Best weight gain products for race horse out of training?

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NIKKI1974

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Me again! With so many different weight gain products on the market does anyone have any advice on which products would be benificial to a retired race horse that needs to gain condition without fizz? My friend has just rehomed a retired racehorse who is qiute a fussy eater and is trying to gain condition and topline without making him hyper so all advice welcome! many thanks!
 
Pink powder is a good one if your friend is looking for a supplement. I have an ex-racer who was quite underweight when I got him and have been feeding him a combination of alfalfa pellets, build up cubes, mollichaff showshine, and mollichaff barley plus. It's put the weight on him beautifully and he is still a sane boy.
 
I really rate d&h build up and equivite body builder. noticed a big difference quickly feeding them together. hope this helps x
 
Alfa A oil & Calm & Condition has worked wonders on my ex racer .... the alfa oil promotes weight gain without the fizz and with the correct exrercise his topline is coming along lovely !!
x
 
We have always had success with Havens Slobber-Mash on ex racers, from those that have just retired from racing to the older retired ones - its non heating and excellent at putting on weight, soaks into a mash so easy to add in anything else you need to (I do recommend a course of pink powder too for a few weeks whilst adjusting to new routine and new feed!)

Taken from a brochure: (sorry its come out a bit strangely formatted!)


HAVENS Slobber-Mash is a very palatable diet-muesli, rich
in vitamins and fibres, with purifying action. It consists of
flaked cereals, corn, toasted linseed, wheat bran and
dehydrated alfalfa, complete with extra vitamins and
minerals. Additionally, it contains extra linoleic acids and
soy- and sunflower oil.
Due to its specific composition the HAVENS Slobber-Mash
works very stimulating to the skin, hair and Hoofs.
Result: a shiny appearance!
It also provides good support during the moult in autumn
and spring.
Slobber-Mash is recommended for (older) horses with
chewing problems, for horses with digestive problems
or equine colic, but also for active stallions and mares
(to improve fertility). And it helps horses to
maintain their bodyweight.
• horses with digestion-problems or equine colic;
• (older) horses with chewing problems and/or for
mares to improve fertility;
• improvement of coat conditions and hoofs due to the
extra linoleic acid;
• oats-free;
• rich in Vitamins, minerals and fibres.
Best to be used with
water (but can also
be fed dry). Soak 1
part of Slobber-
Mash with 1 part of
water for 15-20
minutes
Energy (MJ) 12 Vit. A 18.750 IE Iron 320mg
Carbohydrates 53% Vit. D-3 3.000 IE Copper 24mg
Starch + sugar 44,2 Vit. E 330mg Zinc 260mg
Crude fibre 7,4% Biotin 165mcg Manganese 120mg
Dig. Protein 7,9% Vit. K3 1,3mg Cobalt 2,0mg
Crude protein 10,4% Vit. B1 3,8mg Iodine 1,5mg
Crude fat 4,0% Vit. B2 6,3mg Selenium 415mg
Crude ash 7,0% Vit. B6 3,2mg
Vit. B12 25,0mcg Lysine 3,8g
Calcium 11,9gr Panthothen. acid 11,3mg Meth+cyst 3,9g
Phosphorous 4,2gr Folic acid 4,1mg Threonine 3,6g
Magnesium 2,4gr Cholin-chloride 205mg Tryptofan 1,1g
Sodium 2,5gr
Potassium 9,3gr
Click to expand...


Havens as a brand is more well known in the north west of England than anywhere else at the moment (although hugely popular on the continent - its a dutch brand) - but starting to be stocked elsewhere.

Let me know where you are - I am Midlands and a large delivery coming imminently if you wanted to try, if not can put you in touch with someone more local to yourself!
 
my ex racer has done superb on d & h build up cubes (the mix sent him a bit fizzy) and protexin gut buster. (like pink powder) through the winter I also had him on linseed which kept the weight on lovely!
ex racers can be prone to tummy upset and ulcers, and the gut buster is to ensure everything works well.
also worth getting a worm count to check there are no problems there too.
 
I struggles with one of my ex-racers but D&H Build up and oils worked.

I started using an equine oil to add to his feed but my vet, who uses the same herself with her horse, said that if you use just basic oil from the supermarket it does pretty much the same job - it is simply much cheaper.

I also use Readigrass but some people are not fond as it is very dry and can be a bit dusty but I've never had an issue using it and he absolutely loves it.
 
