Underweight horse

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Inona

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Arab, 22 years old...sounds like trouble! She is looking so gorgeous now, filled out a lot, although still thin-framed. However in the winter I am ashamed to show her to anyone. She is so thin she looks like a rescue case. I feed her buckets of feed, I rug her up so much so that she will be warm, she gets as much haylage as she can eat, and I never clip her (she gets such a long fuzzy coat though-it's a real pain! :P). I do a lot if walking with her on the bit so at least if she's loosing weight she's gaining muscle.
what can I feed her? It would be best if it was non heating but honestly, if it makes her hyperactive I don't care as long as she keeps some weight on her. Last year she had 3 teeth pulled out which slowed down her eating process, and the year before I wasn't giving her a feed for weight gain, so I'm hoping this year will be better. I feed her veteran vitality, which is supposed to help her gain weight, but it didn't do much. It is good however because it is a mash so it was really easy for her to eat. I also feed her cod liver oil for her joints. I haven't been putting out hay because my other pony practically gets fat off air, so she definitely doesn't need it, but I think this year ill put them in separate fields and put haylage out for crissy. Is there any feeds anyone can recommend, something to just put on weight. She's also a fussy eater of course-luckily she LOVES veteran vitality. If anyone has any experience in this area I would be really grateful for advice. Thank you!
 
My tb looked v poor half way through the winter, he had a couple of bouts of colic and really struggled. I fed him baileys too line conditioning cubes. They made a huge difference to him! They can also be mushed up so it would be easier for your horse to eat with her age. :) it could be worth ringing the baileys helpline they gave me fantastic advice about how much to feed, what to feed with them etc.
 
hollybear said:
Has she been tested for cushings? This can cause weight loss and could account for her fuzzy coat.
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Echo this, and add that at that age she probably isn't coping well with sugars and starches. Look for oils, unmolassed and cereal free, high fibre and protein feeds - unmolassed beet, grass nuts, alfalfa, micronized linseed. Top Spec Cool Condition is cereal free. And make sure she is getting the right vits and minerals - a good balancer will probably help, plus Yeassac to ensure her digestion makes the most of what she does get. If she is dentally challenged as well see what your EDT says about her ability to grind her food.
 
Agree with JillA my cushings pony struggles to keep weight on I tried haylage and conditioning cubes but find she does better with hay and high fibre cubes and a decent veteran supplement which is counter intuitive but honestly works better. She got the runs with haylage too. She also has poor teeth and was dentally challenged long before the cushings diagnosis.
 
She could lose weight from being too hot in winter, over rugging also affects their metabolism, not saying you over rug but just a thought.
 
A fibre based diet is the best thing with a supplement like Lifeforce added in - it is from Alltech the makers of YeaSacc - so contains live yeasts as well as organic minerals which means the horses hindgut make the most of the fibre as well as absorbing the nutrients it needs. We have an old TB who lived out 24/7 last winter and he has never looked better - was also the cheapest winter ever to feed him!:biggrin3: Normally struggle to keep the weight on him regardless of rugs or stabling but not last winter :) The live yeasts are the key as they make sure the hind gut works at its most effective in utilising a fibre based diet that horses should have.

Here he is - he is 22 :biggrin3:

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Ditto testing her for IR or Cushings...I had an old tb who was the same as yours, didn't come through winters very well despite feed and ad lib hay. Added a scoop of Thirds to his feed ( not needed in summer,grass growing months) and the difference was great, he is still being hacked out and coming through cold icy winters with a good covering, though not so much that it would affect spring summer weight gain.
 
Is he up to date with his worming? Worm count might be worthwhile, not forgetting encysted worms. Have you tried straight grass pellets for adding weight, horses seem to love them (soaked). Micronised Linseed also goes down well and has other benefits than just weight gain. Take a look on Simple Systems website, we struggle to get their products where we live but I do like them. My boy struggled to keep his weight on last winter but I think a lot did and the grass took ages to come through in the spring which didn't help. As others have said, another visit from your dentist might be useful if they haven't seen him for a while. I'd also get the vet to run some blood tests just to rule out any obvious problems.
 
Hi hun, i feed my old girl with alfabeet with top line cubes, i soak this together which makes a warm mash for the cold winter days she also has oil and chaff mixed in!!! works wonders and nice and soft for horses which are starting to loose there teeth!!! I start feeding her this end sept and try and get her fat before the hard winter arrives!! also Speak to your vet, my vet does a liquid vitamin and iron tonic think its about £20 which i give her in her feed so she has the correct balance of nutrients. Also make sure she is upto date on worming,May i say i think she is lucky to have such a careing owner!!!!xxxx
 
We used Bailey's no1 when our TB lost a lot of weight one winter. It is a feed for elderly horses or those recovering from surgery, and must be fed with a bslancer, but it did help us get back on top of it again.
Day to day I use Simple System which makes them look amazing but the downside I find is quite hard to feed them enough of it to help them gain weight. Their blue bag grass nuts are a pretty good top up feed. Also do you feed oil at all? It is a very helpful way to add extra cals without the bulk.
 
Saracens equijewell is great its rice bran oil in micro pellet form, calm and condition from Allen and page is good too and is also a mash, I added a mug of corn oil a day to my girls feed, oil is calorific but slow releases think and doesn't fizz them up. If sheiks slow eating hay, try using mollichaff veteran and Alfa a oil mixed together as a partial hay replacer if she is in at all or in a separate field, the old guy on the yard I worked on last winter has no teeth, lives off vet vitality , fast fibre and then has a separate bucket of chaff (think tub trugs of the stuff) he had a glossy coat and fat belly this winter whereas the Easter before we were considering pts as he had got too thin and refused to eat.

Yea sac in feeds is magical too, try some naf pink powder I find it really helps to add condition as if they are lacking minerals etc they won't putonq condition as they should. Ditto the worming, also try to get your forage anaylosised . Also if she is in at all stable bandages help to keep them warmer than just rigging
 
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