What so many people do not seem to understand about top line is that you cannot fix it just by feeding a certain way. Yes, good quality hay is essential as well as a good quality protein source. BUT, if you do not have the proper amount and type of exercise the horse needs to build top line, it is all for nothing!
I won’t be able to get a 3rd level dressage-like topline out of an unridden horse but there’s no reason for a prominent SI and hips and spine on a horse regardless of fitness level. I’ve struggled so hard getting a decent topline on my hard keepers in boarding barns feeding crap hay and trying to compensate with maxing out grain and fat supplements. These same horses now at my own barn and in no work due to my pregnancy are sleek, well muscled and level across the hips and back. It’s a beautiful sight.
Quality hay is key.
Big squares are very rare in my area and round bales are super common but high quality second cutting rounds take a bit more effort to find. There are loads of horse quality first cutting bales available and most folks prefer those for your average horse to keep them from getting too fat. I get my second cutting rounds from a grower that sells to a place that re-bales it into compressed small squares. It helps that my neighbor is a hay dealer!
[QUOTE=merrygoround;9012728]
With a horse that has lost muscle mass in his topline, feed alone will not put it back. He needs careful slow steady work. You don’t indicate whether he is in solitary turn out nor how big an area his turn out is. Horses turned out in a group in a big hilly field will self exercise. Horses alone in a pen-no way.[/QUOTE]
Of course it wont put on muscle - LOL but I called it “padding” not lost muscle.
If your horse is at a good weight he wont have a protruding back bone…
The OP said this -
He won’t gain weight anywhere but his belly. He has zero weight on his topline and you can see his hunters bump as well. He also has zero muscle because he previous owner never rode him (he hasn’t been ridden in about 2-3 years). His weight is good around his belly but no where else. I can’t see his ribs but I can feel a few towards the front. But he honestly needs weight around his neck and topline severely bad. Has anyone experienced this?
She talked about weight and his pot belly. She remarked that he didn’t have muscle because his previous owner never rode him. Sounded like she understood about muscles. She talked about working him… so that is a good plan but sounded like she needed feed/putting on weight advice.
[QUOTE] cutter99 - - What so many people do not seem to understand about top line is that you cannot fix it just by feeding a certain way. Yes, good quality hay is essential as well as a good quality protein source. BUT, if you do not have the proper amount and type of exercise the horse needs to build top line, it is all for nothing! [QUOTE]
My comment above was meant to quote this post ^ but something is either wrong with my computer or this web site. I have had trouble with this site for a few weeks now…
How old is your horse? Could he possibly have Cushings? Ever since my old boy was diagnosed, I’ve been fighting the thin with a hay belly look on him (and he gets top quality hay).
[QUOTE=JB;9013182]
tazy, again, hay is hay. Squares can be just as bad as round “cow hay”. A farmer can be a squares-only guy, and his cutting gets rained on and downgraded to cow-appropriate hay. Horse hay is horse hay, whether small squares, big squares, 500lb rounds or 2000lb rounds.
So while a given area might be riddled with farmers who do rounds solely as cow hay (and guaranteed that’s not dairy cattle cow hay), that is because that is what they DO, it has nothing to do with it being a round bale.[/QUOTE]
THANK YOU !!!
I’m surrounded by large dairy farms, the hay they feed is amazing quality. I find the stuff you see advertised as “cow hay, not good for horses” is typically sold by a small hay producer and bought by small mixed farms for goats, sheep, etc. The big dairy farms produce a lot of their own hay and it is very rich and clean.
That said, for topline, ruling out any other issues, a good quality hay or medium hay supplemented with alfalfa cubes, proper deworming and lots of turnout should produce a bit of topline on even a horse that’s out of work
The phrase “good quality hay” has been written on this thread over and over but without much explanation of what that actually means. I am curious as to what people believe constitutes quality hay. (Other than “not moldy”–that goes without saying.) What do you focus on? Palatability? Digestible energy? Protein content? NSC? ADF/NDF? Mineral ratios?
[QUOTE=Libby2563;9015047]
The phrase “good quality hay” has been written on this thread over and over but without much explanation of what that actually means. I am curious as to what people believe constitutes quality hay. (Other than “not moldy”–that goes without saying.) What do you focus on? Palatability? Digestible energy? Protein content? NSC? ADF/NDF? Mineral ratios?[/QUOTE]
Green palatability smells good horses come out of winter in decent weight.
[QUOTE=Libby2563;9015047]
The phrase “good quality hay” has been written on this thread over and over but without much explanation of what that actually means. I am curious as to what people believe constitutes quality hay. (Other than “not moldy”–that goes without saying.) What do you focus on? Palatability? Digestible energy? Protein content? NSC? ADF/NDF? Mineral ratios?[/QUOTE]
I have been blessed to be able to feed my horses off our own fields for the last 22 years. We have moved 5 times and bought farms big enough to supply our needs with the exception of living in MN, where I bought about 20 mixed grass bales from a neighboring farmer.
To me " good quality hay" that we grow is from fields we have planted ourselves. We sow a mixed grass variety and add red clover in with it. We fertilize as well.
The biggest factor to me in good quality is WHEN it is baled. The earlier in maturity it is cut and baled makes a huge difference in palatability and nutrition and greatly reduces the amount of weeds or other things growing that end up in the bales.
I don’t test my hay because the condition of my horses, milk cow and herd of meat goats speaks for itself. They are healthy, eat with gusto and need minimal grain ( except during lactation & pregnancy). With zero fertility issues.
If I was buying hay from a supplier I might be inclined to want it tested because their hay sources change. Mine doesn’t.
Good quality hay has a spectrum based on the spectrum of horses’ needs.
It should have enough protein, lysine, and minerals, and have a relatively good balance of minerals.
Greenness doesn’t tell you anything other than there’s more Vit A than in bleached hay.
Hay can be better than “good quality” and not be terribly palatable, depending on what it is (ie good Teff is what I consider “good quality” hay, but many horses just don’t like it, probably because of the lower sugar that it tends to have), and it can be less than “good quality” and be very palatable for whatever reason, such as higher sugar.
Without testing, it’s hard to know what’s “good”. You can have a horse look good on the outside - good weight, shiny coat - but it still needs improvement because of mineral deficiencies or imbalances.
Haven’t read through… sorry.
Looked after a mare once… geriatric. Was “wormed regularly” and yet we could NOT get her to gain weight, except in her ever growing hay belly. Same as OPs horse… no top-line, hunter bump visible… just fat on the bottom and scrawny up top.
We dewormed her with Equimax. Holy cow in 3 weeks you could NOT believe the difference in this mare. I wouldn’t have believed it unless I saw it myself.
Not sure what OP has dewormed with, but I’d try Equimax
A deworming history would indeed be helpful. What sansena describes was likely a tapeworm issue.
