He's so skinny... the weight gain rollercoaster...

Hels_Bells

Hels_Bells

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I am in a constant battle to keep weight on my 16,1 12yo warmblood gelding. I've only had him 6 months but was told he was really liable to dropping weight so have been trying v hard make sure this doesn't happen!! It's a struggle!!

My local miller advised me to change him from calm and condition to spillers conditioning cubes when he first dropped a bit of weight in late autumn. So I added the cubes to his diet and reduced the calm and condition but did not remove it completely because so many people sing it's praises and I was a bit scared about removing it completely if the cubes didn't work. For a while he was looking great on the cubes plus a little calm and cond but in the past fortnight he's dropped weight again.

He currently gets all day turnout in massive field, plus loads of hay in stable at night (always some left) he's in medium work and I feed him the following big feed twice daily (which he hoovers up then scours the floor for dropped bits):-

Sugar beet
Spillers conditioning cubes
Pony nuts
Alfa A
Calm and Condition
Good Glug codliver oil

Having scoured this forum I have seen soooo many suggestions for weight gain (Baileys 4 or 7 or outshine, blue chip, alfa a, alfa beet, veg/soya oil, double energy feed, Middlings, winnergy, simple systems, pink powder) - so many options I am not quite sure where to turn next.

Any advice would be very very welcome!!

Thanks

H
 
My girl's on No 17, alfa a oil, sugar beet and pink powder and outshine and has put on a lot of weight. She has this twice a day and also good quality hay mornging and night. She is turned out all day and rugged up and in at night and rugged up. Her neck has filled out and so has her quarters and her coat is very shiny. Outshine is extremely good for putting on condition as is Pink Powder.

I hope you find a suitable feed that agrees with your horse, it might be worth trying some of these. Good luck
 
There are a few things you could try....

Does the field he's turned out in have any good grazing? You could try putting some hay out for him just in case.

Is he cold?

What weight are his feeds? Horses can only use about 2kg at a time usefully so he may be bettr with the same amount of feed but in 3 feeds not 2.

Pink Powder is fabulous stuff, it helps them utilise what he is eating properly so I would definitely consider this.

Plain old barley is also vey useful for putting on weight.

Hope this is of some help.
 
Have you had him checked for tapeworm? I would do that first.
Your feed sounds fine but why not try him on pink powders for at least a month to see if it makes a difference.
The other thing I would try is Saracen's Equijewel, it's rice bran and worked a treat on horses here, it sounds expensive but you don't feed a lot of it.
He probably needs hay in the field which is why he's dropping weight, the grass this time of year has zero goodness in it, and is just useful for filling them up.
Feeding him haylage instead of hay would also help as he would eat the same amount but more calorific value.
 
Gem lost a lot of condition last year, and i think it was due to her being out all day, as has been already mentioned the grass just fills them up but has no nutritional value. This year, other than putting hay in the fields, i make sure she has morning hay after her feed, then only goes out for a few hours, anh has ad-lib hay in the aftrenoon and also through the night. I am quite lucky though as i work at the yard shes at, so i can give her hay, and turn her out anytime i like! I also feed alfa-a oil, sugarbeet, and baileys conditioning cubes, in 2 feeds which seems to work quite well on her.
 
Have you done a worm count?
Is he clipped, and is therefore cold and dropping weight? If so rug him up more
laugh.gif

Alfa A oil is good for weight gain.
Izzi x
 
Top spec conditioning flakes are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!! My tb was really hard to keep weight on and him not go nuts at the same time . He was being fed alfa a ,spillers conditioning cubes and various supplements all at the correct weight and was still not at a brilliant weight. Changed him to alfa a ,1/2 scoop of top spec flakes and saracen enduro 100 twice a day and he holds his weight brilliantly. He also gets lots of different types of fibre at night - big haynet,bowl of redigrass and a le brick.
 
Sugar beet
Spillers conditioning cubes
Pony nuts
Alfa A
Calm and Condition
Good Glug codliver oil

My immediate thought is that three types of concentrate in the one feed is quite a lot! I'd be tempted to drop the pony nuts and up either the conditioning cubes or the calm and condition.

I would echo what the others said about there being nothing left in the grass now. Does he have to stay out all day? I have two warmbloods who literally melt in the winter - they're feed Winergy condition (expensive-ish but a complete feed so you could do away with everything apart from the beet).

They're also only out til lunchtime each day which has made a huge difference as they get out to play for a while but have plenty of eating time - they go through about 3 stuffed haynets each from lunchtime to morning.
 
I would introduce some hayledge, feed Alpha-A Oil, Fast Fibre, Pink Powder and either Outshine or Topspec Conditioning Flakes. I would rather feed hay in the field than limit turnout time, also ensure that he hasn't got worms or any underlying health issues and make sure he's well rugged.
 
My mare lost loads of weight last year very quickly,she had a tapeworm even though wormed on the dot every time.
She drops weight quickly and im now feeding her topspec balancer,mollassed sugarbeet,alpha oil and shes on 2 secs horsehage ryegrass and ad lib hay,since feeding the ryegrass horsehage shes started to gain weight again...yippee brilliant stuff
 
Thanks so so much for all of your help and advice.

Based on all the feedback below I think I am going to gradually change him over to Alpha A oil, baileys conditioning cubes and outshine (plus the usual sugarbeet and some pink powder) and see how he goes.

they all sound like really good prods for weight gain. will update how he gets on in a few weeks incase the results help somebody else!!

Have happy new years all of you and thanks again

H
 
As you've already decided to do,
change your alfa a to alfa a oil
Spillers conditioning cubes have 12MJ/KG of digestable energy, whereas Baileys no.4 has 13.5MJ/KG
Added to sugar beet and pink powder that should work a treat

This is what I feed my girl for condition- twice a day
1 scoop baileys no.4
1 scoop alfa a oil
1/4 scoop sugar beet
Garlic and Cod liver oil

She is blanket clipped, lives out 24/7, is a poor doer and has about 1/3 of a bale of hay each day too. She looks fab on this
smile.gif
 
pink powder works a treat on my warmblood. I ran out and feed shop didnt have any for two weeks, i noticed him dropping off a bit within a week. Back on it and looks great.
 
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