ideas for weight gain in older horse?

Question

I have a 20 year old QH gelding and and a 6 year old Mustang mare they are both hard keepers, we have tried alot of things but nothing seems to be working very well. My other horses are doing fine. they are all healthy, on a rotation worming schedule etc. i would like some opinions on what really works and what doesnt work well. I feed straight compressed Alfalfa hay, and a seminole spillers feed. A few things i have tried is Ultra Bloom by seminole, it didnt really do anything. i have tried corn oil, it hasnt made a difference either and they get soaked beet pulp as well. i want them to get fatter before it gets colder, please any suggestions.

they get alfalfa hay all year and they are getting Spillers Meadow Herb Senior. and its not just my 20 yr old, its my 6 year old mare too, they are just hard keepers.

Answer 1

I have no idea what seminole spillers is... but if it is a 14% or so pellet, then it's probably an OK feed. You can put them on senior (even though the mare is only 6) because senior is designed to be more digestible, so older horses that tend to have less fauna in their instentines can break the food down and get the nutrition they need. In a younger horse, it can help to gain extra weight because they are utilizing more of their feed.

You might want to look into switching off the alfalfa feed for a while and go to a nice timothy grass. Alflalfa hay is full of energy, and it can actually increase their metabolism, which will cause them to burn more calories (and be more high strung), than just a regular hay, so they might be burning off what you're feeding them.

The beet pulp is a good choice, and you can use it with corn oil or wheat germ oil for weight gain. (Feed about 2-4 oz a day)

Rice bran, or "Empower" (a pelleted rice-bran feed) is a great thing for weight gain that you can use, too.

Calf Manna by Manna Pro is a 32% protein pellet for cows, and is used in horses in very small daily portions for weight gain. ( I think 1-2 oz. a day)

The best thing I recommend, that I've had the most success with is Weight Builder by Farnam. It's wonderful stuff and packs weight on. I recently started my 23 yr old on it because he was getting thin. I wanted him to be fatter for winter. He was on it for 3 weeks and his ribs are now covered.

You can also try, since you deworm regularly, and everything else is in check (hopefully their teeth are), putting them both on a daily general vitamin for overall improved health. For this I recommend Source. It comes in a powder or pellet, and is very tasty and they will eat it up just fine.

A combination of things along these lines will help put weight on. Expect to change their weight slowly over 30 -60 days.

Answer 2

Hello, We do have several older horses as well we have saved many rescue horses in the past. Have you had this horses teeth floated in the last 6 months? Might be wise to have them checked out.

Have you tried beet pulp w/molasses? Comes in a large 50 lb bag, soak with some water on it for about 1 hour before being fed. Add 1/2 cup CORN OIL in it. Give this daily. This with the additonal alfalfa,coastal and feed will add weight on to any horse very quickly. THIS WILL WORK, just try it and give it 3-4 weeks.

Also there are several weight gain supplements out there, as well as Equine Senior feed by Purina is wonderful.

Answer 3

i have found in my personal experience with rescue that most hard keepers are having issues with teeth or need a bit more worming than most,if you havent had both the horses teeth floated try that sometimes it's not just the older horses that need to be floated a younger horse may not be grinding the teeth down normally also,and another worming cant hurt,sometime some horses are more suseptible to parasites,also the hay you are feeding may be too rich for them you might possibly be "killing" them with kindness,they may not be digesting the rich hay so much as just passing it through them,try just plain old timothy hay with these two and see if you see a change
my vet recomended triple crown senior and triple crown complete(for younger horses) for my underweight rescues and it does seem to pack on the pounds relitively quickly,it is a sweet feed that looks and smells almost like coffee grounds with some pellets and bits of cracked corn and crimped oats in it and has ground beet pulp already in it,takes a bit for the horses to take to it not sure why,maybe because it smells different than any other sweet feed ive smelled but once they are on it they gain weight rapidly

Answer 4

I've had great results with calf mana fast track. Don't know if the spelling is correct. Both worked really well for a 19 year old thoroughbred that I adopted. Of course with him being that old, he didn't pack on a whole lotta weight, but did look much better. Light riding helped as well. Good Luck!

Answer 5

I would question ulcers, when everything else you are doing fails, then you need to dig a little deeper.

Ulcers can cause weight loss, are they crabby, any other symptoms?

Talk to the vet, see if possibly you can just start them on meds and see if theres an improvement. Mustangs are usually not hard keepers, so its really making me wonder ont he ulcers.

Good luck to you!

Answer 6

senior grain should help and alpha hay in the winter. but older horses get skinny and that doesnt mean they are not healthy.

Answer 7

Exercise but not too strenuous. . the beet pulp worked great for us. . . have the horses teeth checked. . also wattered down alfalfa hay cubes that are about the consistency of oatmeal work great.

Answer 8

bran and barley mine put on weight straight away... but im not sure where bouts u live so that could make a difference but where i live doesnt matter wat u feed them.... my thoroughbred did really well on these tho and he was 17hh he was built like a brick after a couple of weeks