exercise for an underweight horse.

My mare was underweight in the autumn and following a colic episode that was suspected to be related to this, the vets recommended box rest with free access to good quality forage - if she was turned out she would choose poor grass over this so at the most she was allowed 2 hours turnout per day.

We have switched her to good quality haylage which she has access to 24/7, added micronized linseed to her feed (she was already getting this so I upped it to two mugs per day) along with Calm and Condition and chaff - I was feeding slightly more for her size to get the calories in. It has taken two months but she is now looking far more respectable and has gone from 'poor' to what I would consider 'good' condition, with a shiny coat.

Having taken advice from the nutritionists this morning they have advised we gradually return to a lower amount of Calm and Condition, reduce the linseed to one mug per day and I plan to reduce the Hi Fi (non molassed) I added to this for extra chewing and if she stays ok (doesn't get too fat!) then all is good.
 
Give her a few months off completely, Alfa beet is brilliant and so is ERS pelits! My boy looked as I'd starved him before Xmas. He had ulcers. Once they were treated and he was on the right feed, 4 times a day!!! Ad-lib hay, as munch turn out with grass if uv got it And rug! Make sure she's always rugged so she doesn't use her own weight to keep warm, My boy been off since Xmas and I'm leaving him off till spring at least. No point in feeding them up if ur gona excerise them.
Hope she improves
 
redriverrock said:
Reading your posts I think you still dont fully appreciate what ad-lib actually means. It means at ne time is the hose without hay/haylage and if that means roling a bale into her stable then do that. The grazing is poor so you need to be putting a round in the field and replacing it regularly. Mine who are all out 24/7 get through 1 every 4 to 5 days.
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Agree with this. You may also need to bring in for part of the day to ensure she gets enough calories. Mine will pick at the grass rather than hay if out, and certainly isn't food oriented enough to get hay when there are others out who are a bit on the greedy side, she will just leave them to gorge on the hay and pick at the grass. So in winter she needs to come in and have a stable full of haylage.

Basically however much haylage you are giving her now, increase it and keep increasing it until you have half a haynet leftover when you go to replenish it. The horse should always have plenty of easy access to forage. By easy access I mean forage that it isn't going to be chased off and that isn't in a trickle net or small holed net. I put mine in a haybar (helps the topline as an added benefit) so that she doesn't have to work for it. You are looking to literally stuff her full of hay/haylage until she doesn't actually want anymore!
 
circuit dancer said:
Give her a few months off completely, Alfa beet is brilliant and so is ERS pelits! My boy looked as I'd starved him before Xmas. He had ulcers. Once they were treated and he was on the right feed, 4 times a day!!! Ad-lib hay, as munch turn out with grass if uv got it And rug! Make sure she's always rugged so she doesn't use her own weight to keep warm, My boy been off since Xmas and I'm leaving him off till spring at least. No point in feeding them up if ur gona excerise them.
Hope she improves
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Unmollassed sugarbeet is higher calorie than alfa beet or fibre beet and is great as a good bulky feed that it non-heating. Be careful of sugary/carb laden feeds as it can heat the horse up and make them stressy.
 
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