cant keep weight on the old boy

[susanB]

Anyone got any help with picky eater 27 yr old t/bred who is dropping weight. Have put him on Baileys no 4 & alfalfa which he's now eating. Had his teeth rasped lastweek but he's not really eating his hay & haylage. He really needs to get some weight on but I don't know what to try next to give him the fibre he needs.

 

[kendra2705]

hi what i would do is get him to a yard where there is lots of grazing, my horse came out of winter this year fatter than she normally comes out of summer, and she didnt have any hay and she didnt want her feed either, grass is the best basis of feeding for any horse in my opinion, years ago we relied on grass now days people feed lots of grain and keep horses off the grass because of laminitis but it is the combination of overfeeding that causes the problem, grass is best. and then you could try a feed balancer that would give him all his nutrients , hope this helps good luck

 

[only_me]

sugar beet.
works wonder with my boy who loses weight faster than he puts it on!

boiled feeds especially barley and oats (not fizzy when boiled) and plenty of grass. have you tried a senior mix?

 

[berry]

Baileys number 1 and oil works well too x.

 

[Fleur100]

Cheap vegetable oil..... & lots of it

 

[onemoretime]

Winergy Equlibrium growth is also very good for weight gain

 

[dingle12]

Alfa a oil, SB and spillers conditioning mix you will see a dif in two weeks, we did with our 24yrs TB

 

[Louby]

Soak Alfafa cubes or high fibre cubes so it goes into a mush and mix with SUgar beet. Girl used to feed this a 30odd yr old pony as he couldnt eat hay.

 

[AmyMay]

Get him on some decent grazing. Make sure he's warm and rug him if the weather is wet and cold.

Oh, and perhaps a little MOT from the vet to make sure everythign is in working order??

 

[reynold]

Saracen Equijewel - will also be easy on the teeth for an older horse to eat

2nd the rug and a vet check

 

[spaniel]

Grass, grass grass and grass. My 30 year old cob drops loads of weight each winter no matter what I shovel into him but a month on the spring grass and he is back as good as new.

I used to stress myself stupid every year about beiing able to see his bones and I have now come to the conclusion that I cannot literally force feed him and as long as I keep him warm I just need to wait for the good grass to come through.

Teeth and worms are good checks for all horses but especially the old boys so keep on top of that and Dr Green should do the rest.

 

[dozzie]

I echo Spaniel. Good grass. Just watch out for lami.

 

[PennywithHenry]

When Henry came to me he wouldn't touch hay, haylage, hay replacer....nothing...

I fed him Suregrow, as already mentioned, and he constantly had a huge tub of beetpulp and soaked high fibre cubes....

Did your horse have any dental problems before the teeth were done? Henry had a sore mouth from teeth problems before he came to me, it took a few weeks afterwards before he'd try forage, I don't know whether he was sorer than it looked and it took that long to heal, or whether it just took him a while to realise that they didn't hurt again...

Just an idea, good luck

 

[henryhorn]

I have tried feeding on purely Alfa A when a horse won't eat haylage (plus normal feeds of course). I just filled a tub and kept it topped up.
Sounds like he has trouble chewing and it's easily chewed and swallowed.
It's not the ideal diet but if he eats it and gains weight then why not, as his age he's entitled to be picky!

 

[kellyeaton]

senior mix with alfa a oil if know weight put on in a couple of weeks try running some blods to make sure there is nothing going on in side that you can not see and his he wormed?