Feeding a TB for weight gain

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superpony

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Hi everyone. I have a 16hh 10 year old ex racer who I have owned for nearly 4 years, in the past hes always dropped abit in winter but never been too much of a problem, as he always turns puts it back on in summer!!. However this year he has dropped too much and I need to rethink his feeding.

Currently he is being quite fussy about his hay, he gets ad lib in the stable and field and picks at it mostly. I can't feed him haylage as hay is supplied by the farm and he also shares a field with my pony who has EMS therefore we have to be very careful with his weight.

He is also currently fed a large scoop of Hi Fi Lite and 1/4 scoop of High Fibre Cubes. So any suggestions of what to add would be appreciated!! I have some Top Line Cubes which I could try him with, another idea was to swap the Hi Fi for Alfa A. I also looked into Re'leve from Saracen.. but despite numerous attempts and promises of phone calls back I havn't found anywhere that stocks it around here and actually gets back to me (including Saracen)!!! I thought the low statch could suit him. Someone else suggested Corpa feed but I am worried that will send him silly. (Obviously these are all the options I am thinking about and I am not going to change him onto all 4!!!)

The problem is he is just coming back into work after a long break at the moment (only walk and trot at the moment) so I dont want to send him silly as he is quite 'hot' and I have never had his scoped but I have suspected he has had Ulcers in the past so I need to be careful on that front too!!

Thanks in advance. :0
 
Brewers yeast and micronised linseed work well with my TB who is a similar age, but mine is out 24/7. She used to lose weight over winter but feeding more hay and these BY and linseed has really helped (the only other food she gets is speedibeet)
 
I had the same problem with my TB and then someone suggested calm and condition it does not hot up horses but the difference in one week was amazing!!!:)
 
For TB's lacking weight I swear by Simple Systems its fantastic

I too had issues with my TB he never held weight out side summer and I was feeding 4different types of feed costing me £70 a month which was a joke.

I fed simple systems grass nuts, luci bix and sugar beat equivalent all around £8 a bag then and will last a couple of months. You soak it overnight and can add to chaff if you like my boy loved it.

Take a look on their website it really does do the job
 
C&c is pants and has a high starch content. I have used the following with success:
1 pure feeds
2 top spec balancer and cool condition cubes
3 baileys top line cubes or cheapo pony nuts and sugar beet

Other additions can include sugar beet, Bailey's outshine or Alfa a.

Plenty of forage as well. Could you try buying a bag of horse have?
 
Hi

My TB is very sensitive to food, even unmolassed sugarbeat fizzes him up.

I have him on Simple Systems which I am very happy with. He is prone to drop a bit in winter so I add micronised linseed to his feed.
 
claracanter said:
Hi

My TB is very sensitive to food, even unmolassed sugarbeat fizzes him up.

I have him on Simple Systems which I am very happy with. He is prone to drop a bit in winter so I add micronised linseed to his feed.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised to hear he is still dropping weight on simple systems, have you spoken to them to see if perhaps there is something else they can suggest?
 
stacey_lou said:
I'm surprised to hear he is still dropping weight on simple systems, have you spoken to them to see if perhaps there is something else they can suggest?
Click to expand...

Hi

I should have explained better, what I meant was because I know he could lose weight in winter being a TB, I am giving him extra linseed to prevent this.

Coincidently he is taking part in a study for AHT and they came back and remeasured him yesterday 6 weeks on from their first measurements and he has gone up so definitely no weight loss.
 
I think you need to address the problem of him not eating a lot of hay, despite him having ad lib. Have his teeth been checked recently? If it is not a dental problem then it may be that the current hay is not very tasty. I would try giving him a mix of small bale haylage and hay in the stable overnight, to see if you can get him to eat more forage. I know you say hay is supplied by the farm, but it will still probably be more cost effective to buy in some small bale haylage than give him lots of extra hard food, plus he is more likely to stay sane!
 
