Not putting on weight help!

MrsD123 said:
If you go to Newmarket, also known as HQ, you will see the youngsters being exercised up on the top of the hill, from February of their second year, they will be stabled in the town stables, which do not have turnout paddocks.
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Not every flat racer is trained in Newmarket.
 
ktj1891 said:
He is in a lw ATM all the time. I agree he needs 2 feeds so gunna see if someone can do that for me and gunna hay him too. Gunna get his teeth done soon as well. He windsucks in the field as well so don't know how much that would affect his weight. But still don't know if I should be changing his feed or just giving more. I'm buying a 25kg of linseed to feed aswell
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You need to boil linseed, some people think it is poisonous if fed raw, I don't know, but I would not have bought 25 kgs of it (my horse won't eat boiled linseed), was it recommended, can you take it back and swap it for something else.
 
OP
You say he windsucks in the field
As others have said suspect stomach ulcers
The complete change in management from racing should help in the long term but this needs to be addressed--suggest scoping
Garlic can destroy good bacteria in the gut
Replace with Yea-sac to help your horse maximise his high fibre diet

So worm including tapeworm and encysted redworm, teeth and scope--treat if ulcers are present
Friends bought an ex-racehorse very thin--he was full of encysted redworms

Extra feed may just be wasted if the above is not done first
Ad lib hay/haylage plus grazing just now
 
MrsD123 said:
I am a bit concerned that the poster has taken on a difficult horse, and might be happier with one of those hairy ponies instead.
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Wow your a bit rude and stuck up, how do you know my capabilities. All posts are turned into critising and being rude because of people like you- I simply wanted to know what people fed their tbs and how i could go about helping his weight along the way.

I would rather in this weather my horses out 24/7 than in stables hes done that all his life- hes not stressed or bullied hes absolutely fine. He's just not putting the weight on the way i wanted but then again that may be me being too ambitious.

I know he could have more done to help him along the way like 2 feeds a day which he is having now- but i didnt ask for people questioning the care of my animals just a little advice- which doesnt seem to be your forte!
 
Popcorn anyone?

OP don't worry too much. Some TBs don't reach their 'adult' weight until they are around 7 or 8 and have been schooled regularly and correctly to build up top line. As long as he's having adlib forage and two good feeds a day he should be fine, although the ulcer possibility is something that could be looked at.
 
ktj1891 said:
Yeah because I only go up once a day it's hard to feed him twice yard doesn't sell haylage. I'm gunna see if I can get him fed twice. Grazing isn't doing much for him but the ponies are fat on it
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You dont have to buy feed just from your yard, go to the local feed merchant!

Ponies and TBs are like chalk and cheese with regards to their nutritional requirements.

To gain weight you need to feed more calories (energy). Simple as that!
Check teeth, worms, stomach ulcers... blah blah blah and increase the feed. But stick to fibre and oil- not cereal based feeds.
 
soya oil is a good weight gain source aswell as linseed. ive been using badminton conditioning nuggets for my arab this spring as she didnt do brill last winter and shes coming on in leaps and bounds. also equi dual (sp)is fab

if you cant give him as much hay as he needs due to not being able to get up twice a day how about getting a big round bale put in the field. I do this with my hay in winter as I am really allergic to hay and doing the hay twice a day is a killer, so I get a bale dumped in the field once a week. they love standing round it munching. around here they are about £30.

then I just have the feeds to do.
 
Hi I have a standardbred which had a very bad winter and struggled to get weight on I fed her apple-chaff, spillers herbal mix, tiny bit of sugar beet and top spec super conditioning flakes. She transformed in around 2 weeks. I do think it was the top spec. She is not a huge hay eater and couldnt get haylage. She then got to the point that she needed the work to get a shape about her.
I will feed top spec from now on. Great stuff! Also only around £12 a bag and you dont need to feed very much. You get a measuring cup with it.
 
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Op I have a tb I got straight from training 10 years ago. She was really difficult to keep weight on for first few months, but once on was easier to maintain. Also I find tbs really thrive on work she never looks better than when she's working hard!

I find d&h build up and equivite work a treat and quickly too! Hope this is of some help x
 
Thankyou for the replys everyone. Hes now getting 2 feeds a day and hes getting his teeth done Thursday I do think I was being too critcal as he doesnt really look that bad yes he needs a lot of topline and a bit more covering around the ribs but at the end of the day he is a thoroughred. Yes I was recommended linseed by an Allen and Page nutritionist at Badminton and hes had it already so I know he likes it.

Hes coming back into work 5 days a week now with a mixture or hacking schooling and pessoa work. If you all want to see I can upload a pic or 2 of him?
 
I put a bag of coprafeed down my lad [Also ex-racer] as around April time he started to drop off weight a bit suddenly and was too lean-looking for my liking. Our grazing was crap then too [well, fine for the cobs and ponies, not good enough for him though]. I bought him in 24/7 for a week, had him on ad-lib haylage and went through a bag of coprafeed that week. He put it on and had a noticable amount of more coverage on him and was then swapped into a new field which hadn't been grazed in ages and had grass to his knees. He's been turned out in there 24/7 for 2 weeks nearly now and is very rounded and covered!
I gave him 3 feeds of Coprafeed a day during that week, purely because I wanted fast results, which it gave me. Now, he is on just one feed a day of it :)

He was funny about eating it to start with, he left the first one as it is very wierd stuff for them to eat, but after the 2nd feed with some molasses added to it, he tucked right into it and never had a problem with him eating it since! Gets a lovely shine to their coat too as it's high oil content I think [and smells a bit coconut-y!].

I used the cool-stance and it doesn't have any heating effect at all.

Edited - he has not the best conformation also, food never builds his neck or bum up. I can only get that through working him in a bungee with lots of spiralling in and out lunging him, plus tonnes of slow work up and down hills out hacking.
 
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Ditto what was said earlier about adult weights in TBs. My mare was never in amazing condition - got her at 3, and she looked like a racer until the age of 7 when she matured and settled, and now she looks like a Seccy D with TB pin legs!
 
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