Cost effective weight builder

[Nevada10]

One of my senior field boarders with an absentee owner is dropping weight like crazy. He overcame a nasty infection last fall, but lost a ton of weight. Once he was out of the woods, his owner put him on field board, which majorly stressed him out for about a week, but he seems to have adjusted.

I have him out with only one other horse to minimize competition for food. They have a high quality round bale, shelter, and are blanketed. I’ve been feeding them 4x per day (Mr. Skinny loses interest if I feed him more than 3 qt at a time, so he’s getting 3 qt of a high fat/high fiber/low carb grain 4x per day). He won’t eat more than 1oz of oil on his food. He isn’t a fan of alfalfa pellets. He barely tolerates the handful of flax I put on his feed. His pasture mate gets the same quantity (but half of it is hay stretcher or he’d explode, and I soak it to fill him up and slow him down). I don’t know what else to do for Mr. Skinny, and I’m afraid animal control is going to come knocking this spring when I have to take off his blankets! He was dewormed 2 months ago. I suspect his teeth are due to be floated (dentist is coming next month), and I’d be surprised if he didn’t have ulcers from when he was sick (and then stressed). He’s getting Ocean Feed, Tri Amino, and Optizyme added to his feed (on my dime…).

His owner isn’t concerned, but I am. What else can I do to help this horse, without breaking the bank since I’m already feeding the horse more than I charge for board?

[Amy3996]

Nutrena Empower Boost or Purina Amplify have worked well for some picky eaters in my experience. What kind of grain is he getting?

[hlra11]

I do senior retirement board and right now every one of my clients is out of state so while they are thankfully happy to pay what is needed, ultimately it falls back to me.

I would seriously look at the quality of grain. Especially for a picky eater, you want something that he is getting the most out of. I prefer a pelleted senior grain over most anything else for something like this. I always do a beet pulp, alfalfa pellet mix with a good quality pellet senior grain.

Supplement wise, I love the MadBarn omneity. I use it for all of my skinnier ones. It’s not cheap, but very affordable IMO.

[EventerAJ]

Old horses often have issues with digestibility. They need higher quality, high protein feed sources. My guess is that he isn’t getting enough from a round bale-- typically long stem grass that is tough for a senior horse to chew and digest properly. It may take him time to adjust, but try offering him soaked alfalfa cubes, and make his grain soupy with added beet pulp. My old guys do best on 2lbs beet pulp, 8lbs alfalfa cubes, 3-4 lbs of senior and a pound of ration balancer, all soaked. They get some hay chaff for munching, but adding cubes and enough beet pulp really helped them fill out.

[Milocalwinnings]

I have two hard keepers - one 25 year old Belgian and a 14 year old Standardbred who has a variety of health issues. I’ve played around with their feed to figure out what works best for adding weight and keeping it on. Ultimately, I have found that feeding 6 lbs of Senior Feed, 2 - 3 lbs (depending on horse) of Beet Pulp, 6 lbs of Alfalfa Pellets, and 1lb of Rice Bran daily, plus supplementing their normal grass hay with 5-10 lbs of Alfalfa hay, has helped tremendously. My two boys look the best they ever have. They were NOT fans of soaked alfalfa cubes, but they are fine with the soaked alfalfa pellets, so if Mr. Skinny doesn’t like the alfalfa cubes, I would try a round of alfalfa pellets to see if he likes those better.

My Standardbred lost several hundred lbs and looked like he was on deaths door last May/June… he looks fabulous now.

Also, I just found that Uckele has Cocosoya Oil available in granular form, which I’ve never seen before. My guy won’t touch his grain if there is any hint of oil, but I"m going to give this a try to see if he will eat it. https://uckele.com/cocosoya-granular-5-lb.html

[Angela_Freda]

Older horses also need their teeth checked more frequently. I would move that appt up rather than wait a month, and make his next appt for 3-6 months from now as well. I would also treat for ulcers as well, considering the changes he’s been through its likely he has them and treating will tell you if you’re right.
That being said, weight gain will be very slow. That’s just how it goes, especially with oldsters.

Ultimately being a BO who does retirement board for owners who live a distance or otherwise are less involved does mean you shoulder more responsibility for advocating for the animal. That’s part of that job, sadly.
Maybe field board doesn’t suit this guy. Telling his owner that might be a task you need to tackle.

