Do they need to gain any weight?

I rode my mare the other week, and her weight was fine... but today when I went out to see my horses, I thought my mare looked a little... thinner than usual. Heck, it seems like my mare has lost a little weight since the last time I saw her, which was just a few days ago.

I snapped a few photo’s of her and my gelding to put on here and see what everyone else thought. My gelding, I think, is at a good weight... I can’t see his ribs at all and I have to press moderately to feel them.

My mare, I think, needs to gain a little bit. I can’t see her ribs, but I can feel them very easily and when she moves a certain way, it seems as though I can see a ghost of their outlines.

Maybe I’m worrying too much over it and seeing things, because last year my girl lost a little weight in December and in January/February, she was sick and dropped about a hundred and fifty pounds within a few weeks and it took forever to get her weight back up.

My gelding is an easy keeper, and my mare is too during the warmer months, but I’ve noticed in the past few years that during the colder months she’s a bit harder to keep weight on, but not too badly... I just have to upp her feed a bit.

I don’t feed year-round. During Spring, Summer, and Autumn I feed ((one pound soaked Alfalfa, Oats, and Super 12 mixed up)) only when I ride. Starting December first, I feed daily at three o’clock in the PM afternoon ((three pounds soaked Alfalfa, Oats, and Super 12 for my mare && two pounds of soaked Alfalfa, Oats, and Super 12 for my gelding)).

What do you guys think? My gelding will be four years old in March and my mare will be sixteen years old in April. I’m thinking about buying a senior feed for my girl, but I don’t have the money to go all out... I’m lucky that I can buy what I feed right now. I am looking for a job, though, and hopefully I’ll find one soon so my horses can get the proper care they deserve, but right now I’m relying on my extremely non-horsey mother for money.


My Mare:





My Gelding:

She looks okay to me, but then again I have a toothpick Thoroughbred. It wouldn't matter to my horse because he'd kill himself if he were in with cows! Maybe add a little soaked beet pulp over the colder months to keep her furnace going. It's cheap and really helps them hold warmth.

My mare usually loses some weight during the winter... now we blanket her and feed her a little extra and she doesnt lose any weight. She doesnt look like she's to skinny, but it also looks like she has a thick winter coat, so it could be harder to see her ribs. Maybe just feed her soem more oats..or you could get a rain sheet or light sheet to put on her, that can work wonders! :) your horses are very pretty

I'll look into the beet pulp... I'll have to check and see if the feed store here supplies it... if they don't, then I can't get it because then they'll have to special order it and they'd upp the cost on it a lot... but if they supply it, I'll look into getting it.


My girl actually doesn't have that thick of a winer coat yet... I'd blanket her but i'm scared that our barbed wire would rip the blanket to shreds... or the other horses would eat it... Lol.

I'd look into Rice Bran over the beet pulp. You could also just add a scoop of Triple Crown Complete once a day and see how that works. It has its first few ingredients being beet pulp, rice bran and other weight gain ingredients. She really looks fine. We like to see plump horses, but honestly, the slightly thinner ones are healthier.

It's often hard to tell just by looks or weight, especially if you see them everyday, so before worrying or doing anything, I would do a body condition scoring on them. There are many on the web. Here is an example... Body Condition Scoring of Horses

I think they could both use a little bit of weight, but my horses weigh 1150 pounds & up...
Tripple Crown works very well.

Lol... that's a lot of pounds!

My mare has never, even when she was pregnant with my gelding, hit 1000 pounds... Her norm is anywhere between 925 and 975 pounds.

My gelding weighs anywhere between 850 and 950 pounds.

They could use a little weight, but they're not bad. Maybe just more hay or supplement with alfalfa pellets. I feed 1 scoop (3 qt scoop) a day of Alfalfa pellets when my gelding needs more weight. If we're working and he needs to gain, I'll add to that a scoop of whole oats. It works like a charm!

If their teeth have not been floated in the last 9 months, you might have them looked at. That can cause weight loss, or just lack of weight gain.

The mare has white spots at her withers, which indicates poor saddle fit and possibly poor saddle placement.

The gelding has muscle atrophy behind the withers, which can also indicate possible poor saddle fit and/or placement.

My mare has had the white marks for years. They were caused by her first saddle that was synthetic and got stretched out when she was pregnant. Vet said that the marks would never go away because the nerves were damaged or something like that. My gelding is currently going through a growth spurt... he looks really, really funky right now. When you see them in real life, they look normal. I should mention that neither of my horses are photogenic, too... it sucks.