I feel your pain. I have an old tb mare that i can put buckets of grain, alfalfa, and beet pulp in front of and when she is donee she is done. She never finishes it all. Teeth are fine, cushings test was negative, shes just old.
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Just wanted to update that my guy has finally gained some weight.
He is on a diet of soaked alfalfa cubes, top-dressed with 1/2 cup Canola oil each time, fed three times per day. He gets about 15-20 pounds of cubes per day. He also gets Brewers yeast and vermont blend supplements. He has grass hay and alfalfa to work on in between meals. Also my vet floated what teeth he has left.
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Has your vet checked any bloodwork for metabolic disease such as for Cushings or Insulin Resistance?? …they would need to check insulin, glucose, and acth (a TRH stim would be needed if it’s never been checked before ) often times Cushings can cause these horses to lose weight /condition …is your horse getting any type of vitamin /minerals ?? He doesn’t necessarily need grain but does need vitamins and minerals …Triple Crown makes a Timothy Balance Cube and there’s also things like Safe Starch chopped forage which contains vitamins & minerals as well…or maybe have you ever tried a Ration Balancer? Tribute Essential K, Triple Crown Gold Balancer , or even Purina Enrich …Stress Free Forage is alfalfa based and is also good for adding weight with GI buffering …there are products like Tribute K Finish or Buckeye Ultimate Finish which are extruded fat supplements that come in a small nugget type pellet …most horses like them …there are also other tasty feeds such as Triple Crown Senior Gold -high fat & fiber while low in starch and sugar …other tasty choices are Tribute Kalm N Ez or Kalm Ultra and I’ve heard great things about Cavalor Fiberforce…a good digestion supplement wouldn’t hurt either …I would suggest Succeed oral paste syringes !
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There is soaked and soupy. My aging gelding enjoyed his grain. His teeth were still good and I fed it dry while I stood there. We moved to a new barn and they soaked it. One day someone dumped way too much water in and he loved it. He lapped it up like a dog. He had this mysterious desire to lap it on the stall wall. He covered most of the wall and it dried out. He often nibbled a little bit off with his incisors. DH said don’t worry about it, we might clean it up someday.
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The hospitals use Purina Well Gel nasally for horses that cannot eat grain, I believe. I use it in my teenage horse as a top-dress and add water to form a gel- It puts muscle on in a week! And they love the taste
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Thank you!
