Advice needed... weight gain for old horse

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scattynuttymare

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My old girl could do with gaining a bit of weight. She's retired and lives out (won't tolerated being stabled at all) and in her late 20's. She dropped some weight since Christmas. Teeth etc are fine. Currentyl being fed 1 scoop Hi Fi Senior, 1 scoop 16+ mix and 1 scoop sugar beet along with hay. I'm thinking of adding half scoop micronised barley? Any other thoughts....
 
Mine is much the same, but is stabled at night. I currently feed her:

6kg haylage
4.5kg hay
1.2kg Hi Fi Senior (3 scoops)
1kg Fast Fibre (dry weight - you soak it, much like sugar beet)

She's looking really well on it (lacks topline but ribs well covered), and has put on the weight she dropped over the winter.

She's 16hh TBx and weightapes at approx 525kg - I'd like her to be 550kg, but I'm happy with 525 given it's the end of the winter.

I didn't find I had great results with barley when I had her on it. My feed supplier recommended Top Spec Conditioning Flakes, but haven't tried this - maybe next winter.

You could also try Baileys No 4 Conditioning Cubes, or Allen + Page Calm and Condition. Again, I haven't had great results with these, but have heard other people say they're great.

Are you feeding twice per day? It is quite a lot to feed in one go - not too much, but she might be better having that amount split into smaller feeds.

Also, how much hay are you feeding? What's your grazing like?
 
I think I would stick with the same products that you are using but divide the scoop of Hi Fi between 2 meals and then feed 1 scoop of 16+ & 1 scoop of sugar beet TWICE a day. She will be getting plenty of fibre from hay, grass etc. You will just be increasing the calories.

Mind you just be careful, it wont be long til the spring grass comes through. It is often healthier for a horse to be slightly (very slightly of course) underweight than it is for them to be over- weight.
 
My old girl is 31 and lost a bit of weight as her teeth aren't what they were. She now has a "bucket" hay net of soaked high fibre cubes and Alfa-Beet (she still has haylage to "suck") Her feed, twice a day, is 1 scoop 16 plus cubes and 2 mugs of EquiJewell, she has put on weight and looks good on it.
 
Dressage_Diva - What is Equi-Jewell and its price? I've not heard of it before.

Thanks guys for all your advice. Shes is being fed the above twice a day (didn't realise I'd left that bit out lol!)

Grazing wise she has 20 acres of good grass considering we're coming out ofwinter so hopefully when the spring grass comes through she'll build up a little more.
 
Mine (29 and with ok but not great teeth) has ad-lib damp hay (he finds it easier to eat if it's damp) and a little bit of haylage. He has a big double handful of Badminton Ultra grass (this has oil coating so good for weight gain and nice and soft for chewing) twice a day. He's fine on this at the moment as he is out all day on plenty of grass. When he looks a bit poor he has sugar beet (2 mugs unsoaked) a day and maybe some conditioning cubes scattered onto the floor (he chokes if you give them in a bucket!).

He's usually ok on this. He did really drop weight a couple of years ago and I found that the above plus 1/4 ration topspec balancer (the original, as other horse has it anyway) for a couple of weeks got him to put it on really quickly.
 
Ellie came to me just before Christmas a bag of bones following illness and injury. She is 27 and was on a scoop of Hi Fi Senior, a scoop of Alpha A and a soaked scoop of Alpha Beet. She had this twice a day plus 24 hour ad lib hay, both out in the field and in the stable.

However, a month in and she still hadn’t put any weight on, and was still very ribby.

Two weeks ago I changed her feed to 2 scoops of Alpha A and a soaked scoop of Dodson and Horrell Quick Beet (only as feed merchant didn’t have any Alpha Beet!), again fed twice a day with ad lib hay 24 hours a day.

Within a week I could see a difference. Two weeks in and there is a definite covering on her ribs, despite her moulting like mad and losing her fluffy teddy bear look!

The grass is just about starting to grow now too, so I am sure your horse will soon pick up further.
 
You could try swapping your sugar beet for a sugar beet feed with added alfalfa which is great for weight gain and condition. I feed Fibre-Beet to the older horses on the yard to keep the weight on them.
 
[ QUOTE ]
You could try swapping your sugar beet for a sugar beet feed with added alfalfa which is great for weight gain and condition. I feed Fibre-Beet to the older horses on the yard to keep the weight on them.

[/ QUOTE ] Feeds such as Fibre-Beet and AlfaBeet are actually LOWER in calories than pure beet, so swapping from pure beet to an alfafa/beet product, would actually be giving the horse fewer calories!
 
Another for equi jewel. Iv never been so converted to a feed but Jack looks amazing on it after I go him really thin and run down. And im still on my first bag. Think by the time iv finished the second bag he will be just right
 
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