Help? Horse will not put weight on? :(

[Meadow21]

Post for friend:

My horse struggles to put on weight, he is on the 1-5 scale a score 2 (very lean). I purchased him this weight, but I cannot seem to get condition on him!

I have had him fully scoped for ulcers, a vet out to him regarding his weight regularly, multiple worm counts and wormed him on arrival.

The thing is he has sat this weight for 9 months with no change.

He is currently fed condition fibre, Alfa A chaff feed and competition balancer with farrier formula. He gets lots of hay ad lib in the stable and field. He is not a stressy eater and happily munches away all day and will eat anything. He is a thoroughbred so will be lean but he is not a healthy weight. He only does light schooling and regular lunging/groundwork so he is not overworked. I am just really struggling to get him to a good weight, I was hoping 9 months down the line we would have progressed even slightly. The vet investigations have all come back with no issues or concerns. He is easy to ride and never difficult, always carries himself correctly but he just doesn’t gain weight. Has anyone had a similar experience? I am feeding him the recommended amounts of each feed and the feed plan was created by a nutritionist, and reviewed 3 monthly. Even with all this he remains too slim, I am starting to worry something malignant is going on that has been missed. Any similar experience or advice

 

[windand rain]

Only suggestion I would make would be to add an oil based food linseed/copra/ricebran etc or switch to EQUIDGEL and ditch the rest

 

[ycbm]

Try giving him some vitamin E.. I had a thin horse last year and he was vitamin E deficient.
.

 

[teddypops]

Has the vet done bloods? My friends horse was very skinny and it turned out he had liver issues.

 

[twiggy2]

Does he get turn out jn a settled herd daily?
Is he settled in his stable, is his stable messy in the morning instead or after time in, does he box walk or crib, does he have company that he is relaxed with in the stable.

 

[Winters100]

Have you checked his levels of selanium? Also how many feeds does he get each day. When my poor doer needs to gain she is fed 6 times a day and that usually does the trick.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

Your feed doesn’t sound very high calorie? As long as he has plenty of fibre through hay and grass I’d be cutting out the chaff and lowering the fibre and upping his feed with calorific alternatives. Two components I’d specifically add would be micronised linseed and stabilised rice bran e,g. Equijewel.

To add more feeds in my oldie has a second breakfast after exercise.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

OP, has your friend spoken to an independent nutritionist?
Once all veterinary issues are ruled out (Inc liver function as mentioned above) then get nutritionist advice.
I've found some of the veteran feeds have done a very good job, especially when fed at max recommendation for a month. As already mentioned, I'd add vit E and oil to feeds too, feeding 4 times a day if possible.

 

[TGM]

What sort of nutritionist devised the feed plan as it does seem a little odd, in there seems to be two chaff type feeds, but no high oil feed. A high oil feed such as micronised linseed, copra, Equijewel or similar would be the obvious thing to add to his diet as oil is extremely dense in calories. I presume teeth have been checked. Does he stay this lean even in summer when he has access to good grazing?

 

[Merlod]

Personally, I'd swap the condition fibre & alfa-a for alfa-beet and micronised linseed (keep the balancer). The latter kept weight on my 34yo poor doer sec B, right up until it was his time.

 

[paddi22]

we get a load of skinnies in, and if the worm count is ok then the next set of questions is?
have you had bloods ran?
what age is he?
have teeth been done by a good equine dentist (not vet)?
is he warm enough and rugged sufficiently?

apart form that. I'd echo that your feed is too chaff based and a high oil feed would give more calories (equijewel copra etc.)

 

[bella0987]

Post for friend:

My horse struggles to put on weight, he is on the 1-5 scale a score 2 (very lean). I purchased him this weight, but I cannot seem to get condition on him!

I have had him fully scoped for ulcers, a vet out to him regarding his weight regularly, multiple worm counts and wormed him on arrival.

The thing is he has sat this weight for 9 months with no change.

