Weight Loss - Any Ideas

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rockysmum

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My 36 year old has lost a lot of weight this winter and I cant seem to get it back on.

He has lost weight in winter for the last few years but as he puts in on in the summer it has not been noticable to anyone but me.

This year with the lack of grass he didn't put much on in summer as he was basically being fed his winter diet plus what grass was around.

I expected him to loose a bit but a few weeks ago I felt he had lost too much. I upped his feeds to three large ones a day instead of two.

He gets veteran conditioning mix, fast fibre, ready grass, nuts, a bit of bran and whole carrots made into a mushy mash. This is fed morning, mid afternoon and evening 7 days a week. Plus unlimited good quality haylage and about 4 hours a day turnout.

I dare not give him any more bucket feed as he had colic in the snow last year. I doubt if he would eat it anyway, his feeds are fairly massive for a 15hh cob. He will only eat the fast fibre with bran, he leaves it otherwise. I tried oil but he doesn't like it. He has never shown any signs of laminitus in the 32 years I have owned him.

He is not clipped and wearing a heavyweight turnout and stable rug. He is not too hot, even though he is a cob with a thick coat, he feels the cold.

He has non of the symptoms of cushings and is on a worming programme and seen yearly for a check up by the vet. His teeth are done yearly and were last done two months ago. The dentists thinks his teeth are amazing for his age. I do have lots of bute which the vet gives me in case he needs it but only use it before farrier visits. He was still being ridden lightly back in the summer and is fit and healthy apart from the weight. He is still the most likely of my three to gallop up the field and is still cheeky enough to slip past at bring in and go for a walk about.

I have mentioned it the the vet who's attitude was that he is great for his age.

I will admit I always panic in winter when he looses weight and try different things, however it is definately worse this year. I can feel his ribs and a couple of weeks ago I could even see them.

I still think there might be something underlying this. I wont let him go off the yard for tests or anything so please dont suggest that. Is there anything I could get a test for at home which I might not have thought of.
 
Try Bailey's Outshine you only have to feed a few mugfulls and it is high oil but not in liquid form my ponio seems to eat it without any probs and it def puts weight and condition on:D
 
I think as they get older they either run to fat or tend to get leaner, your boy is probably the latter type, as the topline goes the ribs seem to show more.

My old boy is a picky eater and is ribby at the moment but has a good topline, which he lost 18 months ago when diagnosed with cushings, he has plenty of energy, a gleam in his eye and is probably more comfortable carrying a bit less weight on his ageing limbs. I think at this time of year if you can feel but not see Rockys ribs he is doing well, maybe not in your eyes but it will be spring soon and he should pick up on the grass.

If you are really concerned get a blood test done, it will be able to look at liver function as well as general check on overall health.

I am giving mine Baileys no 4 and have seen a real improvement in the 2 months he has been on it.
 
Have you ever tried Pink Powder?

I started feeding this to mine last winter; this year my (now 29yo) who never does well over the winter is actually a bit fat, and I have had to cut his hard feed down (he's on A&P's Veteran Vitality with Alfa-A Oil), which is unheard of - I've had him 10 years, and have never had to cut his feed before :eek:
 
Have you tried grass nuts (the ones which are meant to be like spring grass)? I think you can soak the latter so they'd be ok for old teeth and if it's grass that he's missing they might help a bit? Don't know how much of them you could feed before he went pop but the idea is that they're just grass?
 
PC Steele said:
Try Bailey's Outshine you only have to feed a few mugfulls and it is high oil but not in liquid form my ponio seems to eat it without any probs and it def puts weight and condition on:D
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Thank you I will investigate that :D

be positive said:
I think as they get older they either run to fat or tend to get leaner, your boy is probably the latter type, as the topline goes the ribs seem to show more.

My old boy is a picky eater and is ribby at the moment but has a good topline, which he lost 18 months ago when diagnosed with cushings, he has plenty of energy, a gleam in his eye and is probably more comfortable carrying a bit less weight on his ageing limbs. I think at this time of year if you can feel but not see Rockys ribs he is doing well, maybe not in your eyes but it will be spring soon and he should pick up on the grass.

If you are really concerned get a blood test done, it will be able to look at liver function as well as general check on overall health.

I am giving mine Baileys no 4 and have seen a real improvement in the 2 months he has been on it.
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Thank you, the vet is coming next week for his injections I will ask for a blood test. Will also try Baileys (is that the one that looks like bread crumbs)

JennBags said:
Have you ever tried Pink Powder?

I started feeding this to mine last winter; this year my (now 29yo) who never does well over the winter is actually a bit fat, and I have had to cut his hard feed down (he's on A&P's Veteran Vitality with Alfa-A Oil), which is unheard of - I've had him 10 years, and have never had to cut his feed before :eek:
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Thank you, I forgot to mention he gets supplements Pink Powder :D and Glucosomine
 
jesstickle said:
Have you tried grass nuts (the ones which are meant to be like spring grass)? I think you can soak the latter so they'd be ok for old teeth and if it's grass that he's missing they might help a bit? Don't know how much of them you could feed before he went pop but the idea is that they're just grass?
Click to expand...

