Underweight horse

[zoon]

My 16 year old TBxWB is underweight - I would condition score him a 3 at this moment in time based on this -
http://www.saracen-horse-feeds.co.uk/feedcheck/condition_scoring/

He has beeen like this for years, he picks up a little over summer (but never to a normal weight) and then drops over winter again. Fed copious amounts of food (out 24/7 with ad lib hay/haylage/good grass and 2 feeds of conditioning feed a day - we've tried them all!) He has a good appetite and eats well, but does struggle with 3 feeds a day and tends to leave middle feed. He currently has baileys conditioning cubes, baileys number 1 and micronised linseed.

He is obviously rugged according to weather and stays unclipped over winter to help keep him warm.

He is worked 4 or 5 times a week, mainly hacking.

He has had blood tests in the past and all have been ok apart from one where he showed as slightly anaemic (this one was after he had a virus when we moved yards). Treated with equisup. Teeth are due now, but he doesn't have any problems eating. He is prone to choke as he can sometimes bolt his food, but it is becoming less often that he has it. He has been scoped for ulcers and was found to have a lovely healthy stomach!

He seems well in himself and the vets don't seem worried, but the calories he has pumped into him certainly exceed the calories he uses so can't see why he isn't putting weight on - especially now we have this lovely warm weather and spring grass! He is really holding on to his winter coat this year too.

Wondering if you guys can suggest anything else I can try???? I am loathed to change his feed as we have most probably tried it!

 

[CBFan]

A good glug (or 3) of oil in each feed?

A balancer?

Tapeworm? Did the blood tests you go include a count for tapeworm? I've known several horses who have been on regular worming programmes to be found to have tapeworm after showing an inability to hold weight. Worth a check?

Have to say I think No4 is amazing stuff. My friends 17 y/o TB x has just been put on that (to replace D&H 16+ mix) and spillers verteran balancer in addition to his apple chaff and speedi beet and within a month the transformation is amazing. he's still not 100% but getting there. he was really quite poor.

 

[Aoibhin]

i found the thing to get weight back on my boy after he was very ill & lost weight was outshine in with his normal food (worked a dream on him).
ill (at his worst stage)

& now

 

[AmyMay]

Have you tried feeding the same amounts but split in to 3 or 4 feeds (assuming that the 3rd feed you have been giving is an 'extra' one....).

It may be that the amounts fed are just too much at once for his system and not getting used??

Do you feed him iron?

 

[appylass]

A friend has a TB who is very difficult to keep weight on. She's tried most things over the years (about 10!). He is now fed a completely cereal free diet, with as little molasses as possible too. He has huge trugs full of readigrass, high fibre cubes, beet, oil and Spillers Lite balancer, together with good quality haylage. He is still far from overweight but holds his condition better than ever. Cereal seems to blow his mind and he frets his weight off if that makes sense. It has been a long journey getting to this point but it works however unlikely it sounds. The feed store staff think he is laminitic from the feeds she buys him

 

[wench]

From personal experience I would recommend a diet of:

Topspec Balancer - 300g
Topspec Conditioning flakes (if he doesnt heat up on starch) or Topspec conditioning cubes - 500 - 600g
Outshine - 650g
Milk pellets - 250g
Alfa-A Oil - small handfull
Sugarbeet - small dose to wet feed down

per feed twice a day. The above will take you to your 2kg feed limit.

 

[zoon]

Like I siad, not sure I want to change his feed as we've been through all the feeds out there! He has had both outshine and equijewel and plain veg oil in the past and I get the same, if not better results from the micronised linseed.

He was wormed with Pramox in the winter for encysted redworm, but does tapeworm too and is due an equitape now - I worm count mine and just worm when required, but still do a tape dose in April - not sure if they did the tape test wehn they took bloods.

He has had 3 feeds before (which is very hard for me to do as I have my own land so no one to help me and can't get down 3 times a day!) But when we tried, we tried both more food and same amount split into 3 and there was a slight improvement, but he picked through his lunch feed and took hours over it. Since he has to be tied outside field while he eats, taking hours isn't an option!

He isn't fed iron at the moment, but has recommended amount of feed so should be getting all he needs from that.

My lad is the least stressed horse in the world - infact I think I could do with something to get him more energised when he's working! Cereals and molasses don't affect him and he certainly doesn't stress the weight off. He has been on allen and page C&C and saracen releve before though and those are both cereal and molasses free. Again, no real difference.

The one thing we haven't tried for any length of time is a balancer, simply due to cost. He has feedmark benevit in his feed if he's not getting everything from his hard feed and has had blue chip in the past after he had the virus. But using it long term is very expensive.

I can't feed redigrass or any chaff due to his history of choke - he's fine at the moment, but don't want it to start up again as one episode seems to irritate the oesophagus and he'll start to choke daily.

Only thing you've mentioned that we haven't tried are milk pellets - what are these?

What I really wanted to know is - are there any more thing the vet can test for? Anything else that may cause this inability to gain weight?

 

[AmyMay]

Remember, a 3rd feed can be given at night - not just lunch time. Might be an option.

As for the expense of a balancer - if you are spending a fortune on feeds generally then substituting some of that for a balancer is going to be more than cost affective.

How many horses are in the field to what acreage - and is he actually able to get all the hay he needs?

As for iron support - if there's any chance his anemia is still present then he will need specialist support for this. The Benevit won't be enough. So worth speaking to your vet. His low energy levels could quite easily be to do with aneamia or just lacking in calories generally.