What's the correct weight/condition for a 2 year old WB?

[theresak]

I just got a 2 year old Hanoverian gelding that is 16.1h currently and expected to get very tall. He is still looks very immature and gangly and is quite lean. I describe him as looking like a stick drawing of a horse - 4 really long legs, a tube for a body, and a long, skinny neck.

I would prefer to keep him on the lean side for the sake of his joints, but don’t know how to evaluate his condition considering his age. What should I be looking for/palpating? Any good reference pictures of slightly leaner 2 year olds that are still in good weight?

[JB]

His gangliness is going to throw you off a bit, most likely. For all horses I like to be able to easily feel ribs but not see them. But for anything less than 3, I’m quite ok seeing the first few ribs. 4 max.

The rest of the look is sooooo dependent on natural muscling and conformation, as well as whether the neck has grown but the body hasn’t (or vice versa), so you’d have to be careful looking at other 2yos who might be in a very different stage of development.

What’s his diet? Ensuring the nutrition is high is the most important thing. They can be a little too lean and be fine as long as they’ve got appropriate nutrition.

[theresak]

Right now he’s eating:
24/7 grass pasture with a good amount of grazing available
1.5 lbs Gro-N-Win
2 lbs Purina Ultium Competition
Salt, probiotics, Nexium

He arrived, I transitioned him to the GnW and started adding the Ultium, and he got sick (including difficulty swallowing/coughing when eating). So for a week, I was making soup from the GnW and just trying to get something into him.

He’s back to eating dry pellets/grain again, and we’re up to the amounts listed above. I will add another 1 lb of Ultium once he’s no longer coughing at all. I’ve been adding a touch of oil to get the bute powder to stick, but it doesn’t seem like he really likes all of his grain coated in oil.

I’ve had a few people comment about how scrawny/skinny he looks, which he does a bit because of the shipping and now being sick. But they are also people who like and are accustomed to well-padded horses…So I’m just trying to figure out how to gauge when I’ve put enough weight on him and/or how dire the weight situation is right now (although there’s not really anything I can do at the moment besides what I am doing). Once he’s out of isolation, I can feed him in my older horse’s stall again and give him more time to eat.

[JB]

Well, if he’s been sick, and lost condition as a result, and he’s just back to and up to eating the amounts above, give him some time.

The rib test is a pretty good one. You might think about just soaking his feed too, which will take care of the powdered bute without the oil he doesn’t really like.

[GPB]

Each baby is so different. My pony filly is currently a whale and our WB colt is currently just a little under. But depending one growth spurts. He has the faintest of ribs, and when he finishes a growth spurt he fills back out and you can’t see the ribs. His coat is of good quality, and he is a happy boy.

Events in any horse’s life will cause weight fluctuations. We had a TB gelding switch pastures, and he dropped weight and condition rapidly. We upped his feed and it’s taken time but he’s almost where he was before the pasture switch. Give him another month, The weight gain is always slower than the weight loss. Week by week, stand back and evaluate him. You might not notice the difference daily. If you notice a little more spots filling out, that’s great. If not, add more grain or up his hay content. Quality hay is SO important.

We have had the greatest luck with hemp products, specifically Elite Three. It’s Canadian, but we have all of our horses on Hemp Oil and E5 Hemp Hulls, they make a worlds difference. The first time the horses eat them, they don’t like them but after a couple of days they will suck it back. Soaking is best, but the high fat content is great for putting weight on.