TWINKLE JUST WONT PUT WEIGHT ON!!!

[shane]

i have had twinkletoes for two years now, when i got him he was still growing, he is now 29 inches to the withers, i feed him 24/7 hay..a big black scoop of conditioning cubes, a half a big black scoop of grass nuts, and a small scoop of flax and boss mixed, and two big round black scoops of beet soaked, with a tblspoon of oil....im desperate, i can feel his back bone,and his hunches,and he is livley and the food is always gone, but he takes so long to eat as he picky......i had a friend take him for a month to break him into the cart, and he said the same that he is a small eater...people ask me what i feed him at shows as hes fine in body mass....i cant feel his ribs but he has no top line!...he is wormed regular and is turned out everyday

any ideas?

 

[Charlotte]

I'm assuming you've had his teeth checked for problems.

I was just visiting with a friend about the same kind of thing only this is an aged broodmare....not eating well and although not thin just not in her usual prime condition. In her case she has a history of anemia so is going to be tried on Red Cell for several weeks. You might consider having him checked for anemia or just try him on a B complex of vitamins that contains iron also.

I assume you aren't dealing with ulcers?

Charlotte

 

[shane]

HI JUST TO ADD.....he is almost five years old...his teeth are fine, and no sign of ulcers, he has always been a small eater

im just worried that people think im not feeding him, and im also worried about excersising him too much incase he burns off more calories than he is consuming

 

[ThreeCFarm]

Okay, I have to ask...what are grass nuts????

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Alfalfa pellets.

Soak them, is the simple answer.

Soak everything.

Add Alfa -A and feed as a long feed- let him take all night to finish it.

Try different hay.

Soaked brown bread is good for weight.

I thought you said you harness trained him yourself- you never mentioned him being gone for a month, and Lynda, sorry, you are not being consistent here, you have always said they are in 24/7 and you exercise in hand every day???

This is also far from a balanced diet, I do not like the conditioning cubes, I would rather feed grain but if you find them OK, then keep on but soak them before use- twice as much water as nuts will take them to a nice firm pulp.

Mix in to the Alfa A- do not do this all at once- keep the feed as it is and give the chaff in the same bucket but not mixed in so he can get used to it.

Once he is eating it mix it in.

Then soak the nuts.

Then cut back on the Sugar Beet a little and up the chaff.

I also give Rabbit full fat Soya- if you cannot get it use Baileys Grow and Win or Show and win.

I give Rabbit a LOT of flax and BOSS- a small blue measure of ground flax and a laundry scoop of BOSS a day.

He no longer eats hay but he can still graze, is out 24/7 and holding his weight.

Lost a little ground a month ago which is when I added the soaked bread- it is a good feed used wisely.

 

[Robin1]

Give him Equine senior, not becuase he is old but for the calories.

I have a horse that had been starved, it took me years to get him to put on and hold weight.

Robin

 

[Jill]

I agree with Robin. I think you may get the weight on him easily with senior feeds. I have had a lot of success with Blue Seal Vintage Senior and Purina Equine Senior. Those feeds are formulated to make it easy for a horse to get all that's in it out of it

:

 

[shane]

I thought you said you harness trained him yourself- you never mentioned him being gone for a month, and Lynda, sorry, you are not being consistent here, you have always said they are in 24/7 and you exercise in hand every day???

HI JANE , YES I DID HARNESS TRAIN HIM, BUT I HAD A FRIEND , DO THE FINAL HITCHING TO THE CART, as he was a professional driver, I didnt want to mess it up

and yes twinkle and fancy are in 24/7 and excersised in hand, but i turn them out into a yard to let them kick up there heels and play, and when i excersise them in hand its on alunge rope, so they can do as they please .....it isnt turn out to grass, just within my yard which is soil, and its for a couple of hours,

thanks guys

 

[C & C Farms]

How about Shredded Beet Pulp to help put some weight on??

 

[Sunraye Miniatures]

I suggest a good quality grain myself. Are you able to get the new Platform Miniature Horse and Pony Feed? I got it once it came to my area and its working great for my horses that need the extra weight. But, he needs good quality grain to get his topline covered.

 

[Marty]

Shane, sorry I"m so dumb but I don't know what some of this stuff you are feeding even is



a big black scoop of conditioning cubes, a half a big black scoop of grass nuts, and a small scoop of flax and boss mixed, and two big round black scoops of beet soaked, with a tblspoon of oil....

But it sounds to me like maybe you are just randomly feeding some of this and some of that until it looks right to you. But doing this, is probably not balancing out anything in his system correctly. And it certainly sounds to me like this is all just way too much stuff. He might just be pooping all of this stuff right out as fast as it's going in. And what kind of oil? Because many oils will just keep him going and going and going potty without helping anything along the way. Personally, I'd be cutting a lot of the extra stuff out and get back to basics.

