Weight Gain on a very picky eater

[Run_The_Dino]

I currently own a 17-year-old KWPN who is consistently in work, but we have trouble keeping weight on him. I have owned him for almost 3 years now. He is currently at a decent weight but not where we would like him to be. He is currently getting 4 quarts of pellets along with his supplements (smartgut, smartlytes, and smartflex), which are all in pellet form.

This is what he won’t eat:
• beet pulp
• hay stretcher
• senior (he was on senior for about 1 1/2 years and randomly stopped)
• powder anything

I believe we haven’t tried any liquid forms of weight gains so if you have any suggestions or other options that would be amazing!

Thanks!

[piedmontfields]

It is possible that he simply needs more feed (esp. hay); it is also possible that he has a condition that makes it harder for him to gain (work with your vet; get bloodwork, etc.). I encourage you to look at the whole diet/horse.

Some ideas:

There are many senior feeds. You might try another one. Although if he is willing to eat the current complete feed you might not want to mess with that!

Renew Gold (a combo of rice bran, coolstance (coconut copra) and flaxseed) is a nice fat supplement and can help with weight. It is quite palatable. Or you could add these as individual ingredients.

Some horses will tolerate oil added in small quantities. That is a fairly calorie dense option.

[alfonsina]

Rice bran was recommended to me by a Cornell nutritionist after my horse had colic surgery and had dropped a lot of weight. It worked very well and I believe is easy to digest and palatable. The nutritionist said up to 3 lbs per day which is more than I’ve seen recommended elsewhere, but we had no problems from that amount.

[gypsymare]

4 qts a day is at or below the minimum for most feeds other than ration balancer or other concentrated blends. At about 1 lb per quart you have a lot of room to go. What type of pellets is he getting? Some of the high fat low carb types can be fed up to 12 lbs per day.

Free choice high quality grass hay or alf mix should be the majority of the calories. If you have mediocre, limited, or poor hay you just can’t make up for that deficiency. How much is he eating? If you don’t know the weight go buy a luggage scale for $5 and weigh it.

[S1969]

What kind of pellets?
How much hay does he get?

[EmilyM]

have you tried Alfalfa? Number one best weight gainer out there.

[RiderInTheRain]

There are certainly “better” species-specific products out there for horses now, but I’ve had two very picky eaters who have absolutely LOVED Calf Manna as a top dressing or mixed in to make a mash with other pelleted feed and warm water. I have a mare right now who has gone from losing interest in her grain halfway through to licking the pan clean each feeding after mixing the Calf Manna in with the rest of her ration.

[RiderInTheRain]

My current picky eater gets free choice grass hay along w/ the rest of the herd, but when she is in her stall or trailering by herself she also has a hay net stuffed full with the nicest alfalfa hay I could find locally. I think this has also really helped and while she’s not a huge fan of alfalfa pellets or cubes, she loves the hay.

[Run_The_Dino]

4 qts per meal*** breakfast and dinner

[S1969]

[QUOTE=Run The Dino;8993568]
4 qts per meal*** breakfast and dinner[/QUOTE]

What kind? And how much hay?

The reason people want to know is that the answer might be as simple as “feed more hay.” (And often, that is what the solution is - a lot of barns feed minimal hay and/or the same amount of hay for every horse, which doesn’t make sense.)

[suzyq]

Second the Alfalfa, does wonders for my OTTB.

[luvmyhackney]

Up the hay to all he can eat, add alfalfa, and add a lunch time feeding. When mine gets picky I either add Omega Flax fat supplement or Fenugreek and they all start eating normally again. I had one that would go off feed when the weather would change.

Have you had his teeth checked since he is getting older, he might need to be floated more often? I’d blanket heavy to make sure I’m not wasting the calories I am getting in him.

[JB]

We need to know the specific product of feed you are feeding. Some are quite light, and 8qt might be 6lb, though most will end up being in the 8-10lb range for that mount.

It’s far more important to know how much you are feeding by weight than by volume when you are trying to change the weight of a horse.

Many people have thought they were feeding enough hay because it “felt” like enough, but once they weighed it, they discovered they were only feeding 16lb to a thin 1300lb horse, who should be eating minimally 26lb.

We need to know the product you’re feeding, as high sugar feeds are counterproductive to healthy weight gain and maintenance.

What “senior” feed did you use in the past?

When were he teeth last floated?

