Skinny TB Feeding Help?

[Dizzle]

What would you feed your skinny TB?
He gets 2xlarge hay nets at night.
Turned out most days, although grass is short, may sometimes be in with ad-lib hay.
Gets a scoop of chaff and a small cup of build-up in the evenings.
Has been seen to crib/wind suck although this is by no means frequent, poo is fairly solid, usually found in stable eating although box walks when excited.

Any ideas what to feed? Do you think NAF Pink Powder would help? The mild crib biting worries me that he may have tummy issues hence why I was thinking pink powder, are there (budget)alternatives to pink powder? His poo is solid so and it’s only mild windsucking on occasion so not chronic by any means.

What do you feed yours? How much does this cost you a month in total do you think?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[galaxy]

Have a skinny 16.1 hh tb x hann who windsucks. We feed him a scoop of winergy growth (is fine to feed to older horses as well as youngsters, we checked, he's very sensitive and it doesn't hot him up at all) and a scoop of alfa beet twice a day. The difference was incredible within a month!

In the winter he's on the above, ration varies in summer dpending on grass. Costs about £25/ month I think?

My friend tried it on her immature 3 yr old warmblood and he blossomed too!

 

[toomanyhorses26]

Mine has no hay at the mo just 24/7 grazing with twice daily feeds of enduro100 ,top spec super conditioning flakes and alfa a with a good glug of oil. He is easting about3.5kg of enduro 100 and 1.5kg of top spec at the mo a day. Would up his feed for definate some of our 14.2's eat more than that a day. What type of work is he in as it might make a difference in how you choose to feed him

 

[Dizzle]

He's in light to medium work at the moment, it varies really was in medium until a couple of weeks ago and then we turned him away, lost a shoe so has come back in to the above mentioned feeding routine. I’m keen to get his weight up before winter so I can at least go in with a good starting position. Non-heating is great, he’s only young and I worry that half the reason he’s a darling (most of the time)is because he’s a little underweight, I don’t think so, but it might be. So again, another concern is that he’s going to be a different horse when he’s fully up to weight even though he is only slightly underweight now.

 

[TPO]

TBH I don't think he's being fed enough from what you posted in OP. You don't say what "build up" you are feeding or how big your cup is but it doesn't sound enough to meet his RDA. You might also need a vit/min supp. How many hours turnout does he get a day?

Your best bet is to phone the free helplines most feed manufacturers have. I've used Baileys and Spillers before and found them very helpful. I'd also invest in a weight tape and a (cheap) set of scales so you know exactly what you are feeding.

Is his worming up to date and have his teeth been done recently? If he has any sharp or rough edges then he might be dropping some of his feed.

Re Windsucking and "tummy troubles", if you're worried I'd speak to your vet as there might be more going on. Has he come out of racing? There is a chance it might be ulcers.

I think Pink Powder is fantastic stuff and it worked a treat on my TBs to give them a boost and settle stomachs.

I bought my TB gelding underweight and he cribbed. He was out as much as possible and fed adlib hay when in. I had the vet check him out as I was worried about the possibility of ulcers as he was in poor condition and cribbed. In the end he wasn't scoped as the vets didn't think he did have them as once he got into better condition it proved he put on and held condition and his performance/behaviour wasn't affected. I fed speedi-beet, alfa a with oil and Baileys no.4 conditioning cubes and then changed that to Spiller Slow Release Cubes. He had Pink Powder at the start and then Feedmark Settlex.

Good luck, it's a bit of trial and error until you find something that works but like I said the feed company lines are really useful.

ETA: feeding little and often definitely works best. If you could give 2/3 feeds a day instead of one big one then that will help. My skinny minny was on 3 feeds a day when he first arrived.

 

[cellie]

I have managed to get 40 kilos on mare over last few weeks.I use allen and paige calm and condition anything else and shes a complete fruit loop. She has 2 feeds a day even with good grazing ,one small scoop c and c plus large scoop alpha a ,she comes in during day for about 4 /5 hours and has as much hay as she wants in her hay bar. I dont think amount of build up is enough I used this for my other horse and he needed at least two scoops per day with 24/7 turnout plus his alpha and vits and supps.

 

[Forget_Me_Not]

I've tried a few approachs to 'skinnies' and this the most effective and affordable. I use my small 'half' size scoop in the summer when the grazing is pretty good and stubbs size in the winter. I would suggest winter ration sizes for yours if he's stabled and on less good grazing. My horses are worked most days too.

