Weight gain

[OutsidersOpinion]

I need to help keep on/add weight to a 6yr old warmblood without adding energy. In moderate/heavy work. Had a case of ulcers in the past year, has been treated and is currently on UShield for maintenance/prevention with ulcer guard tubes when traveling/showing. Gets turnout on grass for about 4-5 hours a day, more turnout is not an option. The definition of picky.

What we have tried:
Equine Mega gain (no difference after 3 months)
Nutrena Pro Fuel (1 scoop am/pm/lunch, worked well but he stopped liking it)
Purina Strategy (wouldn’t eat it)
Purina Ultium (wouldn’t eat it)
Nutrena Safechoice (ate it, but wouldn’t finish it, and didn’t help add weight)
Alfalfa: made his stomach hurt/hard to get

What he’s currently getting fed:
Purina Senior (1 scoop am/pm/lunch) eats entire bucket immediately which is unusual for him
UShield
Entire bale of quality hay a day. As much as he will eat. He does like hay.

I considered adding corn oil to his feed, but don’t want an increase in Omega 6. Hesitant to add an oil with a strong taste due to his picky nature. He will pick around his feed and only eat what he likes if it is a pellet.

Thanks for any recommendations

[S1969]

How much does one scoop of Purina Senior weigh? What is the total amount he is getting (in lbs?)
Does he eat an entire bale of hay? Or just has access to one bale? (How much hay is he eating, in lbs?)

Oil is an option - doesn’t have to be corn oil. But I agree that a lot of horses don’t love it…although some can learn to like it more if it’s added a little at a time.

It might be easiest to increase the senior feed he eats, depending on how much he is getting.

[2tempe]

Have you tried Rice Bran? I used it a bunch of years ago on a mare who had dropped some weight after foaling/nursing. It worked well.

[OutsidersOpinion]

Not sure weight, but a full typical feed scoop 3x a day. Don’t really want to increase more than 1 ½ scoop am/pm, with 1 at lunch, there just isn’t much fat in the feed. (https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/enclosed-feed-scoop-14238)

He typically eats about 75% of the bale. Some gets spread around the stall, some he picks around etc. Always cleaned out in the am and replaced with a fresh half in the morning and then gets the other fresh half again after pm cleaning of stalls.

Haven’t tried rice bran, does it have much flavor/lack of flavor?

[lorilu]

Have you tried the Purina ACTIVE senior? It has 10% fat vs “regular” Senior with only 5.5%.

[OutsidersOpinion]

@lorilu

Have you tried the Purina ACTIVE senior? It has 10% fat vs “regular” Senior with only 5.5%.

Does it taste the same? (Only partly joking)

Mainly looking to add something to the senior than try to switch feed again, unless it tastes the same and he would not notice the change

[Thoro]

I don’t know if you’re in the northeast, but if so Poulin Fibremax is a high quality grain that’s high fat (14%), low NSC, and very palatable. It’s great for performance horses that need some weight. In fact most of their e-tec line is really good stuff and the horses love the taste!

Eta: most horses like rice bran, and you could always try the Nutrena empower boost. It’s pelleted, and smells DELICIOUS - never seen a horse turn it down. Just make sure you build up gradually.

[stryder]

You could add some oil to alfalfa pellets. And to invigorate appetite, add fenugreek, either powder or whole. I prefer whole. Apparently horses love it. You’ll find it listed as an ingredient to some popular horse feeds. Little less than a tablespoon does it for my mare during the winter when we need her to eat as much as possible.

[retiredhorse]

@OutsidersOpinion

Haven’t tried rice bran, does it have much flavor/lack of flavor?

I have not tried it myself, but my picky eaters ate it. It can be more of a texture issue with some, since it gets gummy when wet, but I would not feed it dry. I second the suggestion to try it. I found it to work well (sometimes too well) for weight gain. Also flax, for adding fat, if you need more. Maybe hang a bucket of hay pellets too? I’m not sure why some horses like it when they have hay too, but maybe just because it’s different?

If your 6 year old is still growing, he may remain on the thin side until he stops growing and fills out, regardless of how much you stuff him. Friend had horse that she thought would be fairly small (like 15.2-15.3 at 4 years old) shoot up to 17+ by 6-7. And he was eating 2 bales of grass hay every day (not sure of the weight of the bales, but fairly large ones), plus other supplements/grain. He looked reedy until he stopped growing, even with all the food.

[OutsidersOpinion]

Thank you all for the suggestions so far. I think we will try the rice bran first. Seems like a cheap option to at least try.

And yes he definitely is still growing, we have lots of young horses in training, but usually we can keep them on the thick side even while growing. Maybe he is just a stubborn one, but going to at least give a few more things a try before we accept defeat

[Dutchmare433]

I’d suggest either pelleted (stabilized) rice bran or Blue Seal Omegatin…my hard keeper gets it as a top dress (in addition to oil) and the combo has helped her a ton. I can PM you her whole diet if you’d like…she’s very finicky and it took a while to get the right combo.

