We pulled an ottb out of a field, where he had been sitting for a year to put him back into work. He’s well built and a really smart horse but is obviously lacking some weight. We have him in a full 5/6 day program, and started with just walk/trot in contact and have been working him back up to a cantering/jumping. We’re about 2 months in but we’re struggling to put weight on him, it’s definitely better and he’s gained muscle but still not ideal. We had him on grain, but he became hot, and a little unmanageable to ride. We’ve halved his grain and he has more hay than he can eat, and he’s going well. What could we use as an alternative to grain to put weight on my ottb! Thanks for ur responses, sorry for the rambling.
What “grain” were you feeding (and what quantity) that made him hot?
Managing a horse via withholding calories is just bad horsemanship.
I just posted links to several equine nutritional studies that basically state that feed rarely makes a horse “hot” unless it is some completely glucose based type, e.g. molasses, sugar,… (The studies were done at vet schools such as Tufts). Most horse owners don’t realize the nutritional requirements of their horses and the nutritional content of what they feed. Things such as alfalfa etc. do not make horses hot and hay is an incomplete feed. It lacks several important vitamins and mineral needed. If you only feed hay you need to add a ration balancer, especially of the horse is on work.
I have my baby OTTB on 6 pounds of senior and 3 points of Renew Gold (stabilized rice bran) which is roughly 8,000 calories on top of 20 pounds of hay per day. My old upper level OTTB was around 45,000 calories per day when he was at the top of his game.
OTTBs are bred to be bottomless. They want activity and to have to think. On the track they are fed 23 hours a day.
I would add at least Renew Gold or some other stabilized rice bran with vitamins etc. as well as alfalfa (excellent protein and stomach acid buffer) to what you are feeding.
2 Likes
I feed my OTTB the ProElite Starch Wise plus Buckeye Ultimate Finish. He was previously on ProElite Performance and alfalfa mix hay. He did get a bit “hot” on that. NSC is 18.3% for Performance and 14.5% for Starch Wise.
He gets hay in a slow feed net plus hay in the field. Basic good quality timothy.
He gets worked 4 to 5 times a week. When I took him to a clinic recently people were commenting on how slick and shiny he is. He looks great.
Truthfully as he gains weight and starts to actually have the amount of energy he should have you may just be revealing his true personality. You may need to learn to channel that energy. This time of year can be tough too. My guy is much more UP right now. I ditched the spurs a few months ago. He is a lot more forward in the cool weather than he is in the summer heat. He is also much fitter so more forward.
Alfalfa is always my first go to for a horse that needs weight.
further, if he has enough of the vitamins and minerals with the current grain amount, try adding beet pulp without molasses to add some calories/bulk. you can also try rice bran pellets, preferrably fortified with Ca so that the Ca/Phosphorus ratio remains safe.
2 Likes
I’ve had a lot of luck with rice bran for getting/keeping weight on a TB.
1 Like
