Feeding advice for thin TB

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AshleighEmma

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Hi all,

I'm looking for advice on fattening up my skinny TB. She's on a concoction of 'conditioning' feeds but wanted to know if anyones had any success with other brands or any supplements or anything else i can be doing to aid her weight gain. She had a legitimate reason for the weightloss - no health problems as been vetted she just needs some help now to put back on. - She's 15 so i know this means it'll take a bit longer!!

Currently she's in at night with 2 full hay nets (ad lib) she still has some left in the morning so i take it as she eats as much as she can. She's rugged in a medium indoor rug.

She has breakfast and dinner consisting of;

1 scoop - Apple chaff
1 scoop - quickbeet
1 scoop - rolled barley
1 scoop - conditioning mash

she has a good appetite, she's out during the day ranging from 5 hrs to 9 hrs depending on work with access to 'average' grazing for this time of year - not allowed to put hay/haylage outside so thats not an option.

Just want to give her the best possible chance before we get into the depths of winter and ill really struggle

No nasty comments please

Thanks xx
 
If that is round scoops much of the feed will be moving too quickly through her stomach for her to get full benefit, the recommended amount for optimum benefit from one feed is about a rugby ball sized quantity, so half what you are giving her, the chaff will be doing nothing beneficial to her diet so I would stop that as she is getting ad lib hay, then I would look at what suits her best and just probably use the mash, fed in at least 2, and if possible 3, feeds a day, if you feed at the recommended rate she should get all her dietary requirements from that without it being unbalanced by the barley and to give extra calories without making the feeds too large add some oil or linseed to it.
To increase the quality of her diet look at alfalfa in any form, far better than apple chaff which is just poor quality hay/ straw and loads of molasses, none of which will help her condition, a trug of alfalfa given last thing may be a useful way of topping up the diet if she will browse on it during the night.
 
I feed my Tb the following over 3 feeds per day

Ad lib hay
1 Stubbs scoop just grass chaff
1 scoop topspec cool condition cubes ( can be increased to 1 1/2 scoops)
Topspec comprehensive balancer
2 coffee cups of micronised linseed.

Out all day

He looks absolutely fantastic at the moment. If needed I increase the condition cubes and the linseed
 
Great thanks for your replies, ill look at her food again tomorrow. Do you think i should continue with the barley or take it out and feed straight conditioning cubes? I've thought about grass replacer ie. ReadiGrass in her stable at night but is Alfalfa better then that?

What are the positives to linseed oil rather than the standard vegetable oil?

Teeth is next on the list definitely, she's been done around 10 months ago so not desperate but a good to rule out

thanks
 
I would feed the conditioning mash as it is a complete feed with everything in that she needs, I prefer micronised linseed as it will be more easily accepted than coating the feed in an oil which many will not eat if you are giving them enough to make a real contribution to the calorie intake, they need about a mug a day which is a lot of liquid to get into them an can put them off eating.


Alfalfa is higher in feed value than many other grass type chaffs but generally lower in sugar although a good quality ready grass would be good it is just the molichaff products I try and avoid as they are low in feed value and high in sugar, what you want is everything she eats to be high value so she is getting nothing that is wasted, hence feeding small feeds rather than huge ones so it is all digested slowly and she gets the full benefit.
 
I feed my tbs Alfa A, Saracen show improver cubes, flaked barley and either veteran vitality (for the 19yo) or speedibeat. They get various concoctions of this 3 times a day.

Breakfast is 1sc Alfa, 1 sc Cubes.
Lunch 1sc cubes, 1/2 barley
Dinner 1.5sc alfa, 1 sc cubes, 1/2sc barley, 1sc VV or speedibeat. I mix the cubes, barley and mush on the top and leave the alfa underneath so they eat the good stuff first and the alfa is there for snacking on later. My boys are quite good and have that idea down to a tea!

They both get adlib hay but their grazing is poor.
 
That sounds like a lovely mix. I wish i could divide into three feeds but work stops me going 3X. When my chaff runs out i'll swap to alfalfa. Sounds like a better bet - something so obvious that i hadn't thought of!!

Today i've reduced her feed;

3/4 scoop - Conditioning Mash
1/4 scoop - Chaff (to use up)
1/2 scoop - rolled barley
1/2 scoop - Speedibeet.

Thats 2 scoops, twice a day - give or take - a much easier sized feed. I'll keep going with that twice a day and see how we get on.

She's getting her teeth done on wednesday so we'll see what they say!

Can anyone give me any advice on oils? Or let me know about linseed oil?

Any other supplements/oils/random hacks that are known to put weight on? I was wondering about milk powder/maize oil i've heard is good?

Also putting readigrass in her stable at night as another form of fibre alongside her concentrate feed and her haynets? any advice on this?

thanks xx
 
The only thing that really made a difference to mine was what I call his body builder diet - very high in protein which is necessary to build soft tissue. He had one summer on 3 acres of good grass, teeth and worms done and still ribby with no topline. So we analysed his diet (with the help of Sarah Braithwaite from Forageplus) and found he was slightly lacking protein. Now he gets soya hulls and soya meal, with grass chop and grass pellets, plus micronised linseed and added lysine and/or methionine. His ribs are well covered and the top line is showing signs of developing. I have become a serial label reader :o
 
Micronised linseed is brilliant - as someone else said up-thread it has a higher nutritional value than the oil. I get mine from the internet as not many places stock it (the proper micronised linseed rather than linseed lozenges, which aren't the same thing at all). Its made by Charnwood and lasts for ages, so doesn't work out that expensive and is really good for weight gain.

Pure corn oil is also good for adding calories
 
Linseed lozenges are what is left after the oil has been extracted - and they cost as much as the full fat micronized version. Wouldn't bother with them
 
HandBR said:
Micronised linseed is brilliant - as someone else said up-thread it has a higher nutritional value than the oil. I get mine from the internet as not many places stock it (the proper micronised linseed rather than linseed lozenges, which aren't the same thing at all). Its made by Charnwood and lasts for ages, so doesn't work out that expensive and is really good for weight gain.

Pure corn oil is also good for adding calories
Click to expand...

I started using micronised linseed 8 years ago and the feed store had to special order it in for me. Fast forward to now and they have a whole pallet full of bags in stock.
 
Replace the chaff with readigrass. Less sugar and more calories.

Add in oats and linseed for bulk and weight gain with no silly antics.
 
My TB gelding was terrible for loosing weight and for two winters, he went like a hat rack. Last winter, we kept him inside in the week, out on the grass at the weekend. I was able to monitor his weight and feed him everything he needed.
He had haylage in huge nets and a feed once or twice a day depending.
His feed was very simple.
2 scoops of original mollichop
1 scoop conditioning cubes.

This worked wonders and his weight stayed all winter, coming into the summer with a lovely shape ready for summer 24/7 turnout!
 
Whole oats won't be digested easily, in most horses they will pass straight though and be a waste of money. I have even found that to be the case with lightly rolled outs - you do need the husk to be severely damaged to enable the gut to digest the inside. Soaking didn't make much difference with mine either. Personally I find them more trouble than they are worth when there are plenty of alternatives. Micronised barley is one if your horse isn't in need of a low sugar/starch diet, but basically cereals aren't ideal except for horses in very hard work
 
Micronised linseed and coolstance copra are best for weight gain and are not full of c.r.a.p like so many of the standard commercial feeds.
 
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