UNDERWEIGHT!

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StroppyMare*

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Ive just rescued a 16hh tb mare, 2 years old, she looks about 14hh her condition is v.poor. Shes currently underweight at 415 kilos and has been living on little grass un rugged.

Can anyone suggest what i would be best feeding her on to build up her weight and condition? Really want to get this little mare back to good health
 
As she is very poor you obviously need to get worming and teeth sorted to make sure she can gain weight.
I would give her ad lib haylage and good grass , start with small feeds as many as you can if possible 4 or 5 times a day.
She needs something that is easy to digest, ideally fibre based, alpha oil, speedy beet and Fast Fibre would be a good start with Pink Powder to aid digestion. If she does not pick up after a few weeks you could move onto a more conditioning feed but introduce slowly and do not expect her to gain weight quickly, it is better for her to gain slowly and maintain the improvement without risk of upsetting her system.
If you weigh her regularly you will be sure to find her improving even if, as you see her daily, you do not seem to notice it. Good luck.
 
High Calorie little and often would be my guess if your on a yard that will feed for you maybe twice during the day when your at work.

Adlib forage and I would suggest high fibre high oil diet :)

I feed Allen and page feeds with readigrass sugarbeet and linseed oil and my older horse (20) and a poor doer looks ace on it :)

Ditto teeth and worming, I would also get the vet out to check her over as well, he/she will advise you, would recommend panacur 5day for worming but vet may say different.

Good Luck :D
 
Fibre fibre and more fibre! That way she will build up slowly without to much of a shock to her system. Even if you have good grazing there isn't much in this time of year so give her ad lib hay and feeds of high fibre pony nuts and chaff (unmolassed) and add oil. As many small meals of that as possible and you should soon see an improvement.:) As I think some one else has said Allen & PAge Fast Fibre is also very good - has a probitoic in it as well as all the vits and mins she will need - also includes linseed so the oil bit is covered to. Not met a horse yet that doesn't lick the bowl clean! Also quite economical at £7 a bag :) Will give her lots of slowly digested fibre through her gut :)
 
Thankyou everyone! ive moved her to a yard withy 32 acres of grass i dont know wether im best to keep her in or put her out fully rugged, she will be on 3 small feeds a day either way and a net of hayledge...
 
StroppyMare* said:
Thankyou everyone! ive moved her to a yard withy 32 acres of grass i dont know wether im best to keep her in or put her out fully rugged, she will be on 3 small feeds a day either way and a net of hayledge...
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Out in the day and in at night, most tb's like their creature comforts & you don't want her getting cold and losing the weight your putting on in the cold weather.

As Amymay says, hay hay hay (or haylage haylage haylage!) As much as she will eat basically.
 
StroppyMare* said:
Thankyou everyone! ive moved her to a yard withy 32 acres of grass i dont know wether im best to keep her in or put her out fully rugged, she will be on 3 small feeds a day either way and a net of hayledge...
Click to expand...

Three small feeds are the way to go for definite, four if you can manage. And lots of hay or haylage. Lots of fibre in the form of Alfa A which has oil added (ideal for weight gain). Burgess Supa Barley Rings or Bailey's No. 4 is also very good for weight gain. Fibre nuts are excellent. Get her teeth checked; you could pour the best food in the world down their necks but if their teeth aren't grinding their feed properly the essential nutrients will be lost. And put her on a good worming programme (don't make the mistake of under worming - get her on a weigh bridge if you can - look up your local weigh bridge in the Yellow Pages).

Finally make sure she is rugged up well so she is not losing weight by trying to keep warm.
 
Loads and loads of haylage or hay, as much as she can eat. :)

Would also suggest after having a worm count done on my only 'poor doer' with a piece of poo taken literally straight from an internal exam that it would be worth a worm count and worm too, turns out there was resistance to my Equest/Pramox routine so swapped to Equimax and now he's piling on the pounds. He is on adlib haylage and just one feed of speedibeet with some linseed in and is looking great now.

