putting weight on TB does this sound. ok?

Sanolly

Sanolly

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Well after my girls accident I gave her 6 weeks off in the field and am now bringing her back into work. However she has dropped off a little and obviously has no topline at all.
Having always had natives I am not at all used to trying to vet weight ON horses also we have no grass at all so the old "Dr. green" cure is not an option. So my idea is to give her 3-4 hours turnout, then bring her in with a big net for the rest of the day and then 2 big nets at night with haylage. In addition she will get 2 x 1 scoop C&C, 1 scoop spillers topline cubes, 1 scoop fast fibre, 1/2 scoop barley rings and 1 mug of lo cal. She will be doing 3-4 days of light walk work and hacking. Dies this sound ok
 
Trying to get weight on is harder than getting it off sometimes!Doesnt sound too bad- if shes happy to eat haylage til the cows come home,its better to give her more of that ie in the field, than increasing her hard feed. Corn oil is a fantastic way of encouraging weight gain,available from supermarkets, and gives the coat a amazig shine.Feed it in small amounts at first then increase it. I feed half a small cup a day once its been introduced slowly.Good Luckx
 
I agree, if you can stuff her with haylage rather than resort to more hard feed then thats the way i'd go. Quite often the key to getting weight on a TB is getting them to relax and not stress it back off again, so more turnout usually works well and lots of hard feed (especially barley which is the worst sort of cereal for causing problems) could turn her into a real stress head.
 
What size of scoops are we talking, sounds like an enormous amount if Stubbs scoops, ok if pet food size, better to weigh out all her food, I just can't imagine she can eat all that!
Try cutting out all hard feed except the Calm and Condition at the manufacturers recommended rate, and wait for two weeks.
 
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Definatly don't go mad stuffing her with hard feed, especially if you are using haylage as well. Doesn't always matter what you are feeding but protein overload will potentially cause you more issues than it solves by sending her wappy rather than relaxing. Which as someone has already mentioned is really the key to weight gain.

When I am riding my girlie (everyday 1hr, fairly hardish!) she costs me a fortune in hard feed because she is a high octane type, when she is off work she almost costs me nothing!! I actually have a website with some helpful hints on it, doesn't explain everything as each horse is differant but might give you some bits to think about.
www.thoroughbredhorse.co.uk

Good Luck!
 
Thanks all, should probably mention that she is a real chilled out girlie so quite happy to stand in and munch.
MrsD123 they are stubbs scoops. The barley rings were recommended by several different people hence why I am using them, should I drop it all down to 1/2 scoop everything except the c&c?
 
Sanolly said:
Thanks all, should probably mention that she is a real chilled out girlie so quite happy to stand in and munch.
MrsD123 they are stubbs scoops. The barley rings were recommended by several different people hence why I am using them, should I drop it all down to 1/2 scoop everything except the c&c?
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You will find that every one has their own ideas, and if you ask four people you will find you get a diet as you first suggested.
Barley is a cereal and is associated with fizzy behaviour, it is not a complete and balanced feed. Same can be said for molassed sugar beet nuts, Fast Fibre and Lo-Cal are for natives and good doers, so not appropriate if you need to add weight.
Your horse will have a limit to its intake, so I suggest you feed ad lib hay-lage or good hay, maybe three or four medium sized nets over 24 hours.
Allen and Page have a good range of barley and molasses free feeds which are balanced for minerals and vitamins, it is pointless using such a good feed then adding barley for example.
I would base the diet on forage (fibre) and only use the recommended amount of C&C.
Take the measurement of the belly girth and the length from point of shoulder to point of buttock in inches. girth squared times lenght divided by 300 gives you the most accurate weight estimation, and in this instance you are looking for weight gain rather than actual weight anyway. Make sure you can still feel the ribs!
A Stubbs scoop of Allen and Page dried needs to be made into a mash with plenty of water, as per directions.
Do you have a weigh scale, then you can be sure exactly how much she is getting, if not start with a stubbs scoop for evening meal and a half scoop or as recommended by A & P for the morning feed.
After two weeks re-assess the condition, if stabled then you can up the C&C, If losing weight, ask for further advice, maybe from the vet.
Twice a week at the same time of day measure again, also have a good look at her and rub your hands over the ribs, you do not want to gain weight in a week, more like two months.
There is limit to how much even the best feeding regime can do, you need to build up muscles and topline by walking, thirty minutes at first then up to an hour over a few weeks, adding in a few trots, do not worry day to day about her lack of condition, she will not drop dead!....... if the ribs and backbone are sticking out due to illness she will need to be carefully monitored, but again weight increase needs to be gradual, combined with exercise and or turnout. She may be happy to stand all day in her stable but this is not ideal and not natural, it can lead to all sorts of problems, so make sure she has get a bit more activity in her day.. you should both enjoy your daily workout.
 
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Forgot to say, get the teeth done, have a worm count (abbey diagnostics), and check all vaccinations are up to date. Groom regularly ... the skin is the largest and most obvious indicator of health, it should be free of scurf, shiny, and move over the ribs, ie not tight or stary. I always like to lift the tail and check for good inner thigh development, this is the power house of the horse, also stand behind and make sure the muscles are evenly developed either side of the midline.
 
Put the weight back on slowly as if too fast you are likely to end up with a hyper monster. It is far more economical to feed the basics, mine do really well on Crushed Barley, Meadow Hay Chaff, and Sugarbeet. Add a balancer to this to ensure that the horse has the right vitamins and minerals. Try to split the feed into three or four small feeds as this does seem to help increase weight. Ad lib haylage when in will also help keep the horse settled and busy when stabled. Work is the only thing that will rebuild her topline and that will take time.

I've always fed my TB's crushed barley with absolutely no problem with them hotting up, many of them were Riding school horses too. I also cannot understand where people get the idea that Mollased sugarbeet hots up horses. All the sugar from the beet has been removed leaving it a bland source of fibre & calcium. A light spray of mollasses makes it more palateable but is of a minimal amount when you consider how much you actually use. Ive used Sugarbeet for over 40 years and it has never hotted up any horse I've worked with and again we fed it to the school horses in a reasonable quantity.

What tends to hot up horses is not being given sufficient work for the feed given.
 
thank you.
C&C has sugarbeet in it and I'm not overly worried about her heating up, she really is a very laid back TB. It isn't always going to be possible to give her lunch but she will get an extra feed whenever either the YO or I can manage it. I have dropped the fast fibre and halved everything but the C&C. I am keeping a chart and will be taking photo's every Saturday so I can keep an eye on her progress.
 
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