I recently moved my 2 retired horses (20 and 24 yo) from a stall barn (in stall 20 hrs…) to a pasture retirement farm. They are pasture sound only and not being ridden. The new place has nice pastures! One horse has adjusted well. The other is a hard keeper (even when stalled) and has lost significant weight (likely 200 lbs). He is getting 8-9 lb TC complete and bran a day (1/2 am and pm). The barn puts all horses in stalls to feed, and does not have time to stall him for lunch. What supplements for this type horse? I can change him off TC complete, and can give him ‘lunch’ the 3-4 times a week when I am there. Appreciate your nutritional experience!
I am not a nutritionist, bit my “concern” would the be the inconsistent feed schedules which usually leads to horse that gets hungry and bolts their feed, possibly resulting in digestive disorders.
Recovery from a 200 pound weigh loss even a horse that is in good heath would take four to six months
It took us six months to get this healthy younger horse back to a more normal weight …he was a rescue
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The triple crown Senior gold would have a much bigger calorie punch than the TC Complete.
TBH with that much weight loss I’d be looking at reasons other than being turned out as to why he’s lost weight. Teeth? Hay change? Blankets?
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What is the function of feeding him bran in addition to the TC complete?
I agree with lenapesadie, I would investigate switching him to the highest-calorie feed you can, and adding more hay or different hay if possible.
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Is the hardkeeper the older one?
Teeth done recently?
Are they given hay or just pasture?
What kind of hay, and offered separately so he’s not run off it?
This kind of boarding situation is nice, except for the horses it just doesn’t work for.
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200 pounds is significant. Do you have another alternative for him since he seems to be adjusting poorly to the pasture? My concern is that most parts of the country are not in the coldest months yet and you’re already playing catch up with this horse weight-wise. He might need to be brought in and stalled, blanketed, and fed up to gain any weight back. A feed change might stop weight loss, but he’s way behind already and needs some intensive care to actually gain weight.
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I’m honestly not sure if you can get this situation to work. Going from mostly stalled to 24/7 turn out is going to increase his need for calories, even if his current weight were stable. Horses on 24/7 turn out are significantly more active, even if just at the walk and grazing, than a horse that is stalled. Also, a lot of senior horses are not very efficient grazers so their calorie intake is not as significant as a horse with high calorie per pound hay and regular grain in front of them in a stall.
You can look at different feeds with a higher calorie load per pound or you can increase the TC complete to 6 pounds per serving. That would increase grain to 12 pounds a day which would be safe to do with a complete feed. If the TC complete is higher in calories per pound, I’d ditch the bran and go with the higher calories per pound (horses really should not be fed more than 6 pounds of grain at a time). I would also add in a high quality alfalfa that he can eat out in pasture. If he is new to it, you can start small and then increase and see how much he will actually consume. Oil is also very high in calories, and IIRC, you can feed a max of 2 cups of oil a day. I would feed 1 cup per feeding over grain. 2 cups of oil a day would be equivalent to about 4K calories.
With that said, these changes may simply make his weight stable but not be enough to add the significant amount of weight he needs. You may be fighting an uphill battle with this type of arrangement.
ETA: also meant to mention that hydration also plays a huge part in maintaining weight, etc. I’d start feeding salt every day as well to encourage water intake.
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Is the 200lb a guesstimate, or is that based on weight taping him?
What was his diet before the move?
Rice or wheat bran, and how much? is the 8-9lb the Complete, and then additional bran, or is that weight including the bran?
When were his teeth last checked and floated?
When did they move, and how quickly did he drop weight? Do you have a current picture of him?
Is there hay out in the pasture? Do you have a picture of a section of pasture that’s indicative of the majority? Unless you’re pretty far South, or the pasture has been stockpiled for a while, my guess is the pasture isn’t providing nearly as many calories as it looks like, and he really needs hay out there
If you have access to the Gold line of TC, TC Sr Gold would be a better choice. It’s lower in NSC for one, and has about 250 more cal/lb than Complete, coming in at 1800. TC Perform Gold is also 1800, with an NSC closer to the Complete.
Purina Ultium is another high cal feed, around 1900 BUT, also higher NSC
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It may have been mentioned already but whens the last time you have had blood pulled and teeth checked well? Cushings, liver issues, god forbid the C word…besides any dental issues would continue to cause weight loss and not eating well no matter what you give and how much you spend on said special feeds. Ask me how I know…just went thru it with a senior rescue body type mare. All the alfalfa and dental and senior feed did nothing and her bloodwork confirmed why :(.
