What can i safely feed my laminitis prone pony for weight gain?

[Montyforever]

My welsh a mare had laminitis this summer and gained alot of weight and ive slowly managed to work the weight off her and for a while now shes been really heathly and a perfect weight. But now she seems to be dropping weight Shes always lost weight slightly over winter but im getting worried now and want to up her feed.

Shes rugged (in a medium weight at the moment) stabled overnight, having one big haynet a day and 2 feeds of half a big round scoop of dengie healthy hooves with some oil in and a scoop of nuts in her treat ball.

I was thinking of adding some sugarbeet, but not sure if thats the best thing. I would just add some mix but dont think thats good idea with her lami

Help!

 

[touchstone]

Unmollassed beet such as Speedibeet is safe to feed as is micronised linseed. Upping the hay is always an option too.

 

[Supertrooper]

Linseed oil, I'm sure that's ok xx

 

[be positive]

I would not worry too much, it is better she is a little light and comes out of the winter without being too fat. I would up her hay, soaked, first if you can, then if she really needs more some unmolassed speedibeet or Fast Fibre both are suitable for laminitics.

 

[Montyforever]

I would not worry too much, it is better she is a little light and comes out of the winter without being too fat. I would up her hay, soaked, first if you can, then if she really needs more some unmolassed speedibeet or Fast Fibre both are suitable for laminitics.

I can feel her ribs and she looks really bad, shes only ever been this skinny once which was straight after she had colic so she needs to gain weight! Cant really up her hay too much as its costing me a fortune, i was thinking about speedibeet anyway, will look up fast fibre! Thanks

 

[unbalanced]

I can feel her ribs and she looks really bad, shes only ever been this skinny once which was straight after she had colic so she needs to gain weight! Cant really up her hay too much as its costing me a fortune, i was thinking about speedibeet anyway, will look up fast fibre! Thanks

You should be able to feel her ribs easily year round - this is an indication of being at a healthy weight. My mare has had laminitis and to be honest I like to keep her on the light side - I can see the shadow of her ribs and the vet is fine with that. I would weigh tape your horse every fortnight to make sure you are aware of any changes in her weight.
There is some useful information here about condition scoring: http://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/information/right_weight_advice. It is more geared towards weight loss than weight gain but it is still useful.
How much hay are you feeding? It should be at least 2% of her bodyweight (dry) but then soak it for 12 hours to remove carbohydrates which are dangerous for her laminitis. She does need to be eating continuously, and I wouldn't think about giving hard feed to a horse which was not already on ad-lib hay.
As others have suggested, either speedi-beet or kwik-beet are safe to feed to laminitics. You can also add linseed oil to the feed for more safe calories. Cider apple vinegar is good for laminitics and also aids digestion and boosts appetite. I also like Blue Chip lami-lite - it makes sure they are getting all their vits and minerals and mine looks really well on it.
It sounds really obvious but have you had a worm count done recently?

 

[Holly Hocks]

Have a look on the Rowan Barbary website and have a look at Solutions Mash - under 1% sugar, low in starch, no cereals, but good for weight gain - fantastic stuff.

 

[thatsmygirl]

Safe feeds to put weigh on are micro linseed, speedibeet, alfa a oil, fast fibre would prob help as well. Tbh I'm not happy unless I can feel my horses ribs it's just people are to use to seeing fat horses that it's become the norm!!! My vet always comments on my horses weights saying they are perfect but other people will tell me they are skinny but then their horses to me are obese.

 

[Andalucian]

plenty of hay and a good quality balancer for laminitics, i.e. Top Spec Anti Lam, or Red Mills Lamicare.

Lami's are often left deficient of protein particularly due to the worry about what's safe to feed them, these balancers replace the protein they need and make a big difference to them. 30% protein I think, which is very high versus other balancer, because they know laminitics aren't getting any from grazing.

 

[kerilli]

prob daft questions but are her teeth 100% and is her worming 100% up to date. i'd look at those first as explanations for slightly unusual weight loss.
with any equid who has had laminitis, i'd rather see them a bit on the light side, having said which... i'd make her hay ad-lib if it isn't already, and then, if that made no difference, i'd think about adding unmolassed sugar beet.