Weight Loss...is it just the lack of grass??

[belly]

We got off to a poor start this year when Belle was put in a field with horses who bullied her and would nt let her get anywhere near the hayledge.
To cut a long story short we bought her back onto DIY livery where she comes in at night and she was much happier ...however she has lost a lot of weight and is struggling to re-gain it, At this point I would say that the grazing is pants and they dont get supplementary hayledge on DIY.
She is eating 2 huge nets with mixed hay/hayledge at night and a half a scoop of alfa beet and a full scoop of chafand also equivite build up supplment and is turned out with hay in the morning. She has loads of energy and doesn't appear to be unwell....is it just the poor grazing and the bad start to the year she had.?
Prior to this I have always described her as a good doer...last year we struggled to keep the weight off!
She does appear to have filled out between the ribs in the last fortnight but is still "hollow" behind the ribs.
Any ideas peeps.????
Oh ....wormed regularly and back and teeth ok!

 

[AmyMay]

I would actually feed her entirely on haylage, and start feeding her some concentrate. Depending on what her temperament is like I would either go for a straightforward mix, or pony cubes - with alfa.

At the moment she is relying on roughage only, which may not be meeting her dietry requirements.

 

[juliebrewer]

If she is losing weight then definately needs more food. If you want to put on some more weight then give her an extra feed, or do what i do put some soya oil in the feed....

 

[Scarlett1980]

i'd get her checked by your vet. there has been loads of virus's lately and it actually looks like your feeding her enough. You could try changing your chaff to alfa oil but if she seems well in herself and has plenty of enrgy it might be worth waiting a couple of weeks to see if she improves naturally

 

[belly]

Thanks for your replies......internet been off sice yesterday so not able to get on before now.
Have just handgrazed her around the yard and her eyes lit up like it was christmas...bless!! Think I will try and do this with her every day.
Scarlett she did have abit of a virus in September of last year...so I tink she just had a bad start to a poor winter.

 

[filly190]

I would not over-feed on haylage. I would recommend a bigger feed than what you are giving and add some conditioning feed to that.

How has she been rugged? Is she using her engery to keep warm? Is she having a hard time in the paddock and being moved around by the other horses and not able to relax and graze? Stress can cause it and if you say she's not that happy in the paddock she is in, that could be a cause.

 

[filly190]

Another point, I forgot in my last post. Worms? You may be worming her fine, but are the others doing theirs and also is the pasture maintained (poo picked). It may be an idea to have a worm count done and see what the other owners of the horses have been doing.

 

[belly]

Hi filly and thanks for your ideas
The size of the feed she has at night is MASSIVE so wouldnt realy want to overload on that...anybody who uses the warm soak alfa beet will agree that it makes a huge meal.
She wears a heavyweight slumberland rug with intergrated neck and is always warm when she comes in.
I have thought about the worm count and saw that somebody in another thread had found a good site.....am just waiting for the link.

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
The size of the feed she has at night is MASSIVE

[/ QUOTE ]
Which could be part of the problem. Most if it will probably pass straight through the gut. Smaller feeds three times a day will have much more nutritional value and should really help with the weight issue.