Underweight horse and feeding advice

[MissMare]

My friend has just picked up a very underweight thoroughbred. He isn't the most experienced but his heart is in the right place and he is always asking advice which is great, so he asked me this. Which tbh I am well out of touch with as I have kept fattie natives for years.

He will be walking her down the lane 3 times a week, so no exercise really - until she is looking healthier and he can get a saddle fitted.

She is about 16hh 5 year old. Really sweet. Kept in a large barn overnight with hay and in a paddock in the day with minimal grass. He has another field that has a load of grass in but will be introducing her to it very gradually. She has been kept on a very bare patch with a bale of hay between 10 everyday (which wasn't split so it is unlikely she got much). So it is difficult to say if she is a poor doer, more likely been poorly fed.

Obviously doesn't want anything fizzing. She looks in fairly good health apart from the weight. Coat/skin eyes etc look healthy, feet look ok.

She will be wormed in the next few days too.

What would you recommend?

 

[Yann]

I think the grass alone might well sort her out but I'd personally also feed big meals of unmollassed chaff (the new Dengie stuff is lovely) and speedibeet, with some linseed meal and a decent vit and min supplement. Sounds like a lovely horse

 

[bitsnpieces]

I would gradually increase her rations as her stomach may be sensitive to dramatic increases in volume and nutrition of food.

Ideally stick to unmollassed chaff, Baileys No 4 cubes are very good for non-heating weight gain, TopSpec products are very good to ensure she is getting all vits and mins, vegetable oil is very good as it is high calorie but non-heating also the high levels of vitamin E stimulate the nerve endings so aid muscle development.

I would also just try and keep the feed simple especially at the moment, her gut won't be used to digesting complex feeds and there are some really good feeds and vit supplements on the market that when fed in correct quantities are great for weight gain and muscle tone. Sounds like he is starting in the right place with walking in hand!

 

[MissMare]

I think the grass alone might well sort her out but I'd personally also feed big meals of unmollassed chaff (the new Dengie stuff is lovely) and speedibeet, with some linseed meal and a decent vit and min supplement. Sounds like a lovely horse

Thanks, she does seem lovely. I have a soft spot for her already.

The grass is higher up the hill from me, and we have had so much rain fields are a bit swampy already so I'm not sure the grass will be that nutritious.


I forgot to mention as well she had been having a hard feed but not sure what was in it.

 

[MissMare]

I would gradually increase her rations as her stomach may be sensitive to dramatic increases in volume and nutrition of food.

Ideally stick to unmollassed chaff, Baileys No 4 cubes are very good for non-heating weight gain, TopSpec products are very good to ensure she is getting all vits and mins, vegetable oil is very good as it is high calorie but non-heating also the high levels of vitamin E stimulate the nerve endings so aid muscle development.

I would also just try and keep the feed simple especially at the moment, her gut won't be used to digesting complex feeds and there are some really good feeds and vit supplements on the market that when fed in correct quantities are great for weight gain and muscle tone. Sounds like he is starting in the right place with walking in hand!

Thanks, yes, I have explained the importance of introducing things gradually. As I mentioned with the field and grass, it will be a while before she will be in there full time. She has 2 little native friends who need to lose weight this winter so we are hoping she can gain through hard feed as much as pos.

Thanks for your advice Yann and bitsnpieces. I will take info when we go to the local feed merchants at the weekend.

 

[ladyluxor]

I got my 2 tbs in really bad condition. the vet advised

baileys topline conditioning cubes
speedibeet
chaff

and with the one that was seriously underweight a cup of oil once a day in her feed.

originally we split the feed into two smaller feeds one for brekki and one for t. then when tey were gaingin nicely we just gave the one feed at night, ( but the sme quanity if you get me)

It would be really good to see some pics and to keep up to date with how she gets on :smile:

 

[Libbylou]

Grass grass and grass is the only thing I found truely put weight on LL.

Ad lib hay, if she will eat 2 nets a night let her have it. Baileys no 4, alpha a, garlic and a good vit/min. Beet and haylage sent LL nuts ! but they are all different.

Feed small and often, to start I would say 3-4 feeds a day of little and often, splitting all the vits/garlic etc equally so all meals are the same to stop fussyness. Warm water makes it smell yummy too.

Any piccys ?

 

[eml]

Ad lib hay and grass as much as possible. Be careful of puting weight on too quickly and avoid a lot of high energy feed if your friend is inexperienced in handling. Our resting TBs do not get hard feed and are a bit on the plump side!!!

If she cant be put on the good grass make sure she has constant access to hay while on the poor paddock, perhaps hang haynets up high so the little ones cant reach them if they are on diets.

 

[Midnight_Ashes]

Feed little and often - never ever ever feed big feeds to any horse, never mind an underweight one.

Personally I would forget all the fancy conditioning feeds you find in the shops, horses were designed to eat fibre in large quantities so grass or hay all the way. Introduce it gradually, but this is the best thing for putting weight on. I would give feeds every few hours of a small amount of speedi-beet and chaff, gradually increasing the amount.
How underweight is she? This will affect the amount of feed she needs and how carefully she needs introducing onto the grass - if she's dangerously thin, chucking her out on the field or giving her a big bucket of allsorts could literally kill her.

Make sure your friend gets the vet etc out to her to check there are no underlying problems.

 

[nat17]

Feed little and often - never ever ever feed big feeds to any horse, never mind an underweight one.

Personally I would forget all the fancy conditioning feeds you find in the shops, horses were designed to eat fibre in large quantities so grass or hay all the way. Introduce it gradually, but this is the best thing for putting weight on. I would give feeds every few hours of a small amount of speedi-beet and chaff, gradually increasing the amount.
How underweight is she? This will affect the amount of feed she needs and how carefully she needs introducing onto the grass - if she's dangerously thin, chucking her out on the field or giving her a big bucket of allsorts could literally kill her.

Make sure your friend gets the vet etc out to her to check there are no underlying problems.

Ditto this really, I had an underweight pony on loan once, I fed little and often, just alfa a and speedi beet, then some high fibre cubes added. I used to give him 3 sometimes 4 meals a day with unlimited haylage on poor grazing. Also kept him well rugged:happy: In the 2 years the owner had not got much weight on him, but when he went back he was the best she had ever seen him, she was feeding all concentrate and massive buckets, he used to scour it back out so he was really pooingoop: her money up the wall:unsure: