Weight Gain?

Question

What is a good way to get a horse to gain weight other than beet pulp?

Answer 1

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 the 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 2

put them in a BIG GRASSY field... lol... you can also double their feed...

Answer 3

Give it oats and grain with its alfalfa and it'll fatten up ;)

Answer 4

If you have an older horse I'd try switching to something like Purina senior, which worked to keep our old horse alive until he was 38. Also, for larger horses if you begin substituting in some alfalfa into their daily ration of hay that will also help. Make sure you're feeding good quality hay.

On our rescue horse that was starved we bought a product called Cool 100 (i believe) and it was basically a calorie powder that helped him gain weight. The best thing I've found to put weight on a younger horse is pasture! Honestly, grass is the best way to perk up the coat and make the horse healthy, it always amazes me how we can feed my TB LESS grain than she was getting in her previous barn where she wasn't worked as much as she is now and kept him a stall quite a bit yet we turn her out and work her a lot and she's a gorgeous weight and well muscled from the grass.

If you have your own pasture, make sure to get a pasture mix that has some alfalfa and clover in it, assuming that your horse is not a pony prone to founder.

Good luck gaining weight on your horse, if you're trying hard to gain weight on them and can't seem to get it accomplished, during the summer they could be wasting too much energy beating away flies. Watch them, if they seem distressed a lot you can buy various suppliments to feed them that should help get rid of flies and help prevent them bighting them. That or spray fly spray on your horses, I do just about every day because I have no other choice. My choice of fly spray is called something like Horse and stable fly spray or horse and pony fly spray. I use the oil based fly spray, it seems to work great for flies and mosquitos.

Another good idea is to gradually increase them onto a different type of grain, if you are feeding them oats - change to some omalene, senior feed or even put a bit of sweet feed in with their oats. Make sure to change grain gradually.

Also, with our older horse to put on a shine - we used to use a capful of vegetable oil in his feed every day. But then again, he was way spoiled. Flax seed helps for that, too.

Good luck with your horse. Hope this helped.

Answer 5

Simple answer - feed it more.  Does he have unlimited access to good quality hay?  Does he get a balanced concentrate (grains) at multiple times throughout the day?

Are you supplementing with fat (eg vegetable oil)?  You can feed a diet with up to 25% fat without changing the digestibility of the diet.  In fact, a diet with 10% fat (this is about 6 cups!) has been shown to be optimal for working horses.  The heat of digestion will keep the horse cooler - also reducing the net energy the horse needs for maintenance.  It's the most calorically dense "nutrient", and by increasing the energy density of the diet, you won't have to feed as much bulk.  Fat also has a glycogen sparing effect that can benefit performance!  (I'll spare you the scientific details on how that works for now. :)  )

If you want your hose to gain weight, and not 'condition' (aka fat), exercise would be a better answer than changing the diet.  Muscle weighs more than fat, so increasing the muscle on your horse will increase his weight.

A physical by your veterinarian might rule out worms and other health reasons preventing your horse from gaining condition.  Some horses are just hard keepers and require extra food, though.

Answer 6

There are a lot of weight supplements that your vet can prescribe. I would give your vet a call, not necessarily bring the vet out, but ask about different weight supplements. Describe the situation and see what your vet says and prescribes.

Answer 7

oats in the summer are not really that good I think. Oats help horses create more heat for the winter. I would try grain a little beet pulp and horse corn. With some supplements that helped my friends Arabian gain weight. Also feed your horse tons of hay whenever you have the chance.

Answer 8

i have a tb  mare she is a hard keeper. we first tried fat and fiber and it never did anything had her on it for 3 months. then we switched her to this feed called "feed easy" its been working really well. we also have been giving her cocoasoya oil. you can buy it from ukele.com it has worked wonders!!!

Answer 9

Hi! :)

Grass, hay or hay cubes, sweet feed and a high quality horse pellet, corn oil, bran mash, corn, etc...  All this you don't want to feed to much of either though.  What are you willing to buy?  Make sure the horse is up to date on worming and teeth floated also......

Answer 10

Hay, hay and more hay... a horses natural diet includes ROUGHAGE... grass and hay... to gain weight you need to first check for reasons of weight loss - teeth, worms, ulcers, illness... once you have a clean bill of health you need to feed alot of very good quality lucerne hay... or lucern charff...  anything else is a waste of time... here is something to break it down for you... weight gain happens when food in is more then energy used and waste out... and a horses tummy can only hold 10liters of food (for a an average 15hh horse) and a horse is supposed to feed for up to 16hours a day... so you need to there for supply quality roughage (hay) for 16hrs a day... unless you have a quality paddock for the horse to graze inbetween meals... if you stable of yard your horse... you need to have feed available to him all day so at least drop new hay into the box 3-4 times a day.... and your horse will gain weight very quickly.... the big problem then will be keeping the wieght on... most horses wont retain weight for very long after feed is reduced... so to keep the weight on you will need to keep the feed up to him at least 2 times a day... hope this helps... rememeber no gimmic will magically put weight on your horse... some feeds high in protein and fibre can help but always read and reseach before starting a new feed... good luck :)

Answer 11

1 Cup of corn oil once a day. Does your hoese have sand? Grab a ziploc bag, turn it inside out and grab some p**p from the top of the pile. add water and check the corners to see if there is sand. if there is you need to give him/her psyllium.

Answer 12

Boiled Barley, because of its high mucilage content is very soothing to the gut. Use steam flaked barley (the one without molasses), and soak it in hot water overnight, to release the mucilage. Keeping the horse calm.

Ask your vet for some assistance, dont have him come out just ring and talk to him/her.

The feeding of excessively high energy feeds can make a horse playful and over energetic, which manifests as 'hyper' activity and charging and being 'above itself' .

And to much phosphorus is bad too.

Answer 13

BOILED BARLEY. I"M YELLING BECAUSE YOU NEED TO KNOW JUST HOW FANTASTIC IT REALLY IS....i had a TB mare skin and bone within a month she looked great apart from her top line, which is just work.