Food to fix rapid weight loss

RachelFerd

RachelFerd

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my little mare has always been on the light side, but seemed to be holding a stable weight going into winter - she was out 24/7 with ad lib good quality hay and being fed once a day with D&H country cubes, micronized barley and oil.

when she was kicked last week she was put on to neopen (neomycin and penicillin antibiotic) which she had a mild reaction to the neomycin part which put her totally off her food, and has really made her under the weather. She has dropped weight quickly and is now looking quite tucked up.

Any thoughts on how to get the weight back on? She is not clipped, and is very well rugged. Am currently feeding her as much good haylage as she will eat (but not as much as she would have eaten before this antibiotic reaction
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) and she is trickle feeding on some conditioning cubes through a snack-a-ball plus is being fed twice a day - each meal is 1 scoop conditioning cubes, 1 scoop country cubes, 1 scoop micronized barley, plus a probiotic and half a cup of sunflower oil.

Any thoughts on what more I can do? She really isn't looking great, and I would prefer to get her looking better before she has to go back out again.
 
D&H Build up mix is good and also i cannot remember the makers name but they make a Body Builder pellet for fast but safe weightgain that worked well on my boy when recovering from a virus and lost alot of weight.
 
Not sure about something to help quickly but my mare is on D&H Build Up which i have found soooooooo good. She's been in very condition since i put her on it about a year ago, and i haven't found her to drop weight at all since. Also doesnt make her any more loopy than usual at all.
 
I'd think you need to decide whether you are feeding straights or compounds - either choose to feed straights - ie micronized barley mixed with beet and/or alfafa, oil and a vit/min supplement or balancer, or the full amount of a good conditioning feed (with some oil if you like). I would cut the country cubes out as they only have 10 MJDE/kg, so not as high calorie as conditioning cubes or barley. Can you fit a third feed in during the day, as that will help too.

I'm sure you will have hundreds of suggestions of different conditioning feeds on this thread - different things work for different horses! Best one I have used is Build Up Cubes - not suitable for all horses as it contains barley, but presumably that is not problem for your horse!

As she is not eating much haylage, you could also think about putting a different fibre source in her stable, like a big tub of Readigrass or Graze-On or perhaps some Fast Fibre, which might tempt her to eat a bit more fibre. Is she on box rest at the moment? Could you lead her out to find a patch of grass for her to munch on? Could you also put some of the hay she was eating previously in her box, as perhaps she doesn't like the haylage as much as the hay, some horses can be a bit fussy when their forage source is changed.
 
I'd be a bit careful about how much your feeding in each meal. depending on the size of your scoop you could be feeeding over 3kg in each feed - she physically wont be able to digest that much in one meal - their stomachs are only big enough to hold 2kg at one time.

firstly you could split what she's currently on into three feeds and see if she is able to utilise it more effectively.

alternatively, if traditional compounds are not working, fibre and oil is a much safer way of putting weight on a horse fairly quickly. I'm now using winergy equilibirum condition (was using the growth version) and am so happy with the results, as are lots of people on here.

maybe ring the people at winergy? thet're really helpful 01908 576 277
 
 
I've had to swap my two TBs off the Winergy due to the cost of it and have gone for Allen and Page Fast Fibre and Power and Performance cubes, they are both holding loads of condition despite being out 24/7. If you can afford Winergy I'd give it a go as it certainly beefed my two up a good bit, but if not then possibly add fast fibre or something similar like fibre beet with the cubes your using and split the ration into 3 feeds?

Linseed through winter can also sometimes help, Equus Health do it ready cooked...
 
I use speedibeet for my both of my tbx (regular sugar beet sends them bonkers). I would also split the meals up into 3 or more meals - it sounds like quite a lot of food in the bowl and if her appetite is low, you dont want to over face her. She also wont be able to digest all of that food, so you are just wasting it.

When I was putting weight on one of mine, he was fed 4 or 5 times a day - just enough in the bowl to fill his stomach and it was loads of speedibeet, bit of hi fi and fibre cubes. he had as much hay and grass as he wanted and he put loads of weight on in about 2 weeks.

I tried DH build up cubes once but they sent one of mine mental. I had better results with spillers conditioning cubes, but he wasnt really underweight, just going through a growth spurt so needed filling out.

Maybe mix hay and haylage together to make it a bit more interesting for her.

