Appendix QH not gaining weight, ideas?

I don't have anything to add to help you with your horse, but I can shed some light on the bales of hay from TSC.

Those bales are compressed bales. They look small but can actually weigh between 75-80 lbs. Once you open up the packaging and cut the ties, it should expand a bit. Be CAREFUL how much you feed because it's compressed, it's deceiving. Be sure to weigh it :)

Good. Get some bloodwork done too re: the anemia and general state of health.
Keep us updated

Also, since you mention how sandy it was where you got him, maybe he has a lot of sand sitting in his intestines? Weight loss and poor performance are symptoms of sand in the intestines. You can take a manure ball and test it for sand content yourself:

Cool Verona! Thxs, I'll try it

Couple things.

1. Weight your feed. Don't feed by volume, feed by weight.


2. Split up your feedings. A gallon of feed all at once isnt helping. Half of that ration is potentially doing harm by not being digested in the small intestine and reaching the hind gut causing acidosis issues. Not to mention a waste of money. 3 or 4 lbs at one time is all the horse should get in one sitting.

3. Feed free choice hay and think about investing in a slow feed net if you need him to regulate his intake to keep the hay lasting. This will help regulate the horses blood sugar by providing steady slow intake of calories as his gut was meant to function. Very important.

4. I hate most Purina and Nutrena feeds. For almost the same price I can feed Triple Crown which is a vastly superior feed. I love their Sr feed for horses that need to gain weight. Good stuff. If you have to feed Purina or Nutrena, THe best two feeds they offer for weight gain are either Purina's Ultium or Nutrena's Mare and Foal in the orange bag (rice bran based pellets) believe it or not. I've fed Nutrenas Prime before when I couldnt get anything else. It was ok.

Trinity, the Nutrena's you mention are both Life Design. That's what I suggested earlier, Life Design Senior. Did wonders for my mare. With only 3 lbs daily, along with free choice hay.
I wasn't too thrilled about their Safe Choice product line.

Do you happened to have a Poulin Grain supplier where you live? I swear by their grains. My appendix gelding looked similar your boy and no matter what combination of grain, hay, and supplements I gave him he just wouldn't gain a lot of weight.
I had gone to Equine Affair in MA and talked with every single grain dealer there and ended up going with Poulin Grain. I started him on Equi Pro 10:12 and with in weeks I could see a difference. He did great for 4 years until health issues arose and I ended up having to have him put down last spring he was 25.

If you could get your hands on their new product Equi Pro FibreMax I bet your boy would plump right up.
EQUI-PRO® FIBRE-MAX™ | Equine | Poulin Grain - Dairy, Equine, Pet, And Livestock Feeds

Thanks for the info, I don't believe we have that brand of food here, I live in a small town in Alabama, but Atlanta is about 90 miles away, they might have somethinng there.

I texted the previous owner, but haven't heard back. She sells a lot of TB and TB crosses

Do you know what brands of grain you can get in Alabama?

Has your boy been scoped for ulcers? Might be worth having done as ulcers can cause horses not to properly put on weight also.

I thought the hay looked poor also. But I would not overload him with a gallion of grain in 1 feeding. That will surely cause colic. I would spread that out to a minimum of 2 feedings and possibly 3