Feeling Hopeless

[Barton Bounty]

She had the ulcers when she came out of racing due to stress. (hence moving her to a nice quite yard).

at the moment I hack her once a week long line twice and lung twice.but

I will give the grass nuts a try thank you.

My boy was just out of racing too

 

[milliepops]

Just be careful, grass nuts really do not have any nutritional value,

that's a bit of a misleading statement, they have plenty of nutritional value - about the same as good grass, funny enough

you only have to read this forum for a short time to see how well (too well!) many horses do on good grass.

 

[Barton Bounty]

To put weight on grass nuts arent as good as normal grass , tried it and it didnt work, was just saying lol my boy looks fabulous on just grass this summer but when his weight went right down grass nuts didnt work for my ex racer

Every horse is different :/

 

[elliesweet]

There is so much choice now in regards to feed it can be very overwhelming. Everyone has things that work and things that dont work. i have to be very careful what I feed as she hots up easy. one thing i found that really did work that i had never thought about before was wheat middlings which she still has a bit of now, that worked for her but might not work on any other horse they are all very very different

 

[Leo Walker]

To put weight on grass nuts arent as good as normal grass , tried it and it didnt work, was just saying lol my boy looks fabulous on just grass this summer but when his weight went right down grass nuts didnt work for my ex racer

Every horse is different :/

Grass nuts are just normal grass?! They didnt work for yours but I would say yours is the exception rather than the rule. Of course its fine to point that out. I've had a quirky, quite difficult to feed little horse as well so understand where you are coming from. But grass nuts are grass and do work usually.

 

[be positive]

Just be careful, grass nuts really do not have any nutritional value, it is only compressed grass, they did nothing for my boy whatsoever

Grass has good nutritional value, grassnuts will be better for getting a small amount into a horse than loading up with chaff that always seems to me to use too much energy to actually chew so will negate the benefit for oe that really needs to gain weight and is already on ad lib hay.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Absolutely everyone is different and entitled to an opinion too 😊

 

[elliesweet]

Grass has good nutritional value, grassnuts will be better for getting a small amount into a horse than loading up with chaff that always seems to me to use too much energy to actually chew so will negate the benefit for oe that really needs to gain weight and is already on ad lib hay.

To me Chaff is important as it means she actually has to chew her food a sloppy mash based food she would eat far to quickly which inst a good thing in my opinion.

 

[Barton Bounty]

To me Chaff is important as it means she actually has to chew her food a sloppy mash based food she would eat far to quickly which inst a good thing in my opinion.

And you can put loads of chaff in too! Bulk it up, i love the smell of honeychop light and healthy! Smells lovely and its the nicest timothy hay

 

[ester]

I mean the nutritional value of any grassnuts will be on the label, it's never 'no nutritional value' that's a fact not an opinion.

there are plenty of grass chaffs OP but they do vary on DE etc quite a bit so worth looking into.

 

[milliepops]

The other thing to consider when thinking about grass vs grass nuts is how much you're feeding. of course grazing 24/7 is going to have more value to a horse than half a scoop of grass nuts

Agree with ester if looking for a chaff to add it's worth looking into the analysis - that honeychop one has a lower DE than the chaff equivalent of the nuts I feed even though it's coated in oil.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Absolutely everyone is different and entitled to an opinion too 😊

Indeed they are but it is worth pointing out to OP, who is looking for ideas, that almost everybody else on this forum, who has tried grassnuts has found that they work well for weight gain. We had an elderly cob who had a week long colic episode and lost a considerable amount of weight. We built her back up with grassnuts, Speedibeet and grasschaff (to stop her choking). My advice to OP would be to build up weight slowly, when she has found the cause and treated it, so as not to cause further damage to the gut lining.

 

[NinjaPony]

If you want chaff, then give Alfa- A oil a try. It’s much more conditioning than something like honey chop, and has a ‘chaff’ like texture that should slow her down.

 

[elliesweet]

If you want chaff, then give Alfa- A oil a try. It’s much more conditioning than something like honey chop, and has a ‘chaff’ like texture that should slow her down.

I have tried Alfa A Oil is just made her fizzy. I now have her one Spillers Conditioning Fiber and she seems to get on well with it. I have recently added the Pink mash so I am hoping that will help as well. Although i heard today that Pink mash has given a few horses the runs so we shall see.

 

[milliepops]

the spillers conditioning fibre is alfalfa and straw with soya oil & grass nuts

 

[be positive]

To me Chaff is important as it means she actually has to chew her food a sloppy mash based food she would eat far to quickly which inst a good thing in my opinion.

Unless she really bolts her food you dont really want to slow her down too much, a mash does not have to be sloppy I make my feeds fairly dry and nothing every eats too quickly, it is slightly different to feeding straights such as oats where they need to chew them to start the digestive process or if you are not feeding adlib forage so the stomach is empty, feeding mainly fibre to get weight on means getting the best quality into them not giving huge feeds full of chop.

 

[be positive]

And you can put loads of chaff in too! Bulk it up, i love the smell of honeychop light and healthy! Smells lovely and its the nicest timothy hay

And has far less nutritional value than grassnuts, my fatties get this as their only token feed.