Grass grass and more grass, out 24/7 in all weathers. Try not to get into feeding hard feed for weight gain as the best thing you can give them is fibre. Loads of it, keep them eating 24/7 as the chances are he has ulcers, caused by the limited amount of fibre he would have received in training ( a handful of haylage twice a day at most) and teh build up of acid in his stomach. He needs to have the balance sorted in his gut so pink powders are brilliant but let him relax, have time to learn about digestion and relax. Trying to get weight on too fast will increase teh ulcers in his gut and cause further behavioural problems. My ex racer now looks like a warmblood and behaves like a perfect pony. very calm, chilled and relaxed. In summer he is out 24/7 on grass, no additional feed at all. In winter he looks fantastic on ad lib haylage, simple systems lucinuts and unmollased beet. I add in linseed and brewers yeast to ensure he has every thing he needs. A calm sane horse who retains his weight all year round. You need to aim for calmness and sanity, that way you know you are providing for his bodily needs and not overstimulating his energy levels needlessly
 
Grass and/or ad-lib haylage. Totally agree with Bosworth's comments above.

Fibre feeds are definitely the way to go - wouldn't want to be putting 'real' concentrates in until you are getting into winter and needing to maintain weight.
 
I find plain dengie chaff, and dodson and horrell calm and conditioning nuts plus calmer- top spec and limestone all works wonders on mine you want lotws of hay too
 
I too agree with Bosworth - seen too many horses with ulcers. Just turn out 24/7 on good grass if you can and give access to as much hay/lage as it can possibly eat. After all it's free. Why spend ££££ on all that feed? Of course, if you haven't got t/o, I can see why you would feed compounds...
 
JustMe22 said:
Soya helped us out, as did Speedi-beet (or whatever the equivalent is!).
Click to expand...

ditto this ^^^

you can buy full fat soya from a lot of places now - graven horsefeeds do a good feed with that and the minerals and vitamins added if you prefer a complete feed.

also speedi-beet or other un-molassed sugarbeet is excellent for helping put condition on.

my boys hunt all winter on speedibeet and alfa oil, a balancer and then top up with soya if we need to.
 
My friend got an ex-racer recently and 24/7 turnout on good grass and some Alfa a was all she fed her, oh and she kept her warm! Even though it's summer it was 5degrees last night and our TB's were in m/w rugs.

I notice with my ex-racer that it's the grass and ad-lib haylage over the winter made the biggest difference. Really they need as much grass and haylage as you can stuff in. Mine dropped off with just hay over the winter.
He doesn't even look like a TB now but a beefy WB! Lots of fibre, warmth, TLC and work and
they soon change.
I've never fed high energy feeds or conditioning feeds but fibre based feeds. Honestly fibre is the way to go. The danger with feeding conditioning mixes ect is that it just stresses them out and they burn off all the weight your trying to put on!
:)
 
Another vote here for forage, if he's a bit picky giving a choice of hay and haylage can help.

If he still needs extra then unmolassed sugarbeet is good I can't as mine reacts to it but most do well on it.

If you do want to feed a chaff, we had problems with the sugary ones but Dengie do a molasses free range or Top Spec's Top chop is good too.

Like Bosworth I feed linseed and brewer's yeast added to alfalfa pellets and a little Coolstance copra though at this time of the year tiny amounts just to carry supplements.
 
Bosworth said:
Grass grass and more grass, out 24/7 in all weathers. Try not to get into feeding hard feed for weight gain as the best thing you can give them is fibre. Loads of it, keep them eating 24/7 as the chances are he has ulcers, caused by the limited amount of fibre he would have received in training ( a handful of haylage twice a day at most) and teh build up of acid in his stomach. He needs to have the balance sorted in his gut so pink powders are brilliant but let him relax, have time to learn about digestion and relax. Trying to get weight on too fast will increase teh ulcers in his gut and cause further behavioural problems. My ex racer now looks like a warmblood and behaves like a perfect pony. very calm, chilled and relaxed. In summer he is out 24/7 on grass, no additional feed at all. In winter he looks fantastic on ad lib haylage, simple systems lucinuts and unmollased beet. I add in linseed and brewers yeast to ensure he has every thing he needs. A calm sane horse who retains his weight all year round. You need to aim for calmness and sanity, that way you know you are providing for his bodily needs and not overstimulating his energy levels needlessly
Click to expand...

