Getting weight back on after weaning...

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Hannah was quite thin when she came back from stud at the beginning of October because Troy had taken so much from her. So for the first few weeks she was back I kept her work quite easy as I was trying to get some weight on her... I concentrated on hacking her out, just walking more than anything and slowly introducing some trots and finally some canters. I had to work her most days because our turnout was limited and her udders were swelling.

She started putting weight on and looking more like the Hannah I know, but as I have increased her work load, she seems to have really dropped weight again I have upped her Alfa Oil, she is on TopSpec and a worm count came back negative. She is due for worming this week with the other horses on the yard, but she was wormed when she went to stud so is a bit ahead of them.

Are there any feeds I could gradually introduce that will not send her off her head as she heats up quite quickly with feed and is hot enough at the moment

She is also on hay (she gets colic with haylage) which she was not on last year as we had not fully discovered that was what was causing it, so I also think being on hay is not helping her weight but I would rather her be lean than colicking all of the time.
 
Is she kept in or out? Does she have hay available all the time? Has she had her teeth checked? (Because if teeth are slightly iffy then she won't get through so much hay as she should do).

Can you increase the number of feeds she has a day? Or could you put a tub of something like Readigrass in with her overnight to supplement her hay?
 
I had similar with my mare after weaning, she went really poor. I fed her Alfa oil with Dobson and Horrell ERS pellets - I didn't give her any cereals because we suspected she was EPSM. She put weight on quite quickly with that, but didn't get fizzy. Her coat looked great aswell.
 
Thanks... I will try to answer the questions. I probably should have put all of this in the opening post
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Is she kept in or out?

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She is kept in and has four hours of turnout every other day (yard policy)

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Does she have hay available all the time?

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Yes she has adlib hay in her haybar.

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Has she had her teeth checked? (Because if teeth are slightly iffy then she won't get through so much hay as she should do)

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She had them checked by my EDT in October and they were all done and do not need doing for 12 months...

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Can you increase the number of feeds she has a day? Or could you put a tub of something like Readigrass in with her overnight to supplement her hay?

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I could try asking someone to put another feed in with her at lunch time, I hadn't thought of that. I can't give her Readigrass, that was another one that sent her loopy
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I had similar with my mare after weaning, she went really poor. I fed her Alfa oil with Dobson and Horrell ERS pellets - I didn't give her any cereals because we suspected she was EPSM. She put weight on quite quickly with that, but didn't get fizzy. Her coat looked great aswell.

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What are ERS pellets?
 
Hmmm ... it is a bit difficult because different things seem to fizz up different horses. One thing that seems pretty unheating is high fibre cubes - you could put a tub of soaked cubes in with her overnight to supplement her hay.

Another option is to increase the oil content of her diet. I know you are already feeding Alfa A oil, but you could consider adding something like Bailey's Outshine, although that works out pretty expensive. The cheaper option is just to add extra oil in the form of something like vegetable or soya oil.
 
Sorry, meant DoDson and Horrell, always get that wrong! ERS pellets are HERE

They are low starch and high oil. Might be worth a look.
 
This is what sometimes happens if you bring a mare back into work (however gentle) too soon after weaning especially as she has given so much to the foal. Believe it or not, producing milk for a big hulk like Troy will have been hard work and taken all of her reserves so it would have been better that she had been allowed time to regain them before she came back into work. However it's done now so the only way is forward, sorry if that sounds harsh.

From choice I would make sure she has ad lib hay with as much turnout as possible, even giving her hay in the field if the grazing is poor, which I don't think is the case here. Can you try D & H Barley Rings along with what you are feeding? They can be fed dry but they seem to prefer them soaked in warm water (they smell very inviting) and are very good for gaining weight, I don't believe they will fizz her up. Readigrass in a trug at night is a good idea, even something like normal Hi-Fi or Alfa A would help. Personally, I'd also cut down on the hard work for her and just do gentle but fittening hacking for a while. Remember, she has to build up from the inside out and if you are working her hard that is going to use up all the energy of the feed which is not where it should be going just now. I know it will seem like a pain just when you've affiliated her but she needs to get back her strength and bodyweight before you ask too much more of her, I feel else you could be brewing up trouble for yourself if her body is not ready and able for the work you want her to do; she will be in a weakened state (even if she doesn't look it) which is when any weaknesses/stresses will appear. That's the last thing you want I know.

Cheer up, it's not all bad news, she just needs more time to regain her strength and that doesn't happen overnight.
 
The problem is our turnout is very very limited... we only have four hours every other day and we cannot put hay in the field. So, she has to be worked every day as I cannot stand the thought of her being stood in, but due to it being dark when I am there in the morning and dark again at night, during the week we are limited to schooling.

It was the same when she was brought home after weaning... because the weather went suddenly very wet here, the YO more or less put us on restricted grazing the week she came home, therefore she had to do something because her udders were coming up a lot
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I had hoped to give her a few weeks of just being in the field once she had weaned Troy, but there was no way of doing this on the yard I am on so this is the only reason I started riding her straight away.

