slightly worried...

[only_me]

that my horse is bordering on underweight?

he weighs 518kg and is 16.2hh... he is muscley and toned and quite fit. he is hard to put weight onto and when he does it is hard for me to keep that weight on him

at the mo he is fed 2 standard scoops of high % oat feed in the morning and then again at night.
he looks well, but slightly on the thin side
also he is part tb

(will get picy when camera is working again)

what is the proper weight for a 16.2?
and should i be feeding him outshine or maize?

 

[ISHmad]

There's no such thing as a "proper weight" based purely on a horse's height. Because as you say your horse is part TB, you could have a 16.2 Shire Horse, a 16.2 Warmblood, 16.2 Percheron, 16.2 full TB etc. The important thing is that YOUR horse is the right weight. Have you condition scored him? And also you could feed him something like Alpha A with his oats etc to help with his condition. Or add oil to his feed perhaps?

Mine are all the opposite (unfortunately) but I am sure there will be others with experience of feeding poorer doers.

 

[TGM]

Can you see his ribs? Does he get adlib hay/haylage - ie enough so there is some left in the morning? Are teeth and worming up to date?

 

[only_me]

yep, he is wormed regulary and teeth done. gets a lot of hayledge, you cant see his ribs but he just seems to lack fat all over his body and would look so much better if he had more fat covering.

will try the condition scoring

 

[only_me]

hes about 3, but on the 2 side of 3...

 

[TGM]

Doesn't sound like he is actually underweight! He could be just an angular build or perhaps he doesn't always work correctly so is lacking muscle.

 

[ISHmad]

[ QUOTE ]
hes about 3, but on the 2 side of 3...

[/ QUOTE ]

He should be fine then. Might be worth giving some of the feed company helplines a call to see what they suggest? But if you keep up ad lib hay or haylage when your horse is stabled, plus good quality feed including some oil I don't think you'll go far wrong. He sounds like a lovely fit horse and a credit to you.

 

[only_me]

thanks, may get some oil for him... will get piccy tomorrow of him.

 

[berry]

Soya oil is really good, I used to get mine from the supermarket!!!