I need to add some pounds to my older TB mare. She’s 25, is by no means thin, but is just starting to show those inevitable signs of old age weight loss. Currently on forage based, very low NSC feed = soaked beet pulp shreds, timothy/alfalfa pellets, Triple Crown Senior + Renew Gold + free choice hay and 24/7 pasture.
I like the look of the Senior Weight Accelerator – feed back would be appreciated. Thanks!
How much of the TC Sr and RG and beep?
Have you considered just adding some type of oil? Adding oil would not affect the NSC level of her diet, and is the most concentrated form of calories. I am currently mixing CocoSoya (for flavor and taste) with canola (for lower omega 6) 50:50 and my senior gelding just loves it.
Let me put it this way: I’ve worked out a combo that’s approx. 2.5 lbs (2x day) – anything more than that and she won’t finish.
She won’t eat oil – no matter what kind.
You could try it, but it’s unlikely that even the upper recommended 10oz is going to make much of a difference.
Tested for Cushing’s?
Dental and deworming all taken care of?
2.5lb is not a lot of volume, and it also means you’re under-feeding the TC Sr. Can you add 1/2lb of the TC 30 to each meal? That’s about another 1.5c.
It looks like this stuff is mostly prilled fat, like Cool Calories, with some ground flax and probiotics. Have you ever used the dry fat products before? That would give you some idea if this would make a difference.
10 ounces is probably somewhere in the 2000-2250 kcal range. For an animal that gets something like 20k - 30k ish kcals every day, that’s not much of a bump. And 10 ounces of this is probably about 3 cups in volume, which might be difficult to get into her, especially since she’s picky.
My old lady does really well with extra alfalfa hay. Is that an option for you?
I feed it to a TB that I want just a little bit more calories on. He’s getting 2qt Poulin Fibremax and 2qt alfalfa pellets 2x a day (so 4qt alf/4qt Poulin a day), plus 24/7 access to a roundbale… He burns a fair bit of energy off being outside 24/7, but I wanted just a little more without giving him additional grain due to herd dynamics. I picked it because I didn’t want to do oil, and I liked that it had some probiotics additionally.
I think it works alright, but I feed 2 scoops for a 1100 17h TB. It might be too soon to tell how well it’s working, I only started it about a month and a half ago… so I’ll let you know.
That being said he seems to think it is very palatable. I can top-dress it with no complaints.
No cushings - teeth, worming all good. I’m going to add a third meal which might work.
She’s been getting free choice alfalfa for years + the timothy, orchard grass. She stays out grazing most of the time – would rather forage in the pasture than eat hay. My vet thinks she look okay, but due to her age and the fact that a hard winter might be on the horizon I’d like to see her looking better. 10 ozs. does seem like a lot – though its very powdery form might mix right in to feed without adding bulk. Will have to see.
I like the probiotocs as well + alternative to oil etc. I did buy some and she readily eats it – slowly starting to add more and more to feed as per directions. Time will tell. But yes, please let me know how your guy does.
Just bumping this up for you, as it’s been two months since I started the supplement. He’s definitely put on weight. I cut back to a scoop and a half since overnight he got real fluffy. I’m not sure if it is from the actual calories in the supplement, or maybe the probiotics. Who knows.
It seems like a good supplement for the price. I’m going to keep at it until he is out, and I’m thinking of adding this to the toothless wonder’s grain if he ever needs to add weight (right now he is just where I want him).
I put my gelding on Blue Seal Performance LS a few years ago. He’s 25 and his teeth are fine, but he needs additional calories to help maintain his weight. He is pasture boarded with free choice round bales, so it also acts like a ration balancer. He gets 3 pound a day.
I prefer LS to Senior. They are pelleted and cooked the same way so digestibility is the same. They are a fixed formula. The LS is high fat, high fiber, low carbs and sugar, protein is 12%. Senior is low fat. It’s designed for horses with dental or digestive problems who need a lot more volume when they can’t eat enough hay. The local Blue Seal store says it sells more LS than anything else.
Thanks for the update! My mare has been on the supplement for almost a month now – no real change yet which I expected – the two month mark will hopefully show improvement.
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