All year round I feed linseed (the Equus one as suggested above) amongst other supplements. I am trying Outshine on one of mine this winter but not feeding anywhere near the recommended amount. It seems to be pure oil although lots of showing people swear by it, as well as Equijewel.

If she is feeling a bit poorly generally, you might also want to feed her something to kickstart her gut and which will make her digest and use food better. Especially if she is coming from 24/7 to boxrest, that is quite a big change in diet.

Hope she feels better.
 
I've just used a sack of equijewell alongside molassed sugarbeet on my old boy that lost a bit at the end of summer. It is fairly expensive but it does last a while. He was on 2 mugs a day and it lasted around 7 weeks.
 
First of all I'd suggest as much forage as you can shovel into her. If she won't eat lots of haylage, try other forage replacers such as Happy Hoof (minty and tasty! use it for my little fatty!) High Fibe Cubes or even something like Speedi Beet can be used as a form of forage.

I would also give another vote for Winergy, I dont use the Condition myself, I have my little mare on the Meduim. I've had some amazing results with it and several of our yard "residents" have commented on how well she looks and since put their own horses on to it and swear by it too.

I personally always find the fibre and oil approach best for Conditioning and keeping them sane - after all they are designed to eat a high fibre diet!
 
My WB needs to do some filling out and also to gain some condition still.

I have him on Alfa A (won't eat AA oil), Alfabeet, vegetable oil, plus his F4F. He was getting BOSS but I ran out and haven't yet replaced it - this was keeping his coat really healthy, but I am wondering whether to go over to linseed because of different things I have heard.

He will be getting: 1 scoop Alfa A, 1 scoop beet, 1 scoop spillers conditioning cubes, 1 scoop cool mix, 400ml vegetable oil, F4F (for now but changing to Benevit Advanced) and possibly micronized linseed. This will be split into 3 feeds a day, so he's getting 1/3 of the amounts above in each feed. The conditioning cubes will not be necessary forever and in Summer I will obviously revise the feed.

I would agree with whoever said to decide whether you are feeding straights or compounds, and would also agree that you should do your research on what feed suits your horse best rather than accepting what someone else is using to be accpetable for your horse. However, it is useful to have other people's ideas and experiences.
 
If you want high fibre high oil and no grain then the TopSpec Cool Condition cubes are fantastic! Put weight on my horse really quickly and he was really chilled on them too.
 
Hi there, while looking for sites on my latest fab find i saw this and think it may be of interest. i recently put my 5 yo ISH out for a break even tho he was fed every day with Baileys No17 conditioning mix he had lost so much weight i could have cried! on recommendation of a friend i have been trying winergy equilibrium Growth for the past 6 weeks and he is honestly like a different horse. we had found it hard to keep condiditon on him at all but he has completely turned around in that short period - he seems to have matured and got real energy for his job, a real success with no supplements in sight!
 
I was on the winergy trial and was lucky the conditioning feed did suit both of my horses. My mare has now had to have hers cut down to just 1kg per day. Started off on the whole amount when she was thin (new horse to me, stressy and gaining painfully slowly) cut down to 1/2 rations after 6 weeks, and now 1/4. She is actually overweight atm.

My gelding has old worm damage Imported from russia as a 3yo and had never seen a wormer I believe), and isn't easy to keep weight on - if he gets cold he literally goes from looking fine to poor overnight. I've had him 11 years and manage to keep him looking fine/okay. He's now looking glowing and hunting on 2kg per day and I've had no problems at all since I started with this feed. Actually, I have, his feet now grow faster and I have to have him shod every 5 weeks, sigh.

It's the first thing thats worked for mine (though to be fair, I haven't tried equijewel - that was next if winergy hadn't worked) and I have tried a lot.

I'm converted, very very pleased with it. I know some people here found it not for them for a variety of reasons, but I'd still suggest you try it OP. It's been a godsend for me.
 
the scoop is fairly small - meal definitely is under 3kg. It's possible I could get her fed at lunchtimes as well, although I don't think she would eat it - as it is taking her all the way until mid-day for her to finish the first meal (what she would normally clear up in the space of 25mins when she is living out) and then she is being fed again at half three anyway for the evening feed.

have tried speedibeat, but she doesn't like it at the best of times - obviously not to her palate! she does however enjoy her bit of molassed chaff, but I can't feed too much of it as she gets bored of it quickly.

changing forage isn't really possible - local hay of good quality is impossible to source, and the yard haylage is absolutely beautiful - would be hard to find any better. She picks at it all day, but isn't tucking in ferociously. She doesn't like chaff type feedstuffs - never really has done.

i'm doing my best to shovel what I can into her, but it doesn't seem to be taking effect (mainly because she just doesn't want to eat enough of anything)

winergy is interesting, but the changeover could be time consuming before I saw any effect. May try the D&H build up first though, as it wouldn't be hard to order some of that in along with the yards normal deliveries.
 
