Putting weight back on my skinny thoroughbred
I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts that I have struggled with Leo's weight this summer. While all the other horses were gaining obscene amounts of weight due to the luxurious grass pastures at the farm, Leo started loosing weight in June. It probably started earlier than that. He had been off his feed in April and May and then finally diagnosed with ulcers in May. He was started on a 4-week GastroGard regimen and his steady appetite returned.
I upped his grain in June but that didn't seem to make a difference. Then we took another step back in July when I put him on private turnout as I tried to get a handle on a totally different issue: his stifle soreness. This meant he was switched from night turnout - and almost 15 hours of grazing time - to day turnout for 6-8 hours. Unfortunately, the grass quality in the paddock was poor and Leo was unsettled and spent little time eating. His neck got skinny; he was rib-y; his saddles weren't fitting well and he was sore at his withers.
I started asking around about what to do and got some good advice. It took about 4-5 weeks, but Leo has put the weight back on. I'm super pleased that the turn around was that fast! Here's what I did:
Grass Forage aka "Horse Crack"
In order to make up for the crappy grazing in his private paddock, I picked up a 50 lb. bag of timothy grass forage from the feed store. In addition to his morning and evening hay portions, he received an 8-quart bucket full of forage everyday. The bag says you can feed 4-6 pounds of grass forage a day as a supplement to regular hay. Leo loved the forage - and would talk up a storm as I got it ready. I kept him on the grass forage until he was able to move back to group turnout and the higher quality grass pasture. Once he was back to night turnout and 15 hours of grass time, he lost interest in the forage so I simply stopped feeding it.
Nutrena Pro-Series High Performance Pellets aka "The Black Bag"
About 2 weeks into feeding the grass forage, a vet recommended I pick up Nutrena's "Black Bag", a high performance pellet which has a 13% fat content and 12% protein. It runs about $22 a bag. She said she keeps it in the barn and whenever anyone is looking thin, she supplements their regular grain with this. I really think this, more than the grass forage, is what brought Leo's weight back up. I fed him 1.5 quarts or a half of a scoop of these pellets to him as a third meal each day for 3 weeks. This was in addition to the 8 quarts of grain he receives daily (4 qts in the morning, 4 qt in the evening). It was a lot of food, but he ate it all. After 3 weeks, I stopped feeding the Black Bag because his weight improved so much.
I was super happy with the Black bag because it didn't make him hot at all. Same with the grass forage. In the past I have tried to use straight beet pulp to put weight on horses but I have to say the Black bag was far more effective. The Black bag pellet is a beet pulp based pellet (read more here). I still have half a bag left which I'll keep handy at the barn. Next time I start to notice any weight changes I'll immediately start to supplement with the black bag.
2014 Update: Nutrena rebranded the "Black Bag". It is now ProForce Fuel.
Turnout
Obviously, switching Leo's turnout back to the better grass pasture and longer turn out time helped as well. Ultimately, nothing beats good turnout. He's more settled with a group of horses and spends less time pacing and fretting. The problem with group turnout is the bites and kicks. I don't know which is worse...Leo being upset because he's alone or me being upset because of the latest vet bill. It's a no win situation sometimes!
I upped his grain in June but that didn't seem to make a difference. Then we took another step back in July when I put him on private turnout as I tried to get a handle on a totally different issue: his stifle soreness. This meant he was switched from night turnout - and almost 15 hours of grazing time - to day turnout for 6-8 hours. Unfortunately, the grass quality in the paddock was poor and Leo was unsettled and spent little time eating. His neck got skinny; he was rib-y; his saddles weren't fitting well and he was sore at his withers.
I started asking around about what to do and got some good advice. It took about 4-5 weeks, but Leo has put the weight back on. I'm super pleased that the turn around was that fast! Here's what I did:
Grass Forage aka "Horse Crack"
In order to make up for the crappy grazing in his private paddock, I picked up a 50 lb. bag of timothy grass forage from the feed store. In addition to his morning and evening hay portions, he received an 8-quart bucket full of forage everyday. The bag says you can feed 4-6 pounds of grass forage a day as a supplement to regular hay. Leo loved the forage - and would talk up a storm as I got it ready. I kept him on the grass forage until he was able to move back to group turnout and the higher quality grass pasture. Once he was back to night turnout and 15 hours of grass time, he lost interest in the forage so I simply stopped feeding it.
Nutrena Pro-Series High Performance Pellets aka "The Black Bag"
About 2 weeks into feeding the grass forage, a vet recommended I pick up Nutrena's "Black Bag", a high performance pellet which has a 13% fat content and 12% protein. It runs about $22 a bag. She said she keeps it in the barn and whenever anyone is looking thin, she supplements their regular grain with this. I really think this, more than the grass forage, is what brought Leo's weight back up. I fed him 1.5 quarts or a half of a scoop of these pellets to him as a third meal each day for 3 weeks. This was in addition to the 8 quarts of grain he receives daily (4 qts in the morning, 4 qt in the evening). It was a lot of food, but he ate it all. After 3 weeks, I stopped feeding the Black Bag because his weight improved so much.
I was super happy with the Black bag because it didn't make him hot at all. Same with the grass forage. In the past I have tried to use straight beet pulp to put weight on horses but I have to say the Black bag was far more effective. The Black bag pellet is a beet pulp based pellet (read more here). I still have half a bag left which I'll keep handy at the barn. Next time I start to notice any weight changes I'll immediately start to supplement with the black bag.
2014 Update: Nutrena rebranded the "Black Bag". It is now ProForce Fuel.
Obviously, switching Leo's turnout back to the better grass pasture and longer turn out time helped as well. Ultimately, nothing beats good turnout. He's more settled with a group of horses and spends less time pacing and fretting. The problem with group turnout is the bites and kicks. I don't know which is worse...Leo being upset because he's alone or me being upset because of the latest vet bill. It's a no win situation sometimes!
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