Skinny horse - cant get weight on

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silverstar

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I've put this in stable yard as well. Ive had my horse a month now and in that time she doesnt seem to have put on any weight at all. Shes being fed topspec 1½ mugs, 1 scoop chaff, 1 scoop sugarbeet, 1 scoop basic mix. She is getting ad lib hay morning and night as we have no grass at all in field. Her teeth have been checked and I have wormed her when I bought her but her tapeworm needs doing which I'll do this weekend. Dont know whether the worming was kept up to date in the past or not. Shes been on topspec for a few weeks previous to that she was on Spillers topline cubes.

Any ideas?? I really cant get to the bottom of this.
 
Have you run a weight tape round her so that you can have a semi-accurate guess - sometimes they put on a little bit at a time without us really noticing.

Personally, I'd change your chaff to either Alfa A or Alfa Oil as they have more calories than chaff. You could also change the mix to topline cubes / conditioning mix for a few weeks til the grass comes through.
 
If she is not picking up at all try a vitamin B12 injection, to start with once a fortnight then monthly thereafter. it's not expensive stuff, your vet may supply it
 
Alfabeet is better than sugar beet

I have one skinny who always picks up once the grass is through, and usually supplement this period with a little extra. He gets a bit bored of the sugar beet but licks the bowl clean with alfabeet.

I can't use alfabeet on the other two as they get prone to mud fever when on it !! The oldie loves it too, and she will have it when her teeth are bad, as it's good for horses with teeth probs.

D&H's barley rings also work a treat, never sent my horses hot, as the barley is extruded, and has linseed in too for a nice shiny coat. Never found a horse who didn't like eating this..
 
I'd also add Blue Chip to her feed - it's wonderful stuff. You could try Yea Sac too - it's packed with vitamin B to aid hind gut digestion and it acts as a very mild appetite stimulant. Adding a healthy glug of apple juice to her feed will also squeeze in some extra calories. Does she eat all her feed? Nothing wrong with her teeth? Could you squeeze another feed in during a 24 hour period? Worst comes to the worst, you could add baby milk powder to her feed - it really does the trick when all else has failed. Good luck x
 
what just ordinary baby milk powder?? Shes currently on topspec. I have bought some Alfa A but havent started using it yet. Her teeth are okay. She eats it all up.I have got half a bag of sugarbeet to use up. Its working out expensive to feed this horse.
 
My ISH lost a lot of weight the first winter I had him, but I picked him up with Bailey's Outshine, Bailey's Lo-Cal, Speedi-beet and Hifi Lite (lami prone, otherwise he could have had Alfa Oil or something).

He looks fantastic now coming out of winter and has maintained a good weight throughout with shiny coat. He's having: 1/2 scoop D&H Safe and Sound, 1/2 scoop Alfa-Beet, small square scoop D&H hi fibre nuts in a snack-a-ball at the moment along with 4 large wedges hay at night and one in the morning.
When it was colder he had extra 1/2 scoop S&S and had 6 wedges hay and night and 3 in morning with brekkie, as well as some in field. He was also well rugged.

If I were you I'd try the Bailey's stuff along with Alfa-Beet and or Alfa A with Oil. I'd still be giving the lo-cal to be honest but it's quite expensive for me at the moment. Definitely worth it if you need some weight on. Also the grass should help too!
 
Oooo yes, i forgot, i recommend barley rings too, a friends TB really picked up on them! Although be careful as they can fizz some horses up.
 
This might not be very usefull advise but if your horse can get access to some nice grass it should make a massive difference, its the best feed for putting weight on.
 
TBH That is quite a large volume of feed and because of that she might not be utilising all the goodness in it!... The topspec is good, as will the alfa a and barley... not too sure about the basic mix though... thought about some speedi-beet - I'm a recent convert having never fed anything of the sort before...

I've found a good dolop of soya oil great for adding weight but as said above, good grass is going to be your saviour!

Give her a chance though... a month really isn't very long and the move etc would've stressed her a little. Good luck
 
Has your vet given her a once over to make sure there is no problems?
My mare lost a lot of weight with a tooth problem but never picked up afterwards. Questioned vet on it and a blood test later turned out she was anemic. Couple of injections and a period of time on red cell and she picked up.
 
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