Please help me with my underweight horse, I've become desperate. How can i fix this for once and all?

Question

I have a 17yr old Quarter horse- Arab, which I have struggled witch I have struggled with for 2 years now. I have tried a million different feeds but NOTHING seems to work. Currently I am feeding him Rice Bran, Copra, Oaten Chaff, Lucerne Chaff and a supplement called Zanobolic, (witch is a top line muscle builder), I have found he was working ok with out the Zanobolic but he gets to a certain weight and just stops putting it on, I have been recommended it so I figured it was worth a try, however it is suppose to start working with in 3 or so weeks and it has now been 2 months and I haven't seen a change, besides him loosing weight around his ribs. He gets fed a huge feed bin of this twice a day along with lucerne hay and all he can eat rodes grass. I was told to cut down his lucerne content and swap it with more oaten and rodes, because as we all know lucerne doesn't help to put weight on the older horses. If anyone has a a similar problem or knows someone who has and has any ideas for feed please let me know. It must be natural NO drugs!

Answer 1

Add 1 cup corn oil to the feed once daily, mix in slowly over two wks, get on a senoir diet, have the teeth floated and checked for tape worms.  

Answer 2

OK, first of all, deworm your horse to rule out parasites. Horses need to be on a rotation for wormer, and depending on your area, need to be wormed every 3 months. I had the best results with a daily dewormer and giving a paste wormer once a year.

Second, dont feed him a large amount at one feeding. Horses only absorb what they need, and p**p out the rest. So all of the extra feed you feed him doesnt do any good, its more than likely just sitting on the ground. Horses do better with equally divided meals 2-3x a day.

Start by getting a good quality feed with balanced nutrition. Your horse is 17, so it would be wise to put him on a senior formual. Purina's equine senior as well as Manna Pro's Manna Senior are exeptional quality feeds. They include Alfalfa in them, so hay is even optional. Senior is also easier to digest, and is really good for putting weight on horses. I use it on rescues to put weight on, regardless of whether or not they are seniors.

Feed a good quality hay, and if possible, keep your horse out on good quality pasture for as long as you can. Horses in the wild graze for about 18-20 hours in a day, so forage needs to be the highest percentage of nutrition.

This is what I did to put 450lbs on a rescue Tennessee Walker: I wormed him first, put him on a daily dewormer that I mix in with his feed in the mornings. I got whole oats from my local feed mill and mixed it in with my Purina Equine Senior, and also added a few more alfalfa pellets into it. I fed him small divided amounts 3 times a day. If you cant do 3, do 2. Once is not good to get weight on him in a timely manner...it will take at least a year...depending on how underweight he is. I also had to have his teeth floated. Have you check your horses teeth?

My horse put on all of his weight in about 6 months. This was okayed by my vet, a horse his age will not be harmed by rapid weight gain. Of coarse, now that I have experimented with feed, I have found that Manno Pro makes the best selection, and gave me the best results. After he put on all of his weight, I fed him nothing but Manna Senior and kept him out on pasture 24/7, and he stayed at an ideal healty weight for the remainder of his years.

Make sure whatever feed you get is senior, and has a good amount of fiber in it. Fiber is crucial for the absorbtion of nutrients.

Answer 3

What does your vet say? I'd hate to think you'd been struggling with this problem for two years without consulting a vet. A vet can evaluate your horse first hand including testing for parasites, checking the teeth, evaluating for any metabolic conditions, and testing for disease.

I am not sure why you insist on not having any drugs, but there are vets who have holistic practices who's approaches might be acceptable to you.

I suggest putting him on senior horse feed - Purina is a good brand. The senior feeds are easier to digest so he can get maximum benefit from the food he gets. There are also commercial weight gain supplements available that might help such as Farnam's Weight Builder.

However, the place to start is with the vet who can tell you why the horse is having so much trouble keeping weight on so that you can approach the problem with an informed strategy.  

Answer 4

Has he been wormed recently? weight loss or the inability to put weight on can be caused by worms.

If he has you could try putting molasses over his feed and mixing it in.

Also you can cook up some barley with molasses, which will put some weight on him fast, just don't feed him to much

Answer 5

I have a dumb question...Have you had a vet check him out for parasites?  My Quarter Thoroughbred mare had this problem.  I tried everything, the vet came and found a rare parasite in her intestine that he said was mostly seen in Quarter horses.  She was given some meds that I had to crush up and put in a syringe with a mixture of bran and aspirin and then feed her through the syringe.  It was not a pleasant year but she is now 21 and keeping weight on fine.  Hope you find something.  GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 6

If you give your horse vitamin b-12  it will help

Answer 7

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.

Have you had your boy's teeth checked (Floated) and is he up to date on worming?

Answer 8

Easy!

Add a cup of plain old corn oil to his feed once a day.

You should see results in 10 - 14 days. You can increase this to 1 1/2 cups if needed.

His body will simply expell what it can't use - his p**p will look like there is "vaseline" on it - that tells you to cut back a bit.

Vegetable oil is the #1 ingredient in weight builder supplements - most horses prefer the taste of corn oil.

You might want to put him on a Senior feed - something high in fat and fibre.

Alfalfa hay might help as well.

Answer 9

if the grain is falling from its mouth than you probably need the teeth filled down, so he can properly chew

Answer 10

Your primary resource for concerns about your horse's nutrition should be your vet, who can perform tests to determine if your horse is getting the right nutrition.

There are some good nutrition papers from university veterinarians linked from http://www.temporaldoorway.com/stable/li...

This page includes a link to good material on diet and health for older horses from a veterinarian at Rutgers University. Some of it may worry you, but the best way to combat that worry is to consult your vet.

I hope this helps!

Answer 11

You don't mention what your vet said to do. I would check his teeth and see a vet.  

Answer 12

My moms horse was the same way.  The vet gave her something to give the horse.  I'm not sure what it really was though.

Answer 13

My hard keeper is an arab.  He has metabolic syndrome, and is 21 years old.  He is in good weight and coat...the slight crest from his disease has not increased in 4 years since his diagnosis.

I would have blood work done to rule out metabolic syndrome (also called insulin resistance or cushing's syndrome).  It is common in horses as they age.

My gelding gets a natural chasteberry product called evitex to treat his condition, and is doing exceptionally well.  He is fed Purina Equine Senior feed (4 lbs daily summer, 5 lbs winter).  for extra fat, he gets stabilized (balanced calcium and phosphorus) rice bran, one cup summer, two cups winter daily.

He is out 24/7 on pasture, and gets hay free choice year round.  Grass hay in summer, and about 25% alfalfa with grass in winter.  I also feed Omega Horseshine, a couple ounces in his feed daily....it is a flaxseed product that helps hoof tissue and the skin/coat.

Please have this horse tested for metabolic syndrome...early intervention is everything.  It is a pituitary gland disorder that can affect every hormone-producing gland in the body, such as thyroid, adrenals, pancreatic islets (insulin), etc.

Answer 14

i would look up bach flower remedies ones that might help that also look up leaves that can help as well they might be expensive but they work look them UP!!