1 x Alfa A Oil (great for weight, a bag lasts two months and being just a chaff it's not as heating or dear as mix)
1 x local feed shop maitance nuts (At £5.40 their cheaper then the fancy names so I can feed plenty and it gives them the stuff they need without heating)
1 x supplement scoop of NAF ovilite board specterum (mainly bought for the 'fatties' to have with a handful of chaff but means I don't have to feed to much hard feed to the 'skinnies' which is exepnsive and silly as they can't diguest huge amonts)
1 x eurobeat (it's sugar beat with out the sugar basicly. I used to use speedibeat but my endurance livery swears by this stuff)

(twice a day)

A few before and afters....

 

[Dizzle]

Thanks Forget_me_not, Yup, he's the same condition as the skinny bay (2nd from bottom picture). If you saw a horse like that what would you think? I know he's under weight but I've sort of got used to it, I don't want people to think I'm some sort of horse abuser!

Some really great tips here, thanks guys. I can't wait to get him all nice and fattened up. I've just been worrying he'll be too much when he's back up to speed.

Yes, he's an ex-racer, has been out of racing under a year I think.

Never heard of eurobeat (how long does it need soaking for?) will have a ring round local feed merchants and see if anyone has it!

 

[horsegirl]

1 scoop of chaff is nowhere near enough. I feed mine 2 heaped scoops alfa a oil, 1 scoop spillers nuts, 1 scoop alfa pellets and in the winter I add alfabeet. this is split between 2 feeds and a decahedron ball (the nuts) plus as much hay as he will eat but there is no grass where we are. Winergy sent him nuts as did own brand pont nuts. he is not fat by any means but holds his weight and is rideable on this combo. It costs me approx £50 a month

 

[Befney3]

I have a 16.1, ex-racer who I've really struggled to get weight on & is a fussy eater. I tried conditioning cubes & various mixes & spoke to the feed companies but was still struggling. A few people suggested Allen & Paiges Calm & Condition & it's really helped. I still add a small scoop of Barley Rings for a bit of omph as he can be quite lazy & he has molichop with it as he won't eat Alpha Oil. The only problem is it needs soaking but only for a short while.

Good luck

 

[Honeypots]

Benji, my cribber/windsucker did well on Bailey's No.4 during winter. He had a scoop twice a day along with Hi Fi Lite (cos thats what my fatties were having) as a filler, speedibeet and a blob of oil. He had Pink powder for 2 months when he first arrived as he was quite unsettled and grumpy (more than usual) which I think helped.
He wintered out on that alongside ad lib hay and came out the otherside looking great...
Before:

and after:

 

[kellyeaton]

i would try alfa oil and calm and condition and you say his grass is short put some hay out in the field as well. HIs he wormed and are his teeth up to date?

 

[itsmyparty]

I'd go with the pink powder. Our Irish TB lost a lot of condition when off sick last year and someone reccommended it to us. He piled the weight back on in no time so we used it again this year when he was out of work again and he kept all his condition and despite having not worked for 3 months still looks great. The problem with "Build Up" with him was that it sent him off his head!! Not much fun when you have 17'2"'s worth of horse tw@tting about on the end of a rope.

 

[ihatework]

What you are feeding is a miniscule amount for a skinny TB. I'm afraid skinny TB's aren't the cheapest to keep!

As a first port of call, if you haven't already done so, I'd have his teeth done and get him comprehensively wormed.

Cheapest and easiest way to keep weight on is good quality ad-lib forage. So decent grass supplemented with as much good hay/haylage as he can eat.

As for hard feed there are many on the market to choose from. What you need to bear in mind is your horses ridden temprement and how this might change as you increase his feed. For that reason I would suggest you start with feeding 1 x stubbs scoop alfa oil and 1 x stubbs scoop of soaked speedibeat, 3 times a day. You can add to one of those feed your pink powder.

From there I would gradually add a commercial conditioning cube (try baileys number 4 perhaps). Start off with 1/4 stubbs scoop in each of 3 feeds and increase as required.

ETA: also noticed he demonstrates some stable vices - not uncommon for this to be as a result of stress. Are you able to have this horse live out pretty much 24/7? Its amazing how much difference this can make to a stressy tb type.

 

[Angua2]

My Exracer is fed alpha a oil, baileys no 6 ( endurance mix) sugar beet Twice a day. The baileys no 6 is fed at reccomended levels ie 2 scoops a day. With adlib haylage. I have to make sure that anything I feed does not have garlic in as it was finally found that my girl has an intolerance to this.

My previous ex-racer looked like a warmblood on alpha a oil, baileys no 4 and sugarbeet.

If I feel that I need something extra I tend to go towards baileys no 1.

I also ensure that my girl is warm enough as I find that my TB's have the tendancy to drop weight/ not put weight on if they get cold.

Both my ex-racers were/are cribbers.