[299042]

hey so I have some questions about my horsesweight and build.

so this is my horse ^
she is a 7 year old ottb mare
I have some questions about her weight and build. so obviously she is ribby but aside from her ribs, does she look too bad weight-wise? keep in mind she was like this when we got her and she has good quality hay and grain. she is on about 3 flakes of T/A each day with night turnout (5pm-7am). she gets a scoop and a half of senior feed.
I genuinely can't tell what's wrong with her build but something looks off. I ride her typically 4-5 times a week and I'll either do flatwork, trailriding, galloping, or jumping work with her.
What would you guys advise I do to work on her build? I think its a topline issue from what I can see but Id like other peoples input.

for some background info this was her when she raced ^
so I don't think it's a problem with her natural build as you can see in this picture she looks just overall better.
I'm just mainly trying to find out:
1) what's wrong with her build/what is need to work on
2)what excerises I can do to make her look more "correct"
any help is appreciated!

the picture above is kinda what I'm aiming for her to look like if that makes sense.

 

[horselovinguy]

The picture of your horse, wet is fantastic and the coat is slicked and not hiding anything.

So, nice horse, but she is thin.
She needs a solid hundred pounds on her frame and I am one who does not like to see horses fat.
In your mare though her markers are showing...
Shoulder point, tailhead to prominent, pointed rump, her rump top not softly rounded but angular, her SI {pelvic} joint is not well covered ....her wither is prominent with no surrounding fat pad and her shoulder joining her neck is, well, she is underweight.
She has little muscle-tone either, like none.
She is rather a steep croup and straight hind legs, but...she should still have more meat on her bones covering that joint.

So, her hay is not enough for her... She needs fed about 2% of her full weight daily in hay eaten. A 1000 pound horse needs 20 pounds of hay minimum and she guessing she is about 16 hands, maybe more needs 20 - 26 pounds truthfully. {half a average bale of hay for her to eat all by herself!}. Fully fleshed & weighted she is going to be between 1,200 - 1,300 pounds..
You can not count on pasture to feed the horse but to occupy the horse unless the horse is out to graze 20 out of 24 hours every day.
So, double the amount of hay she is fed, and feed according to a bags directions for a horse in moderate work since she needs to gain.
Horses are fed by weight, not volume....
Her senior feed is about 4 pounds worth if you use a normal sized scoop not the 4 quart size which is large in appearance.
She appears really healthy just needs more calories to eat.
You need to feed in more that the horse burns just being a horse and every move she makes, activity he does with you burns her energy stores which are fat off her frame.
15,000 calories a day to survive.
23,000 to gain...
33,000 for one recovering from emaciation or serious illness is a rule of thumb.

A chart about foods and how many calories per pound is below and another about hay...

https://laminitishelp.org/CalorieFeed.pdf

Calorie Requirements for Horses | Calories in Horse Feed | Dayville, WA

www.dayvillesupply.com

All Flakes of Hay are Not Created Equal

I was called out to farm to review a horse that had started to lose weight. The owner explained to me that the horse had been diagnosed with ulcers, so her v

www.horsefeedblog.com

Now weigh your foods fed and the do some math and see where you are...
My gut is...
Double her hay fed.
Feed her 2 heaping scoops of senior feed...
I guarantee you she will gain if you feed her enough.
The last weight put on a horse is the hardest to get and keep on the frame...it will come, just give it time.
Take pictures same place, same stance, same time of day for shadows on the body and also do tape measurements so you will see the improvements our mind tricks us to not see when we see often....measurements and pictures don't lie.
She is no longer racing fit, so indeed thinner than what you want.
🐴....

 

[baysfordays]

She’s pretty!
To me it looks like she needs topline & muscle over all
My Ottb looked similar to her when I got him, took a few months for him to get topline and muscle, on the right feed and supplements.
some exercises I used was pole work..
W/T/C over poles, I’ve done figure eights, pin wheels, switch backs, bending lines, bending bounces massacre, figure 8 bounce, serpentine, ETC. They all seemed to contribute.
I also lunged him over jumps, he’s free jumped 3’ft but I only lunged him up to 2’ft.
Once my TB got weight and muscle, he looked stout. She might end up having more of an athletic build rather then a more stout one? I don’t know tons about builds, so I’ll let the others tell you.
She doesn’t have ulcers right?
I wish you luck!

 

[horselovinguy]

What you see you can't identify is she is straighter legs because her butt is high with the SI joint so prominent.
Have a feeling she would benefit from a chiro visit and from a vet prescribed medication to fix fore and hind gut ulcers...she just has that drawn-up look where her barrel meets her hind end...
Signs of possible gastric upset and ulcers. being she came to you like this and her racing picture and rehoming picture....
Get the vet to prescribe prescription medicine to heal ulcers, then watch closely as she may benefit from a acid reducer fed daily...
🐴...

 

[tinyliny]

What you see you can't identify is she is straighter legs because her butt is high with the SI joint so prominent.
Have a feeling she would benefit from a chiro visit and from a vet prescribed medication to fix fore and hind gut ulcers...she just has that drawn-up look where her barrel meets her hind end...
Signs of possible gastric upset and ulcers. being she came to you like this and her racing picture and rehoming picture....
Get the vet to prescribe prescription medicine to heal ulcers, then watch closely as she may benefit from a acid reducer fed daily...
🐴...

I agree with the above post, especially the bolded portion. the way her hind legs are is a bit sickle hocked, and i wonder if her Sacro- illiac joint is aligned correcctly.

 

[TurnNBurnBarrels]

Thoroughbreds are not easy keepers. They need grain, and she will to gain weight properly. Agree with the above posts, however. Definitely look into those grain reccomendations for her, especially the senior feed!

 

[QtrBel]

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