ETA: Make sure she's rugged appropriately too, so she's not using her own body fat to keep warm. :)
 
StroppyMare* said:
Thankyou everyone! ive moved her to a yard withy 32 acres of grass i dont know wether im best to keep her in or put her out fully rugged, she will be on 3 small feeds a day either way and a net of hayledge...
Click to expand...

I think that depends on a number of factors, two of the most pertinent being:

* If she is out 24/7, will she be able to have ad-lib haylage? (Often this is not possible when poor doers are mixed with good doers) If not, might be better to have her in at nights with as much haylage as she can eat.

* Is she the type that doesn't like being confined to a stable? (In which case she may be better out, as they can often stress the weight off in a stable).
 
I would phone some of the feed companies and get their advice

I tried everything with my gelding but someone suggested thunderbrook feeds. I put him on the base mix and he still has a bit more weight to go but he is getting there. He is also fed ad lib good quality hay.
 
Since last posting she has had all her routine checks and the dentist out, she did have awful teeth andmouth ulcers which were very sore so im hoping ow this has been sorted it will help her munch her little sock off

she doesnt enjoy being in i think this is down to her always being out in previous homes she is out on grass of a day coming in for 3 small feeds a day and into a shelter with unlimited hayldege of a night when we can catch her!!

she has gained alot of conditon already :)
 
a 2 yr old at 415 kilos isnt that underweight. she possibly looks gangly and lean due to a growth spurt upwards. as long as wormed and vet checked i would keep rugged up appropriate to the weather, small fibre based feeds and ad lib hay and grass (as you have some!!!!). she will continue to grow up and out at her own speed.
 
I would it keep simple at first lots of haylage ( add lib)a good balancer three small feeds a day. Keep her warm being cold just uses food. Put a weight tape on fortnightly to see what's going on. She may start gaining weight fast on a not a lot of hard food and I never like young horses getting to much hard food .
Slow steady gain is much better than gaining like the Christmas goose, It will really rewarding watching her change, have fun with her
 
She has been stabled now for 2 weeks and ive just done her 3 week weight tape check she is now 455 kilos so thats a gain of 40 kilos which im pleased about, now shes warm in a stable and fed regularly she is keeping the weight on shes gained, so on wards and upwards from here and not too much outwards!!:D
 
Cant add any more about feeding etc but may be an idea to take regular photos of her as you will soon forget how bad she was and photos will help you to realise how well you are doing and will be good to look back on when she is fit and well. well done for caring:D:D
 
Glad she's doing better. Just to add, you can use straight vegetable oils from the supermarket to add to feed to help pack on the calories. High calorie conditioning feeds are full of sunflower oil. If you look at the vegetable oil labels a lot of these will be soya oil. They will tend to be cheaper than oils branded for horse use.

Best of luck with her :)
 
Thought id post some pictures for you guys to see her progress so far...

rubypoorcond.jpg


This is her overall poor condition,

Now this is her just three weeks later after the dentist, vet, farrier, worming and being rugged and fed

ruby.jpg

ruby2.jpg


rubycond2.jpg


rubycond.jpg
 
Don't worry about her looking tiny. With the good food and warm rugs she will soon build up. A s the weather gets better and there is good grass around she will fill out nicely.

If she was 2 last year then as a three year old you can start to do some basic ground work long reining and such this will also start to muscle her up.

Good old fashion grooming will also help, massaging the muscles so the blood circulates to help build her up.
 
paulineh said:
Don't worry about her looking tiny. With the good food and warm rugs she will soon build up. A s the weather gets better and there is good grass around she will fill out nicely.

If she was 2 last year then as a three year old you can start to do some basic ground work long reining and such this will also start to muscle her up.

Good old fashion grooming will also help, massaging the muscles so the blood circulates to help build her up.
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She is 3, rising 4 i know this as i now have her passport, was spun a few yarns before getting her, she has also apparently done her training at a race yard but was never raced because she couldn't hold the condition :confused:, still though i aim to take things back to basics with her and restart :) once shes stopped costing me vet bills that is!!
 
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