I don't know what you have available to you over in Ireland, but isn't there a regular horse feed over there that is made by a reputable company that has all the good stuff included in it? Do you have access to Purina products or Nutrena, anything like that? What about oats too? A complete feed? Seems to me that going more simple without all the bling blings added would make sense to me. Something that is already designed that is more complete, easy, and simple and then just add your hay. My days of feeding complicated stuff is way over.

 

[Triggy&Blue&Daisy Too]

I don't know if you have access to rice bran in IR but if you do, I find it to be one of the best things for weight gain and encourages a picky eater because it tastes good to them too. I make a slurry of beet pulp, rice bran and a ration balancer for my big mares that have trouble keeping weight on in winter and doesn't cause the problems of putting too much of grain type product in to their systems when they are not active. My minis are too portly for the stuff but if any of them had a weight problem I would definately add it to their diets.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

We can't get Rice Bran, except as a very expensive, stabilised, feed balancer.

I have found a source of Rice Bran Oil, which is not expensive and which I shall follow up.

Marty- conditioning cubes are complete pellets, equal to stud type pellets.

We cannot get Platform feed and there really is no need- sorry, I am not "sold" on it!!

He is already getting LOADS of Beet Pulp- that is "sugar beet"

We need an English- American phrase book, I think!!!

I would, as I said, actually cut back a bit on the beet and add Alfa- A which is an Alfalfa chaff and has more goodness in it - guaranteed 15% protein- than Beet Pulp.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

Some horses are just very hard keepers and yes that happens in minis as well. I have a horse who is a WAY hard keeper and needs at least 3-4 times the amount of my other horses to just maintain and that is at a low to normal rate however he just wont eat much more then that in a day

 

[RockRiverTiff]

I'm not very knowledgable on what you're feeding your horse, but I have a couple of questions. Do you rotate wormers? It doesn't matter if he eats slowly if he eats all his food, but with that kind of calorie intake I can't believe his hips and ribs are still obvious. No wormer covers all parasites, so if you don't rotate that's something to consider. Also, is he always seperated to eat? The downside to teacup muzzles is that it takes those horses much longer to eat, and we have one mare whose head is so refined even a handful of grain is several bites for her.

 

[shane]

I'm not very knowledgable on what you're feeding your horse, but I have a couple of questions. Do you rotate wormers? It doesn't matter if he eats slowly if he eats all his food, but with that kind of calorie intake I can't believe his hips and ribs are still obvious. No wormer covers all parasites, so if you don't rotate that's something to consider. Also, is he always seperated to eat? The downside to teacup muzzles is that it takes those horses much longer to eat, and we have one mare whose head is so refined even a handful of grain is several bites for

hi sorry for the language barrier..

i worm my horses every six weeks, they aren't on grass...

his ribs aren't obvious , i can feel his hips and top line more than i would like, he is getting twice as much as my mare and shes twice the size...

he is always separated to feed, i understand the question though....

hi Marty I'm not randomly feeding this and that, I'm feeding conditioning cubes, which are a complete feed, recommended by there nutritionist, and grass nuts simply because he wont eat a lot of hay, and thats what they are,.the oil is cod liver oil, to keeps his joints healthy, and the flax and boss because its good for him.

i would do anything to put weight on him, and take any advise. the one thing i cannot do though is to put him out to grass

1....because he would be stolen

2....because he means the world to me, and if anything happened to him i would be devastated

 

[Danielle_E.]

Personally if he were mine he would be on a hi fat hi fibre diet. Purina makes this mix and it's well worth the money. I would add some beet pulp to his regime as well. You not mention what kind of hay he gets. If he is getting grass hay perhaps it is not enough for him, you might like to try a mixed grass of alfalfa and timothy. If that is not possible I woud purchase some straight alfalfa cubes and add to his diet. You need to feed him the grain ration at least two times a day, morning and night and even better if it would be possible to feed it 3 times a day (divide the ration by 2 or 3). If you feed the grain ration only once a day it won't have the same benefit in trying to put weight on if you split the same amount he would be getting in only one feed.

Forgot to ask, is he being fed alone his ration, not the hay? If not perhaps the other mini is the one getting most of the feed if he is a slow eater. This boy need to be fed by himself if that is the case. That way you know exactly how much he is eating

 

[gem74]

You say you can't "put him out to grass" but what about cutting fresh grass and feeding that to him?? Is that possible??

 

[whitney]

You can get your horse to eat COD LIVER OIL? That stuff is NASTY tasting. Maybe that whats putting him off feed. It would me.

 

[shane]

hi whitney, yes he eats ccod liver oil, he only gets a tiny amount and the beet pulp hides the taste lol, he eats every bit of what i feed him in the bucket, just not hay, ive tried haylage , nope he didnt like it, now hes on a lovley dust free hay, but hes such a slow eater that if i were to try three meals a day,{which i have} he hasnt finished the first lot, by the time hes getting the second lot, he is fed separately..and he is a slow eater, my mare gobbles down anything youd throw at her lol

i might just cut some grass as you say and feed to him, but it has to be eaten within 24 hours doesnt it?

and he gets fed totally alone and at his leisure

: ...thank you all so much for the advise its appreciated