getting my 13 year old to gain weight

2 months ago I bought my first horse. I have another thread about trail riding problem. But I bought her from a trail riding place and when I decided to buy her instead of another one she looked healthy. I put a deposit on her and a month later went back to pay her off. When I did and I went to go see her I saw that her ribs were showing. A month before they were not. A few days later I had her moved to a pasture that the owner owned. All she had up there was grass and hay so I would drive 40 miles one way everyday to feed her. Then they locked the gate and said they didn't want me going up there unless someone else was there too. Ok I can understand that, but no one was every up there! So I moved her to a boarding facility. We've been working on getting her healthy again, she gets 1 1/2 scoops of endurance gold twice a day, a cup of bran twice a day and one smart pack. It's been a month but her ribs are still showing. How long does it normally take a horse to get back to a healthy weight? Is there something more I should be doing? The BM at the place I bought her from said she was a perfect weight and her ribs aren't ontop like they look. But everyone else I talk to say that she is under weight. I'm a beginner and trying to take the best care of my girl as possible. So if there is something more that I can do, I will do it.

Well when their ribs start showing its never good what kinda horse is she? Some horse breeds are thinner then others . Have you had her teeth floated ? And has she been Wormed latly?

I used(still use) beat pulp on my guy to put some weight on him and it worked.Good luck

Who makes endurance gold?? What size is the scoop??
What Bran are you using ?? Measuring cup??
Which supplement from Smartpak??

How much and what kind of hay is she getting??

I'm not quite certain who makes endurance gold, it's what the BO suggested. It's what she feeds her hard keepers. She said that it's the almost the same as omelene 200. I do not know what kind of bran. But she gets a cup every feeding.

I wormed her when I bought her and they wormed her when she came to the barn. She's a quarter horse.

Do a search on the forum for "weight" under the Health topic -- you'll find all kinds of information...

As for the worming... might be a thought to have a fecal count done. Sometimes we worm for the wrong thing.

I have a feeding program we've been pretty happy with. You can see the "before & afters" on my website to see how quickly we put weight back on.

I offer free choice timothy/alfalfa hay at all times, or feed a couple flakes four times daily to help them not waste everything.

*The scoop we use is a 3qt feet scoop:
1 scoop soaked beet pulp shreds.
1/2 scoop Max E Glo rice bran.
1/2 scoop oats (No real weight gaining purpose just a calcium/phosphorus balance)
1 scoop of Purina Equine Senior OR Triple Crown Complete
1/2 scoop of hay replacer or hay stretcher.

Fed TWICE daily. I will up the beet pulp for certain horses and add a scoop of soaked alfalfa cubes as well if needed.

To get weight on you have to be persistent and can't try the halfway/cheapway. I also supplement with FocusWT.

Adding beet pulp and rice bran to her diet will help out. It' has worked wonders on my hard keepers. I usually do 1 lb beet pulp/1 cup rice bran ratio. So depending on how much weight she needs you might do a 2:2 ratio.

Here's what I would do.

First, get your vet out. Have him give her all needed vaccinations, float her teeth, and remove any wolf teeth.

Next, deworm her thoroughly. I would give her TapeCare+ Plus now and Ivermectin in 4 weeks. I would use Equimax or Quest Plus 8 weeks after that.

Use http://www.rendaidvu.com to keep track of health and performance records online, free! Plus it will send you reminders when you set due dates.

For her diet, I would recommend she get as much grass hay as she can eat, at least 25 lbs a day.

For her "grain," I would recommend one 2qt scoop of shredded beat pulp (soaked, excess water drained off), one 2 qt feed scoop of Alfalfa hay pellets, 1/2 of a 2qt feed scoop of Whole Oats, and 1 cup of stabilized rice bran or 1 cup of whole flax seeds. The beet pulp is good for weight, though optional if you can't find it. If you don't use it, add some water to the hay pellets, so the rice bran and supplements have something to stick to.

Add to that the following SmartPak (prices are monthly costs):

Focus WT 1 scoop $17.60
Mega-Cell™ 1 scoop $8.05

The FocusWT is a probiotic that will make sure she is digesting all of the food she is eating properly. The Mega-Cell is an affordable vit/min supplement that will round out her diet. I have found that horses gain better on a more "natural" diet, without all the sticky sweet feed or high starch pellets.

My "hard keeper" TBxArab gelding now gets fat if I'm not careful on just 1/2 scoop of alfalfa pellets, 1/2 scoop of oats, and his vitamin supplement, lol.

Nicole,
Great website and also nice horses, My question is with your posted diet, is that diet one that is built up to or straight out of the gate, I have recently aquired 2 horses that are very thin and need to put the weight back on them, I understand this is a slow process and don't actually want to mess up and possibly founder them,with this diet should one start out with a lower ration and work up to this amount over time or just pour it on all at once, Also do they get normal exercise while on this diet? These horses like babyruths have just lost their weight in just over a couple of months, I saw pictures of these horses taken in November and were good looking horses as to where now you can see the top line and ribs very noticeably, very similar to one that you have on your site, I was raised with horses most of my life and never had experience with this matter, your diet seems to work well from the looks of the horses on your site and any your help as well as others here would be greatly appreciated.