Getting weight onto an older horse

[little_pink_piggies]

Any ideas?

Currently has adlib hay/grass... He's on Winergy Senior, HiFi lite and dodson and horrells non mollassed sugarbeet... He has corn oil in his morning feed and equijewel from Saracen in his evening feed and I just cant get any topline on him??? Hes 19 this year and want him looking a bit better going into the winter...

 

[Hattikins]

Allen and Page's Calm and condition is great for putting weight on. Also milk pellets are very good aswell.

 

[trendybraincell]

Badminton triple top up is a fantastic supplement for stamina and weight gain etc

 

[TigerLilly]

my boy is 18years + and i feed him alfa a and spillers high fibre cubes and he is always in tip top condition

 

[TGM]

If you don't want to change his current diet too much, you could start by changing the chaff from HiFi Lite (which is really a 'diet' chaff) to something with a higher feed value such as Alfa A Original or Spiller's Conditioning Fibre. Alternatively you could swap the beet and chaff for AlfaBeet or FibreBeet which are both alfafa/beet products and useful for adding condition.

Are you feeding him the recommended amount of the Winergy Senior? Have you had his teeth checked recently? How much hay does he eat when he is in? Can you give him three feeds a day rather than two?

 

[little_pink_piggies]

I'm feeding him almost more than recommended amount (hes on max feed for 16.2hh and hes just 16hh-16.1ish). Teeth were done about a month ago by a good dentist. He eats a good net, and if i give him a small net aswell he will pick at that! I can give him 3 feeds, it just worries me that on the occasions I can't it would upset his stomach more?

Thanks, will deffo try that!

 

[TGM]

If that is still not enough for him, you could consider changing the Winergy Senior for a conditioning mix or cube. The Winergy Senior has 10 MJ of digestible energy per kg, whereas most conditioning feeds have about 12 MJDE/kg, so are higher in calories than the Senior.

 

[little_pink_piggies]

thanks

 

[K27]

As someone has previously mentioned- the Spillers Conditioning fibre chaff is just fab for putting on weight and condition safely- my 27 year old retired cushings mare is fed this together with Spillers Slow Release energy cubes- which are low starch and high fibre, high oil cubes. She also has Linseed oil.It really has transformed her.

I really recommend the Spillers helpline- they are just so helpful! (And No, I dont work for Spillers or have any link to the horse feed industry!!)

 

[Libbyn1982]

I second the calm and condition - I have used on several horses in the past and I found it really good - also try splitting feeds up over the day if you can.

 

[Heidi1]

My 20 year old is on Calm and Condition and Safe and Sound, he's blooming at the moment. He's 17.2hh, ID x TB and has not worked for 12 years....

 

[Libbyn1982]

Just been to try and get some calm and condition today and they ran out so I am trying Baileys number 1 ceral meal and number 4 topline cubes - will let you know how I get on with this combo.