What has he been dewormed with in the last year, and when?

[specifiedcupcake]

alfalfa and rice bran will put (healthy) weight on a horse faster than anything I’ve ever seen without upsetting the gut. Alfalfa pellets with rice bran make a great “hard feed” in addition to ad-lib hay.

[mmeqcenter]

As JB said, horses should be fed in weight, not volume. What is the weight of your 4 quarts? What size is your horse?
Most horses need 1.5-2.5% body weight per day in food, combined hay and grain (always more hay than grain). However I’ve had hard keepers that required as high as 4.5-5% of their body weight per day.
Free choice hay 24/7 is always the best option.
Alfalfa is great, be it pellets, cubes, or bales.
Rice bran oil has been my favorite oil for putting weight on. Animed Comega Oil is a great option, it is mostly rice bran with a few others.

[BBowen]

A bottle of Guinness over his feed. My mare can be very picky and the Guinness does the trick. A friend’s horse stopped eating last year and she thought she was going to lose him (older horse); was skin and bones. She started adding Guinness and he was licking his bucket clean. To compare photos from early last year to late summer, you would not think it was the same horse. He is not in great weight and beautiful coat.

[Guilherme]

[QUOTE=Run The Dino;8993568]
4 qts per meal*** breakfast and dinner[/QUOTE]

Horses don’t eat by volume, they eat by weight. How much does he eat per day, by weight? If you don’t KNOW the weight of the feed then get a scale and weigh it.

How much hay does he get per day by weight? All “flakes” re not created equal. Weigh them.

What is the nutrition profile of both forage and fodder? If you’re feeding low quality feed then the weight can be just fine but there’s not enough value in it to do the job.

Feeding is not rocket science but it does require the human to understand what they putting in the feed trough. I’m not a fan of supplements and I’m particularly not a fan when the actual feed profile is unknown. Spending money on Guinness or anything else is a waste of dollars if it’s being poured over low quality rations.

Feed bags have guaranteed nutrition analysis tags on them. Read one and then figure out what it means. Hay can be analyzed and it’s value calculated. When these things are done and quality feeding achieved then wait a bit and see what happens. If there is still an issue then look for supplements.

Last issue: what’s the BCS? If the BCS is good there is IS no issue.

Good luck as you go forward.

G.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=BBowen;8995641]
A bottle of Guinness over his feed. My mare can be very picky and the Guinness does the trick. A friend’s horse stopped eating last year and she thought she was going to lose him (older horse); was skin and bones. She started adding Guinness and he was licking his bucket clean. To compare photos from early last year to late summer, you would not think it was the same horse. He is not in great weight and beautiful coat.[/QUOTE]

But, if the horse still isn’t getting enough hay, this doesn’t help.

[dude.does.dressage]

My general strategy:
0. Vet check, look at teeth primarily, but discus ulcers (especially for the picky ones) or anything else that might be suspect.

1. Get BCS & weight tape horse, does horse need more weight in general, or more topline/muscle? Re-asses every 2 weeks or so. Make slow changes to feed. If horse improves, STOP changing things.
2. In either case: more hay, to horse’s or barn’s tolerance
3. Same with hard feed.
4. Swap hard feed for something more calorie dense, like a senior feed usually, or even just better quality, in my area that’s usually Triple Crown or Tribute feeds.
5. Add rice bran.
6. Add oil.

Other things: My horse in particular loves (loves!) soaked alfalfa pellets. I give it to him in the winter to get more water into him, and because he loves it, and TBH it’s pretty cheap and quality calories.
In the winter, you could blanket heavier to conserve what horse does eat.
Look for other stress in horse’s life, in one particular case I know of, simply changing trainers had one horse packing on pounds. What about turnout. Is he happy in turnout situation? Is he getting outside enough to suit? Is he happy with stall neighbors? Lots of factors here, but keep eyes open for this sort of thing.

[JB]

Horses don’t eat by volume, they eat by weight.

Well…some do eat by volume LOL My mare has a pretty well-defined limit by volume of how much hard feed she’ll eat in a sitting. It doesn’t matter if it’s the volume of 4lb TC Growth, or the same volume of a mix of alfalfa pellets and beet pulp (unsoaked). Definitely a different weight, with the latter being less.

But, we do need to know the weight of what we’re feeding in most cases. And especially if the goal is to maximize calorie intake while keeping volume down.