Hi I have an older 23yo warmblood mare that has been dropping weight over the last few months and am currently not sure what to do. I had my vet out in may to do her teeth and update her shots she was fine weight wise then. I have switched her feed but thought I was switching for the better. She was eating 3lbs of a fat supplement pellet a day plus grass hay three times a day and she was in great shape. I moved her across the country and slowly switched her to Blue Seal senior plus alfalfa hay and free choice pasture and grass hay. I noticed she was dropping weight so I put her on an ulcer med thinking it might have something to do with her long journey and I started increasing her grain and alfalfa. We are currently feeding her 12lbs BS senior 4 flakes alfalfa free choice pasture and grass/fescue hay plus I put her on a daily gut supplement from smartpak and triamino and she is barley gaining. I am thinking maybe I should put her back on the fat supplement like Boost or Amplify but I don’t want to overload her. My mare is 17.2hh do any of you guys have any suggestions?? Should I cut her grain and feed only the fat again? She was on Progressive feeds in Ca but I cant get that here in NC.
At 23 and dropping weight, I’d be testing ACTH for Cushing’s asap.
A fat supplement vs a fortified feed (Sr or not) is an apples to oranges comparison. Since you’re out here in NC now, I would go to Triple Crown Sr, which has a much better digestive health package included than most feeds. You can also add a fat supplement if that’s not quite enough and you’re at, say, 10lb/day, or even 8.
Progressive feeds don’t exist any more - they transitioned to the ProElite line, which is available at Southern States (as is Triple Crown, which is a nicer line overall)
BS Senior changed their Senior formula a few years back, lowered the fat content and added in distillers grains. A friend of mine noticed her senior citizen losing weight and looked into why. We now use BS Sentinnel Performance LS as the base feed , which is the old Blue Seal Senior with the higher fat levels in it. Another good one is Poulin Fibre Max. For my oldster, I use a 1:1:1 mix of Sentinnel LS/Poulin Fibre Max/BS Hay Stretcher to keep the weight on, and add in up to 1 cup of Canola oil into his food daily during the cold weather months. Here are some links to BS Sentinnel Performance LS and Poulin Fiber Max: https://blueseal.com/product/sentinel-performance-ls/ https://www.poulingrain.com/products/175
I mix them because my horse loves the mix, and will shovel the LS out into his water bowl if it is the only feed in the feeder. With the Poulin added in, he eats every bite. Good luck with your horse!
Thank you Both for your replies I am going to switch her to TC and get her tested just in case it is cushings I read that the fat supplement like boost and amplify can be added to replace some of her grain as it is by volume higher in protein and fat I don’t mind multiple feedings but was getting concerned with the amount of feed and hay intake and the small amount of progress I am planning on sending this girl for ICSI in Feb and want her back to top notch shape. I am going to add the Boost to her TC. I did leave out I added the TC omega oil to her feed we got up to 8oz and it still did not seem to help she never got diarrhea and he poo actually looked great so I was thinking she maybe is not absorbing her food very well and added the triamino I really don’t know. Thank you both again if you happen to think of another test I might want to ask about please let me know 
I have a 26 year old who is not a fan of eating, so I try to get as many calories and as much fat in him as possible in each feeding. So he gets TCS, Amplify, Cocosoya, alfalfa when I can find it (along with grass in turnout and 2nd cut hay) and all of this helps keep him at a decent weight. His not, however, insulin resistant, nor does he have Cushings. But in his case, my goal is just to keep him eating and therefore I’ll feed him whatever he wants at this point in his life.
Just make sure you’re not feeding too little of the grain, and replacing those calories with a fat supplement. The grain has a lot more nutrition than just protein and fat
