Feeding a TB (keeping weight)

[JustMe22]

Hey everyone!
My thoroughbred has been losing weight recently and I'm looking for some suggestions as to what I can do to keep his condition.
He's been off the track over a year now, and he was in good condition for a while, but its now dropping and he just seems to keep losing weight regardless of what we do. I need him tp put on weight so that he can carry on building muscle more easily.

At the moment he's on maize free concentrate, he gets 6 scoops split into 3 meals a day. He also gets hay and has access to it most of the day (we have very limited grazing here in the winter. Its very dry so we substitute with teff) and a bit of lucerne at night. He's also getting full fat soya and a protein supplement.
He's on a regular deworming schedule and his teeth are fine. He's also rugged at night now its getting colder.
Oh, and he's normally worked 5-6 times a week doing dressage. One of the days is lunging, and he jumps more or less once a week or so.

I don't have any recent photos, but you can see his ribs when he's standing, and although it isn't like rescue case bad or 'just come off the track' kinda bad, I don't want to be able to see his ribs easily. He also has poverty lines down his hindquarters and is just generally looking a little..thin..even though his coat isn't dull or anything.
I can try feeding him oil or something too, but it just seems odd that he's losing this much condition.

Thanks for any suggestions!!!

 

[nuffield]

I find conditioning feeds to be very good. Either the cubes or the mix, any well known brand will do the job, eg Spillers or Dodson and Horrell. Just build up slowly ,say over 7 to 10 days to the recommended amount on the bag, split into 2 or 3 feeds a day. Theres no need for any addatives and itseasy and straight forward. When horse reaches required condition you will most probably be able to cut back on the amount fed to maintain that condition.

 

[cellie]

Dengie alpha a with oil is good mixed with any of build up cubes.Im using calm and condition for my tbx as she very explosive, the last few weeks with spring grass has made huge differnce to her muscle tone and coverage.Its took 3 months to get condition on with a move and her being stressy.

 

[saddlesore]

I think you should be aiming at high oil, high fibre and try to keep the protein levels fairly low as they tend to make horses a bit fizzy, especially TBs- which means they will just prat the weight off agian lol! I would look at something like Alfa A Oil, high fibre cubes, fibre beet, soaked grass nuts etc. I would also add oil and pink powder. I tried loads of conditioning feeds for my TB and he never gained any weight and became slowly more loopy

Feeding high oil/fibre made the WORLD of diference and he kept his head too. Good luck!

 

[JustMe22]

Ok, now to be extremely awkward (sorry!!), I don't live in the UK, so we obviously have different feeds and brands to you guys..I don't think we get conditioning feeds, what kind of things do they contain?

He was switched on to a new feed (also maize free) a few weeks ago, because it was helping the other hot tb's put weight on without sending them crazy.

So its generally agreed oil is good? I've been looking into that anyway, I just wondered if I could have avoided it, because as I said his condition used to be ok but its getting worse, and he's the only horse at the whole yard thats doing that.
It might be because his workload has increased I suppose..but then so has his feeding.

So other than giving him oil (again, we don't have all the extra supplements and mixes and stuff...3rd world country here

), so would corn oil be best?

Is there anything else?

I'm going to try and increase his grass/hay intake, see what difference that makes but its difficult because its so dry and the grass quality here is bad anyway even in the summer.

 

[Steeleydan]

My sisters ex race horse is hard to keep weight on and we have a battle with him because if we add an extra feed per day he starts leaving his feeds and goes on complete hunger strike plus he is fussy, but we find Alan & Page calm and condition is good for weight gain, also haylage is better than hay, but I would turn him out 24/7 on lush spring grass but still give him bucket feed, thats what we do and it seems to work, but it is an uphill battle with some tb. Also have you tried a vitamin B 12 injection to give him a boost. Failing all this I would have your vet run some blood tests see if he is lacking somthing.

 

[Damnation]

I feed my ex racer oats and alfa a origional. Every other type of feed either puts condition on but she has no energy or alternatively it does nothing for her condition but we get explosive energy. For some reason on oats she is fine. She has put weight on and her coat is super shiny! She isn't fizzy either

 

[CrazyMare]

We feed my OH's TB TopSpec Super Conditioning Flakes ( http://www.topspec.com/basket/horses/blends/21), with AlfaBeet ( http://www.dengie.com/pages/products/additional-products.php), TopSpec Balancer ( http://www.topspec.com/basket/horses/horses/feed/1) and oil (plain veg oil). Plus grazing.

Links included so you can read and see if you have anything similar you can try. He has put on 30kg according to the weightape since starting this diet, and he has a much better covering.

 

[Sheri]

The only thing my friend and I found that worked for putting on weight for her TB is D & H Build Up Mix (or cubes)

As Cellie mentioned Alfa - A Oil is good.

Oil is very good at putting on weight and doesn't effect the temprement. Soya Oil is the best for this and you can work up to a cup (UK cup - literally a cup!)a day.