Horse won't eat rice bran or any treats?

Not sure if this is in the right place. (sorry)

Anyway, I recently got a horse that is underweight. I bought Max-e-Glo Rice Bran from the local TSC. But I have a problem, he won't eat it? It's pellet form so maybe I need to try the meal form?
I contacted the old owner and she told me that the horse won't eat anything but grass and hay. It's going to be real difficult to put weight on him if I can't get him to eat the rice bran and his teeth are fine. Any suggestions?

If this helps he is:
Age: 15 years
Breed: Tennessee Walking horse

If you need to know anything else about him tell me and I'll put up some more info.
Thanks!

Many horses don't know what to do with "treats" - they have to learn to eat them, just as they do with anything new they are asked to put in their mouths and enjoy. It took over a year (and the addition of a carrot/apple chowing mini) for our TB to decide to eat apples and carrots.
I would suggest using the rice bran meal and blending it with some nice soaked alfalfa pellets or cubes. You say he is open to hay and grass, so using alfalfa as a nice carrier for the rice bran will help encourage him to try it out.

Hmm...yeah I will defiantly try that. He has never really even seen an apple or carrot till I got him. His old owner kind of just left him out in pasture for years and never took care of him. His hooves were bad too but I fixed them up. His old owner was a nice elderly woman though so I ain't going to bash on her to hard.

For what it's worth my walker didn't care for rice bran when I started feeding it to her. I mixed it with hay pellets and a little complete feed and she would try to pick around it but eventually she decided she liked it. She eats it straight now if I offer it that way. Took about 2 months for her to get used to it.

Many people find this hard to believe, but it is very true. Horses like what they know, and anything new can take time, even a nice carrot or apple.

As SueNH mentioned, it can take a lot longer than you would think.

Good luck...this is also a common 'problem' when needing to add supplements or medicines to feeds.

Has he been floated?

Yes, about 5 months ago

My horses did't want to eat beet pulp so I just added some alfalfa, and just a spoonful of molasses and they ate it, now they take it just fine by itself.

It's amazing how horses are like kids that are picky eaters. I had to teach my horse to eat peppermints and all I did was had him next to another horse and offered him a peppermint and if he didn't want it I gave it to the other horse. Within a week he was excited to hear the wrapper noise. Although, I did find my horse doesn't like apples, no matter what I do.