[S1969]

@OutsidersOpinion

Not sure weight, but a full typical feed scoop 3x a day. Don’t really want to increase more than 1 ½ scoop am/pm, with 1 at lunch, there just isn’t much fat in the feed. (https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/enclosed-feed-scoop-14238)

He typically eats about 75% of the bale. Some gets spread around the stall, some he picks around etc. Always cleaned out in the am and replaced with a fresh half in the morning and then gets the other fresh half again after pm cleaning of stalls.

Haven’t tried rice bran, does it have much flavor/lack of flavor?

75% of a…40lb bale? So he’s getting about 30lbs of hay?

That’s a lot but for a big, growing horse in hard work it’s probably about right. If you can’t get him to eat any other grain, I would think you need to increase the grain you are feeding and/or add something like rice bran. But I agree that there is probably another Purina feed with a higher fat content than the one you’re feeding…5.5% is really low for a senior feed…maybe it’s designed for the most easy keepers in retirement…which is obviously the opposite of your horse.

[Bluey]

Have you tried alfalfa hay itself, a flake in the AM and PM, then more if necessary?

That is what we did with our race horses in training that had trouble holding their weight.
First we increased their alfalfa hay and that did it for most.

We too didn’t need to feed any more grains, they were fit enough, just needed a bit more weight.

Our nutritionist used to call it “the alfalfa factor”.
He didn’t know why, but generally adding alfalfa hay remedied most problems all around.
If it didn’t, then keep looking for other, is what he said.

I think it may have been that alfalfa hay helps protect from ulcers.
Decades ago, we knew about ulcers, not how common they were and how they were not always obvious.

[Horseman15]

@OutsidersOpinion You say alfalfa made his stomach hard/hurt? Was it the alfalfa cubes or hay itself? If it was the cubes did you soak them long enough? Like @Bluey, I’ve had great success adding alfalfa hay to their diets. If that’s not an option try adding some more grain. I have 1 horse that needs 12 lbs of grain (Tribute Kalm Ultra Pellets) plus 4 flakes of Alfalfa a day to keep his weight on. I’ve also had success with Weight Builder, but 1 horse definitely had a change in energy level. The other 2 I used it with didn’t.

I’ve used Rice Bran before. I’d suggest adding it slowly and keeping an eye on him. Some horses get hot on it.

[warriorhorse]

Have you tried nutrenas empower boost? its high fat feed, my picky eater is eating it. Do you have access to triple crown feeds? TC senior helped get weight on one of mine.

There are some purina and nutrena feeds my horse’s just won’t eat. Right now both mine are eating the empower boost no issues. Mine are picky eaters also. And I change feeds a lot because they stop liking what’s being fed. Sometimes adding sweet feed keeps them eating feeds longer.

Rice brand was a big no go for mine…wouldn’t touch it.

[TatteredDaydreamer]

I know you said you didn’t want to switch feed but I LOVED this for my hard keeper/picky eater OTTB:

https://www.nutrenaworld.com/product/pennfield-fibregized-omega-horse-feed

[OutsidersOpinion]

Thank you all for the suggestions. The head trainer, vet, and I have all agreed alfalfa isn’t what we should add for this horse for a few reasons. The reason I’m hesitant to feed more than 1 ½ scoops is most equine nutritionists I’ve talked to say that they really can’t get the nutrients out of much more than that at a time, the rest just goes straight through them. Our feed store only sells nutrena/purina, so I’m limited to those brands.

The feed he was eating had 14% fat so yes there are nutrena brands with higher fat… he just won’t eat them. He has decided he likes the taste of senior for now, so that is what we’re going with. Not our first choice by any means, but is better than not eating his grain at all.

He is in most of the time which is why he eats so much hay. We try to make sure he always has more than enough since that helps his ulcers as well.

Going to try rice bran, then probably the nutrena empower boost. Thank you all

[2tempe]

[QUOTE=Haven’t tried rice bran, does it have much flavor/lack of flavor? [/QUOTE]

I never tasted it, so dont know:D I would think its pretty bland. This one comes in meal or pellets. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr…n-pellet-40-lb

Note that the stabilized part is important, otherwise it gets rancid and he sure wont eat it then!

Agree with earlier poster - start with small amount. Then increase gradually if he accepts it.

[lorilu]

@OutsidersOpinion

Does it taste the same? (Only partly joking)

Mainly looking to add something to the senior than try to switch feed again, unless it tastes the same and he would not notice the change

well, my mare would not eat enough regular Sr feed (she has her teeth and grazes and eats hay) but she does like this. She gets half this and half Seminole Herb Blend. EVERYONE likes that.