Putting on weight, advice being solicited

appellativo · Putting on weight, advice being solicited

Hey y'all. We had a bad batch of hay round bales delivered a little more than a month ago. The problem was not taken care of by the property owners and finally we boarders went and got some good square bales last week. Nevermind that drama, but basically the horse was on bad hay for about a month and is now getting four flakes per day. I just did some math and if her ideal weight is 935 lbs (she currently weighs 835 per weight tape and the vet was just out and said to add 100 lbs), then I should feed 1.5-2% of her ideal weight per day which comes to 18.7 (for 2%) lbs of hay per day. She gets a 12% economy pellet (don't know the name), 6 lbs of that per day as well, topdressed with 2,000IU vitamin E and 2 oz. cocosoya oil (unrefined oil from soy and coconut).

Would y'all do anything different other than bump up the hay for now?

cheerios

I think there was another thread recently about weight gain, but I don't remember where.

I've had good luck with Amplify, which is made by Purina. It's high fat, low starch and seems to work well for weight gain.
(http://horse.purinamills.com/products/amplify_supplement.asp)
I used it last summer on an underweight TB and it helped him put weight back on and I know the rescue were I volunteer has used it successfully for weight gain for horses.
We have had issues (especially with some of the elderly horses) with diarrhea if you're feeding too much of the stuff. So watch the poo if you try Amplify. Diarrhea does not help for weight gain!

We recently switched 4 of our old timers at the rescue (all around 30 or so) to a feed called Thrive. Two of them were pretty badly underweight after health issues and some other things this winter.
Thrive is a primarily forage based feed and can be fed free choice. We've had great weight gain on this feed so far and the horses seem to love it.
It's only available in Texas, but I mention it since I know you're in Texas. Could be something else to consider.
http://www.thrivefeed.com/ThriveIn.html

thelmanelle

Yes, there was another thread that JackSpark started which was helpful to me. We went on about trying to put weight on our horses. Check it out. I did finally get her to another barn that she loves...and she is on empower, triple crown senior, SmartPak weight gain, SmartPak immunity for coat and skin conditioning. Plus. she woofs it down and eats fattening treats like she is starving.

So the transformation has made her gain at least 100 #. She could stand another 100 or more, but we are doing while being slow at walk and trot to help her build muscles.

I am having help with that so that the neck and back and rear are actually starting to build and she is beginning to look like a horse that is cared for...
she suffered from not wanting to eat, rain rot, and she was a skeleton.

Now, I thought the pasture was right for every horse. But not this one. She likes the turn me out, feed me three meals a day. Change things up let me be with my girlfriends and then, in the stall by my boyfriends.

Then, let me be groomed, tacked and fed treats while I am preparing to be ridden.

It has changed her for the better. She is my barn queen?