If I were you, I would combine your two current threads, as what he's being fed will have a direct impact on those flaring hooves :)

There are a number of things you can feed for weight gain that will not impact on the hooves and there are a number of things recommended on this thread that will almost certainly have a negative impact on the feet, so it's worth specifying "weight gain AND hoof improvement" :)

Also, poor digestion and potential ulcers have a very negative impact on hooves (I know of one horse whose appalling feet are almost certainly due to the fact that she just isn't able to absorb nutrients from her feed due to poor digestion), so that's worth adding in to the mix :)

Also, it's worth bearing in mind that some horses (my example above being one) just can't tolerate haylage, because it's too acidic - setting the hoof situation back even further.
 
My Tb is a bit of a health nut, he will only let me put natural based creams etc on wound. He seems to be pretty good at letting me know what he needs. He prefers hay to haylage - it has a higher dry matter content and chewyness which creates saliva and buffers stomach acids

He came to be very under weight after trying everything under the sun processed feeds, oil, every fibre etc etc he never got above average condition.

My trimmer sent me this artical http://www.thehorseshoof.com/oats1.html

I switched him to lucerne (alfalfa) oats a multi vit which balances his diet salt and yeast and the change in him was massive (there are pics on my profile). Plus adlib hay over winter.

After doing this he no longer required feeding durning summer and only 2kg over winter, out 24/7 covered the odd time as he needed it as he doesn't like to be covered and he was nice and round. he never heated up or changed in behaviour and I have had no need to magnesium this year to sort grass issues whereas the previous years he needed it. he is almost a different horse since changing so relaxed and unstressed.

I know everyone keeps going on about fibre based diets and no grains but some horses simply cannot get the required calories from this diet and need grains.

He is BF and competes in all disciplines.
 
I think it is the fact that your boy is picking at his hay which is why he has lost weight this year. I find with TB's that they really need to eat a lot of hay and that actually they don't really need much hard feed at all. It doesn't matter how much hard feed you give him or what you give him he won't put on weight if he's not getting his ration of hay.
Why does he not like the hay?
I would try some different hay, just buy a couple of small bales from a different supplier and if he eats that up you know there is something in the other hay he doesn't like.
Also getting his teeth checked is a good thing, even if you have had them done recently maybe a different dentist might pick up on a problem that you didn't know about or that your dentist has missed.
Otherwise the idea of mixing some small bale haylage in with his hay is a good idea. I generally don't like feeding pure haylage especially if it is very wet and smelly as it seems to be too rich for them on it's own but dry course haylage or haylage mixed in with the hay could help to get him to eat up more fibre.

My TB in the winter looks like this:-

388295_10150462178110210_1407951349_n.jpg


He has his teeth done, back ect and I literally stuff with him with hay. He's eating 3 nets a day at the moment, he has one when he comes into his stable at 3pm and 2 nets from 7pm to morning time. Then he goes out in the field eating grass for 6 hours. Feed wise he gets not much different from yours Hifi and a 1/4 scoop of fibre nuts with pink powder.

He gets worked every day and he is an ex-racehorse.

I really think if you can get to the bottom of why he's not eating up his hay you will sort it :).
 
Thank you everyone.. I thought I would post a little update. I bought him some haylage on Saturday.. which he ate some of but not all of despite it being the super nice stuff!! He had aslo stopped eating his breakfast... and then Sunday seemed very quiet and started showing colic signs.. got the vet (got to love a Sunday call out!!) and turns out he has impaction colic.. hence why he hasn't been eating much of his hay. :(

He is now much brighter and back to munching little bits of haylage.. so I think that the picking at the hay was due to him feeling poorly. But thank you for all your advice will look into the feeds for when he is better. :)
 
Oats is the only grain you can feed straight. The issue with treating grains is the nutritional value deteriorates when exposed to air so if you can't process on the spot better with whole oats.
 
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