I have a 16.3 Hanovarian/TB cross who can’t keep weight on. He gets 3 qts of Sentinal Performance LS and 3qts of Blue Seal Hay Stretcher twice a day as well was as 1 scoop of a weight supplement twice a day and 1 scoop of a vitamin E supplement once a day. He also gets a much hay as he can eat and is starting on grass 2 hrs a day. He was starting to gain weight but then since it warmed up, he got turned out. He goes out with one other horse whom he likes but he just walks his fence line alllllll day. No matter what you do he just walks and walks which makes him burn all the calories he ate. When I put him back into his stall, he paces in his stall. It’s gotten to the point that when he is turned out, he walks until he is dead lame and can’t anymore. Any suggestions are welcome: I just don’t know what’s left to do.
Has he always been a worrier? Do you think he has ulcers? If he gets a variety of food during the day, we he focus on food instead of pacing? I would offer a bucket of soaked alfalfa cubes, a bucket of Dengie, some soaked beet pulp, and a few flakes of alfalfa, in addition to his usual feed. Would he be happier if he had his own goat in the stall and the turnout field?
Definitely consider treating for ulcers. There’s a great thread on here about treating with nexium which is cost efficient and extremely effective.
I had the vet out and tested negative for ulcers or any other medical issues.
Maybe a calming supplement so he can chill a little? Something like Stress Less (it may be veterinary prescribed) it has xylozene which is show safe and herbal but helped my guy who got pretty upset about competing. I’d also try a senior feed geared toward hard keepers and rescue horses (my 17, 14,9 and 6 year old all get at least a little Triple Crown Senior) with maybe EquiJewel or empower Boost (with rice bran for safe weight gain) and high quality hay.
Is there a reason you’re not feeding more of the LS? Assuming he’s in the 1300lb range, and in light work, he should be getting minimally 5lb, and up to 8. Any more work and minimums go to 6 and 8lb for moderate and heavy work.
The LS is a very light feed, .85lb/qt, so your 3qt is just 2.5lb, so he’s at just 5lb/day - bare minimum for just light work. I’d double that, and reduce/eliminate the Hay Stretcher. HS isn’t really appropriate in this case, he needs much more calorie-dense food.
He also gets a much hay as he can eat and is starting on grass 2 hrs a day. He was starting to gain weight but then since it warmed up, he got turned out. He goes out with one other horse whom he likes but he just walks his fence line alllllll day. No matter what you do he just walks and walks which makes him burn all the calories he ate. When I put him back into his stall, he paces in his stall. It’s gotten to the point that when he is turned out, he walks until he is dead lame and can’t anymore. Any suggestions are welcome: I just don’t know what’s left to do.
Do you mean he’s been stalled full time before it warmed up? How much grass is in his paddock? I would assume he’s got ulcers and start treatment - no herbals or “natural” remedies, go for what’s proven: omeprazole and/or sucralfate.
What were his last 4 dewormings - what, and when?
When were his teeth thoroughly checked (sedated, speculum) and floated?
I agree with a calming supplement, treating for ulcers at least as a test (1 week), and a better grain. If he’s currently getting grass hay, I’d add or switch to alfalfa. Likely the calming supplement can be temporary, to help him gain wait while you figure out how better to deal with his anxiety.
@AppaloosaDressage xylozine is spelled xylazine and is a prohibited substance, it is only USEF permitted with a Medication Report Form.
https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/2Zp2C_YKs4s/drugs-medications-guidelines
I’d add alfalfa, if he can handle. Will also help with any ulcers. Would put on a calming supplement and ulcer support.
When the old guy was still with us I discovered that my “quarts”, my scoops, were all of different sizes and went to feeding with a scale until I knew how much weight would be in each container I used. Almost all the feeds are calibrated in pounds not volume. He’d gotten pretty scraggy looking when I had to go away for a month and my DH was giving him so many scoops per day.
The most calorically dense food that I found for him that would meet his needs for low starch was the TC Senior. Apart from that the most calorically dense supplement out there that is affordable is oil, specifically Canola from the grocery store. I top dressed his feed with about a quarter cup, more if he would take it. There are 2000 calories in a cup of most oils so you can see how much more he got out of that quarter cup if I couldn’t get him to consume more TC which I think was about 1500 calories per pound.
I believe he got 11 pounds of the TC, and then I would lightly soak about five pounds of Tim alfalfa cubes from Standlee plus hay. He passed in 2016 so I can’t recall exactly any more.
He was a slow eater and would not eat and fret if he was not out with the other horse during the day. At that time we did not have a covered enclosure for day use. I finally gave up trying to morning feed as I had to get out there by daybreak for him to eat any of it and would set up his feed, and there was a darned lot of it, in two muck buckets set at two points in the pens we used for night and he would generally eat all of it overnight… You may find that your guy is happier on night turnout with fans in his stall during the day so there may be a husbandry component. My old guy was a fusser in the grilled solid sliding door stalls and we ended up with a half closed run in that suited his need to see and put his head out, but it was not as suitable for the double muck bucket set up for feeding,so his feed all went in one corner feeder and he didn’t care for it like that and we were back to square one.
Have you addressed all the points JB has outlined? I had to do a blood panel when he initially lost condition, we did a comprehensive deworming and have an equine dentist do his teeth annually without fail.I weighed back all the feed he was leaving for several weeks and treated him for ulcers just because and he began to eat everything so an ulcer treatment cannot hurt
As JB said already most concentrated feeds are calculated via weight not volume. While it may be sufficient for a relatively ease keeper to have 2 scoops of product A and 3 scoops of product B as a feeding schedule; for weight gain and harder keepers its much better to use a weight scale to calculate what amounts they should be fed IMO.
Its already been said by multiple posters; check for ulcers and pull a blood panel to check for an biological reasons for his lack of weight gain.
I have a 16.3hh Oldenburg gelding that is a hard keeper: I use my digital scale to work out how much Pro-form Step 8 and Hoffman’s Pro Fat he gets at every feeding. He gets a generous portion of non-molasses beet pulp (the molasses beet pulp is popular with a lot of riders in my area) with a cup of canola oil each evening. He is on a high quality pelleted vitamin, mineral, and amino acid supplement. I found adding this supplement has helped him to maintain his weight and topline even through our very, very cold winters.
Buy the Buckeye Ultimate Finish. If it does not make your horse gain weight, then it’s a hide ulcer issue and you need to treat for ulcers. My great vet John Malark told me years ago that hind ulcers could not be ID-ed by scoping. Ultimate Finish made my warmblood and my TB mare, both of whom were easy keepers, gain too much weight in a few weeks so I gave their 50 pound bag of it to a friend. I bought it for the omega 3s and had to switch to chia seeds from getchia.com to prevent overweight horses.
Well heck, my long post says “unapproved,” so get the buckeye ultimate finish and feed as directed.