Thank you, thats worth a try instead of the Ready Grass, it would mix into his mush nicely.
 
Have you tried cider vinegar? worked really well to encourage my old mare to eat, and was good for her joints. I also feed my boy who is a poor doer Barley, it worked wonders on him and he started to fill out in days, although it dosen't agree with all horses :)
 
PonyRiders said:
Have you tried cider vinegar? worked really well to encourage my old mare to eat, and was good for her joints. I also feed my boy who is a poor doer Barley, it worked wonders on him and he started to fill out in days, although it dosen't agree with all horses :)
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Thanks, yes he used to be on Barley, I used to cook it for him. I haven't been able to do that for a while as I go to the yard straight from work. He was on the commercial barley feeds when he got colic so I am a bit wary about trying them again.

be positive said:
The no4 is a cube, not the crumbs, mine thinks they are wonderful he actually eats all his feed now something he has never done before.
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They sound great, thanks I can just swop his current nuts for them.


Dont worry anyone I will do all this slowly, one at a time :D
 
if he is fit and well (for a retiree) and happy and bright, then at 36 you might not get much more. in old age they just cant metabolise the calories! add oil. keep the fibre up! but at 36 he might not gain much weight! how many poohs a day? yes run some bloods and use them as a base. sadly they ont last for ever no matter how much you try. he is like n old person, eats, bright etc but slim. see how he goes in spring and summer. keep him happy and comfortable.
 
ofcourseyoucan said:
if he is fit and well (for a retiree) and happy and bright, then at 36 you might not get much more. in old age they just cant metabolise the calories! add oil. keep the fibre up! but at 36 he might not gain much weight! how many poohs a day? yes run some bloods and use them as a base. sadly they ont last for ever no matter how much you try. he is like n old person, eats, bright etc but slim. see how he goes in spring and summer. keep him happy and comfortable.
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Thank you, yes I know he is on borrowed time, just want to make sure I know I have done my best for him.

The poos is a hard one, my uncle goes twice a day and I go one. I would guess at night he does about 6 or 7 at night. Plus he will do some between breakfast and turn out and then some more on bring in before he is put to bed. So quite a lot really, I see where you are going with this. He is eating plenty just not getting much from it. That would really worry me if he was not so bright and lively in himself.
 
Hi, I would dump the mix, the nuts and the bran and swap the fast fibre for veteran vitality, also by Allen and page. Sounds like his meals are just too big still to be digested properly and his system is stuggling to cope. I have seen some brilliant results with the Veteran Vitality, Including another forum member's old TB who bloomed on the stuff, it is soaked in the same way as fast fibre, just takes a little longer. You could still add the redigrass to it for a bit of texture.

It would also be worth running bloods with your vet to check for any underlying problems.
 
maisie06 said:
Hi, I would dump the mix, the nuts and the bran and swap the fast fibre for veteran vitality, also by Allen and page. Sounds like his meals are just too big still to be digested properly and his system is stuggling to cope. I have seen some brilliant results with the Veteran Vitality, Including another forum member's old TB who bloomed on the stuff, it is soaked in the same way as fast fibre, just takes a little longer. You could still add the redigrass to it for a bit of texture.

It would also be worth running bloods with your vet to check for any underlying problems.
Click to expand...

Thank you I will look at that to replace the fast fibre.

I am going to have to buy a lot more feed bins, at the moment all my three eat some of the feeds so I dont need a set for each of them. I wont dare feed all this stuff to by 22 year old cob who is slightly overweight anyway and certainly not to the warmblood.

I am a little worried that my uncle is going to mix up who gets what.

I suppose I could make up all their feeds and just leave him to add the wet ingredients, I do the supplements on my visit anyway.
 
I would do a worm count. My boy was always wormed regularly but after alot of skin problems I wanted to use a herbal wormer. I was advised to do a FEC first and was shocked to find he had a high worm burden:eek:
Also, because of the skin problems and worms, my vet suggested a test for Cushings and I said no way, he hasn't got any signs - but again was shocked when it came back positive, so don't rule out Cushings.
Insulin Resistance is something that can come with old age and can cause weight loss. If he has good teeth, I would feed ad lib hay instead of larger feeds, keep his gut moving and working.
I have seen some posts on here from other worried skinny horse owners and they were advised to cut down on the size of each feed because if there is too much, it is pushed through too quickly and there isn't time for it to be digested properly or something like that, they will hopefully chime in soon.
Good luck
 
Thank you, I will get a worm count kit today.

He is already on ad lib good quality haylage he never clears it all. He gets two large haylage nights at night and extra at breakfast before he goes out.

Just found this winter pic from 4 years ago, he would have been 32 at the time

6.jpg


and this is a few weeks ago, sorry about the rug it was cold and I wasn't taking it for condition. However you can see the difference in bulk and his hip bones are more prominent
 
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