HELP! I cannot get my mare to gain weight!

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MissMolliesMummy

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Hi guys,

Really after peoples general advice on how I can get my mare to gain some weight. She is 15.3hh ISH x Cob and have had her 8 months. She came to me quite skinny and I'm trying to get her to gain muscles to form a more round bum and gain top line BUT she isn't keeping any weight on/gaining weight in order to do this!

She has per day: 150g micronized linseed, 2 scoops of Saracen Re-leve (switched 5 weeks ago from Calm and Condition) and 2 full scoops Molasses free Hi-fi which is spread over 3 meals. She cannot have anything too heating as she is full of beans as it is BUT willing to try anything!!

Would anybody consider giving her good old fashioned vegetable oil to give her fat to burn to muscle in work?? if so how much??

comments greatly appreciated!!!
 
You say what she gets in her bucket, but no mention of what forage she gets and this is often the most important thing with poor doers! Is she on ad lib top quality hay/haylage and good grazing? Teeth checked recently, on a proper worming program and checked for ulcers? What is her turnout regime?
 
Hi TGM

she has adlib hay but very little grazing as has been a tough winter. I have considered giving her hage but worry she may go bonkers on it.
she is wormed regularly with the correct wormers, worm counts done regularly and also up to date with all teeth and vacs.
she is turned out with hay daily from 6-1, in stable until 3.30, exercised daily and plenty of hay overnight (never finishes it)
 
When my little mare was recovering from illness and having lost 15kgs in weight, there were only two products that helped. Top Spec Cool Conditioning Cubes and (when princess picky went off them) Rowan Barberry Solution Mash.

Having said that, my grass has suddenly greened up over the last week and I reckon once you get your girl out on some grass she'll pick up really quickly. :)
 
Thank you, we will be moving from pure mud winter patches to summer fields in a few weeks so really hope so - showing season will be upon us in no time and she still has a long way to go!
 
i've an ISH and he's just naturally very lean. It's a nightmare trying to get him to bulk up! I was trying to plump him up for shows before and the only thing that worked was a diet of copra, baileys endurance mix (has outshine in it) and coco soya oil. He's a disaster. He has adlib haylage and grazing and he just seems to stay lean regardless.
 
MissMolliesMummy said:
Hi TGM

she has adlib hay but very little grazing as has been a tough winter. I have considered giving her hage but worry she may go bonkers on it.
she is wormed regularly with the correct wormers, worm counts done regularly and also up to date with all teeth and vacs.
she is turned out with hay daily from 6-1, in stable until 3.30, exercised daily and plenty of hay overnight (never finishes it)
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It is worth looking around for alternative hay - they find some types more palatable than others. I've just got a new batch of hay and my horses adore it, and the two who normally wouldn't finish their night hay are eating it all up now, which is obviously a good way to put on condition. As others have said, once she goes onto good grass that will help as well.

As for micronised barley, although it is good for weight gain, it does seem to make some horses fizzy, whilst others seem to be fine on it.
 
Some sensible suggestions already, but I have an IDxTB and he's just never been fat and takes a lot of feeding. I found the only thing to make him really muscle up is work - proper work. We went through a spell of competing BD, focussing on lots of flat work and he ended up looking like a rhino! Some horses at our yard do look round on feed alone but it doesn't work for my big boy, not that i'm complaining, I prefer mine on the lean side, especially at this time of year. : )
 
Totally agreed on the work front! she was on the green side but now coming around and working well through her back and from her back end more, I normally ride about 40 minutes a day mostly in walk and trot to try and build with the occasional jumping sesh as she loves it so much I treat it as reward at the moment, I try to lunge but she is so daft she doesn't work well as she doesn't know what to do. perhaps I will up it to 50/60 mins and add oils to feed or switch to the Alfa-A Oils from standard Molasses Free.
she is supposed to look rhino like being ISH x Cob but just can't get it!! :)
 
Hi, when my horse lost a load of weight - and his appetite - when he first started on Prascend tablets for his Cushings, I must have tried 20+ different feeds. I was getting desperate because he was starting to resemble a coat rack!

In the end, I called the feed companies for advice. I found the Topspec advice line really helpful and decided to try him on the Topspec Comprehensive Balancer with their Cool Condition Cubes, Speedibeet Molasses Free sugar beet, and AlfaA Molasses Free. I broke it into three or four feeds and it worked really well - he started eating again and quite quickly put the condition back on and looked fantastic on it.

I have continued to feed him the above - if he needs extra condition I add Soya Oil which really helps and his coat benefits as well.

I appreciate that what works for one horse doesn't always work for another but the Topspec route worked really well for my horse.
 
MissMolliesMummy said:
Totally agreed on the work front! she was on the green side but now coming around and working well through her back and from her back end more, I normally ride about 40 minutes a day mostly in walk and trot to try and build with the occasional jumping sesh as she loves it so much I treat it as reward at the moment, I try to lunge but she is so daft she doesn't work well as she doesn't know what to do. perhaps I will up it to 50/60 mins and add oils to feed or switch to the Alfa-A Oils from standard Molasses Free.
she is supposed to look rhino like being ISH x Cob but just can't get it!! :)
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Mine was the same when younger. I evented him when he was 7 and altho fit with plenty cantering / jumping, he was always very trim, as you'd expect. But as he matured (and it took him a long time) and we focussed more on him really using himself ~ he is a big rangy horse so getting some "sit" wasn't easy ~ his body shape really changed. So as he got more established we did exercises like walk to canter, or a slow engaged trot and I'd tickle the top of his rump with my schooling whip, which automatically made him step through, before pushing into a medium. All that = rhino butt! He's now having a holi due to me being PG and has gone back to his old shape, despite a winter of being stuffed full of haylage.
 
Agree with everything said above but another thing to consider is she burning all her calories keeping warm? is she clipped is? she rugged adequately?

I have a sports horse and this is my first full winter with her, its been very trial and error, she comes across as hardy and she loves being out, no weather bothers her, she'll happily go out in storm weather!! but she likes to be warm, she's fully clipped but was in a heavy weight with under blanket during Dec/Jan/Feb despite this not being a cold winter, if she's feeling the cold she quickly drops weight, others at the yard like to joke about her being "over rugged" but she's my horse and I know what she needs to maintain her weight.

she's fed 9-10kgs haylage at night, and has two feeds of linseed, alfa a and calm & condition per day.
 
If its weight she needs reduce the work down.
I found nothing other than copra put weight on my big fella plus adlib forage.
I added whole soaked oats too and micronised linseed and pro balance.
Teeth and worm status also checked.
What condition score is she?
 
If it's muscle she is lacking muscle rather than just fat, consider EPSM, she has the genes to make it likely if she's part heavy horse. Another obvious sign would be that she starts work a bit stiff and then warms up, and her bum muscles might feel solid compared to other horses.

If it's just fat, I'd do nothing. You might be very grateful she's on the light side in a couple of weeks time.

Lastly, are you sure she is thin? So many horses are overweight these days that in some yards a normal one can look thin.
 
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