Hi my names emma and i'm wondering if i can get some tips on how much food i feed my skinny horse.?

Question

i'm just wondering if anyone can help me i'm in Australia and wondering how much i feed my skinny Thoroughbred who is aged 19 i currently have had his teeth done and wormed him. And now all i need help with is how much i feed him i have bought him chaff, good quality hay and mitavite gumnuts i'm just wondering how many scoops of chaff would i give him? and how much mitavite gumnuts would i give him?

please help me =] thanks Emma

Answer 1

I don't know what chaffe is and I'm in the US so I'll try here.  I have a 15.3 hand Arabian gelding that weighs 1000 lbs when he is in good flesh.  He has metabolic syndrome and used to colic periodically.

I've been very successful keeping his weight on and his coat normal and shiney.

I feed Purina Senior feed..he gets four pounds at two feedings in summer, and 5 pounds in winter.

He has free choice hay, usually about 25% alphalfa mix, year round.

He gets rice bran for the extra fat, 1 cup a day in summer and 2 cups a day in winter.

He is out 24/7 on grass pasture.

You have to weigh your feed so you lnow how many pounds you are giving.  I use a scale that has a hook at the bottom and top...I can hand hold it or hang it up.  I fill the scoop, then pour the feed into a bag with handles, hang the bag on the scale, and weigh it.  If you use the scoop for more than one type of feed, weigh each since the weight will be different.

then you can access all kinds of sites on the internet for advice on how much to feed your horse based on his height, weight, and condition.

Answer 2

I feed gumnuts to my Anglo (tbXarab), and he looks fantastic, however to put weight on, you must feed about 3% of your horses body weight per day to your horse. Get a tape measure and measure your horses girth and length and key it into: http://www.gaitedhorses.net/Articles/hor...

To find your horses weight. Now go to http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/live...

scroll down untill you find "method one" and determine your horses actual body condition score. If it is near or below 1 I would be a little concerned and contact my vet and ask them for advice.

So use your horses body weight to determine 3% (times the weight by 0.03), that is how much food.

Now there are 3 ways to put weight on a horse, 1. Grain (gumnuts). 2. Fibre (Hay and grass). 3. Fat (Sun flower seeds, full fat soy, copra, rice bran, oil, etc...). Increasing these three things in your horse diet will increase their calorie intake, and thus help your horse gain weight. The most effective of these however is the fat, as it does not make the horse "fizzy" or "hot". Gumnuts does have a high percentage o fat compared to other feeds, read the back of the packet and see how much to feed your horse, go out and get a plastic bag and a set of scales and weigh it! Know exactly how much to feed your horse, I pour the contents of the weighed bag into an upturned milk container and cut it so that the grain is level with the top. This is my scoop and will be the exact weight I want. It is best to feed your horse at least 2-3 times a day, and a horse should always have acess to hay or grass (grassy hay or grassy lucern is best) 24/7, keep giving your horse hay intill they stop eating it! Feeding a good quality lucern (2 biscutes morning and night, depending on quality of grass availiable) helps, with grassy hay the rest of the time, or just grass.

For the chaff, I would pour in the same amount of chaff as gumnuts (you can use the same scoop). Something that also might help is a vitamin suppliment, incase your horse is missing something in its diet, a general vitamin suppliment like "Equilibrium" will really help. Also, you can mix in some full fat soy, copra, sun flower seeds, rice bran and some oil into your horses feed (wet it down) to increase the fat (take out some gumnuts), horses love it, and that is what is in alot of feeds specifically designed to put weight on horses, so you can save some money, and really get more fat in your horses diet. I would recoment full fat soy and/or copra mixed with the gumnuts (take out some of the gumnuts from what is recomended on the back of the bag and replace it with twice either the copra of full fat soy), a vitamin suppliment like Equilibrium mixed with the same quantity of either oaten/wheaten chaff, or mixed with lucern chaff all wetted down, with unlimted supply to hay or grass (good quality) and water. OR you can spend more money and buy a feed like Weight lifter, which is designed to put weight on. (I cheat and look at the ingredients and make it up my self! I just mix it up to the way i feel my horse would do best (eg. as he is older, more full fat soy and sunflowers for his joints)). Do your research on google, there is plenty of information out there, the rest is trial and error seeing what works for your horse, for some, gumnuts will do nothing but weight lifter, bran, barley, hay, copra, or just a new grassy paddock will do the trick!

Also, try and keep your horse in a stress free, cumfortable enviromnent. If it is cold, make sure there is a shelter, and maybe rug your horse. Moderate your riding (if you ride) so your horse is not exhausted for an hour, 7 days a week. Change your horses diet VERY SLOWLY (over about 2 weeks). Keep an eye out for sloppy poo's, weight loss, anything else that is not normal. Keep your paddocks clean, and your horse wormed. Make sure your horse is not being bullyed out of its feed by other horses.

Answer 3

Sounds like your are on the right track!  I feed my horse 3 times a day (morning, noon and evening) and I give him a scoop at every feeding.  I would ask your vet though just to be sure.

Answer 4

Hi Emma,

I had a friend who lived in Scarborough, WA (Western Australia, for those in the US) when I lived in Cottesloe, WA, who had a 15 yr old mare who was on the lean side when she bought her.  Sue used to feed Viorra a couple of biscuits (Flakes) of hay in the morning and a couple at night, then give her about 3 LBS of rolled barley per day, made into a nice warm mash.  She's also throw in a bucket (5 gallon) of chaffe with the warm mash.

Answer 5

WE had a thoroughbred like that when we first bought him and have the exact diet you have we, gave our 1 1/2 buckets (5litre) and about 1kg of mitavite daily, and also try these two weight gainers, They vary depending the individual thoroughbred;

Weight Gainer supplement or something

Speedi Beet (worked wonders for my horse)

Goodluck and i guarantee that should work

Here is our horse's diet

MORNING:

1 1/2buckets of chaff

1kg mitavite

1kg Speedi-beat (with speedi beet you fill water about 1cm above the stuff and let it soak up)

AFTERNOON

1 1/2biscuits of hay

And 1 scoop of Chaff

That our thoroughbreds Diet BUT check with your vet first to see if this benefits your horse :)

Best of Luck

Answer 6

Hi Emma.

You need to be very careful on feeding a skinny horse.  I used to work at an horse recuse center and saw a lot of skinny horses.  If you give them too much food they'll get very sick.  First stick to the normal amount of grain your horse gets, but make sure he always has access to hay.  Second, does he live outside?  If that's the case find a place where he can live inside a stall and get turned out a couple hours each day.  Some horses go outside and they walk and walk and walk and run around like crazy and lose a lot of weight.  This isn't healthy for them, so you should put him inside.  Third, if this doesn't work you can up his grain.  Start by slowly adding stuff like rice bran and oil to his grain.  Stay away from things like oats or other energy grains which will just make him run more.  When you add grain to a horse's diet you should add maybe two handfulls each week so he gets used to a richer diet.  Also ask your vet and trainer for other ideas.

Answer 7

Since the horse is skinny, a skinny amount of food will suffice!

Answer 8

Usually the directions are on the package of horse feed.  I would have a vet check your horse.  There might be some other reason that he is not putting on weight.