how to gain weight on your horse?

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storm123

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my friends horse is very skinny, hes very tucked up but constantly looks like this, its got worse recently even thought shes giving him massive feeds!! any tips for fattening a horse?
 
Unlimited forage.

Change to a condition feed.
Pure feeds is great.
Worm count.
Get vet to check horse.
Bloods may need to be taken.
If horses isn't benifitting from its good.
Other problem could be s cause too.
 
of what i know, 2 big scoops of 18+ mix, alfaalfa, conditioning mix, sugarbeet, garlic granuels, barley rings. i think thats it.
 
Providing no health issues

Unlimited good quality forage
Feeds should be fibre and oil based with little or no starch and sugar
Feeds should be little and often - big feeds are pointless
 
Ride it through the drive through at McDonalds and pig out?

How to put weight on a horse, though... Ad lib haylage, conditioning feed / linseed / barley etc. If it's not putting weight on despite good feed, vet check.
 
Is she feeding him once or twice a day ?. Their stomachs dont cope with massive feeds it needs to be spread into two at least .
 
Teeth check if all ok then

Fibre (alfalfa pellets/chaff/conditioning fibre)
Adlib Hay/haylege
Oil (linseed meal/oil or soya/corn/vegetable, remember selenium and vit E for liquid oil)
Beetpulp, not the speedibeets proper beetpulp.

Ive went back to this for my veteran after he dropped alot and was unwell. He looks much better on three feeds a day and good hay :)

Hes getting the below three times a day.

3/4 x scoop of spillers conditioning fibre
1 x scoop of soaked alfalfa pellets
1/3 of a mug of linseed meal
1 x scoop of beetpulp
1 x cup of staypower cubes as hes back in work and I needed a bit of energy.
His joint and hoof supps.
 
thank you, ill tell her what your feeding yours. i feel he might be ill, hes 18 so hes a bit of an old man. he gets fed twice daily.
 
In addition to what's already been said, check the horse has recently been wormed for tapeworm and encysted small redworms. My TBx dropped weight drastically in feb/march despite feeding three times daily and having adlib hay. I wormed him for the above and was horrified by the number of small redworms he passed in the days which followed.
 
Ad lib good quality forage, get teeth done, worming, & make sure he's kept warm & stress free. Then add hard feed as a top up. I'd try Baileys outshine, unlike veteran mix its not sugary & burnt off as quick as it goes in.
 
As others have said;
make sure that teeth and worming are up-to-date,
give ad-lib hay/lage
low sugar/low starch high fibbre feeds, little and often,
I like soaked grassnuts and Speedibeet with dried grass chaff and linseed oil to put/keep weight on our oldie.
 
thats fab thanks people! he was wormed friday, thats sorted. ill gte her to odd oil to his feed but i dont think he'll have it as he is very fussy!
 
After checking there's nothing wrong with him, I'd recommend Blue Chip- found it fab for keeping my 35 y/o mare in top condition :)

In winter, I used to feed her 3-4 times a day. I kept her at home though, so it was easy just to pop out to the field at lunchtime with a bucket.
 
I had a tb 8yr old who unfortunatley got PTS a couple of years ago. For a tb he was VERY laid back and calm about everything, I do wonder weather it was because he was ill or weather it was just his nature. So change in behaviour is a major sign to look for also. I found it very hard to put weight onto him. I know being a thoroughbred they aren't always the chunkiest of horses but he looked like a rspca case! I spoke to many nutritionists and he was on the best feed possible for weight gain and condition (costing me a fortune) he was also on as much hay and I moved him to a field that had been rested for a year with LOADS of grass. Nothing I did worked. I even stopped exercising him for a good few months to just let him be a pig and eat as much hay/haylage grass and food as he wanted. He was having medium sized feeds 4 times a day - as they digest better in small portions but more of them. He then started getting leisions on his corony bands. swab tests were done etc and my vet was very unsure. 2 weeks later he ended up in liphook and never came out. :( they are still quite unsure on what it was but basically it was a disease that gradually shut down all his organs. 2 weeks after he got PTS, in the H&H magazine an article was written about another horse somewhere in the UK who got put down with the same symptoms. I'm sure I have just wasted 5 minutes writing this for no reason - but its better to be aware of the worst case senarios, as maybe if I was he may still be alive. I wouldnt wish what my boy had on any horse. But I'm sure this is not the case with yours just keep it in mind that its not always something simple unfortunatley.
 
My 8 year old Arab x Friesan recently dropped weight, luckily had vet booked for teeth so asked him to check him over. He took bloods and horse had a low white blood cell count, when i went to collect tonic from vet the receptionist said they have had loads of horses with this recently. Seems to be a virus going around which is bringing them down. I have upped his feeds, stopped working him and giving the tonic from the vets. In 2 weeks he is looking a lot lot better and is much more active in the paddock now. Hadn't realised how quiet he had been until he perked up again. I'd recommend you get bloods run.
 
18+? If you mean 16+, this is a maintenance mix rather than weight gain. Spillers manufacture a Senior Conditioning Mix. Personally I'd be trying the mix I suggested, Dengie Alfa Oil and Sugerbeet pulp, and possibly linseed lozenges too.
 
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