Weight of three years old.....opinions please

Can we please just leave this post, if I could delete it I would, I just want to forgot this and carry on using the forum as I find it very useful
 
Just a thought I feed oats but horses need a calcium source so would add Alfafa or speedibeet into his diet and some micronised linseed as well .
 
Thanks Maesfen and Goldstar he's improving everyday love him and I will try to get some more photos on the weekend to show his improvement :)

I will look up on the calcium and linseed too!!!

I've been told to try the NAF Pink Powder for two weeks as well so going to give that a shot, plus it's worming time again this weekend so maybe there's something there he hasn't been wormed for yet.....as I wormed him with what the yard was using 13 weeks ago but it's pramox this time!!

Hope the growing calms down, I can't keep up with the rugs :P
 
One of our homebreds was always very lean she just grew to use use up anything you fed her until she was four you could always see her ribs to get her covered I would have had to give tons of hard food and that would have been very bad for her so the vet advised that I forget about the ribs in winter she was on add lib haylage and some Alfafa / oats plus vits and minerals at four she filled out .
Speedibeet and Alfafa are natural calcium sources so good to team up with oats .
 
A bale of hay a night for a 3 year old, 14.2hh pony.....*ouch*.......I reckon my never-stops-eating 15hh cob mare would struggle to eat a bale of hay in a night!!!! (thank God!!!)
 
amymay said:
I'd think you'd be better off feeding a good all round feed - rather than straight oats. What is the point of the seaweed and magnesium oxide?

Also agree with the trickle net - why?
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Seaweed contains a numerous amount of trace minerals that provide a horse with much of what it needs to be healthy

Magnesium Oxide - is a calmer and an important addition to a grass fed horses diet.

A trickle net - natives are more often than not greedy individuals and will eat and eat till all the hay is gone without drawing breath - then being a baby and with no hay to keep him occupied he gets bored so a trickle net keeps him busy and feeds him more naturally.

Half a bale of hay for a 14.2 overnight is plenty - at 14.2 his expected maintenance weight of feed would be around 24lbs per day - half a bale of hay would weigh around 28lbs - so along with his feed and grazing this horse is getting more than enough feed to allow for a slight increase in weight.

From the sound of things worming may b e a key issue here as OP stated that yard is on a 13 week worming cycle and this little horse may not have been wormed sufficiently considering his origins. New horses need to be wormed with a full range of wormer especially when their worming programme is unknown.

I haven't seen the pictures but having owned and worked with many many youngsters they do go through ribby stages and look light - usually after they have had a growth spurt. I'd far rather see a youngster light than fat!
 
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I am not a fan of horses being fat at all, but the photo did show the youngster's ribs very clearly visible, with a weak ewe neck and angular hindquarters - definitely not your stereotypical porky native! And he did seem more rounded in the earlier photos, not just the belly but over the quarters too. In the spring it wouldn't be so much of a worry, but I can understand that at this time of year, the concern would be it would drop weight even more as the grass deteriorates. I would not advocate the YO's suggestion of lots of concentrates to increase condition, but it seems silly not to increase the hay ration when the youngster is obviously going through a growing spurt and needs more calories. And, of course, not all bales of hay are equal in weight or quality of nutrition! As others have said, once he is allowed a bit more hay his appetite will probably stabilise anyway.

I do agree about the worming situation which is why I initially asked about the worming routine. It does sound like the youngster may not have been yet wormed for tape, so when this happens it may make a difference. Also it is possible that he is not making the most of the fibre going through him, hence my suggestion of Yea-Sacc to rectify this. Am pleased to see that OP is going to use Pink Powder which is similar in action.

It may be after all these measures are taken he will start to become a typical native good doer and then the tricklenet might need to be reinstated, but it seems a bit counter-productive to be used at the moment!
 
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Tnavas, unfortunately the pictures showed a horse loosing weight very quickly over a period of around 8 weeks. The last photo showing an animal with poverty lines.
 
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