Putting weight back on big horse

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Charlie_Boy

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My 18hh ID has recently had a nasty virus that attacked his liver and he has dropped a lot of weight. He is being treated with legaphyton for his liver but with regards to feeding I am at a loss. He can't eat anything with high protein levels and all the conditioning feeds are high in protein. He is on pasture mix, speedibeet and cherry chaff 3 times a day! any ideas of feeds to boost weight??:confused:
 
I've been carefully watching my 16.3hh 20 year old old the winter, as he dropped quite a bit of condition quite quickly. I had put him onto hay because the haylage was going straight through him and he started the winter on Bailey's Lo-Cal balancer, veteran chaff and a couple of supplements. When he started to drop the weight, I put him on a 50/50 mix hay/haylage, a mollassed veteran chaff, speedibeet and Top Spec Conditioning Flakes.

Have you tried contacting Top Spec or Blue Chip and asking for advice? Maybe one of their balancers would be suitable, but they would be able to help re. the low protein.

What about increasing the oil? Soya oil???
 
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having fed my youngsters on low protein diets through fear of growth problems I'm quite familiar with feeds on the market... as for weight gain I've never really had a problem. when my boy came to me he was a skinny little runt.. a year on he's a strapping 16.1hh 2 year old... the secret... HAY and plenty of it! at 18hh I'd imagine your boy to be needing in the region of 3/4 of a bale of hay a day...

This winter he's been on Spillers high fibre cubes, hi-fi lite and alfa a lite with some speedi beet (Which I have found a very cheap way of upping his weight almost overnight if nec) he's also been on a general purpose vit and min supplement. the good thing about this sort of diet is that weight gain is gradual. just give it time and I'm sure you will see the difference. If feeding volumes are a problem, introduce an extra feed a day...
 
Rosie_M said:
I've been carefully watching my 16.3hh 20 year old old the winter, as he dropped quite a bit of condition quite quickly. I had put him onto hay because the haylage was going straight through him and he started the winter on Bailey's Lo-Cal balancer, veteran chaff and a couple of supplements. When he started to drop the weight, I put him on a 50/50 mix hay/haylage, a mollassed veteran chaff, speedibeet and Top Spec Conditioning Flakes.

Have you tried contacting Top Spec or Blue Chip and asking for advice? Maybe one of their balancers would be suitable, but they would be able to help re. the low protein.

What about increasing the oil? Soya oil???
Click to expand...

Topspec and other balancers are MEGA high in protein!! and I would steer well clear of them..
 
Sorry - scan read and completely missed the bit about the low-protein diet.

Might be worth talking to Allen & Page, as they have a weight gain feed which reports 10% protein content. Pasture Mix reports 9.5%, so the extra 0.5% might make the A&P feed worthwhile, even though the protein is slightly higher.

http://www.allenandpage.com/Products/Older-Horses-and-Conditioning/Weight-Gain-Mix.aspx

Apologies for not reading properly!

Hope you get your boy sorted out.
 
Having tried everything in the book on an ex point to pointer the only thing that worked is coolstance !!

it is also cheap (£16 a bag and last a month or longer) and does not change the horses attitude one bit !! But it is full fibre ..............
 
Charlie_Boy said:
My 18hh ID has recently had a nasty virus that attacked his liver and he has dropped a lot of weight. He is being treated with legaphyton for his liver but with regards to feeding I am at a loss. He can't eat anything with high protein levels and all the conditioning feeds are high in protein. He is on pasture mix, speedibeet and cherry chaff 3 times a day! any ideas of feeds to boost weight??:confused:
Click to expand...

Have a look at Rowan Barberry feeds, they do specialist feeds like this.
You need a slow gain so take it carefully but it will be amazing what Dr Green can do too.
 
Thanks for this post - my 17.1hh is also currently on Legaphyton and Red Cell as he has liver probs due to a virus and he has also lost a lot of condition and I am also struggling to feed a low protein diet.

I have upped his hay by 50% and he is eating most of it - expensive but worth it. As for feed he is on 1 x big scoop Hi-Fi Lite and half big scoop of own brand cool cubes per feed with his supplements....I changed from conditioning cubes because of the protein, but would like to be doing more!
 
StaceyTanglewood said:
Having tried everything in the book on an ex point to pointer the only thing that worked is coolstance !!

it is also cheap (£16 a bag and last a month or longer) and does not change the horses attitude one bit !! But it is full fibre ..............
Click to expand...

Isn't Coolstance 20% protein though? So not the best thing for this horse with a liver problem?
 
I would highly recommend Simple System blue grass nuts. They are what they say - spring grass made into a nut - nothing else. Totally fab product which put weight onto my mare after struggling through all the snow and bad weather over the winter and really dropped weight. I feed this alongside a linseed based supplement (can't get oil into her) The one I feed is falcon feeds Omega rice but I know simple system do a good one too!!

http://www.simplesystem.co.uk/products/viewhorsefeed.asp?id=6&name=Blue Bag Grass Pellets

http://www.falconequinefeeds.co.uk/supp_omega_rice.htm
 
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Start will basics.
Good quality grass and hay/haylage.
As much as he can eat.

Best to speak to an expert on hard feed so call a feed company.

Or a nutritionist as they wont be biased to a certain manufacturer.

Good luck
 
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