I have an OTTB who gets a scoop and half of 12% feed AM/PM plus hay but he has lost weight and you can see his ribs. He’s an 8 year old hunter that is in light work now because I hurt my leg. Would beet pulp pellets added to the feed help him gain weight? He has good teeth and he is sound. If I bump him up to 14% sweet feed he gets too hot. Help, please.
Hi OP,
Do you know how many pounds of concentrate are in your scoop and 1/2? Also, how much hay, by weight, does your guy get in total and what type is it? Your grain is 12% protein but what is the fat % and is there a minimum amount listed on the bag that you are supposed to feed in order to meet nutritional recommendations? Is the only difference between the 12% and 14% grains the protein level or are the fat %'s and NSC ratings different as well?
If it were me, I would probably first want to make sure that I was feeding the minimum amount suggested on the bag. From there, I would look at bumping up the total amount of forage first, unless I’m already feeding more than the horse will eat. If that didn’t work, I would look at adding some sort of supplemental fat, or switching to a higher fat concentrate.
If you’re really stumped on the best way to go about adding calories for your specific horse, the best thing might be to ask your vet. Otherwise, there are a bunch of really knowledgeable folks on this board who will most likely chime in soon with some really great advice!
Need more info from you 
in order to offer any advice. What brand of feed are you using? How much and what kind of hay is he getting? Etc.
The listed % you see in feeds is the protein % – what you want to look for is a feed with high fat – low starch content. Your ‘sweet’ feed might oppositely have high sugar/starch which won’t help towards a healthy weight gain.
Beet pulp can help - but only when factored in with what ‘else’ you are feeding.
What is the 12% feed?? Sweet feed? I agree it’s probably low in fat and high in sugar/starch.
Scoop can be so random. You need to weigh your feed and go by pounds. I put a scoop in a plastic bag, took it to the grocery store (yeah yeah I know). Now I know how much a scoop weights.
I do like beet pulp (wet) but I found mine did better on soaked hay cubes (and the correct amount of good quality hay).
Get a cheap luggage scale from wherever, usually <10 and weigh out your hay and grain. A “scoop” is not useful info. Also, what brand is the sweet feed and what type and quality of hay?
The importance of quality hay in sufficient quantities is vastly underestimated in weight gain. At up to 1Mcal/lb it can be every bit as fattening as grain and far more economical.
Switch from sweet feed to something that provides better nutrients and more fat.
Definitely need to know the specific feed you’re using, and how much that scoop of food weighs. If you don’t know, at least tell us whether it’s a 2qt or 3qt scoop, or whatever.
I’m going to hazard a guess that it’s a high sugar feed. 12%-14% protein doesn’t make a horse hot, but the difference can easily be even more sugar, which can.
You don’t need beet pulp (pellets or shreds). You need a higher quality feed, and possibly a bit more of it.
But if we were to assume that your feed is already lower sugar, and he were to get enough of it from a labeled feeding perspective, then you would probably rather use alfalfa pellets over beet pulp. Adding significant calories with beet pulp also comes with a significant volume increase, and that isn’t always a feasible option for a variety of reasons.
However, sometimes a smaller amount of beet pulp provides enough of a digestive efficiency increase that it doesn’t need to be a great big amount.
Got to disagree, I have a hard keeper for yrs. and you do not want to pour grain into any horse. Thought we would all know that by now.
been using beet pulp for yrs with good success. Of course if i had access to great hay and could feed free choice that would be the best answer but great hay is hard to find in the winter and beet pulp is a good stand in for forage.If he’ll eat it use corn oil for fat, my horses hate it so I do use a fat supplement but NOT more grain.
At 3 quarts, of what might be a high sugar feed, that’s really not a lot of hard feed.
“Grain” - define? You can get low NSC feeds that are very safe to feed at rates of 6-8lb/day for the harder keepers. That’s a lot of food, but not unhealthy when it’s that sort of grain. That’s not pouring grain into them.
This isn’t about just increasing the current feed to unhealthy levels, especially since it may be a lower quality feed already. It’s about making sure what’s being used has quality nutrients, enough of them, and not too much sugar. THEN, if you get into the 6-7-8lb range and there are more calories needed, start looking at more concentrated calories, like some oil.
I personally wouldn’t use sweet feed as it has a lot of sugar in it and the sugar would give your horse more energy which he would eventually work off and loose weight instead of gaining.
If you already have the right amount of hay (2% of body weight) then you could add a weight gain supplement if you wish to go that way.
I personally use alfalfa pellets, but my friend uses beet pulp and it works for her hard keeper. If you do decide to use beet pulp, the shreds soak up faster but it may be a choking hazard depending on your horse.
I personally wouldn’t use sweet feed as it has a lot of sugar in it and the sugar would give your horse more energy which he would eventually work off and loose weight instead of gaining.
If you already have the right amount of hay (2% of body weight) then you could add a weight gain supplement if you wish to go that way.
I personally use alfalfa pellets, but my friend uses beet pulp and it works for her hard keeper. If you do decide to use beet pulp, the shreds soak up faster but it may be a choking hazard depending on your horse.:sigh:
And that posted twice… sigh
Many hard keepers need more calories than just forage and some “weight gain supplement”. There are plenty of high quality, low/er sugar concentrates (ie “grain”, “bagged feed”) that do wonderful jobs of putting safe, healthy weight on horses.
TC senior & alfalfa hay or alfa/grass mix puts weight on. Tc senior is 11 percent nsc better then sweet feed.
Do you know approx how many pounds of hay he gets? You need to weight what’s in a scoop and a half of your sweet feed, figure how out many pounds of hay he’s getting, then check to make sure he’s getting enough of each for his size and work level.
If you can get it, Ultium (high calories, high fat, low sugar) plus enough hay does a great job of putting weight on. It got my skinny TB looking great. After he fleshed out, I switched him to 2lbs of ration balancer, all the hay he can eat and a cup of ground flax and I’m shocked that he continues to look terrific after 8 months on just the RB.
Also putting this data into feedxl.com will help you once you know how much by weight he’s getting of hay/grain.
