Highest calorie feed/supplement?

[Sarah1]

Any ideas peeps? This is for our little old lady - nothing to avoid as far as we know but her teeth aren't what they used to be so a mash or powder might be best? Just want something to put some meat on her old bones

 

[Pearlsasinger]

After our old lass had an extended colic and lost an enormous amount of condition, we put her weight back on with grassnuts, Graze-on and Speedibeet with linseed oil. Because we knew that she was fine with it, we added a dollop of molasses to encourage her to eat. We also switched her from hay to haylage. We kept her in good condition for another 6 years until she was pts aged 31 a few weeks ago, because of a spinal tumour.
I preferred to use a hi-fibre diet over cereals because it is easier to digest and we didn't know what had caused the colic.

 

[spookypony]

Try Coolstance Copra. It's a coconut-meal based powder feed that soaks into a soft mash. It's low in starch, too. I was recommended it on the barefoot forum to put weight on a laminitis-risk pony, and it's really done the trick.

The mix I was recommended was unmolassed sugar beet, Coolstance, linseed, mineral supplement. I put some lucerne nuts in there as well.

 

[kinnygirl1]

What about a & p veteran vitality or old faithful? Think they are designed to keep weight on older horses but still easy to digest.

 

[JillA]

Micronised linseed. I would be wary of copra, it has a great deal of sugars in it, and although oil is very very good, be prepared for her to turn her nose up at it - mine did. Mine gets unmollassed beet, grass nuts, alfalfa nuts (high in protein) and micronized linseed, all well soaked. She has very few molars left so can't manage much dry fibre.
Don't get linseed lozenges, they are way lower in oil than the micronized and almost as expensive (they are what is left after the oil has been pressed out)

 

[Archangel]

I used Thunderbrook base mix (it is a powder not a mix!) for a very elderly pony.

It was amazing, put loads of condition on him and a really shiny coat. It also had the bonus side effect of improving his mobility.

http://thunderbrook.co.uk/equine-pure-essentials-base-mix/

The rest of his diet (he was on a complete diet replacement as teeth long gone!) was made up of high fibre nuts, grass nuts and unmolassed sugar beet. Soaked an fed in great trugs and he trickle fed himself.

I also used Ready Mash in the depths of winter. You don't have to feed much Thunderbrook a day (he was on 150g at peak need but during the summer 75g was more than enough).

Edited as just read the word 'little' in your post! If she is a native pony then she won't need much Thunderbrook at all.

 

[Sarah1]

Thanks very much for the replies.

We had her on veteran vitality but it didn't really add much weight. I will have a look at the Thunderbrook stuff - thanks

 

[ebonyallen]

http://www.ker.com/products/feeds/EquiJewel/

Have a look at this one. My friend put her 25 TB on this and the results have been amazing, and onther old pony has just been put on this recommended by the vet.

 

[blitznbobs]

Slobber mash - it'rd was hard to find but it puts weight on like nothing else - and it's incredibly palatable - EVERYTHING on our yard wants to eat it, horses, cats, dogs, pheasants, mice! My old fella lived 2 extra years I am sure only because of slobbermash.

 

[sportsmansB]

Allen and Page weight gain is good - it is a mix and just gets dampened and goes sloppy - but not veteran-specific. Half a scoop of it and half of a cooked mix was enough to transform a horse I had, and only needed the one bag...

 

[florayG]

I vote for Thunderbrook too - it's a lot cheaper than it looks, because since my older horse has been on it I have been able to stop giving her all of the expensive supplements she used to have to have for her arthritis and she is fitter than ever

 

[Lynsey&Smartie]

Rowan Barbary Ready Mash Extra is a good feed if you can get hold of it, I order mine online.

 

[Alexart]

Don't forget you can feed the best and highest calorie feed but if she' not getting enough fibre it will go through her at a rate of knots - she needs a grass pellet/speedi beet mush in large quantities as well as the hard feed to slow it down on its way through, I'd also soak everything so it's as easy to digest as possible.

 

[PolarSkye]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record - micronized linseed . . . high in oil, low in starch and sugar (which for an elderly native should be avoided to minimize the risk of laminitis/the onset of EMS). It has done wonders for my boy - who although only 13/14 needed an extra boost coming out of that horrifically long winter.

Best of luck.

P

 

[moana]

Rice Bran Oil (as in Equijewell) or Soya Oil provide more calories than linseed oil, and I have always been a huge Linseed Oil fan!

 

[TGM]

If you want to compare feed stuffs for calorie content then look for the digestible energy content which is expressed as MJDE/kg. The higher the MJDE/kg the higher the calorie content. The various oil rich feeds are generally the highest in calories, ie micronised linseed 20 MJDE/kg, baileys outshine 24mjde/kg etc.

However if your equine is old then probably dental function is impaired so as well as an oil rich feed (which is fed in quite small amounts) you will need to feed a high calorie fibre feed like a grass chaff or soaked grass nut to boost both the overall calorie and fibre content.

 

[ThoroughbredStar]

Dengie Alfa Beet pellets are amazing for putting on condition with low starch and high fibre content and perfect for older horse, lacking a decent set of nashers!