 

[elliesweet]

Unless she really bolts her food you dont really want to slow her down too much, a mash does not have to be sloppy I make my feeds fairly dry and nothing every eats too quickly, it is slightly different to feeding straights such as oats where they need to chew them to start the digestive process or if you are not feeding adlib forage so the stomach is empty, feeding mainly fibre to get weight on means getting the best quality into them not giving huge feeds full of chop.

She has always had a tendency to "bolt" her feed down hence the chaff but the spillers conditioning fiber works very well for her.

 

[Bellaboo18]

She was treated for Ulcers about a year ago and this was the supplement i was told worked best for her when i bought her. She was wormed when she moved and the grazing is really good where they are (that field was nearly knee height when they went on there just waiting for fencing to be done on there next field and while they wait they have a round bale of hay to each to their hearts content. with the feeds i work full time so cant give 3 feeds unfortunately.

Might be worth saying feeds only have to be an hour apart to class as two separate meals.

 

[bubsqueaks]

This is what she looked liked like before

Omg Im quite shocked by that photo.
Have you heard from Osteo Vet?
So glad you're doing your best for her.

 

[Leo Walker]

When I got one who was poor, it was down to physical issues and he looked not unlike yours shape wise. Whilst we were resolving the physical issues he had a small feed twice a day with any supplements in and then twice a day a big tub trug filled with grass chaff and pink mash. It meant he put weight on without filling him full of high starch/sugar feeds, as part of his issue was hind gut related, so needed to feed him but not overload his system.

 

[elliesweet]

Omg Im quite shocked by that photo.
Have you heard from Osteo Vet?
So glad you're doing your best for her.

Thank you!! she has come a really really long way as you can see she was in an awful state when I first got her!!

I haven't heard from him yet but my vet is out on Wednesday so we will take it from there.

 

[elliesweet]

When I got one who was poor, it was down to physical issues and he looked not unlike yours shape wise. Whilst we were resolving the physical issues he had a small feed twice a day with any supplements in and then twice a day a big tub trug filled with grass chaff and pink mash. It meant he put weight on without filling him full of high starch/sugar feeds, as part of his issue was hind gut related, so needed to feed him but not overload his system.

If you dont mind me asking what were the issues with you boy?
I have only had her on the Pink mash a few weeks but in the last few days i have seen a massive change in her attitude wise. she is really really calm and not s spooky or sharp.

 

[QueenT]

Hi Guys,

I really feel like i am loosing the will to live. about 7 months ago i bought a TB mare very athletic build was in fairly good condition but could have used a little more weight. Then I went on holiday and came back to find she had mega dropped weight very sunken in flank and protruding spine and tail bone. Since then it has just been an uphill battle, she has had the the relevant checks done like teeth and back an although she has bad hips (something only keeping her nice and fit will help).I have moved yard where there is better grass and very peaceful she has picked up a fair amount of weight and muscle but her spine is still protruding and to me her back end just looks poor. I am currently feeding Pink Mash,rice bran oil and conditioning Chaff but feel like I am getting no where.

Does anyone know why she wont pick up in her back end. she is on supplement for ulcers and has a constant supply of Hay. My main worry is winter is fast approaching and she has no reserve. Should i stop ridding her to help her fatten up?

I feel like such a bad mum and just dont know what to do!

Agree to lots of other advice regarding vet, blood work etc. After establishing overall health of 12 yo TB I shared some years ago, what worked for him was moving to a new yard where they fed four times a day. Vet advised that TBs generally have extremely high metabolism so if we wanted to keep weight on him we had to make sure he could digest the amount of feed necessary. And we had to keep him warm too, so we rugged him a little earlier than anyone else, and moved to heavier rugs a little sooner - a week of cold weather and weight dropped again! We changed to strict 3+1 exercise schedule (3 days riding + 1 day off work) - one day off per week was too much for him.

Sounds like a lot of work, but by the looks of it you are doing a pretty decent job of getting weight on. A Trakhener at our yard has protruding spine like on your photo - that's just his built, so just make sure your horse is sound

 

[elliesweet]

Agree to lots of other advice regarding vet, blood work etc. After establishing overall health of 12 yo TB I shared some years ago, what worked for him was moving to a new yard where they fed four times a day. Vet advised that TBs generally have extremely high metabolism so if we wanted to keep weight on him we had to make sure he could digest the amount of feed necessary. And we had to keep him warm too, so we rugged him a little earlier than anyone else, and moved to heavier rugs a little sooner - a week of cold weather and weight dropped again! We changed to strict 3+1 exercise schedule (3 days riding + 1 day off work) - one day off per week was too much for him.

Sounds like a lot of work, but by the looks of it you are doing a pretty decent job of getting weight on. A Trakhener at our yard has protruding spine like on your photo - that's just his built, so just make sure your horse is sound

Thank you for your advice!! I am the same anything below 13degrees and she is rugged as i found the second she cold he lost it all!! i am thinking of fining a way to get on 3 feeds a day instead of two. hopefully the vet will being answers on Wednesday.