First of all yes, he is going to be accessed by my vet within the next week when she can get me in. So my horse came to me from an OTTB rescue fairly underweight about 200 pounds needed. Now that he’s home he is not gaining. Was wormed and up to date on teeth according to rescue but those will still be checked Over. He lost about another 100 pounds since being home! I chalked it up to stress from the move but now he is settled still no gain. He blew an abscess in his hoof so maybe the strain from that was a factor? I now fear ulcers as well. He is currently on free choice hay, beet pulp, alfalfa pellets, and our own mixed feed (not sure the rations in it). So my first question is what wormed should I use for an underweight horse? Run him through a power pac? Next, I’ve heard rice bran is good for weight gain but I’ve heard flax is good for their tummies. Should I feed one or the other or both? Thanks in advance
IME weight gain can be a slow process, can take months when a horse is on a proper forage based/high fat/low starch (no sugar) healthy diet. Took one of my OTTB’s almost 6 months to reach optimum weight – pasture helped a lot + Renew Gold – you could add a product like that.
I use (and have used on others) Legends Omega Plus. It is rice bran/flax based and keeps my OTTB harder keeper in great shape. Smells like vanilla cookies too and my horses have loved it.
What dewormer(s) did you use, and when, do you know? They should have that record.
Barring anything useful there, first do a FEC and see what you might be dealing with. Even if he comes up clean, he still needs bots and tapeworms taken care of unless you know he had, say, Equimax recently enough at the rescue.
I would definitely assume ulcers and hind gut issues. To that end I’d treat with both omeprazole, and either ranitidine or sucralfate, or all 3, to cover all the bases. You don’t really want to assume it’s just stomach issues, treat with omeprazole, then find he’s still not right and discover that made hind gut issues worse.
Then go from there. You might find that getting his teeth, parasite, and ulcer issues under control is all it takes.
It would help to know how much of the non-hay feeds he’s getting, and what goes into your custom mix. If that mix is high enough in cereal grains, it’s high NSC can be counter-productive to healthy weight gain.
Respectfully suggest you consider switching to a low NSC feed plus oil. My TB cannot tolerate high sugar/starch, and literally lost weight and condition on the feeds designed for gaining weight. Switching to low NSC and oil made an immediate difference. It’s an easy experiment and worth it.
My thoroughbred also came back severely malnourished. So bad that three vets in two states said he probably had another week or two in that situation. And this was a horse who people often asked is he always so fat? The pictures are horrifying.
after refeeding for a week or ten days with free access to a round bale and ten or so pounds of alfalfa, this is what I fed him
approximately
20lbs daily of garbage sweet feed (slightly less, like a third of a bag)
6lbs daily Sentinel performance LS
two cups omega horse shine
daily ulcer treatment
free choice round bale
ten lbs alfalfa
I worked up to the above, and when his weight significantly improved he went back to his normal
approximately 4lbs sentinel, handful omega horse shine daily, free choice round bale, heavy flake of good alfalfa.
Free choice hay is great, but you still need to know that the horse is eating enough. Can you measure out hay and determine how much the horse is actually eating each day?
That may help you narrow down the problems. If hay is available 24/7 but the horse is only eating 10lbs of hay…that’s a problem and might point to dental issues or hay quality issues.
If the horse is eating 20+lbs of hay, but losing weight - I’d definitely be looking at parasites but I’d be pulling blood to rule out other serious problems.
Wait - 20 POUNDS of crappy sweet feed? You’re lucky you didn’t cause major laminitis, or hind gut issues with so much sugar and what was likely lots of cereal grains. Why did you do that?
How on earth did he have time to eat enough hay?
Sure, you can put on weight in a hurry with a bag of candy bars. That doesn’t mean it’s healthy, and you really are lucky you didn’t cause problems 
This^^^! JB said everything I was about to post.
Work with a vet or three. I find that pretty useful 
well I would not get too carried away with diet changes until your own vet has their eyes on him. One persons deworming and dental care is another persons neglect. Check those teeth, do that fecal. Pull blood for baseline.
Ulcers are almost a given in a horse from this situation.
Probiotics can increase feed efficiency ( digestive efficiency) quite remarkably
make sure your perspective on “thin” is correct. Many show ring horses, these days, are remarkably fat and we have lost sight of what a fit athlete is supposed to look like.
How old is this horse, Could he still be growing and just need some time to rehab relax and catch up. Growing bone and filling in the gut condition comes before building external body fat.
Certainly, you want your vet’s input on his condition and any needed medical care, including worming. While there are exceptions, I have found that most vets are not really experts at developing individualized feeding programs, unless they have firsthand experience dealing with malnourished horses. Most will make general recommendations - maybe even a preferred brand of feed - and give you warnings about what not to do. Start with good forage - not necessarily any one type of hay over another - but good quality that the horse will eat. A basic feed (I personally like Legends, Seminole or Triple Crown best, but there are lots more out there) is next, and any of those brands make low carb blends if that is a concern. You can add fat in the form of rice bran, oil or a fat based supplement. You can add additional fiber/forage in the form of alfalfa or timothy pellets or cubes. Don’t make adjustments too quickly. You want to see what is working before you make changes.
Not if a vet condones or suggests 20lb of “garbage sweet feed”. That’s not useful at all, and will kill some horses.
Just being a vet does not automatically mean they know a thing about feeding horses, much less ones who need major weight. Not when many vets know only what Purina has pushed on them, and think the nearly 40% NSC Omelene feeds are “fine, just fine!” for that thin horse, because Purina said so and they don’t know enough to have an educated opinion on the matter. Most owners trusting most vets for feeding advice is like most vets trust most feed companies for advice.
JB, I appreciate and respect your position. And I still did what was best for my horse, in conjunction with multiple vets and a world class farrier. I offered my experience here, no one has to agree or follow what worked for me. That’s the beauty of free discourse.
Yep agree. Got my feeding advice from my vet.
I wouldn’t be using my farrier, not even the best one, for advice on re-feeding a starved horse either, especially one who thinks 20lb of garbage sweet feed is a good idea. But maybe that’s just me
I AM glad your horse did not suffer because of that. It could have easily gone very bad. Personally, and based on every fact-based information out there on how horses eat, there’s no way I’d want any horse consuming what could not have been a huge amount of hay from the bale, not if he was spending so much time eating 26lb of hard feed.
Yes, that was your experience. I hope no one else decides to try that experiment themselves. Chances are better than not that it won’t end well.
JB your concerns are duly noted, by all, I’m sure
Is this per feeding or per day? What are the feeding directions for the grain? Unless your grain is a ration balancer, 1lb is probably not enough. If you haven’t weighed out your hay already, I’d encourage you to do so. Even if it’s offered free choice, having an idea of how much he’s consuming is helpful. Keep us updated - fingers crossed that the vet has some useful feedback for you!
That’s what the barn owner said (not the person that feeds) and I have been there at feed time and think he probably gets more than that in the grain. He also doesn’t seem to have a lot of interest in his hay.
He needs much more fat! That is also, probably, too much protein. Talk to your vet or a nutritionist!!!
