What would you feed.........

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WishfulThinker

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A 17+hh 5yr old gelding. TB type, very skinny due to just getting off box rest and is only just being lightly broken and ridden. You cant see his ribs, but you can feel them and u can see his hip bones. He doesn't get ridden for more than 20 mins at a time but most definitely needs bulking up - also coat is a little lack luster.

Also, am I right in thinking that you should not feed over 2.25KG in any one feed? He is currently getting 2 LARGE feeds a day and from what I have seen a large part of it is of no use to him as it is going right through him.

I had said that Calm and condition (given that its an underweight youngster which is just learning what to do with himself, and he could get rather excited) or maybe Build Up Cubes with Alfa A chaff? Also what about Pink Powder?
 
What is he currently being fed? Is he turned out at all (if so what is the grass like)? What forage does he get? Really depends on what he's getting now as to what will be best for him.
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I would feed Alfa A Oil (more conditioning than plain Alfa A and Oil is good for coat) and Build Up Cubes. (Not a fan of C&C, don't think it gives as good results). You could feed pink powder if you think that it's not digesting it well. I'd split the feeds up into 3 a day if you can. No point giving huge feeds as he won't be able to digest it all.

But more importantly I would feed as much haylage as the horse will eat and turn it out onto good grass.

This is what I have fed horses that have come to me in poor condit and they have always picked up quickly.
 
I agree you shouldn't feed him too much in one feed, best to split into lots of small meals if you feel he needs more food. Build up and alfalfa are both good feeds and as Galaxy says lots of hay/haylege and good grazing. Though he sounds more like he is lacking muscle due to being off work than actually underweight, so once he starts working more he should put on the muscle by himself without the need for too much feeding, without working to use up the feed it will just pass through him or make him fat rather than muscley. I'd give him ad lib fibre as this is easiest for horses to digest and it will also slow the passing of other food through his gut so making him digest that better.
 
Is he being turned out at all? If so I would feed:
5:30am - 1 scoop alfa oil, 1 scoop horse and pony nuts
7am - big mound of haylage
(work him mid morining)
10am - big mound of haylage
midday - 1 scoop alfa oil, 1 scoop h and p nuts
(turn out all afternoon until 6)
3pm - 1 scoop horse and pony nuts
6pm - 2 scoops alfa oil, 1 scoop horse and pont nuts, 3/4 scoop steam rollded oats. Selenavite e, salt and veg oil.
Big mound of haylage.
 
is he really that skinny?if you cant see his ribs it sounds as if he needs muscle rather than weight..?
you should be able to easily feel his ribs but not see them/be able to see afaint outline of them.
i would feed adlib hay/haylage and give him time on good grazing.
a chaff based feed like hifi works well his TB types who can fizz up on alfa a.you could add some oil and a balancer to his feed.see how he looks after a month on that and add some conditioning cubes in if he is poor or loosing weight.
also check his teeth!
 
You can clearly see the point of his hips and his rump is flat/dipped, and withers well defined. I had a horse who was not as skinny as him (it was 22) and even then someone threatened to report me!

He currently lives out 24/7. Gets Hay and 2 LARGE feeds a day.

He is not my horse, I am just looking into this for them as the rider commented that he was getting large feeds when I commented that in 8 weeks he hasnt gained any condition at all, adn so I pointed out that they are probably overloading him and he is not getting what he needs.
 
i know of some horses that find haylage too rich and it goes straight through. You could try a pro biotic if he gets the runs. Is it possible to give him 3 or 4 smaller feeds. Dodson and Horrell build up is good and I'd put him on a balancer like blue chip.
 
Hiya,

I think the main question is 2 large feeds of what? If it's 2 large feeds of a leisure feed like cool mix then a move up to a conditioning feed will definitely add calories and so should help him to gain condition. If he's already on a conditioning feed or high calorie feed then is it the recommended amount for his size (can feed up to 4-5kg a day is neccessary)? You shouldn't feed more than 2kg hard feed per meal and ideally if he's struggling to gain weight then I'd go for lots of small meals (at least 3 but maybe even 4-5). As mentioned oil is good for adding calories so that's good to add but if you end up adding loads then you might need to supplement with vit E so finding a feed that's high in oil and then just adding a glug of oil over the top might be easier. Totally agree with the hay / haylage recommendations as much as he'll eat is a good thing. If you're really struggling then maybe a weight gain supplement such as the milk pellet Body Builder if a conditioning feed wont do the trick alone.
Call round some feed companies too and see what they recommend...
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I did a course at ILPH recently. When they have starvation cases in they rarely give hard feed, in fact hardly any horse there get hard feed. They will start with hay, them gradualy introduce grazing and haylage - it works, over the year I was studying there you could almost see the coat rack horses filling out in front of your eyes.

the most improtant thing is fibre to ensure the gut is working properly. The few that are fed have Alpha A and conditioning mix. They do use pre and pro biotics for some of the skinnies, and of course the other thing to consider woud be worms and as its a TB type perhaps ulcers?

Another thought might be a food allergy. Quite a lot of horses are intollerant to mollasses and cereal, which are highly prevalent in the majopirity of build up feeds.
 
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