Horse needs to gain weight-HELP!!
 

I have a 9 year old Registered Paint. He has heaves which are under control. He slightly coliked on me about a month ago, since then he has dropped weight on his rump considerably. I am not sure why, but he has been wormed regularly and doesn't seem to be having any other weight issues except for a little in his belly area that we noticed. I have since put him on a Textured 12-10 sweet feed and increased the amount. If anyone has any suggestions on a supplement or other grain or additional grain i could give him please let me know. He gets 5 flakes of 2nd cut hay every day.

My suggestion would be to stop the sweet feed. Too much sugar, plus the grain doesn't stay in the body long enough to digest and be absorbed to do the horse any good.

For a COPD mare we have boarded here, I use Empower Boost along with SafeChoice.

For a filly that needed to gain weight, I feed 1/2 senior and 1/2 youth at p.m. feeding and safechoice with empower in the a.m.

More hay if you can too.

mls has great suggestions.

Also you could have him tested to see if he is missing something in his diet or to check to make sure he is 100% parasite free.

Thanks
 

MLS thank you for the suggestion. He has been checked for parasites and is clear. He is healthy otherwise and it's not a bad weight, but I can see the difference and it bothers me.

Good to catch now and get the weight back on before it gets cold.

beet Pulp?
 

Does anyone think giving him beat pulp would help? I had him on it before, but he wasn't too crazy about it, but would eat it after everything else.

Thanks

i would give him a power pac of panacur. just to make sure. it wouldnt hurt, sometimes things dont show up on fecals

If you have a Purina dealer, I'd grab a bag of Ultium Compete and a bag of Sr feed and drop the sweet feed altogether. Once you've switched him over, then I'd start feeding him for how much you WANT him to weigh, not how much he weighs now and add about 1 lb per feeding of Ultium. If he doesn't have any medical issues (other than the heaves) he ought to gain the weight right back.

Beet pulp is a by product of the sugar beet. Roughage, filler. It reallys fills out a calf before going in the show ring, but as a weight gain product for horses - not so much.