What do you use for weight gain?

[Pavon3307]

One of my mares is on the thin side this year and in foal. I can't seem to keep any weight on her. My vet recommended Source WT, but wondered what other folks are using? I was reading about Fat Cat on the SmartPak site.

Just wondering?

[pnalley]

Strategy & oil

[ErinC]

the THB at my place is on Cool Calories 100 and its working nice

[pasorider]

on my mare, I tried Weight Builder, Cool Cal by Smart Pac, Soaked beet pulp among other things, with no luck. Finally my Vet put her on Equine Senior, she is 19, and alfalfa 6x a day. Five feedings were the most I could get down her, but she did gain weight. Then she stopped eating the Equine Senior and I started her on Strategy Healthy Edge with Enrich 32, 2 lbs. of it a day, and she looks wonderful.

[Valrory]

Alfalfa is good for putting on weight. I have a gelding looks the same no matter what feed he's on, but will gain on alfalfa.

[Serendipity]

I use Omelene 400 it is beet pulp base and yet cheaper then beet pulp,its a complete feed.

it has done wonderful things for my horses some to wonderful as i'm working on a diet for them but an example is i have a 23yr gelding that would not put on any weight i checked his teeth and did bloodwork all was fine but you could really see his ribs bad and some of the spine

he has been on 400 for 6 months and looks like a differant horse completely filled back in. I really like the feed and feed it to everything young,old,or bred but if you also need more calf manna is also a good extra boost i'm giving this to my show horse and my young ones 2 cups a day

[SandyMM]

What do you use for weight gain? I can't believe no one has mentioned KitKats and Mountain Dew!:v:

[LynnG]

Have teeth checked. Have fecal test done for worms -type and how many. Really good quality hay - roughage, more then overloading with grain. Is she nervous or something irritating or worrying her like constant flies, knats, etc? If she has something more wrong, you may wish to do a blood test to see is she is deficient in some area, and then correct with supplements.

[Hacienda Radiante]

I can't believe no one has mentioned KitKats and Mountain Dew!:v:

Or CHEESE!

Pavon, how old is your mare? I have several older broodmares, one of whom dropped weight this time last year while in foal. We're religious about deworming and teeth and she is on a 'private paddock' so I couldn't think that she had picked up critters from another horse anyway. Put her on alfalfa and that seemed to help. Added Equine Senior, better. Beet pulp, better still. But she still stayed thinner than I would have liked until she foaled and I could move her to a grass paddock (fescue, thats' why she couldn't be there before). Now she is plumping up nicely, even though she is nursing.

[Pavon3307]

Lynn I had her teeth done in May. I haven't done a fecal, but she's been wormed regularly. The hay at our barn is fantastic....beautiful alfalfa...and is also out on pasture 3-4 times a week. She's on smartpak senior and omega three suppliments (all from smartpak). I also leave the Eckele Alfalfa-Base in her stall, so if she needs it, it's there. I'm feeding Nutrena Safe Choice and some crimped oats added (not much).

You've seen the pictures of Pavon at the show. I felt she needed another 50# on her then.

They are outside 24/7 if possible unless the weather is bad or it is too hot. I just don't understand, it has been very hot here this summer though.

[LynnG]

There are some worms that have developed resistance to different classes of paste wormers. Today they recommend to do a lab fecal to know exactly what types of worms to target. Tapeworms are especially stubborn to get rid of and can pull a horse's condition down.

To get fat, good quality grass pasture and hay - free choice, make sure she is getting her share of the food and hay. I've tried different supplements, can't say one works better..but the increased quality roughage does well, and increased carbs in grain. Go to feeding 3-4 times a day also, so the horse can digest it all better.

Otherwise, if all fails, pull blood and run some tests... to be sure everything is in normal ranges.

Otherwise... ideal is to put on a new grass "clean" pasture where other horses haven't been in close to a year.

[loslocos]

best stuff ever, by source. I even had my mare in a few mags with her results

[motorgypsy]

I'd get the fecal done first.

then if she's by herself or with another horse that is a bit thin, a double compressed alfalfa pasture block is by far the easiest way to put on weight. they have it 24/7 to eat on. If you can't do this you can at least pen her several times a day to give her alfalfa and extra grain.

As far as grain we use Triple Crown senior 14/10 fat, beet pulp based but there are several other high fat feeds like Seminole Wellness senior, Seminole Perfect 12, Purina Ultium. Haven't tried the omelene 400 but we also prefer beet pulp based because of founder risk but look for high fat and protein for a pregnant mare. Be sure she has a salt block and a mineral block both.

Put out fly bags for flies as you don't want to risk insecticides on her.

Founder risk is very low with alfalfa by the way - lower than grass or grass hays even. You don't have to soak it and it is what is recommended to bring back starving horses and is fed after surgeries also.

As far as high fat substitutes we have fed Nutrena empower which is good, Buckeye Ultimate Finish which is good and we've just added corn oil to the feed but that's probably more expensive than getting the feed with the fat already in it. Rice bran is good IF it has calcium added and it will say on the bag. A lot of the weight gain products are over priced. It's cheaper to just get a good high fat feed. Triple Crown also makes a high fat additive if I remember correctly and I'm sure Seminole does also. They are all good.

Let us know what works. We have a very thin old mare also but our problem is - she won't eat unless her friends are with her and she shares. They don't run her away, they just eat with her and get fat as pigs. We have a feeding pen made of panels with stall mats on the ground and we tie her friends outside it and feed her inside but it's not the same as having her on alfalfa 24/7. She will gain on that but it's dangerous for the others to get pig fat which they do.