How can I fatten my mare?

Question

I'm currently in the process of purchasing a 13 year old TB mare. She's not under nurished but you can see her rips a little bit. How can I fix that? A lot of people have been telling me just give her some extra hay at night, mix her grain with vegitable oil and some sweet feed and give her less exercise. Everything sounds logical to me except sweet feed and less exercise. She's a TB.. so sweet feed is only going to boost the energy that I try so hard to work out of her. And less exercise.. she'd be a freak train. Any ideas?

Answer 1

I know what I am about to say absaloutley nuts..but it just might work..see you horse in the 1st photo I was a bit worried but when I saw the 2nd photo she looked a good weight!!...But now I have an idea maybe she is a little bit overweight,just a little!!...That all the skin has just went down to the stomach area...not ALL the skin but you know what I mean...hopefully

Answer 2

Purina Equine Senior feed is great for this....it is very digestible, is a complete balanced feed, and will help her put weight on without hyping her up.  My vet recommends it for horses of all ages, and for your reasons, and to prevent colic.  You can add extra fat if you want...veg. oil or rice bran, but you don't have to.

Answer 3

I would stay away from "hot feeds" like oats. These are energy feeds.  Rolled corn & barley mix is out there & doesn't have oats. I would put her on incrased hay as well. Weigh it out, don't just assume a flake is enough. Flakes vary in weight from flake to flake. Regular exercise is fine just no major workouts. We are not talking Forever here, by the way. Has she been wormed recently ? Teeth floated ?  These will also need to be UTD for her to benefit from all the extra food.    

Answer 4

I recently bought a new mare as well, and she was the same way.. she wasn't underweight really, but you could see her ribs.

after just a few weeks of owning her, she is at the right weight right now! we didn't do anything except feed her what we feed the other horses. 1 flake alfalfa, and 2 flakes grass hay and a pre-designated scoop of grain. I have also been riding her every day, which im sure is nothing but good for her.

When you are thinking about what you should feed your new horse.. you should think about what she USED to eat, before you got her.

because for all we know she could have been getting 1 flake of grass hay and thats it.... so 3 flakes of alfalfa would not be so good for her.

So try asking the old owners what she is eating right now to better choose her feed.

Good Luck!

EDIT:

wow! from the looks of your picture, she is a lot thinner then i had pictured.

so if i were you, i agree... just throw her an extra flake of alfalfa.

Answer 5

Try rice bran. It has a higher fat content than any other feed, and you can feed it to them in bulk without having to worry about colic. It is about the only thing I've found that can put and keep weight on my 18 year old TB mare. For weight gain, I have to feed 3lbs of it a day mixed with 3lbs of Senior. But she is a pretty hard keeper so you could probably get away with half that much or a third.

A lot of people like to feed beet pulp. It helps too but it's main function is as a source of digestible fiber. So it's almost like giving them more forage, like grass hay, it's just more digestible. But it's not necessarily that high in fat. Beet pulp can actually be used as a source of fiber/roughage when no hay or grass is available.

Rice bran, on the other hand, contains a lot of calories from fat to put the weight on a horse. It has 1/3 more calories than beet pulp, by weight. (i.e. you'd have to feed 1.3 pounds of beet pulp to get the same calories as you'd get from 1 pound of rice bran). This is a big reason why I prefer it...it's more cost effective. However, rice bran can have a mineral imbalance, so if you feed more than about 2 pounds of it, you should make sure a horse's diet is supplemented with a mineral block and/or a complete feed (hence why I feed Senior as well). You could try Strategy or UItium or just Senior. Any horse can eat that as it's highly digestible. They don't HAVE to be old :)  The complete feeds shouldn't increase your horse's energy much at all.

Answer 6

tb's are spirited and if you give them lots of food and no exercise they will get fat but too fat. you cant feed and not exercise, that can make some horses with weak stomaches sick. feed her about 2 small  coffee cans in the morning and 1 small one at night, give 1 flake of hay every day and change her water daily. good luck and remember exercise is important. thoroughbreds shouldn't be too fat.

Answer 7

Even grain is going to boost her energy. But, adding an extra scoop of grain should help. How often does she get grain? Add another scoop a different time a day. I think she is far too young for it, but maybe a bit of senior feed could help.

I think you should post a picture. Being able to see the ribs a little bit does not mean the horse is under weight. What is the rest of her like?

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 8

I'm in California and if I have a horse who's starting to look a bit "ribby" or I've purchased some rack of bones,  I go out and buy a 50LB sack of A&M (Ground alfafa and molasses) (In the mid west they use beet pulp BUT I've been informed that you HAVE to add water to it or it will swell in a horse's belly causing colic), dump it into a tub or feeder in the horse's stall, then top it with some rolled barley corn that is mixed with corn oil and apple cider vinegar. (I feed a 3LB coffee can of the barley corn mixture once a day.) The horse will normally devour the first couple of bags of A&M, but then they will slack off as they get used to it (Never had an issue with colic or founder)...

I haven't fed oats or any mixed feed in decades, basically because I've had running horses and TBs I'm trying to keep quiet, so I feed the rolled barley corn mixture to them for weight, NOT heat.

I also give my horses a hot bran mash twice a week with a 1/2 CUP of apple cider vinegar and corn oil (I can mix the barleycorn into it.).  I feed 1/2 a 3 LB coffee can of red wheat flakey bran and add enough water to it so that it looks like oatmeal in consistancy.

I make sure that they get 2 flakes of alfafa hay per feeding.  

Answer 9

this is very tricky. what you need to do is feed her more than usual. you can still excercise her. or you can go to tractor supply and get working horse feed that keeps wait on a horse that is excercised alot.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/...

Answer 10

put her on alphalfa hay and also when you feed grain it should be strategy by purina. that stuff fattens horses up pretty quickly and its good for them. its the best on the market right now

Answer 11

first of all she is adorable! ^_^ you could use some weight gainer i think its called it like something you mix with the grain and keep doing all the other stuff in a little bit she'll bit nicley wieghted :D

Answer 12

I'm feeling your pain... I own a 16 year old paint mare who's from the quarter horse appendix side of the family..... and shes just skin and bone but we have found something that is working. First off.... your horse his a granny... she's a old woman and you need to get her teeth floated..... without her teeth being floated she cant chew her food right and then she wont digest it right..... so she wont be getting any calories.... Second..... we just put our horses on free choice hay... their out there eatting hay whenever they want and its really helping all of the underweight and hard keepers. Third I wouldnt recommend sweet feed.... we have switched grains and I cant remember what it is called but when I find out I will let you know.... but we give them about 4 pounds of that daily and then the hard keepers also get a scoop of alfla cubes. And then finally.... yes you need to make a schedule of the excercise your horse should get... I'd say about 3 or 4 times a week.... that'd be plenty....

Good luck!