Skinny horse feed advice

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Charlotte125

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He is 17hh TBXshire. Had since new year off due to my injury. Expected him to put weight on during his 'holiday' but is still skinny!
He is fed blue chip pro, alfaA oil and corn oil. His worming etc is all up to date.
Was thinking of Baileys Outshine. Any ideas? Thank you!
 
Ad lib hay - let him almost self serve, my TB was very skinny when I got him, He was on Blue chip, Alfa A and sugar beet but I gave him as much haylage/hay as he could eat and he looked fabulous. Barley nuggets are also good IMO.

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How skinny, do you have any photos? This should be their thinnest time of year so unless he's a complete hatrack I wouldn't worry. The grass has been coming through on our yard for about a week now and i'm moving Daisy into the starvation paddock at the weekend.
 
i do have photos but dont know how to put them on here! Erm you can see his ribs and his hip bone is sticking out alot! he never really puts weight on. hes fed blue chip amd alpha oil all year round.
 
If you open an account on www.photobucket.com and upload your pictures onto there you can paste the link into a new message on here and the picture appears. If you go into the picture gallery on here there is a guide at the top to show you how to do it.

I've seen success with Barley rings and milk powder before when needing to put weight on a very poor horse. I'm just paranoid about weight because I have a horse who really struggles with her weight as soon as she sees a blade of grass. I'd rather see a horse too thin than too fat.
 
We had a 17hh TB who didn't carry weight well, particularly over the winter. We fed him Dodson and Horrell Build up Cubes (they do a mix as well) and it was great - he put on weight, held and it and condition. We fed him Blue Chip original with this for a while but eventually didn't need the Blue Chip.
 
Ditto others re ad lib forage. Then you either need to feed more of the alfaaoil or to find a more energy dense feed than what you are feeding. If you are at the limit of the meal sizes you can give then you need to find a higher energy feed. Look for fibre and oil rather than cereal based, high starch feeds. Unmollassed sugar beet is very good, around 12.5 mj/kg, supplying energy from fibre. TopSpec conditioning cubes are low starch. More energy again is equijewel and coolstance, both high oil feeds.
The only other thing you could add is YeaSacc or brewers yeast to help the digestive system work more efficiently.
 
Too much oil can make the feed pass through the system too quickly so that the body doesn't have a chance to absorb what it needs. Try dropping the Corn Oil and give the horse non molassed sugar beet.
 
try him on some pink powder
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You don't say how much hay he's getting or how many times a day you are feeding him. But absolutely agree with the adlib - and in the field too if possible.

Is he warm enough?

Why not feed him on something like build up cubes and Alpha a Oil? And drop the actual oil.

And try to introduce more feeds throughout the day - so perhaps 3 feeds instead of 2 etc.
 
I used to have a WB who always used to be a poor doer until I found Burgess Supa Barley Rings and Baileys No.1 cereal mix and then he started putting a little weight on. Nothing else worked, he was on 33lbs of hay a day!
 
he get 2 cups of blue chip pro twice daily and 2 big scoops of alpha a oil with eah meal. I have spoken to the 'feed man' and he has rec. sugar beet so am going to give that a try. Hes gets as much hay as he wants but he isnt really a food orientated horse, doesnt always eat his food or hay.
I agree with what you say about better too skinny that too fat!!
During the competition season he gets energy mix aswell. Thank you for the help!
 
I agree with the Pink Powder recomendations, its worked incredibly well on 2 horses that i have imported that have been very light. It seems to ensure they get the best out of any food they are given, and they really do pick up on it after a very short time
 
After lots of experimenting with my on the lean side TB (got hime in Sept 08 looking lean) I have finally ended up feeding Top Spec Comp Balancer and Outshine and speedibeet. Like yours my horse cant be bothered with food so I needed as many calories (not from cereal) in a small volume as possible as he just wont finish it (can only feed twice a day so couldnt feed smaller and more frequent feeds) and this is the combination I ended up with. I dont feed Alpha A Oil as he didnt like it (apparently its quite bitter) and dont add any extra oil or yeast or other supplements as Balancer covers all that plus has protein.

Oh he is out 24/7 but again he doesnt spend a lot of time eating and has access to ad lib haylage and mineral licks just in case. Rugged and access to big field shelter. Also I double checked worms and teeth.

If this diet and dr green grass doesnt put weight I am not sure what I will do!
 
My Boy is always a bit skinny at this time of year - no matter how much alfa-a oil, coniditioning mixes/cubes/supplements, hay, haylage i get him to eat he won't put on any more weight....however as soon as the spring grass comes through...which i'm hoping won't be too long... he turns into an absolute fatty again!
 
thanks for the advice! i have put him on sugabeet aswell as the blue chip and alpha a oil.
Unfortunately he never gets fat!even with spring grass, hes fed pretty much the same all year round! I might try the pink powder if the sugabeet doesnt help!
Thanks again!
 
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