Weight builders?

What are you calling a flake of hay ? A flake is 4 inches ,when pulling off a retangular bale that is 100 + lbs . Is the hay stemmy ? Weedy ?
I use corn oil or canola oil whichever is on sale, All in one or A+M , beet pulp,
And LMF sr feed . And hay in front of them all the time, You do need to check that the hay in the feeder is not all stems, those I pull out and give to the younger horses . When did you float his teeth and deworm last ?

I don't exactly know how to explain a flake...like the bale is split up into 14 flakes and he gets one of those, twice a day.

The hay is not weedy at all. Had some stems of course but he eats it all. He loves the "flowery" stuff. Not sure what to call it, but it is the soft stuff in the alfalfa. But he eats all of it. Loves his alfalfa.

He is current on everything.

He is at a great weight right now. I just don't want him to lose anymore especially since I am going to start working him more. He has lost some since pulling the beet pulp which is what I was afraid of.

Agreed, and no skinny mares at our place.
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How much oil had you been giving in the past? If you use oil for weight gain you need a good amount. My minimum is 4oz.
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This is what I always thought too until I experienced a couple of truly hard keepers. The sad fact is that there are some horses who will not eat for as many hours of the day as they need to keep weight on with just grass and hay.

I've owned and met a couple of horses now that are just picky and don't love eating the way horses are supposed to. I'm talking about horses that have their teeth done yearly, are wormed, have been checked for ulcers/bloodwork done and are perfectly healthy.

My own mare had good pasture all day, and high quality grass hay as much as she could eat. Meaning she had 2 flakes left over in the morning. Then we added to alfalfa, free choice. Like the OP, this horse would not eat anything damp, and if you mixed oil or beet pulp with grain she would not touch any of it.

Two things have been very successful for me: I added a high fat supplement which gives more calories in a smaller amount. I use Nutrena Empower Boost, and it can be fed 1-2 lbs. Daily. It is rice bran fat and palatable to my horse that didn't like other rice bran based pellets.

The second thing I did was switch my complete feed from a senior feed that had a high NSC rating to a low starch feed. I believe the sugar content in the senior was making my horse burn more calories by pacing and running around, so it was counterproductive. I was feeding the calories only to have them burned off.

I would prefer to ideally feed the Purina complete feed called WellSolve LS but it is a bit expensive considering my horse still needs 7 lbs. Daily to keep weight on and a bag is $30. It has only 11% NSC. For $20 a bag I can buy Nutrena Special Care which has a fairly low NSC of 15% and is fine since my horse is not insulin resistant.

I just want to dispel the myth that all horses can be kept at a good weight with enough grass and hay. Somewhere in our unnatural breeding practices we have also bred out the ability to survive on a natural diet in some horses.

I think he looks good. He's a TB not a tubby qh. If time allows, split the Senior in to 2 feedings, he'll get more out of it. Feed it in the widest container you have. Eg I use feed pans rather than pails which enable a horse to hastily eat it. The faster feed goes in, the faster it goes thro him. Also invest in a couple of small mesh hay nets and stuff them as hard as you can and hang them as high as you can. The nets will slow him down which means his gut will extract more from the hay.

Yes, but without knowing the weight of the bale to begin with that still doesn't define how much you are actually feeding. 2/14ths of a 50 pound bale is considerably less than 2/14ths of a 100 pound bale. This is why it's better to measure feed in weight than flakes, scoops, etc.

Gottatrot - that describes my hard keeper all the way. On hay and grass alone she will be at least 100lbs underweight. Her stall is kept full of hay but she really has no desire to eat more than 20lbs per day and some days that is a stretch. She will eat beet pulp and rice bran though but they don't do much. Oil and alfalfa are the key for her. She will chow down alfalfa hay all day long. But the oil must be in large quantities and different things will work differently with each horse. But I will never try "weight builder" those things are usually nothing more than a bunch of hot energy. There are much better ways to get calories in a horse, like the fat supplements you mention.

Also agree with saddlebag that this horse looks pretty good for the breed and age as of now. But I also understand not wanting them to lose weight thru the winter.

Again, give more alfalfa.
And there ARE horses who do not well on hay/grass alone. I've yet to see a TB who would look good on forage only diet. They're bred for fast growth and early maturity. They need some type of grain(supplemental feed) to thrive. The OP's horse is a TB and a senior, to top it off.

Calories per pound:
Purina senior: 1225
Nutrena Life Design Senior: 1318
Triple Crown Senior: 1546
Purina Strategy: 1500