I have done lots of fittening work in the form of hacking all through October (so around 4 weeks of this) before doing too much work in the arena with her, but because the days started to become shorter, this then became impossible.
 
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Would something like Speedibeet help or would it send her loopy?!

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Speedibeat sends her loopy... but you have just given me an idea. Alfa Beat never seemed to hot her up
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Hey
l work on a stud farm so do a lot of weaning. really l know you cant help it but l would try and get her out in a paddock more (that depends on her bag) but we feed our horses a late feed which is a feed that is just called easy mix it doesnt send them bouncing off the walls but does put wait on them also have you try putting bran in her feed
 
I am a bit funny about bran to be honest...

Her bag is non existant, and has been like this since 2 weeks after Troy was weaned. She was not feeding him much when we weaned them... in fact she didn't want him near her
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When we led her away, every colt whickered at her, apart from Troy
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Alfa Beat has worked very well at puttting some weight on my mare (hasn't had a foal, she just lost weight when the grass went a bit). She is the type that goes loopy on most things, but the she has been fine on Alfa Beat.
 
My mare looses weight every winter without a doubt, very badly aswell. i now have her on wheat feed, which doesnt fizz her up, but keeps most of the weight on.

hope this helped!
 
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I have done lots of fittening work in the form of hacking all through October (so around 4 weeks of this) before doing too much work in the arena with her, but because the days started to become shorter, this then became impossible.

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Two months is a VERY short time for bringing a mare back into work after foaling! She has been out of work for somewhere between 9 and 18 months (depending on whether you worked her through her pregnancy) and her stomach and pelvic muscles have been under considerable strain. When bringing a mare back after foaling I walk ONLY for 8 weeks, then walk and a little trot for another 4 weeks at LEAST before introducing short canters.

I would try doing a lot less work: she needs to stretch her legs and have time out of the stable, but keep it mainly walk and a bit of trot for at least the next 4 weeks or until she is improving in condition. It's a good time too to do some ground work - in particular long-reining will help build up her back muscles wsithout straining anything.
 
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Why is she only allowed 4 hours turnout every other day? couldn't she have two hours every day?

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No, it is the yard rules where I am... it is one of the only yards in the area that offers winter turnout at all which is why I am there. We use just one field in the winter and the geldings and mares do alternate days but we are only allowed half a day on the field at a time.
 
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I have done lots of fittening work in the form of hacking all through October (so around 4 weeks of this) before doing too much work in the arena with her, but because the days started to become shorter, this then became impossible.

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Two months is a VERY short time for bringing a mare back into work after foaling! She has been out of work for somewhere between 9 and 18 months (depending on whether you worked her through her pregnancy) and her stomach and pelvic muscles have been under considerable strain. When bringing a mare back after foaling I walk ONLY for 8 weeks, then walk and a little trot for another 4 weeks at LEAST before introducing short canters.

I would try doing a lot less work: she needs to stretch her legs and have time out of the stable, but keep it mainly walk and a bit of trot for at least the next 4 weeks or until she is improving in condition. It's a good time too to do some ground work - in particular long-reining will help build up her back muscles wsithout straining anything.

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I do lots of ground work with her in the form of rope circling, however I cannot long rein due to the arena surface (I cannot lunge either as most horses seem to fall on their sides). She is working mostly at trot and I have introduced canter in the last two weeks only... She was also ridden with her foal at foot just at walk in th school for 20 mins. I rode her up until she was 6 months in foal (that was competing at elementary) then hacked her until she was 7 months.

Ideally I would have loved to have continued hacking her, however it is just not possible with the short days at the moment through the week. The first four weeks were mainly walk out on hacks, and I started introducing some very short trots. We had a little canter (not planned, she shied and buggered off) around week 3 but the canter has mainly been done in the arena.
 
No I haven't actually... I am not really 'up' on feeds which is why I posted this
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I tend to stick to what works, and up until now it has done. I have learned more from having Grace as she needs a competition mix to keep her weight on when competing, but I suppose you learn as you go
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Just to back up what someone else has said... High Fibre cubes and Soya oil are great. I stuff as much in to Finn as I can. He's a stress monster and loses condition over the winter, but this seems to work well, together with mountains of hay.

I tried Bailey No. 4 Conditioning Cubes, also and they were good and not heating.

Lunchtime feed will also help to get more in to her.

ATM I feed Finnus a scoop of HF cubes morning and evening and 200mls of soya oil split between the feed and he is really very sane.

Bailey's Outshine is also good, but as mentioned, rather expensive - so I've stuck with Soya Oil.
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From the photos in the other thread both your girls look fine but if you do want to put some mor condition on Hannah why don't you try NAF Pink Powder? I know lots of showing folk who swear by it for adding weight. Plus it shouldn't fizz her up as you add it in such small quantities.

Bailey's Outshine is great - I feed that myself and doesn't work out that expensive as you feed small amounts. I've also just introduced A&P Fast Fibre to give them a bit more bulk whilst being under house arrest.

BTW I don't suppose there's any spare room on your livery yard? T/O every other day is a million times better than what I've got at the moment.
 
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