Weight problem

I have serious problems with keeping weight on my mare. She is holsteiner, almost 14yo, dewormed regulary, her teeth done one month ago. I have her for 3 years, she always looses weight when she's in heat. And even when she's not I have problems... She isn't a calm horse, she's always doing something. I'll try to get some pics.
Her diet: about 12kg of hay, 1L of beet pulp, if she works 0,5L of oats. Now in winter she wasn't working a lot. We're starting now, I'm riding her for about half an hour, slowly getting to longer rides. In the summer I usually ride for 1,5 or 2hours and adjusting her oats.
What do you think? What should I do?

You could try a probiotic of some kind, increasing the beetpulp (assuming its fed soaked?), maybe a grass forage of some kind?

I'm answering this post assuming you are not in the USA, so i'm not sure what is available to you where you live

Good luck!

What brands of feed are available to you?

I would give her free choice hay if you can, if not maybe bump it up by ten pounds or so. You could put her on a ration balancer (there are different kinds for different brands of feed) and give her a little more beet pulp to go with it, cutting out the oats completely. They're pretty high in sugars and starches, which could be why she's a little hyper.

Hope this helps!

I'd go with more hay. Horses are meant to consume the bulk of their feed in bulk/forage so the more hay you can give the better i'd think. Having an analysis of the nutritional value/content of your hay/forage will be helpful as well in deciding if/what more you need to add to her diet. :)

Hi,

I too would start with more hay. Horses should get around 2.5% bwt in forage daily min. So 12.5kg is just that if she's 500kg. Making part of her forage ration alfalfa/lucerne will likely also help, as it's high in energy but low in sugars & also rich in protein & many other nutrients.

I'd cut the oats & replace them with something healthier - grain/starchy feed is not great for horses generally, especially if she's not getting it regularly, so will be less able to digest it properly. If you do stick with the oats, ensure they're spread over at least a few feeds daily and cut down, but don't ditch them completely on the days she isn't worked, so her system is still used to them.

I would also be supplementing with a good quality nutritional supp that's appropriate for her/her diet, as her weight may be more about lack/imbalance of nutrients than calories. I find FeedXL.com to be a great & economical service for helping me sort out that subject.

Thanks everybody. I tried to give her free choice hay, but in time hay was everywhere in the stable... Anyway we got new hay this week and it looks much better than the previous was. Thankfully this year we will have enough our hay and it won't be necessary to buy some lousy hay... :S Horses loves to eat that one much more :)
I was thinking before about cutting out the oats, but I wasn't sure if it is necessary for her. I'll definitely give her more beetpulp. And spring is slooowly coming so they will be able to graze a lot.
I'll do some research about the brands, I know Dodson and Horrell, and few others but I have to check in the shop...

I like that site, but it's not registered in my country yet :(

excuse me for being ignorant - but not registered in your country yet? I don't understand. Is your internet/website availability limited by someone?

I don't know, it says I tried to fill in " register your interest" and my country isn't on the list, only the name of previous country, where there were 3 countries in it. I took that, I'll see how it'll progress...

I had a terrible time with my 24 year old last year and tried everything and this is what I learned:

I give her Safe Choice Feed by nutrena 1/2 scoop, 1 scoop of Alfalfa Cubes and Focus Sr supplement. THIS DID WONDERS....she also has free hay choice, just a basic harmathia roll...but it put weight on her like nothing else. If you don't have safe choice in your area, find a feed like it- it is a 14% feed with 7% fat. This is an older arabian who is constantly ridden, so naturally she is hard to keep, but this has done wonders for her. I tried beet pulp myself for her and it didn't seem to work, but this definitely has!