[Nevada10]

I feed our local feed mill’s grain. Half of his ration is “Fiberize” which is 13/12/21, the other half is their textured senior feed 14/8/17 to increase palatability. I haven’t weighed it, but he’s getting 6 qts Fiberize, 6 qts senior, 4oz Omega oil, 4 handfuls is flax, and 4 handfuls of alfalfa pellets. The round bale is early first cutting orchard grass… it’s super soft and very nice hay, but I haven’t sent it in for analysis. I’ll do that.

[Palm_Beach]

Ulcers can cause a horse to consume less, so if you suspect ulcers, you need to confirm, and eliminate them.

Is he being run off the round bale by the other horses?

How many calories per pound is the grain? If it’s low carb and high fiber, it may not be enough calories per pound for him. I know you said high fat, but you may need to switch to something that is more calories per pound.

[cnd8]

Cool Calories. 99% fat, has to be fed in small quantities, no mess. Cheap.

[mmeqcenter]

A horse that is already getting free choice hay of good quality AND ~12 pounds of grain per day with oil and/or flax, and is still skinny enough to make you fear animal control? I would absolutely suspect there’s something else significant going on other than just it being a senior.
Increase his board to cover your costs.
Get his teeth done.
Treat for ulcers.
No improvement, call a vet.
If owner is unwilling to pay for these things, I’d probably tell her she’ll have to leave. It’s not your job as BO to pay for the care of someone else’s horse out of your own pocket. If you’re concerned for the welfare of the horse off your property, call animal control, either now or once she’s gone.

[Jetster]

is the horse separated to eat all his food? and are you sure hes getting all of it? I had the best luck using two lbs of Rice bran , divided… added to TCS , amount depends on your horse… and , ,when adding beet pulp/calcium, as well as alfalfa/ high calcium you need to toss in a little plain Wheat bran to balance the high calcium/phos ratio… can still add in a little oil to bump the calories up as well.

[Nevada10]

I sat and watched Mr. Skinny eat all 4 meals today… took about 15 min per meal… he and the other horse he’s out with finished their meals at the same time (other horse’s food is 50% thoroughly soaked hay stretcher, so as fed, it weighs about 3x what Mr. Skinny is eating). He ate all of his food at each meal. He eats slowly… takes a bite, looks around, takes a bite, chews, walks in a circle, takes a bite, etc. but he is eating all 12+ quarts (though some is hitting the ground). Before each meal, they were both happily munching on the round bale, so he’s definitely not competing for hay.

I’m positive his owner won’t pay to treat him with Gastrogard. What other proven, inexpensive, palatable options are there to soothe his tummy? You’d think at some point, the ulcers would heal theirselves, right? He’s on 24hr turnout with a constant companion with free choice hay and small, low starch meals… literally a no stress environment.

I called the dentist today to see if he can come sooner.

[freshman]

@Nevada10

I sat and watched Mr. Skinny eat all 4 meals today… took about 15 min per meal… he and the other horse he’s out with finished their meals at the same time (other horse’s food is 50% thoroughly soaked hay stretcher, so as fed, it weighs about 3x what Mr. Skinny is eating). He ate all of his food at each meal. He eats slowly… takes a bite, looks around, takes a bite, chews, walks in a circle, takes a bite, etc. but he is eating all 12+ quarts (though some is hitting the ground). Before each meal, they were both happily munching on the round bale, so he’s definitely not competing for hay.

I’m positive his owner won’t pay to treat him with Gastrogard. What other proven, inexpensive, palatable options are there to soothe his tummy? You’d think at some point, the ulcers would heal theirselves, right? He’s on 24hr turnout with a constant companion with free choice hay and small, low starch meals… literally a no stress environment.

I called the dentist today to see if he can come sooner.

It’s a lot of feed. Sounds like he’s dropping at least some of it. And who knows how much of his hay is dropping from that big nice round bale. Probably at at least some. Maybe a lot. Impossible to know what he is getting out of any of it, anyway . Safe to say that it isn’t enough, obviously, because it sounds like he is real skinny. Nice that he isn’t being run off any of his food. I am still unclear on what specific concentrated feed he is getting. Sounds like some locally milled senior type and also some other formula. Who knows. It probably doesn’t matter at this point.

Horse needs a vet now. And yes his teeth are probably bad to some extent. Just know that any or all dental work may or may not help the horse in real life, so don’t count on it, or spend the entire nonexistent fortune on them whole hog in first effort. And yes he could absolutely have ulcers. And no they don’t just take care of themselves after horse recovers from whatever original stressful event that might have initially caused them. Return to norma general health status isn’t enough sometimes. Because the ulcers still hurt. Which is stressful. Which in turn gives them ulcers, And so it goes on and on and on… Check out nexium thread here for a possible effective but cheap-ish way to address the ulcer issue.

