Weight help please!

I have a 35 yr. Old TB gelding whom is usually at this time of the year in good weight, unfortunately this year he is a lot thinner than previous years. When we go into winter we like to have a few hundred xtra pounds on our horses but he would have to gain about 4-5 hundred to make that mark. We already lost one TB this summer (to Cushings and cancer)and we would like to see this guy make it as long as he can comfortably. He currently gets beet pulp, and about oh, I would say maybe 6 pounds of grain daily of the Purina senior. He also has free range of a nice grassy field and free choice hay all day long. Is there anything else we can do to put the pounds on him pronto before winter hits???

I had no luck with purina senior, I switched my 36 year old arab/quarter to triple crown senior and have seen a significant improvement I have also added alfalfa pellets and hard keeper solution to his diet. He is by no means fat but he looks a lot better then he did this time last year. Also feeding the food soaked will help the oldies with poor/no teeth digest it better

Here is the thread with pics of my oldie and his weight gain since switching from purina senior
How much more weight does he need to gain about?

I forgot to add that if his teeth are poor he may not be able to eat the hay so getting chopped hay or soaked hay cubes may also help put on the lbs...do you have a pic to we can see how much weight he needs to gain?

Firstly, your boy looks a lot like my morgan qh! Your guy is a super cutie!!! My guy that has the weight issue is a little bit heavier than yours but probably not by much. His grain is soaked everyday because (and I forgot to mention this) he is a windsucker and has NO top teeth. Obviously he is on old guy and I want to keep him as comfortable as possible, and although I would hate to lose a second horse this year if it comes down to him not seeming like himself I will push to have him humanely put down. He also has a stage 6 heart murmur. And the vet told us 10 years ago he could drop dead at any minute and never to ride him again...yet here he is still kicking...lol

And I do not have any current pictures of him but it is the TB in the album labled The Phoenix aka "Guy"

Old horses do start losing weight as it's system no longer processes the nutrients very well. Because of our long bitterly cold winters, it was a hard decision but I put my horse down. He was very thin and regardless of diet the pounds slowly came off. He was thin to the point I knew he wouldn't make the winter and I didn't want to waken to find a pack of wolves at him. A little more than I'd have been able to bear.

Hi,

Unfortunately it doesn't really do them any good to fatten them up a lot before winter, especially suddenly, especially with a lot of grain. It's about as good for them as it would be for us to 'pack on the pounds'. Given that you've just lost a horse thru Cushings, I would have thought a vet would have told you this. I would instead up his ration as it gets cold, to hopefully prevent him losing much. Also especially if you are going to feed grain, may be telling you what you know, but it is even more important to feed little & often, rather than only a few larger feeds daily. While most healthy horses are fine unrugged, he may benefit from a good warm rug, so he doesn't need to put so much energy into temperature regulation.

Chopped hay or chaff and beet pulp is likely better than normal hay for him at this stage of his life, as his teeth probably don't allow him to chew hay sufficiently. Alfalfa is low in sugars but high in energy & nutrients, so is generally a very good 'conditioning' food, but needs to be *part* of a balanced diet, being so high in calcium & other as to imbalance other nutrients if fed straight. High protein & such can be a prob especially for older horses tho, so worth considering. Rice bran is a good conditioning feed too. Adding a little fresh ground linseed to their feed, can help with addition of fats as well as omega 3s.