Feed for weight gain

[LilyM]

Hi All,

Please can you advise what you think the best feeds are for weight gain.

I have recently bought a 16.3 ISH who is moderately thin, he is a good doer. with his previous owner he wasn’t on any feeds, he was being turned out in the day and hay at night (from what I’m told).

with me he is turned out every day and has hay at night, but I need something extra to bulk him up.

many recommendations will be appreciated, my past horses were cobs that were fed happy hoof never had a problem with them!

thanks

 

[The Xmas Furry]

To be honest, I'd advise you just give him plenty of good quality hay or haylage at present, while you get to know him.
You don't need to find out the hard way that xyz feed actually goes to his brain and he becomes an idiot.
You say he is a good do'er but also he is moderately thin, which is he?
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being emaciated to almost point of death, what would you score him at?

 

[paddi22]

tons of forage. and also equerry condition mash is great.

 

[AmyMay]

So has he lost weight since he’s been with you? How much grass is in the field?

 

[LilyM]

To be honest, I'd advise you just give him plenty of good quality hay or haylage at present, while you get to know him.
You don't need to find out the hard way that xyz feed actually goes to his brain and he becomes an idiot.
You say he is a good do'er but also he is moderately thin, which is he?
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being emaciated to almost point of death, what would you score him at?

He literally never has his head away from hay, food is at the front of his brain, he needs to build muscle which I know due to the vetting I had. The vet advised me to start giving him a feed but wouldn’t specify on what would be best for him so this is why I’m in this situation currently! You are able to see his ribs currently, he needs to build muscle on his top line which vet advised hacking would be best for this up inclines etc, all the feeds is just where I’m getting confused because like you said I don’t want to alter his mood and his is the most laid back loving horse currently.

 

[LilyM]

So has he lost weight since he’s been with you? How much grass is in the field?

I’ve only had him a day but asking for advice on feed due to the vet advising to put him on one

 

[AmyMay]

I’ve only had him a day but asking for advice on feed due to the vet advising to put him on one

Ok, so he’s not a good doer then.

How much grass does he have?

 

[The Xmas Furry]

He literally never has his head away from hay, food is at the front of his brain, he needs to build muscle which I know due to the vetting I had. The vet advised me to start giving him a feed but wouldn’t specify on what would be best for him so this is why I’m in this situation currently! You are able to see his ribs currently, he needs to build muscle on his top line which vet advised hacking would be best for this up inclines etc, all the feeds is just where I’m getting confused because like you said I don’t want to alter his mood and his is the most laid back loving horse currently.

Muscle and top line will come with steady work, you dont want (need) bulking feeds to create this. Your vet is right about hill work, it needs introducing slowly over a few weeks.
I'll stick to my original suggestion of good hay, plus steady work increasing over thr coming weeks

 

[LilyM]

He is out in the field from 7am until 4-4.30pm every day, the field has a lot of grass due to it only having 5 horses on it and it’s a big field

 

[AmyMay]

That’s brilliant. I’d be inclined to not be in too much of a rush then to give him hard feed, just plenty of good quality hay/haylage for the next month and review after that.

 

[NinjaPony]

I’d stick with hay, and give him a feed of soaked grass nuts plus a vitamin and mineral supplement, and see how you get on.

 

[Ranyhyn]

Best advice I was ever given

DONT GRUB THEM UP

Good quality forage to begin and set your baseline to move upwards