Seven Simple Steps For Putting Weight On Your Horse

While many of us struggle to keep weight off our horses (and ourselves!) it seems a largenumber of horse owners have equal trouble when it comes to putting weight on their horses.Putting weight on, and keeping weight on a horse that is a "hard keeper" can sometimes be afrustrating task for the horse's owner. But, it needn't be a difficult thing to do.

The following are 7 simple steps you should take on the journey to putting weight on yourhorse:

Step 1: Worms
Make sure your horse is wormed with an effective wormer. If you are not sure which wormer touse ask your veterinarian and make sure that you are worming for Bots as well as Tapewormsat the appropriate times of year.

Step 2: Teeth
Have a qualified dentist correct any issues with your horse's teeth. If it is painful ordifficult for your horse to chew he/she just physically won't be able to consume the amountof feed needed to gain weight.

Step 3: Health
Ask your veterinarian to carry out a full health check to make sure there is no underlyingdisease like gastric ulcers (which will be common in off the track or spellingthoroughbreds) that are going to prevent the horse from eating and gaining weight. If you dodiscover your horse has a problem with ulcers have them treated with appropriatemedications. Likewise if any other disease conditions are found work with your veterinarianto resolve them.

Please note that if your horse is emaciated and has come from a starvation situation youshould follow the guidelines published by the American Association of Equine Practitionersfor caring for starved/emaciated horses. Introducing feeds too quickly into the diets ofthese horses can result in 'refeeding syndrome' and death. The guidelines can be found onthe AAEPsite.

Step 4: Free Choice Forage
Weight gain occurs when the amount of calories provided in the horse's diet exceeds theamount of calories the horse 'needs' on a daily basis - the excess calories are stored bythe horse and thus contribute to weight gain. Many horses have problems gaining weightsimply because they aren't being fed enough to gain weight.

After addressing worms, teeth and health, the most important feeding step when youwant a horse to gain weight is to provide as much pasture or grass/meadow hay as the horsecan eat. You can do this by either giving your horse 24 hour access to pasture or by feedingjust enough hay that a little is left over each day. If you can devise a way to feed the hayat ground level without the horse walking all over it will mean the left over hay isn'twasted. If you can't find grass/meadow hay, oaten hay is a suitable substitute.

Step 5: Lucerne (Alfalfa)
Feed lucerne hay. Lucerne (known as alfalfa in North America) is a high energy forage andmakes a valuable contribution to raising a horse's calorie intake above their dailyrequirement to encourage weight gain. Lucerne will also provide your horse with good qualityprotein which will facilitate muscle development. This is particularly important if yourhorse suffered muscle wastage at the time that weight loss occurred.

It is difficult to make a recommendation as to exactly how much lucerne should be fed aseach horse's requirement will vary depending on the degree of weight gain required, theirtemperament (as occasionally lucerne hay will cause behavioural changes in some horses) andthe quality of grass/meadow hay being fed. Between 0.5 kg and 1 kg of lucerne hay per 100 kgbody weight per day is a good place to start.

Step 6: High energy feeds
Add high energy feedstuffs to your horse's diet. If the desired rate of weight gain is notachieved after implementing the steps above, your horse still requires additional caloriesover and above that provided by the pasture and hay being fed. To increase your horse'scalorie intake even further you now have three high energy feed options to consider addingto your horse's diet. These are:
i. High energy fibres - including soybean hulls, copra meal and sugarbeet pulp. Thesefeedstuffs are similar to pasture and hay, however the fibre they contain is more readilydigested by the bacteria in the hindgut meaning they contain a similar amount of calories ascereal grains. These feeds are particularly well suited to horses that become excitable andhyperactive when fed grain based feeds.
ii. Cereal grains and grain based feeds - cereal grains are well known as being highenergy feeds and are useful in the diet of horses that need to gain weight. However somegrains and grain based feeds are more suitable than others from a weight gain perspective.When selecting grains to feed to encourage weight gain it is critical that the starch withinthe grain (which is the high energy component) is digested in the small intestine.
Grains that are digested in the small intestine will provide your horse with more calories(and therefore more weight gain). Grains will also ensure your horse avoids problems withhindgut acidosis which can cause laminitis and will also reduce the amount of energy yourhorse can extract from its pasture and hay. To ensure the starch is digested in the smallintestine, select grains or grain based feeds that have been cooked (such as via extrusionprocess Pryde's use).
Cereal grains should not be used in the diets of horses with Cushing's disease orthose susceptible to laminitis.
iii. High fat feeds or oils - high fat feeds and oils are the highest energyfeedstuffs you can give a horse. Fats and oils hold two major advantages over high energyfibrous feeds and cereal grains. The first is they are energy dense - for example 1 cup ofvegetable oil contains as many calories as 1.2 kg of oaten chaff. This has obviousadvantages for finicky or small horses that won't eat large meals. The second advantage ofhigh fat feeds and oils is they don't tend to make a horse as hyperactive as the samequantity of energy supplied in the form of cereal grains. In addition they do not carry therisks of digestive upsets that accompany cereal grains. High fat feeds include rice bran andrice bran based feeds, copra meal, and any of the full fat oilseeds such as soybean andsunflower.
The 'correct' balance of these feeds is going to depend on your individual horse.

Step 7: Balanced Diet
Make sure the diet is balanced—if your horse's diet is unbalanced from a protein, vitaminand mineral perspective it is likely that this will prevent your horse from gaining weight,regardless of how much you are feeding it. Using the FeedXL nutrition software will makesure your horse's diet is balanced and that there are no deficiencies which may bepreventing weight gain.

A Warning About "Weight Gain" Diets
Unfortunately when we start feeding our horses a well balanced diet with calories in excessof their requirements, they tend to try and find gainful employment for all their new foundenergy which often results in unruly, undisciplined and at times dangerous behaviour when weride them.

The question then is, how do you feed your horse for weight gain withouthaving them trying to kill you when you ride them? The answer to this million dollarquestion is ... you can't, unless your horse is well disciplined to begin with. If you own ahorse that you can only just control when it is not being fed for weight gain, then youshould not expect that you will be able to feed it gross amounts of feed to encourage weightgain AND still ride it safely, because it is just not going to happen. The golden rule iseducation first, feeding for weight gain second. The exception to this rule is whenyou have an emaciated horse that needs to be fed to gain weight before you can begin ridingit.

You may still find that a well educated horse becomes a little more difficult to handle whenbeing fed a high energy weight gain diet. In this case, altering the types of feeds you areusing may help. The high energy fibrous feeds and high fat feeds and oils tend to have theability to promote weight gain without having as much effect on their behaviour. But thisisn't always the case so you still need to be careful.

When Will Your Horse Start Gaining Weight?
You should not expect that your horse will instantly begin to gain weight once you haveplaced him on a 'weight gain diet'. Some horses and particularly those who have come from anemaciated state will have internal damage caused by weight loss that they must repair beforevisible weight gain will occur. Even if this is not the case visible weight gain may takeweeks to appear. In short, make sure your horse is healthy, develop and feed a well balanceddiet using your preferred ingredients, don't skimp on feeding hay and be patient.

Dr. Nerida Richards (PhD) is Australia's foremost expert in Horse Nutrition. This article iscourtesy of FeedXL DIY Diet Planner forHorses. If you would like be among the first to receive FeedXL newsletters thenplease consider subscribing to FeedXL.

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