how to weight on

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pepsixxxx

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I have a TB what needs weight on, tried all sorts of feeds with no success she isnt ribby, just looks a little lean.
She is a stressy mare so cant give her any cereal, she is on at the moment Top Spec Balancer, Top Spec Calm and Condition, Speeedi Beet, and a cup of corn oil. I did try Alfa beet but that went straight to her head.
Her coat is in fantastic condition and she looks healthy in herself, people say I worry to much but I want her to look rounder on her topline and hind quarters.
Here is a pic of her.
flame7.jpg
 
How much hay or haylage is she getting? If she was mine I would have her on top quality haylage and make sure she got as much of it as she could eat.
 
She has haylage through the night but she doesnt eat it all she has 3 feeds a day and is out on grass during the day and in at night, she is a picky eater
 
Sounds like you have tried all the normal avenues shame the Alfabeet goes to her head as that piles the weight on but tbh i thinsk she looks fantastic
You could try splitting her feeds up or increasing feeds in size if her head will handle it otherwise feed same amount in maller portions can sometimes help.
Have you contacted Top Spec as you use a lot of thier products maybe they could advise you they were really good when i phoned them.

My mare is the same i cant give her cereal so use top spec used to use speedi beet and lay off cubes but have changed to alfa beet now instead of speedi beet and fingers crossed she will stay sane
smile.gif

Good luck
 
She looks fine to me. A bit narrow waisted perhaps, which is a conformational thing, but the rest of her looks lovely. It sounds as if you are doing as much as you can to keep condition on her (and it shows). I would not worry about doing too much more.

Does she hold her weight okay in winter?
 
The amount of feed she is having she should be really fat the others in the field that live out 24/7 with no extra feed are huge.
She is rugged up at night and nearly everyday depending on the weather.
I am working with Top Spec they are helping me with the feeding.
At the show on the pic the judge said she needs more weight, ive been trying 2 years and it gets a bit disheartening when they say that.
She can look ok 1 day then thin the next lol silly mare
 
You need to work out the overall energy content of her diet and then increase it to gain weight. This could be by increasing quantity or changing to a higher energy feed. Assuming teeth, worming is covered you could also try brewers yeast, to help her utilise the fibre and also linseed. Her weight looks fine to me though.

If you want more topline you need adequate protein in the diet and appropriate training. You want topline from muscle, not fat and for that there are no shortcuts and no such thing as a bag of feed for topline. Protein and training are the only way
 
Have you tried Equivite Body Builder, we have used this on youngsters and TBs in the past with good results. I feed Baileys outshine to my older horses but it can spark them up a bit. NAF Pink Powder hs been used successfully by some of my friends.
 
If you like top spec feeds then maybe try their conditioning flakes - I have my tb on them and they haven't heated him up or made him silly at all - just put that last bit of weight on and made his coat shine.
 
we are using a passoa on her to try to build her up, cant use any cereal in her diet what so ever cos she gets really hyper, we cant give her high energy feeds as she is a handfull even using calmer, its only since she went in racing thats caused this, she didnt go in til she was 5 1/2 and only for 6 months as she wouldnt settle wouldnt eat feeds and lost lots of weight she did 4 races, since coming back she gets stress really quickly and she tucks up
 
these are the symptoms
Poor appetite
Weight loss
Poor performance
Poor condition including dull coat
Behavioural changes
Mild or recurrent colic

she is picky but not a poor appetite
she hasnt lost weight just wont put it on
never a poor performance
she is in good condition a coat is glossy
well her behaviour is debatable mailnly hyper, stressy
never had colic
 
Pepsi please don't take the comments of one show judge to heart too much, they are not always fair or constructive comments. But i know how disheartening it can be i have been in the same position as you being told my horse was far too thin, my fault partially as i took her into a WH class eventing fit so she did look slim compared to alot of the others!!

What class do you show her in out of interest?
 
oh btw i use a detox supplement to help mine stop the tucking up at times where she is likely to stress eg competing etc it does help a bit not a miracle sure though unfortunatley but worth trying aslong as it doesnt counter act any other supplements you are feeding
smile.gif
 
we take her in ex race horse class they are big classes mainly 10 to 25 in a class she usually gets placed in the top 4, they say she is more of a show hack than a race horse type this is a montage of her last year,


SWScan0000100007.jpg
 
she looks really smart in these photos. If the judges are suggesting small hack have you tried her in that class?
Is the main difference that the horses above her are carrying more weight?

I know some people inshowing use milk powder though i am not completely sure this is a particularly good idea for the horses and tbh i suspect that it may fizz your mare up.

The only other suggestion i have if you really want to get her bigger is consider giving her some time off work with the same amount of feeds is she can handle it mentally.

I really hopeyou find a solution as she looks a lovely mare.

Good Luck
smile.gif
 
we gave her time off then we only rode her once or twice a week she didnt change shape, the schooling we was doing wasnt enough so just started really working her again, Would try show hacks but they have to be foot perfect which she isnt yet plus cant afford a new wardrobe for my daughter cos its totally different to the ex racers classes.
Think we are gonna sell her to someone who knows how to deal with these type of horses we are use to cob types,
Thank you for your advise
 
I know the kit for showing is crazy expensive with all the products you need to buy as well to keep them smart.
I will check with a friend that does a lot of showing if there are any other ideas for putting weight on for you. Seems a shame to sell such a smart horse though.
 
Hi there, in my experience I don't think you can ever have enough 'bulk' for a poor doer and obviously well rugged. Also, after years of boiling barley and soaking sugar beet for our show horses, I can honestly say that milk pellets have been the only answer, mixed in with plain old nuts and chaff.Is your horse quite stressy? If so, a calm companion.....preferably aged seems to do the trick. Stops them stressing all that hard worked weight off!! Hope that helps. XX
 
she has companions and yes she is stressy, tanks round the field for no reason while others look on, she is a picky eater and doesnt eat her feeds during the day. As soon as we get the travel boots out she starts to shake well she only does that when she knows its a show day, She did well at show today 3rd out of 11 in the in hand class and in the ridden.
I just feel Im fighting a losing battle and upsets me when someone says she needs more weight when im really trying hard
 
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