Good luck. Sorry horse actual owner is worried or willing to spend more money it. Thanks for caring enough to try!

[Angela_Freda]

I have had ulcers. No they do not spontaneously go away, and treating them with anything but a PPI is, to me, cruel because that’s really all that works when they are established and have been around long enough. It’s miserable.

It could be as simple as living out just doesn’t suit him. Or he’s older and needs a shed, a sheet or both to keep warm to preserve calories. More frequent smaller grain meals that even equal the same total daily grain amount might be a good idea.
Adding alfalfa if he can tolerate it maybe.

To me, as they get older, they are more complicated, less flexible, and can be more costly to care for well, by that I mean providing them what they need to thrive.

Wet, mashy meals can keep them hydrated, making them healthier and help fill them out, as can adding a probiotic, again if the horse tolerates it.

[Palm_Beach]

Walking in a circle while eating is a major sign of stress. He cannot relax enough to just eat, he has to keep watching what is going on around him. I’d do some desensitizing with him, but not to make him stand still, but allow him to totally let down and relax. He needs to get rid of all that stress.

[imaginique]

My vet recommended Cool Calories for the elderly pony I board. It’s worked for him and is inexpensive.

[S1969]

@imaginique

My vet recommended Cool Calories for the elderly pony I board. It’s worked for him and is inexpensive.

Doesn’t Cool Calories only have like 100 calories per ounce or something? It’s not very much, no matter what it is. When I got my OTTB broodmare as a BCS 2 or so, with a filly at her side, I was aiming to get 30,000 calories a day.

An ounce of Cool Calories would have been sort of useless.

To the OP - I’d have a serious talk with the boarder. Horse needs vet attention…it is possible that it is ulcers, but there are lots of other possibilities if it is still losing weight.

I would be recommending euthanasia as an option if boarder won’t pay for vet attention. I would not keep a horse that is being neglected; so i’d be coming up with a plan to make it clear that there are only some acceptable options - moving the horse is one of them.

[mmeqcenter]

@Nevada10

I sat and watched Mr. Skinny eat all 4 meals today… took about 15 min per meal… he and the other horse he’s out with finished their meals at the same time (other horse’s food is 50% thoroughly soaked hay stretcher, so as fed, it weighs about 3x what Mr. Skinny is eating). He ate all of his food at each meal. He eats slowly… takes a bite, looks around, takes a bite, chews, walks in a circle, takes a bite, etc. but he is eating all 12+ quarts (though some is hitting the ground). Before each meal, they were both happily munching on the round bale, so he’s definitely not competing for hay.

I’m positive his owner won’t pay to treat him with Gastrogard. What other proven, inexpensive, palatable options are there to soothe his tummy? You’d think at some point, the ulcers would heal theirselves, right? He’s on 24hr turnout with a constant companion with free choice hay and small, low starch meals… literally a no stress environment.

I called the dentist today to see if he can come sooner.

A no stress environment to you, but obviously he doesn’t agree. As someone else said, all of the activity he does while eating his grain is because he’s stressed. Not a single one of my pasture boarders, nor my two horses that are out 24/7, have ever taken a single step away from their grain until it is gone. This guy needs separated for feeding, either in a stall (preferred) or alone in a different field, or even held on a lead outside the field to eat. He’s worried about something, you have to figure out what.

No, ulcers don’t just heal themselves eventually. I have stomach ulcers, and when signs of a coming flare up are ignored (my typical indicator is I’ll have a day or two where I’m just alllllllwaayyyyyyyyyys hungry no matter how much I eat), they get incredibly painful.
Ranitidine is a very effective (and much more cost effective) ulcer treatment, it is not a PPI, and I disagree that using anything other than a PPI is cruel. H2 blockers (ex. Ranitidine) are also proven to be effective. Some horses respond better to one vs the other (Rantidine vs Omeprazole). Ranitidine showed an immediate improvement for my mare, where Omeprazole took at least a week to see results.

[Herbie19]

OP have you considered testing the horse for Cushings? Older horse, infections, weight loss? Probably worth a blood test IMO.

[Angela_Freda]

@mmeqcenter
you’re right, what I should have written is that imo an ulcer requires real intervention, an acid reducer, and not alternatives that can help post treatment or prevention (aloe Vera, alfalfa, etc) but to me, as someone with ulcers, wouldn’t do much if I was dealing with an established ulcer.