Putting weight on an underweight TB?

Voy_Por

Ustedes
Jun 5, 2008
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Nottingham
Hi all - we have just taken on a TB who has been off the track for about 6 months - and is a little on the skinny side.

I dont think he has been fed that well and i need to get some meat on his bones.

What kind of things can you use? I have been told that corn oil is a good thing and a couple of teaspoons per day will add calories and help him to get some weight on.

Any other help is appreciated - he will be doing a little bit of work - none for the time being until he gets built up again - maybe a few walks in hand - but no riding for the time being - and at the moment he is just on grass as we only collected him earlier today.

Thank you.
 
good fibre feed is best - so plenty of ad lib hay if you dont have access to good Dr Green, alfafa, sugar beet and high fibre type cubes
Also, how about a good food balancer like blue chip or the like

I don't think that the caloires in a couple of spoons of oil will make a huge difference to his weight without other good forage but add it by all means with the other food - it should help his coat
 
You can't beat good grass.

If you haven't got access to any then supplementing feed with oil may help.

If he has nervous energy then try to keep him as calm as possible as you can't put weight on a nervy jumpy horse.

Plenty of forage too. I am also a big fan of speedi beet and also a nutritional balancer like blue chip :)

Keep him warm. Gentle exercise will be of benefit to him to help him build up some muscle tone if he hasn't been worked for the 6 months he's been off the track.

Feed little and often. :)
 
Soya bean meal has worked wonders with Kira (3yr old arab) but is very high in protein (about 45%) so if you do feed it, try really small amounts at first and then build it up, but you certainly don't need loads. Cost me £18 for the bag and we've not even touched the surface on it yet :D
 
to put weight on my very under weight tb, i fed him hi fi original, fibre beet, calm and condition, and he had 1/2 a mug of corn oil and equivite body bulider in his feed. it worked such a treat!! edited to add...................LOADS OF HAY!!!

Good Luck
 
Thank you very much for the replies -

They have got lots of grass in their own paddock.

Thank you for the suggestions - really helpful as usual.
 
we had one like that. we fed him several meals a day plus he was on good grass and ad lib hay.

we fed him on Allen and Page Old Faithful, sugar beet, barley rings, vegetable oil, 3 -4 feeds a day. we got him late spring and a summer on good grass did the trick, in the winter he was on lots of hay per night - 16-20 lbs.

kept him rugged and warm so he wasn't losing it through being cold. he was lovely once he filled out a bit - he had been out of racing for only 3 months when we had him so he was very lean and had a lot of muscle wastage.
 
I use build up and sugar beet, its always worked for my thin thoroughbreds, a cup full of either vegetable oil or sunflower oil is also great for weight gain.
 
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When dougie was skinny he has and still has:
Alfa a oil chaff
Speedibeet
No.4 top line bailys
Pink Powder
Seeweed
Garlic

There you go, really good for weight gane, try some oil, as others have said too!!
 
I bought an underweight TB 3 years ago, and I fed him Topspec conditioning flakes and balancer, with Alfa A, oils he put the weight on slowly but steadily and looked great after about 8 months and that was during the winter when the grass wasnt great.... :) He used to worry all the time as well, so I turned him out at 5am every morning and brought him in at 4.30pm which reduced his stress levels loads
 
Thank you - i see.

I think the people who sell the products probably want to sell lots because their recommendations seems very high i.e. 3-4kg of feed per day - that would mean 1 bag every 5 days or so.

Does seem a bit OTT in my opinion.
 
I once had an underweight t-bred, and fed her Dengi AlfaA Oil, Baileys No 4 Top Line Conditioning Cubes, Sugar Beet. I fed her this 3 times a day, not big massive feeds, but enough and adlib haylage. I also walked her (in hand) up and down the road every day for 15 minutes. She soon put weight on and looked lovely. Good luck, just take things slowely.
 
If your horse is just out of racing it is unlikely it has not been fed well but it will be racing fit, ie lean muscled and carrying no extra fatty weight. We start ours off by turning out and tons of hay but do not use hard feed until the basic retraining is well started.

Better to have them a bit lean and quieter until you are riding together and then all your feeding will go into developing the new muscles not just adding fat.
 
When i got Riley he was very underweight and under muscled. i fed him as much hay as he could eat - and hard feed was chaff, conditioning mix, speedibeet and blue chip. I introduced the hard feed slowly as he hadn't been on it for months and i didn't want him to get colic - he started on 3 very small feeds a day and i gradually increased the amount over a fortnight. I didn't ride him for about 2 months and then the max i rode was once a week for another 2 months - sometimes was only once in a fortnight and then maybe a short 5 minute lunge on both reins. In fact i don't think i rode him more often than that until the good summer weather was coming in 8 months later! :) Light work would not be a bad thing for him as he is obviously used to being worked if he is an OTTB and you don't want him to be too stressy or he will keep burning calories - plus it will keep him supple and his muscles in good condition.
The advice i got from nutritionists such as baileys and dodson and horrell was invaluable so it may be worth contacting them for advice. As with all horses it is always going to be a bit of trial and error as they all react to different feeds differently - Good Luck and let us know how you're getting on :D
 
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