Condition score 1.5 - timescale to put weight on?

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mystiandsunny

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Has been wormed, vet checked over, teeth ok, vaccinated. Now I need to get the weight on. Has anyone any experience of this and some idea of timescale? Currently feeding Barley Rings (soaked) and Baileys Outshine, a little chaff to slow the eating down a bit and Equilibra 500 as balancer. Being fed several times a day and gradually upping the amounts. Free access to forage 24/7. Adequate rugs. Eating well and with enthusiasm - vet concluded it was simply lack of food rather than anything more sinister.
 
6 months is a sensible timescale, but if spring arrives and the grass with it (if you have good grass) will help speed things along! I recommend using a weigh tape so that you can see and mark the weight gain.

Have been there myself and tried every possible feed combination there is! It might be worth adding in sugar beet or grass pellets for extra calories.

Good luck its a long road!
 
Thank you! Six months :0!! We will be knee deep in grass (literally) in the spring and unless I muzzle the horses explode sideways so hopefully that will assist with the weight gain! My poor vet was a bit shocked, despite being warned before I took the rug off!
 
It really depends why the horse was thin if it's a healthy horse who was not given enough to eat it should be straight forward .
When I did welfare work I saw case horses fed only good hay ( as much as they wanted ) and a token feed with a general supplement gaining weight almost as you watched .
If the horse has under lying health issues then It might be a bit more of a rocky road .
I would not be in a rush and feed lots of good fibre sources rather than stuff the horse with starchy grains .
 
if there are no underlying health issues I would stop the bucket feed and just give good ad lib forage, if you load the system with sugars now then I would have thought the risk of laminitis would be greatly increased when the grass does come through
 
twiggy2 said:
if there are no underlying health issues I would stop the bucket feed and just give good ad lib forage, if you load the system with sugars now then I would have thought the risk of laminitis would be greatly increased when the grass does come through
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My TB doesn't maintain her weight in winter without hard feed, so I don't think that would work for this one to gain unfortunately.
 
mystiandsunny said:
My TB doesn't maintain her weight in winter without hard feed, so I don't think that would work for this one to gain unfortunately.
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My TB and my Old arabxwelsh are the same, they just dont hold their weight without hard feed (although they only get Alfa A Oil, Fast fibre and a few handfuls of Nuts, soaked)
 
Having looked up what I can, and added up DE/kg etc I think this will work.

Split into 3 or 4 feeds:
500g Equilibra balancer
1.5 scoops barley rings (to be gradually swapped over to speedibeet as we near the end of the bag)
4 cups of Baileys outshine
Readigrass (to mix the above with)

+ as much haylage/grass as she'll eat.

I would like to finish the bag of barley rings - she'll then transition onto speedibeet instead as it's more fibre and less starch.

She's already brighter - comes to see me in the field, finishes her feed eagerly, and is expressing her opinion about rug changes etc.
 
Have indeed just bought this horse. So much more full of energy now after not even a week, eating everything offered, then licking the bowl clean! At a guess, it was a combo of insufficient feed, insufficient rugs and possibly encysted roundworm emerging. A lot of weight was lost between viewing and buying ten days later.
 
Might also add in micronized linseed to help with coat and weight recovery!


There is nothing better than Dr Green but I think we area bit away yet!

Good luck OP sounds like this lovely horse has ended up in the right hands!
 
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