Just a thought - I know you want to get more weight on her before you turn her back out, but do you think she is stressing more because she is in, and therefore losing her appetite. Turning her back out sooner rather than later might actually result in her putting on weight more quickly, because she will be eating more!
 
I agree with TGM, I have one who hates being in and loses a lot of weight if she does ever have to come in. She just picks at her feed too and is very quiet. She had two weeks on box rest last year and went from being slightly over weight to very ribby in that time. The minute I turned her out she started eating up again and with a bit of extra food soon put the weight back on
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TGM I do agree- phrased my original post wrong! She will go out as soon as possible - but is going to have to have at least another 10 days in until the stitches have been taken out. I had hoped to use the opportunity of her being in to get some weight on, but quite the opposite has happened.

it's odd, because she doesn't seem particularly stressed in the normal way - just a bit subdued.
 
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I'd be a bit careful about how much your feeding in each meal. depending on the size of your scoop you could be feeeding over 3kg in each feed - she physically wont be able to digest that much in one meal - their stomachs are only big enough to hold 2kg at one time.

firstly you could split what she's currently on into three feeds and see if she is able to utilise it more effectively.

alternatively, if traditional compounds are not working, fibre and oil is a much safer way of putting weight on a horse fairly quickly. I'm now using winergy equilibirum condition (was using the growth version) and am so happy with the results, as are lots of people on here.

maybe ring the people at winergy? thet're really helpful 01908 576 277

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You work for Winergy, don't you?
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What on earth would make you think that!?
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It is pure coincidence that nearly all of her posts mention Winergy - she is just a very, very, very, very, very, very satisfied customer!
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[ QUOTE ]
What on earth would make you think that!?
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It is pure coincidence that nearly all of her posts mention Winergy - she is just a very, very, very, very, very, very satisfied customer!
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[/ QUOTE ]

Completely off topic, I know, but did I ever tell you I used to lecture in marketing? One of the most interesting topics was the use of viral marketing - where you try to blend in with consumers, for example on an internet forum, or perhaps as a member of a riding club or similar, whilst secretly being paid to promote a brand/business as though you were a very happy customer?
We must chat more about marketing, one day, TGM.
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Sorry to hijack thread, OP.
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I never knew that! Are you talking about this sort of thing:

http://www.marketingminefield.co.uk/unusual-ideas/stealth-marketing.html

"Stealth marketing, also known as undercover marketing, is a form of marketing where customers do not realise that they are being marketed to.

...

Undercover marketing is gaining ground as advertisers resort to non-traditional tactics to get their brands noticed and talked about.

Stealth marketing can take place both online and offline. For example, people may pose as liking and therefore recommend a product on various internet forums, only for these people to in fact be working for a company. "

...

The Federal Trade Commission has also let its feelings be known, stating that the practice of stealth marketing is unethical:

"The failure to disclose the relationship between the marketer and the consumer would be deceptive unless the relationship were otherwise clear from the context."

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association agrees in no uncertain terms, saying that stealth marketing is "a practice that we strongly condemn and oppose."
 
Have you tried her on a more "high powered" probiotic or perhaps an increased dose of the one she usually gets? Particularly if she's been on a fairly heavy anti-biotic regime the issue may not be completely feed related.
 
TGM - that's exactly it!
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OP - have you tried offering a range of different forages in the stable overnight - some hay, some haylage, some Graze On, or Alfalfa etc. Studies have found that horses offered a range and not just one type (i.e.hay) spend longer eating.
Hope she recovers soon.
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Wow, thats a lot of posts about the same thing, I'm not suprised people think he/she works for winergy!
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The only thing I would say is, don't let it put you off trying a good feed that 'may' be what you are looking for.
 
Another thought - as she seems to have problems eating lots of feed, have you thought about giving a concentrated high-oil feed such as Outshine. It is quite expensive, but contains nearly twice as many calories per kg as most normal conditioning feeds so you can feed her less of it - which is helpful when a horse has lost their appetite.
 
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