There is no “supplement” to add 200lbs of weight, at least not without knowing more info.
The big question is why did he drop that weight?
Echoing a lot of what everyone else has asked:
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What is he getting for forage? Just pasture or is there hay available? How much hay and how frequently is it fed? Is he able to eat it? Are other horses hogging it all?
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What is the shelter situation? Is there shelter? Can he access it or are herd dynamics preventing that? Does he access it? Would he benefit from blanketing if he isn’t already being blanketed?
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What is the herd situation? Is he turned out with other horses? Where does he fall in the pecking order? Is he stressed from either being beaten up or feeling the need to fight/defend others? Is he stressed from being alone in a field when he is used to being in a stall surrounded by horses?
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Is there another physical explanation for the weight loss? You mention them being pasture sound only; could there be pain worsened by age or the lifestyle change? Are his teeth failing? Has he picked up a parasite burden he wasn’t previously exposed to when stalled?
Most of these questions are rhetorical; I’m not expecting you to answer me! I’m just asking them because no one can make an educated recommendation without knowing this type of information about the situation.
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You don’t mention hay. Is he pastured with other horses? No matter where you are in the US a horse will need hay in addition to any pasture they are on through Winter. At least an older horse most likely would.
That is a significant amount of weight for even a hard keeper to lose suddenly.
Hay is inadequate in either amounts or quality.
Pasture mates are running him off the hay when he tries to eat.
He has developed a health issue( teeth etc…) or is spending his time pacing the fence instead of eating?
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Thank you for the replies! Just to answer questions - horse is 20, teeth are checked every 6 months and done recently. He was a jumper and frankly a bit loco. In the 2 months he has been on pasture retirement he is now top dog and was (currently less) keeping everyone away from his buddy. He is a terrible drinker (always has been) and always s gets salt. I’m going to switch him to TC senior gold, increase hay and . hopefully a stall will come available.
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I’ve just finished brining back a 24 year old mare that lost a couple hundred pounds when she moved to my place for retirement board. She is a generally high strung horse who seemed to spend a lot of time pacing the pasture for the first couple of months. I worked with an equine nutritionist to come up with a meal plan for her. Feeding lunch isn’t an option here so she is fed two rather large meals, but has done well on it. Twice a day she gets 2.5 cups of dry beet pulp soaked in water and 1/4 cup oil, and 6 cups of Purina Xcel HD. She got the oil for about 6 months but once she started holding weight well, I stopped with the oil.
I suggest tweaking his meal, maybe consider beet pulp rather than bran mash as it is much higher calorie. I also suggest giving him more time to adapt to 24 hr turnout rather than moving back to stall board. He will adapt soon, and it is much better for senior horses to be moving all the time, rather than being cooped up in a stall. This is a major life change for him so some stress is to be expected. If he is at the top of the pecking order, and all the horses seem to be accepting their ranks, he should settle soon.
Yeah, I board retired horses who are out 24/7 on pasture, and I don’t think the reason this horse has lost weight is because there isn’t a stall. I would work with your vet to figure out why – it could be a medical issue. I worked with the vet to put weight on my hardest keeper, a 30 year old huge Dutch warmblood with arthritis and prone to ulcers. We put him on a high calorie feed, Ultium (gastric care for his tendency towards ulcers), rice bran (very high calories) and Purina well gel, which is a powder designed for malnourished horses. I have been able to put weight on him, even in winter, with this set up.
I would also be feeding the highest quality hay I could, and making sure there were enough spots for everyone. It sounds like your horses teeth are good, but I also sometimes feed soaked timothy alfalfa hay cubes to the hardest keepers.
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Good point that the weight loss could be due to pain! Arthritis, ulcers, or sore feet can all cause a horse to drop weight. You have to be really attentive when taking care of senior horses because subtle changes in their health can have significant impacts!
As their bodies age, even the way their feet are trimmed might have to change, so foot x-rays might also be a good idea, or a consult with another farrier if you have an inattentive farrier.
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On a per-pound basis, bran has more calories than beet pulp. It also takes up less volume which makes getting more calories in, without a lot more eating time, easier. The calorie difference is 1000-1100 for beep, and around 1400 for rice bran.
Thanks for clarifying! For some reason, I thought beet pulp was more calorie-dense.
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But what about wheat bran and not rice bran?
What about bloodwork?
wheat bran, which most don’t feed, is around 1000 cal/lb, so very similar to beet pulp. But on a per-volume basis, especially if you soak the beep, wheat bran still wins, as 2qt of wheat bran has more calories than 2qt of beep
