[QUOTE=annsleymarie;7679510]
Okay so I have always referred to these forums when I had questions, but I have finally made an account so that I can ask a question of my own.
I have a 7yo TWH/QH that I bought back in February that was about 150 pounds underweight. With a light riding schedule and some feeding changes she is now at a body score of between a 4 and 5…while that is ideal I suppose, I’d like her to fill out a little more, and I was thinking…All this time, I have thought about calories, but not necessarily about nutritional value.
Right now, she is on 4 pounds of Southern States 14/6 and 6 pounds of alfalfa cubes divided into two feedings daily with 5 flakes fescue divided as well. I almost always leave her stall open so she has the choice between the hay and the grass (we have bermuda) and she has no problem eating without wasting anything. I give her electrolytes and MSM at night and she’s been on Dumor weight booster. She has no health issues as of right now, but I was just curious - does that sound like an effective diet for a horse of her caliber? Is there anything that I could be missing to make her gain a teeny bit more weight as well? I’ve grown up with horses but this is the first horse that I have paid for and taken care of independently (so perhaps I want an alternative to expensive weight booster as well…lol)[/QUOTE]
I would go with more fat. The 14-six labels itself as high fat, but according to the stats on the website, it’s only 6-8%. That’s not really that high fat, IMO. You’ll either need a higher fat feed, or to add a better weight booster.
My horse is on Blue Seal Sentinel Performance LS (12% fat), which has done wonders. She was on Cool Calories to keep her weight up before, but after switching she’s kind of a porker and we’ve had to cut back. We’re super limited in this area on what we can get though, so if I wasn’t able to get the Sentinel (we have to special order it at a tiny feed store and I drive an hour to get it on my lunch break), I’d still have her on Cool Calories or the Manna Pro equivalent. I see you have her on the Dumor weight booster - that’s labeled as 40% fat, where the Cool Calories and the Manna Pro Senior Weight Accelerator are both 100% fat. I know there are other weight boosters out there, I can only give you my experiences on the ones I’ve tried ![:slight_smile: :slight_smile:](/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=9)
My mare also did well on Triple Crown Complete, which is also a textured feed that has 10%+ fat. I had to drive an hour and 1/2 one way for that one, lol. That’s a Southern States feed so you might have access to that, as well.
I rescued my mare at about 400 lbs underweight about 3.5 years ago, so I know how you feel trying to get weight on in a healthy way. I’m sure she appreciates you!