^^^spot on!!!
 
I have a standardbred and I fed her speedi-beet, spillers herbal mix with chaff and top-spec super conditioning flakes.The flakes arent that expensive really £12.50 and the bag did me about a month. I noticed a huge difference in 2weeks. I also fed adlib hy and she is out all year round
 
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I totally agree with lots of fibre, our ex racers have access to lots of grass and ad lib hay or haylage depending on which they cope better with.

We then feed them gravenhorse body builda which is more fibre and chaff based without high energy and allen & page calm & condition to put weight on, once this has done its job if they start to feel a bit to well they go onto a normal mollassed chaff and a cool mix. They normally have 2 feeds a day but sometimes will have 3 depending on the type of TB they are!
 
Just to add a slightly different view I would also suggest a comprehensive balancer like Top spec or Spillers. I have had my lad for two years and for the last year I have had him on a balancer (1st Top spec then Spillers) The thinking behind this is that as the balancer is so concentrated you don't feed very much. In my boys case just 500grams per day. I add this to a scoop of Hi Fi and a good dollop of speedy beet.(alongside loads of grass in summer and good hay all winter) Therefore he's getting all the vits and minerals as well as good conditioning all in a relativley small bowl which is ideal for TB's and their sensitive digestions.
I have never seen him looking as good as he does this year. Everyone that see's him comments on his great looks and the fact that he is now no longer looking like a racehorse and more like a pleasure horse. Proof of which was that on his first ever outing to a show since owning him he was placed second in an ex racers club ridden class. I had some lovely compliments from the judge and I think we only missed out on 1st place because of my riding and my turnout!
 
NIKKI1974 said:
Me again! With so many different weight gain products on the market does anyone have any advice on which products would be benificial to a retired race horse that needs to gain condition without fizz? My friend has just rehomed a retired racehorse who is qiute a fussy eater and is trying to gain condition and topline without making him hyper so all advice welcome! many thanks!
Click to expand...

http://www.saracen-horse-feeds.co.uk/products/39183379/equi-jewel/

No question!
 
Would really, really rate Winergy Equilibrium. Very high fibre but the horses thrive on it (and they do a conditioning version which is fab!) and have used it on lots of different horses and found it not to affect behaviour in a negative way!

I also thoroughly recommend using Protexin Gut Balancer. It doesn't cost the earth and the difference in our horses weight and condition has been unbelievable on it - we got 3 exracers (all previously "poor doers") through the winter on a scoop of Low Energy Winergy and Protexin with good haylege and they came into the spring looking positively fat! You could also add some Alphabeet for additional conditioning fibre if you find you're needing a little more (and it works out 10x cheaper then feeding scoops of Winergy - we never feed more than a big stubbs scoop of Winergy am and pm).

If you are building muscle mirconised linseed is very high in protein (essential for muscle growth) and is quite calorific so a mug of this a day works out very cost effective alongside a scoopy of Winergy, generally without blowing their brains which often conditioning/competition feeds will.

Good quality haylege is also brilliant stuff - we now mix ours with decent hay (50:50) as we find adlib its too fattening! And of course never under-estimate the work of Dr Green!
 
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Lots of fibre and don't expect too much too soon. Whilst in training they get a much bigger cereal to fibre ratio than 'normal' horses so it can take some of them a little time to adjust to a new feeding regime, I'm guessing here but I imagine their metabolism needs to adjust.
I've come across a few who started off eating very little haylage regardless as to how much was available but they soon learn how to eat. :)
 
I give my horse corn or rice bran oil and put him on a feed like safechoice or Omelene. or by the way friends, somebody told me that rather these seaweed is good for horses feet but i dont know if it is true or not!
 
I cant recommend balenced n- hance enough my hunter was starting to look run up now she is on three scoops of this with adlib hay and the muscle is piling on and its nice to know all her vit and mins are balenced just right she is no longer stressy and looks the picture of health very very happy with this feed wish i had tried it before
 
As can be seen from the answers I think it varies greatly with the horse.

As I have posted before my old horse who had been very ill benefitted greatly from Equi Jewel.

My ex racehorse show horse took years to cotton on to the idea of eating much hay and it was very much trying different feeds to see what worked with him.

New ex racehorse - eats hay and grass for England, making up lost time so has very little hard feed at all and is almost too fat already.
 
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