Gaining Weight

[The Dynamic Duo]

Marylou-feel free to move

OK so I went out to a freinds property and they have 4 rescued horses. 3 of them look very good but need to be wormed and they did that with me helping. Now, these are big horses not the minis thats why I put that note to Mary Lou. Anyways, one had been abandoned in a 10x10 stall with another horse for more than a year with the only thing they were able to reach was a tree which they ate everything off it in reach. I saw some pictures from when they first got him and he has put on quite a bit of weight but not as much as they would like and they have tried quite a few feeds and all results are the same. My suggestion that we use on our rescue horses is Mare and foal feed. They said "We have already tried that" and I saw the bags so

Now here is my question:

What feed would you use to fatten up a horse in this condition?

 

[Jill]

My first choice to get them up to good weight would be a complete senior feed and plenty of soft hay.

 

[PaintedLady]

Hello,

I was in a situation where weight had to be put on a mini and it had to be fast. My vet suggested a combination of Blue Seal's Sunshine and corn oil at each meal with trotter. I don't know what the ratios would be for a large sized horse, but Blue Seal was very good about helping me with portion of Sunshine, and my vet showed me how much corn oil. She wouldn't eat the oil with her grain, so we had to use a turkey baster to get her to eat it.

Best of luck,

Jean

 

[chandab]

Its possible she's hit a gain plateau and will gain much slower now. Something to try would be a probiotic/prebiotic: Probios, red cell, etc; if she was that far down her gut may need help repopulating with the beneficial bacteria that help digest the fiber horses eat. If not tried before, beet pulp is supposed to be good for safe weight gain (upto 40% of the forage portion of the diet can be beet pulp).

 

[Marty]

I would advise her to find a feed and stick with it and quit changes the feeds.

To bring back a horse to it's full potention could easily take a year.

I'd tell her to slow it down and not try to hurry success because she can do more harm than good, founder/ colic etc.

There's a number of good feeds on the market that can work very well.

She could go with oats and a vitamin and beet pulp

or Purina Omelene 200......there's many choices and with good hay of course

She could have his teeth done and do a 5 day purge of SafeGuard wormer

 

[Mercysmom]

I am having good luck with Blue Seal Demand and Omegatin supplemented with soaked alfalfa cubes and timothy mix hay) on my hard keepers (both yearlings, both checked by the veterinarian twice (teeth, way they eat, review of worming programs - all are perfect...).

They are gaining weight slowly and safely...but boy, I still hate seeing ribs....

Denise

Silversong Farm