Quick Question

My OTTB needs a step in his feed plan to gain a bit more weight! Would it be wise or okay to mix in senior feed with the rest of his feed for my 9 year old TB? Of course I will cut back on other parts of his feed to add in the senior.

What are you feeding her right now? I'd just invest in a good Senior Feed all round personally. Like Tripple Crown Senior - that's great feed. You get tons of shaved beat pulp, rice bran, Omega 3's and 6's.

How much hay is she getting?

Personally I have never heard of someone putting a young horse on senior feed to gain weight. Unless maybe the horse had trouble chewing?
Personally I wouldnt, I would make sure his teeth are done so he is/can chew properly and get the nutrients from his food. I would increase his hay intake and keep hay infront of him at all times. Maybe add in some soaked beet pulp for extra forage to his grain. You could also check into the weight gainer supplements at feed stores, smartpak.com. If he's not a 'hot' ottb you could also look into feeding soaked alfalfa cubes too.
How much grain does he get right now and do you know what kind it is?

Thanks for your reply! Right now Hero is getting about 3 scoops (3 qt scoop) of 12% sweet feed and 3 scoops (3 qt scoop) of beet pulp through out the day. And free choice of hay. Along with pasture. Not all at once. He started to gain weight and seem to stop an I don't want to keep uping his feed so I'm trying to fine a step up. That's why I like the senior feed with the rice bran and beet pulp and flax seed.

Actually, because Senior Feed is a good all round product for horses of any age, many have their younger horses on Senior Feeds.

ETA: I would dump the sweet feed all together. It's garbage, crap and offers nothing nutritionally at all. The beat pulp is good - take a look at the Tripple Crown Senior.

It's great that your horse is getting free choice of hay, that's definitely a two thumbs up. Roughage is the most important factor.

I would also look into cocosoya. That stuff is great. I have my TB on it. It is crammed packed with Rice Bran, Omega 3's and 6's and plenty of other great ingredients.

Thanks for you input! He is on soaked beet pulp and free choice of hay. Teeth are done. Tried weight builder no real luck. Maybe trying cool calories from smart pak. I don't know. There so many options out there.

Alright Thanks! I think i'm going to order or pick up senior feed tonight. Of course gradually introduce the new feed in. That's also what I read too that some Vets recommend it for all ages of horses. I know it has the amount of feed you should give the horse byy weight but would you say I would be able to give Hero less Senior feed then what I was giving him Sweet feed.

I will look into cocosoya.

I would start out at 6lbs a day. I had Nelson on 10lbs a day and he did well with it.

I had him on Tripple Crown Senior though. I dislike Purina very much, their feeds are very low quality. If you only have access to Purina, I would invest in the Ultium instead.

Of course, introduce is slowly.

Also, sometimes horses digestive systems just cannot do its job entirely, or well enough. So by adding a digestive aid may be needed - pending the horse. Sometimes, their systems just cannot absorb the importancies of the feed to nourish the horse properly, or cannot run the process needed properly - so by adding a digestive aid can help the system work at its best.

I love SmartPaks SmartDigest Ultra - that did a wonderful job for Nelson. And, I would also look into there possibly being ulcers.

There's a lot to factor in, when you have a horse that just isn't gaining the weight needed - but definitely start with getting rid of that cruddy sweet feed. There's NOTHING to it, just lots of un needed sugar. Start out with that, introduce the Senior feed, cocosoya and see where you are from there. That + 24/7 acces to hay and pasture, should help.

If not, I would start to look into ulcers, and digestive aids.

Hmm, Since he was gaining weight nad then stopped I would probably hit him with some good dewormer too maybe Quest. I don't think everyone does, but im a fan of keeping them on a rotaing schedule of wormers.
I second the Ultium feed.. it is super expensive.. but I have seen it work for many hard keepers.

I agree.

Senior feed is very digestible and it is frequently used on younger horses that need a little boost.