He is currently fed condition fibre, Alfa A chaff feed and competition balancer with farrier formula. He gets lots of hay ad lib in the stable and field. He is not a stressy eater and happily munches away all day and will eat anything. He is a thoroughbred so will be lean but he is not a healthy weight. He only does light schooling and regular lunging/groundwork so he is not overworked. I am just really struggling to get him to a good weight, I was hoping 9 months down the line we would have progressed even slightly. The vet investigations have all come back with no issues or concerns. He is easy to ride and never difficult, always carries himself correctly but he just doesn’t gain weight. Has anyone had a similar experience? I am feeding him the recommended amounts of each feed and the feed plan was created by a nutritionist, and reviewed 3 monthly. Even with all this he remains too slim, I am starting to worry something malignant is going on that has been missed. Any similar experience or advice

not sure if your already doing this but mine has lost a lot of weight due to ulcers and we have started adding a mug of some kind of oil to his feed

 

[paddi22]

also, would the horse have been on antibiotics at any stage? I had one that couldn't put weight on, and it turned out to be damage to his gut bacteria. once he did a detox and got a good prebiotic he gained weight immediately

 

[I'm Dun]

Mine who is prone to running skinny in winter gets pink mash and sensi care with vitamin e and a mineral balancers, then he gets a huge tub trug filled with sugar beet and alfa a, with 200ml of corn oil. I dont add linseed as the pink mash and sensicare have high levels. Sensicare also has rice bran.


I leave the big bucket with him twice a day and he will pick his way through it in between eating his hay. Its usually gone by the next feed time.

 

[spacefaer]

I had one I was piling feed into with no visible effect. I stopped and regrouped, gave him a liver flush, & a probiotic, put him on grass pellets and grass chaff. It seemed to re-boot his system as he's now looking great and piling the weight on.
He's on Equerry Conditioning Mash and grass pellets 3/day. He also gets a manger full of grass chaff to appetite.

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Boiled barley and linseed is how we fattened off the track thoroughbreds decades ago.

 

[PurBee]

also, would the horse have been on antibiotics at any stage? I had one that couldn't put weight on, and it turned out to be damage to his gut bacteria. once he did a detox and got a good prebiotic he gained weight immediately

I agree - doesnt matter how many calories we pile into them, if theyre gut bacteria is out of whack, they cant absorb the nutrition and remain lean. Id first try probiotics - protexin gut balancer is around 20 quid for 700g - scoop a day for 30 days. Keep diet same just add the probiotics and monitor any change in condition. Then if still lean head into more calorie dense feed stuff.

BTW -the alfalfa *might* be causing a gastro issue - it contains high proteins, so great high nutrition feed, but unlike grass proteins which are digested in the foregut, alfalfa legume contain a number of proteins that are hindgut only digested. If the hindgut microbes are not present to digest these types of proteins it can cause some gut dysbiosis issues and the horse not obtaining benefit from the high protein alfalfa feed..
Behaviour issues tend to show up with alfalfa ‘sensitivity’ - but your boy sounds sane and great, so possibly alfalfa not a problem at all, just something to keep in the back of your mind - alfalfa can be the weak link in an otherwise great feed regime.

So i’d consider an experiment, after probiotics assessment of condition - if still lean, removing the alfalfa (add copra/linseed meal/oils to replace calories) and see if there are any changes.

 

[Identityincrisis]

Try giving him some vitamin E.. I had a thin horse last year and he was vitamin E deficient.
.

This!! With bells on!! My lean horse finally looks like he is fed! This is with linseed and oil in abundance

 

[splashgirl45]

have you had a vet check for pain? my friend 's home bred horse lost weight and she had all the usual checks, teeth, worms etc but she still couldnt get any weight on him..she had a full vet work up and found he was in pain from his feet and had compensated through his back. he never looked lame but wasnt moving forward like he had previously. as yours was in poor condition when you got him, if he has lost his action,you will have nothing to compare him to whereas my friend knew hers wasnt moving as freely but looked sound... good luck

 

[ycbm]

This!! With bells on!! My lean horse finally looks like he is fed! This is with linseed and oil in abundance

I told a friend and her mare had the same result.
.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I would feed Equijewel and linseed and split the feeds into at least 3 a day.

 

[meleeka]

I had great success with Allen and Page Soothe and Gain. Mine only loses condition in the winter but this fed at recommended levels piled it back on.

 

[Elno]

This!! With bells on!! My lean horse finally looks like he is fed! This is with linseed and oil in abundance

Same. I put my oldie on Equijewel plus added vit e when I bought him from a riding school. Now, a month later he is on ad lib hay, alfalfa pellets (diagnoced with ulcers so no hard feed per vets instructions), linseed oil, minerals and added e-vit and he's starting to look fab. He's a grey, but still you can see his coat shine.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

VitE definitely! With linseed meal and I’d swap the condition chaff for something like equerry condition mash or soothe and gain from Allen and page. I’ve also had great success with ERS pellets and a beet pulp with barley and/or linseed mash for the cheaper route ?

My friend is feeding her old boy a guy balancer right now for watery stomach and that’s sorted him out ?