Hello I’m looking for recommendations to help put weight on my tall and skinny TB. I have him on a good amount of grain already, and pasture and hay, and Ultimate Finish 25. It hasn’t seemed to help, and I don’t love the ingredients in the Ultimate Finish (soybean, partially hydrogenated oils). Any other suggestions?
Rice bran
How much is a “good amount” of grain? How much hay? How much time on pasture, and quality of grass (in what part of the country do you live?)
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I do oil. It’s the most bang for your buck, and lowest volume. Work up to a cup or two a day, depending on just how much he needs to gain.
Free choice hay–GOOD quality, preferably with some alfalfa–is the ticket to these horses, though. Even two cups of oil a day at 4000 kcal doesn’t compare to the kcals they can get from the hay they can consume in a day, if the quality is there.
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Answers to @S1969 's questions will be helpful.
But in the meantime:
Ultimate Finish likely gets the 25% fat from rice bran along with the soy & “vegetable fat”.
Might be as simple as switching to Ultimate 40 for 40% fat.
They even have Ultimate 100 - all veg fat, no soy or rice bran - & pricing (for recommended quantity fed) does not seem outrageous.
Buckeye lists dealers on the site:
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The only thing that makes a great difference to my hard keeping TB is unlimited access to high quality alfalfa hay. Yes, my $800 horse eats $17 a bale hay. He also eats an appropriate amount of excellent concentrate, fed by weight, and a probiotic. This is in addition to all the required ulcer treatments, blood work and dental care.
After you check off the care boxes, weigh your feed to make sure you know how much he’s getting, Then try to improve his hay, then fine tune with fat supplements.
Those are my suggestions based on what has worked with my lovable hard keeper-good luck!
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Definitely need to know what and how much of this “grain” he’s on. High sugar feeds can be counterproductive to (healthy) weight gain.
What and how much hay and grass?
I agree with others about knowing what he already gets in grain/hay daily. Just adding a fat supplement and/or oil may not be be effective. He may need a change in food besides a supplement.
I use Purina Amplify as my fat supplement for my senior - but only have to use in winter & early spring. Its 30% fat from rice bran, flax seed and vegetable oils.
Since I added the Amplify, I no longer have to use oil. But those restaurant-sized corn oil bottles at Walmart is what I used. Best to start slowly with the oil (1/4 cup on feed) and build up to larger quantities.
You can order it through Chewy.com, or probably buy Cool Calories locally for close to the same price CC and UF100 are nearly identical products (prilled vegetable oil).
I personally love Renew Gold - it’s mostly ricebran with probiotics and coconut. 30% fat.
I had my hard-to-put-on-weight horse on Nutrena Pro Force Fuel or Fiber (it’s high in fat, similar to Purina Ultium) with beet pulp and oil when he was young and skinny (as per vet), and a flake of alfalfa hay twice daily on top of other hay. When we moved barns, the BO wanted to reduce his grain because he was so hot, but a vet from the practice argued back that my horse needed calories, and a high fat grain was the ticket. The vet was right. He gained weight even in work, over many months. Now, he lives on a balancer and grass.
A cup of oil a day was the maximum before oil got on EVERYTHING his mouth touched. I tried other fat supplements (such as Cool Calories), but they were expensive and didn’t add weight. The Renew Gold sounds interesting. The Pro Force line has probiotics.
Oil is the best bang for buck but it can be messy, some horses object, and some barns won’t feed it.
If any of these are true rice bran is a great option. I also like the powdered version of cocosoya, which is especially good for picky eaters.
With skinny tbs, I’ve had a lot of success with unsweetened beet pulp.
Don’t know if this has been posted or not, but I had a 16.2hh TB broodmare who was a very hard keeper - a friend recommended me Copra (soaked) mixed with lucerne chaffs. It worked wonders! I tried everything else. Omega Weight Gain. Rice Bran. All the local variations, broodmare mixes, weight gainers, etc. This simple mix was both affordable and effective - she changed in about 2 weeks, whilst still nursing a 5 month old foal. You just really need to make sure you soak it in a 2:1 ratio (2 parts water to 1 part copra) for a good 10-20 minutes depending on your climate (if it’s cold some people soak it a few hours prior to feeding) and make sure they have access to water if need be 
then I just mix in the lucerne chaffs and dampen that down a bit too so it’s not dry and sticky in their throats.
My big Holsteiner is burning thru the calories so we started 2-4 flakes a day of alfalfa which has made a big difference.
