Underweight Horse

We bought a 16 year old Arab/Pinto a month ago. He is 16.1 and very thin.

I have been feeding him for the last month and I don't see much improvement though others say he looks 100% better. He defintely has more energy.

I got a weight tape yesterday and he came up as 880 pounds!

What should a light built Arab weigh? Any ballparks?

The day we brought him home:


A couple of days ago (he is on the right and hard to see):

At 16.1 h he should weigh at the very least 1,000 to 1,100 pounds.

My 14.2 h Arabian weighs about 850-900 lbs.

Nice looking boy. I love pintos.

Thanks!

I was thinking 1,000. Dang I thought he needed 100 pounds, he has a long way to go. Poor guy!
I don't understand why people let horses get in this condition.

No, I don't either. They should give 'em away before they let 'em starve.

Do you think he is maybe a hard keeper? I had a 19 yo Saddlebred that looked bone rail thin...even though he was getting 10 gallons of mash a day. I can't remember how much it was dry...but I soaked it. I used grain, beet pulp, and a few alfalfa cubes in it. And that's not even counting the free choice hay he had. I had the vet out several times and he told me that other than his weight, he looked totally healthy...great coat condition, and very bright eyes. He told me that it could be his age, or just the fact that he was a hard keeper. He also told me that there was really nothing he could do for him. It was kind of odd, he would pick up weight and look perfectly normal in the winter; but loose the weight in the early spring. It wasn't just the winter coat that made him look healthy either.

I do think he will be a hard keeper. He has to have a high metabolism. He paces and walks the pasture.
He is so nosy! Any activity or noise, he is over there checking it out.

Right now I am giving him twice a day; Purina Senior (switching to Triple Crown
Cause I hear it is better), shredded Beet Pulp, Vegetable Oil and he is on pasture
So can eat all day. Plus I offer them Alfalfa/Grass hay mix.

One of the big things I notice with him, is that he has a big lack of muscle tone, which would definitely make him look thinner. He definitely needs more weight on him, which from what I can tell from the second picture looks like you have done a decent job on, now he just needs to build up muscle, which will fill him out even better. We have an Arabian mare at our barn who's owner just left her there, and she doesn't get out, she's at a healthy weight, but she looks like she's really underweight, but her only problem is that she has no muscle tone. We've had a vet look at her, and he said to just start working her slowly, and build up that muscle, but that she doesn't need to add anymore total fat to her body.

I have been working him in the round pen. He started off just walking and barely trotting.
Now he gets in there and lopes and tries to shake his head and show off. Lol He is adorable!

The kids have been riding him for 15-20 minutes at a time, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Just walking.

Does that sound like enough or too much? If he acts tired, we stop.

From what I can see from the pic, your doing a good job with him! He is very pretty and muscle tone will definetly fill him out nicely! Keep up the good work. Weight gain should be a gradual process anyway, it wouldn't be healthy for him to put pounds upon pounds on very quickly anyway. But he looks great!

Just read your recent post.....and forgot to add something... trot, trot, trot! It's the best excersise to build muscle tone, atleast for my arab it worked. I would mix it up a bit...I would make him do a working trot for 5 min. Or so, then down to a slow trot for 5 to 10min. And just kept doing that, and did lots of circles and figure 8's. It worked wonders for him!