Help - skinny horse

[lhamm]

Hiya, a friend has just bought a new horse who is very skinny. She has wormed him and he is out on fairly good grass, he is getting loads of hay and 2 feeds per day of happy hoof and calm and condition, infact, she is feeding him loads, but he just doesnt seem to be getting any fatter, ............ his eyes are bright and he is very alert, seems happy, but not putting on weight ??

 

[Keenjean]

Blue chip!!

 

[TiaPony]

How are his teeth?

Can you split his feeds into 3 smaller feeds? Horses can only digest so much in one go - if your friend is feeding him large meals he might be missing out on the goodness as it just passes through him.

Try more concentrated feeds - micronised linseed/outshine/equi-jewel and a chaff like alfa-a oil or spillers conditioning fibre.

The best thing for any horse is grass - plenty of turnout and perhaps try haylage instead of hay.

If she is still worried, a vet check can help establish if he has any ailments that might prevent weight gain.

Good luck and be patient.

 

[VioletStripe]

Could the feeds be split into smaller portions, fed several times a day? Is the horse being fed the recommended levels? Perhaps a digestive aid supplement type thing (wording is not good today, apologies! ) could help. Plenty of forage is also important, hay or haylage to supplement any lack of grass. He could have oil or Linseed also added to add more calories without making the feed much larger

 

[Nickijem]

I bought a skinny horse. He took a little while to put on weight but it was loads of grass and haylage that did it. He did also have 2 feeds a day of cool mix and some pink powder.

 

[annaellie]

Check teeth, do a worm count and split feeds into three or 4. I would also feed ad lib hay also how long as she had him. It can take a while to gain weight or it appears that way as you see the horse every day so don't notice the small improvements.
I've had really good results with a&p calm and condition but it's not for all horses. I agree with others linseed is good

 

[Darcydoo]

Bought my girl in mid march in poor condition had teeth done wormed feed her calm and condition super molychop and a much haylage as she could eat,turned out daytime in at night with a rug on she went from angular to looking fab (she did have a month off due to injury) which I think helped,she seemed to do better as well once she'd settled in .

 

[TheHairyOne]

My sister and I pity bought a skinny horse and his most of his weight went on without grass due to the time of year.

I'd suggest to your friend looking at worms again - it took 3 lots on our boy before he was clear over about a month (on vets advise)

Depends how skinny, but A&P weight gain was the one that really made the difference (and we tried a fair few feeds) and he had adlib hay.

And to give some hope...

He went from looking like this on the 8th Feb:

To this on the 26 Feb, which was about the turning point:

To this on 28 May:

 

[Victoria25]

Allen & Page calm & condition is meant to be good

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

As mentioned above: Worm count & teeth check - and I'd also get a blood test done just to make sure there is nothing else going on inside.

Hope you manage to find the problem so you can address it by putting in the right types of feed

 

[WestCoast]

I assume that he's had a vet check - if not it needs doing.

Paula

 

[Joeyjojo]

I agree with the rest worm count (although this doesn't pick up all worms) and if necessary worm again. It took 3 lots of wormer to get my mare putting weight back on. Also teeth check is a good idea.

 

[wellsat]

Agree with others about checking teeth and worms.

I've not been that impressed with the results of calm and condition. I'd try speedibeet and micronised linseed.