Feeding for weight gain?

[Blackhawk]

So keeping a TB up to weight over winter is no easy task. J is losing a bit of weight, and I'd like to nip it in the bud now before he loses much more.

He's fed three times a day on alpha a, speedi beet, garlic, seaweed and soya oil.

He's on haylage, teeth are fine (checked two months ago) and has rugs galore. He's in light work and needs as much non heating feed suggestions as possible.

I've tried him on top spec, blue chip, calm and condition and none have worked for him so far.

Any ideas?

 

[KatB]

I would up the Alpha A to Alpha oil, and put him on a slow release high calorie cube, like topline conditioning cubes or build up. Linseed and barley conditioning hoops work very well, but depends if your horse cn tolerate barley without blowing his mind....

 

[Skhosu]

horse and pony cubes work great for my boy (I know..not conventional!) as well as top line conditioner (blue bag..?) and equine complete.
He doesn't normally even put weight on in summer, but he is positively gleaming currently and no ribs!

 

[flyingfeet]

D&H Build Up Cubes are good for my ned that stresses in a stable and drops weight.

However I feed him hefty amount of energy boosting feeds, so I am not sure whether they are classed as heating or not.

 

[Blackhawk]

See I have to take him off this feed in the summer as he is a roly poly fatty then! He's got 5 acres to lounge around in with plently of grass at the minute.

last winter he was on build up, conditioning cubes, garlic, soya oil and lost a lot of weight. Saying that he did stress at the yard he was at before!

 

[Allykat]

My TB dropped weight last winter so I am hoping to aviod that again this year.

He is on Alfa A, top line conditioning cubes, Baileys outshine and a handful of sugarbeet. He is on livery and I do feel that he doesn't quite get as much hay as i would give him if he were on diy. Currently he is about right but is still out overnight. Soon he will come in and he will get an extra feed during the day.

 

[aran]

i'd include something like topspec conditioning flakes to what your feeding. i presume your feeding the recommended amount of alfa and speedibeet - otherwise you could up them too.
how much hayledge is he getting - can you up that as well. I always try to up what they are getting first so as not to introduce too many new things - i also prefer to avoid mixes etc unless i really need to but the topspec flakes do see to work on my TB if he needs some extra weight gain. (i'm trying him on boiled linseed, alfa, and sugar beet this year!)

 

[UKa]

does he get ad lib haylage/ hay? works wonders for my poor doing TB ...

 

[Twiglet]

How about Bailey's outshine? meant to be good for general condition and weight gain.

 

[Theresa_F]

Miss Delia was a TB prone to drop over winter. The huge difference for her was feeding Equimins pro-bio - saved me lots of money as I was able to change back to hay and reduced my other feed by about 1/3. She came out of winter looking better than she ever had and in the summer was almost fat.

I found spillers conditioning cubes, linseed, and baileys No 1 very good for adding weight without heating her up.

 

[Governor]

I use Cooked Flaked Barley, and its worked fantasticly to keep weight on Governor going into winter this year.

Pretty high energy though, so obviously not suited to all horses.

 

[air78]

I can't reccomend balanced horse feeds show mix enough

. It has put weight on my boy, who was an anorexic TB, with no behaviour problems. I do feed it with Top spec balancer as well (you do not need a balancer though) just to get in as many calories as poss!!

We are lucky, as it's available from Thompsons mill at murton, and a place in easingwold- some people can't get it at all.
I have tried A&P calm and condition, D&H build up, Bailleys no4, speedi beet..............you name it! and this is the only thing which has helped my boy.

 

[RobinHood]

Another vote for balanced show mix. My yard is 2 minutes from where they make it so we can watch it working it's waya long the conveyorbelt. It has worked wonders with all the skinny horses I've had without sending them loopy. Big thumbs up from me.

 

[MillionDollar]

boiled barley and sugarbeet is the best stuff in the world to get a horse to gain weight. My cob is awful at losing weight at this time of year and giving her this just puts it straight back on!

 

[Baggybreeches]

I have my 17.1hh TB on Alfa Oil, D&H Build Up and Top Spec and Speedi beet to mix. Also important to have as much hay/ haylage as possible, although I often find Sov doesn't eat it all!

 

[the watcher]

speedibeet, alfa oil and pink powder for all my horses, whether good doers or not plus ad lib hay. for the skinny one, and the others in deepest winter I feed Natural Glo which is a high oil stabilised rice bran feed. Quantities vary according to need. This seems to work year in and year out for any type of horse and is totally non heating

 

[Kelly1982]

I would also change the alpha-a to alpha-a oil as this put weight back on my TBx. I echo the others about topspec as well but another good thing to feed is Baileys No1. It is purely for weight gain and did wonders for our TB that dropped loads of weight last winter. She serioulsy looked like a hat rack despite being rugged to the eyebulls and fed by the gallons.