A couple of pounds of rice bran in combination with beet pulp often does a nice job of putting weight on horses. Don't go overboard with fat though, something that can be easy to do if you're feeding another fat source: oil.
Another option for feed for older horses with poor dentition is to soak food to a mash or gruel consistency. Adding Dengie's Alfa-Beet or Grass Pellets to a hay replacer ration is an ideal way of softening it as well as providing extra calories for those horses that need to gain weight.
Forages recommended for these horses include high-quality timothy, grass mixes, or a grass-alfalfa mix (no more than 50% alfalfa). Well-fortified feeds made especially for seniors are also suggested, as they often contain energy sources that are easily fermented in the hindgut.
What is the fastest way to put weight on a horse? High fat, high protein grain combined with a rich alfalfa hay can quickly put weight on a horse, if there is not an underlying medical condition.
Speedi-Beet is extremely versatile. Feed it in small amounts to overweight horses as a carrier for a multivitamin and mineral supplement or in larger quantities to a poor doer for weight gain, or to a working horse for energy. Remember to collect your tokens for our loyalty scheme, more info here. So easy to prepare!
If your horse needs to gain weight, high-quality forage is key. Alfalfa, for instance, is denser in calories and protein than grass hays, making it a good option for weight gain. Next, we have concentrates, which are energy-dense feeds such as grains and commercially prepared feeds.
Adding highly digestible fibre sources such as sugar beet is beneficial for promoting weight gain in horses. Dengie Alfa-Beet is an ideal feed for underweight horses as it combines alfalfa with unmolassed sugar beet. Studies have shown this also helps to improve the digestibility of other fibre sources in the diet.
Weight loss is often the most visible sign that a horse has entered into old age. Whether it's due to dental problems, reduced digestive efficiency or inappropriate nutrition, horses over age 20 become less able to process and absorb the energy needed to keep them in full flesh.
The main cause of weight loss in older horses is the horse's inability to consume and utilize enough nutrients to keep up with body mass. Providing a high-quality complete feed and supplemental calories through a fat supplement is vital.
Lucerne and soymeal are excellent sources of good quality protein. As a rule of thumb, if a horse is eating grass and you are also feeding it, all the hay and chaff should be lucerne to make sure your horse is getting enough protein.
Horses that have a hard time chewing long-stemmed hay still need the nutrients a forage-based diet provides, which is where owners need to get creative. In those instances, soaked hay pellets or cubes, soaked beet pulp, or soaked complete senior feeds can be good alternatives.
Therefore, the key to feeding older horses is to use high quality protein from sources like alfalfa, soybean meal and canola meal without oversupplying their requirements.
When horses are in their senior years, it can be even more difficult for them to maintain or gain weight due to many factors such as loss of ability to chew and loss of muscle mass due to normal aging.
Answer. Adding vegetable oil, such as canola oil, is a useful way to boost the caloric density of your horse's diet without significantly increasing his feed intake. Another fat source to consider is stabilized rice bran, a high-fat supplement that is often pelleted.
Health issues
Dental problems are commonly cited as a reason for inability to gain or maintain weight. Horses must chew their food thoroughly in order to digest it completely; if their teeth are in poor or neglected shape, they might not be able to chew.
Typically, a horse will begin to be considered a senior between the ages of 15-18. By age 20, a horse is definitely a senior, but that does not mean that they cannot be ridden or still enjoyed. Many horses in their teens and 20s today are continuing to live active lives.
Weekly weight gain is very variable so in very underweight or emaciated horses it can take up to 3-10 months for them to return to their ideal weight.
Large redworms are one of the most dangerous internal parasites but fortunately are much less common now due to the use of chemical wormers. They migrate through the blood vessels of the intestine causing significant bleeding and damage. They can cause rapid weight loss, diarrhoea and surgical colic.
In most cases, a simple change in haylage for horses will promote weight gain e.g. changing from hay to a good quality haylage or from straw-based chaff to an alfalfa-based chaff, such as HorseHage Alfalfa or Mollichaff Alfalfa Oil.
Feed lucerne hay. Lucerne (known as alfalfa in North America) is a high energy forage and makes a valuable contribution to raising a horse's calorie intake above their daily requirement to encourage weight gain. Lucerne will also provide your horse with good quality protein which will facilitate muscle development.
There are three common ways to weigh a horse. The most accurate method is to use a livestock scale. The next best method is to estimate your horse's weight using a weight tape or online calculator. The alternative is “eyeballing it,” which is least accurate.
Feedstuffs high in fat include vegetable oils (100%), rice bran (15-18%), flax seeds (30-40%), and heat-treated soybeans (15-22%). In addition, commercially available fat-added concentrates typically contain 5–14% crude fat.
Fibre-Beet can be fed in larger quantities than Speedi-Beet and so is a superb conditioning feed and is ideal for those needing or preferring to control starch intake. In fact, if your horse is in light work, Fibre-Beet, and a balancer, plus a good forage are all he needs for a fully balanced diet.