what to feed

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shellyshocker

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Can any one help I recently rescued an ex race horse, she is 9 yrs and had 3yrs off from racing when she came to me 3 months ago. I am feeding hi fi, pony nuts and speedy beet together with garlic ans oil. She is not putting any weight on infact she is probably losing it. .she is have very light work just walling with a little trot 2 to 3 times a week. Is there any thing i can do to make her put on weight and maintain it?
 
You are feeding quite a low calorie ration, so it is not surprising that she is not putting on any weight.

First of all, make sure her worming is up to date and get her teeth checked. If there is a dental problem it can slow down their intake of hay/haylage which is one of the most important factors in putting weight on.

Once you know teeth and worming are OK, then make sure the horse gets as much good quality hay/haylage as she can eat. If she is stabled overnight then you should give her enough so there is a little left in the morning. If she lives out then she needs hay available in the field.

Try to split her feeds into two or preferably three feeds a day. You could swap the pony nuts (which are quite low cal) for conditioning cubes and the hi fi (another 'diet' food) for Alfa A Oil.
 
following on from tgm's post, another good conditioning feed is baileys outshine. Also, is she warm enough? thats a very good culpurate for making horses loose weight, and if shes been in the racing industry all her life, she would have spent most of it rugged up to the eyeballs
 
as said, make sure she is warm and having plenty of fibre from grass hay and chop
also you could add oil to the diet to increase fat content without bulking up the meals with starch
 
Baileys Top Line Conditioning Cubes are very good, the price won't give you heart failure (unlike Outshine maybe!), i've got my ex-racer on them and they haven't gone to her head at all.
echo the above points - teeth, warm enough, good quality hay or haylage ad lib. what quantities are you feeding?
also, i'd probably give her an extra feed a day if you can manage it.
 
Three smaller feeds a day rather than 2 bigger ones and make sure she has lots of hay/grass. I assume that you are feeding her the recommended amount for her size, and therefore do not need a separate balancer. I found my anglo went completely TB nuts on anything remotely called "conditioning" no matter if it was spillers or baileys etc. I know a lot of people use calm and condition on their TBs but I have no personal experience of it (and I dont want to risk changing his feed now that he is semi-sane on it).

I would also feed linseed and fenugreek for condition and muscle development. If her worming etc is up to date, you might still want to give her digestive system a kick start and feed a course of NAF pink powder as well.

Lots of people say Simple Systems is really good for putting weight on. I duly ordered £90 worth and tried it - he was fine for about 3 weeks, and he did put on weight quite quickly in that time (and I was only feeding half the recommended amount as the portions they suggest are enormous). But by week 4 he was a bit off his food (and this is a horse that seriously loves food) so I gave him a bowl of hi-fi lite and spillers fibre nuts instead and he licked the bowl clean and I havent changed again since. I think a lot of people have success with it for the first year, but then find that the weight just doesnt stay on in the second, but might be worth looking at?
 
I feed my 9 year old ex racer half scoop calm and condition soaked, a scoop of alfa a, garlic, cod liver oil and a scoop of placid. He has this twice a day and a large haynet at night. I'v had him 6 months and he was very ribby and fizzy! when I got him but he's a lovely healthy weight now and quite chilled out! and has kept it on all winter. Many people comment on how healthy he looks and his glossy coat!! I really would recommend this.
 
No the place I bought him from had him on kwikbeet but I found it made him too fizzy so I cut it out and the chaff and replaced with alfa a. Make sure if you do change feeds you do it gradually over a week or two so as not to upset his tummy!
 
alfabeet is really good for condition
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As people said sugarbeet, some kind of a high energy mix ,and corn oil is best make sure she has plenty of hay
when spring grass is here make sure she has plenty of this cause grass alone will put weight on.
 
calm and condition is very good stuff. Put my nag on it this winter, and its the only time he has ever kept weight on during winter
 
My ex racer is on a scoop of spillers conditioning cubes,a scoop of conditioning fibre and a scoop of wet fibre beet. He has put on loads of weight with this feed and is pretty chilled most of the time. I did have him on a mix but he seems alot better on the cubes not sure if this is just him tho!!
 
I tried simple systems with my ex racer - was great for first year but useless second year!
I feed spillers conditioning mix with alfa a oil & unmolassed beet. He is perfect weight coming out of winter. Have been adding some grass nuts recently too as our field bald now & also in prep for spring grass!
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Avoid anything high energy if not doing much work & aim for high fibre & protein to help with muscle development.
 
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