Gidget needs some weight put on her.

Gidget is a stocky 14.2 horse. She is short but built like a tank

Annnyways, I want to put more weight on her. Mostly muscle but when she trots when I lunge her you can see her ribs. She is muscular up top and not in the back..her butt looks a little sad to me in my opinion. I am not allowed to give her any grain but I am allowed to give her rice bran and wheat bran the vet said. I also give her a splash of canola oil,supplement,and a small splash of ACV. The vet also mentioned that she doesn't need vitamins in pellet form,..just a mineral block. Does that sound right?

Anyways,is there anything you guys can recommend? I don't want her to colic. I tend to have a heavy hand when feeding sometimes. I wish I could give her some sweet feed as a treat buuuut I can't.

Why can't you give her grain? Is she out on grass or getting hay? I would NOT listen to my vet and would probably get a new one if he told me my horse doesnt need vitamins and minerals and only a salt block unless there is some medical reason you didnt mention.... Also, what is her worming schedule like?

The best thing for more muscle is more work. Hills are best. If her ribs show a bit, that is okay. If they are protruding and so is her hip bones that isnt good. A little rib is okay. Lots of transitions and hill work will develop a good solid hind.

Gidget, if you have a mineral block for her, she's getting the required vitamins and minerals from that.

Many horses get nothing but good hay and mineral blocks and they're fat, sleek, shiny, and healthy.

If you want to give her something pelleted, try beet pulp pellets. They're great for adding weight, but not making the horse nutso with sugar.

Rice and wheat bran are also excellent for helping with weight gain without the added sugar, so your vet's right on the money with that advice.

I don't even keep sweet feed on the property. I feed an alfalfa based food pellet along with beet pulp and good hay. During the summer they don't even get hay, just pasture. I keep two 50 lb. Mineral blocks out for them, too.

As Cori said, it may not be weight she needs so much as muscling. A horse's ribs can show if they're not muscled properly. If they're dropping weight from the spine and hip bones though, something's not right.

I miss read. I thought her vet said the horse only needed a salt block. Mineral Blocks are good.

Well my vet had a masters degree in nutrition as well and he said there is no sense in buying expensive bags of vitamins and to get them a big ol salt block and they will get the vitamins and minerals from that. I use to give her grain and I gave her LMF super supplement..it made her colic and she literally almost died..it was a massive colic episode and her diet is kinda strict because they don't want her to colic again which is nice of them =D lol. She can't have alfalfa either..just good grass hay. So how much rice bran should I give her. I upped her up to 1lb(doing it reeeally sloow) and her body is accepting it well. The vet said to wheat bran here every week..a coffee can size. I just put 1/4 into her bran just so her body doesn't think it's something different.

I live in Oregon,but I'm in the valley and there isn't much hills where we board and I don't have a trailer so I only go on trails 1-2 a week with my friend. People have mentioned "bitting up" a horse to build a solid back and whatnot. I'm scared to do that. When I do lunging I have her lope some to get her body temp up and mostly have her trot since it takes more effort.

I only worm her twice a year. I am going out to get her some wormer today. I only worm her twice a year because a new study has shown that the parasites are harder to kill off if wormed every 3 months and that 2-3 times is best. I'm sticking with this theory also because I have gone to veterinary assistant school and know this.

No,no..if it was just a salt block I think I would kick my vet in the shin for saying that He said mineral block

Have you wormed for tapes? Just a thought. How long has she been on the 1 lb of rice bran?

The 1 lb has only been started a week ago.
I haven't wormed her tape worms. Honestly don't think she has them. I don't see any sign of them in her poop,she doesn't itch her backside,etc but that isn't enough evidence. I will have to worm her for everything to make sure.

I think I will do 1.5 lbs this week.