keeping weight on

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Stephanie, a lot of people try to maintain or put on weight by
free-feeding hay and not feeding enough energy (read "calories"). 
There's nothing wrong with feeding hay free-choice, actually it's great,
you just need to increase the energy density of your ration.  Since
you're already feeding beet pulp, you can do this by adding some corn or
vegetable oil to the beet pulp, as well as some grain.  He's getting out
often enough that a little grain would be okay.  Use only absolutely
fresh oil, it goes rancid very quickly and most horses that "won't eat
oil at all" are actually turning up their noses at rancid oil that still
smells just fine to *our* inadequate noses.  Start him out with a fairly
small quantity and work him up---there is a point at which some horses
just won't eat more than a cup or two or three because it gets too
slimy, but beet pulp will hold alot of corn oil.  See if you can get him
up to at least a cup a day, and preferably two, split into two feedings.

Personally, I'd skip the rice bran---a handful isn't doing much of
anything for him, and your protein content is already a little high with
the alfalfa mix hay (assuming the alfalfa portion constitutes more than
a "smidgen").

Also, when you say a "bucket" of beet pulp, are we talking a 1-gallon
bucket or a five-gallon bucket?  You can easily increase the amount of
beet pulp to three or four pounds a day dryweight, which will pretty
much fill a five gallon bucket.  Actually, you can feed more than that
if he'll clean it up before it sours.  You might consider limiting his
hay just a little so he's more prone to cleaning up beet pulp---beet
pulp also provides significant bulk, so can replace a good portion of
the hay ration.  Not all, but up to 25% for any horse would be fine (and
can replace up to 50%, actually, but I tend to be a little
conservative).

Finally, although this won't help the weight gain, I'd skip the Red
Cell---you're already getting 99.9% of everything you need in just the
hay and beet pulp, and the Accel is filling in any possible holes and
providing some probios.  The Red Cell is overkill and is doing more to
imbalance the mineral content than to balance it.  For that matter, I
wouldn't feed a full dose of Accel, either, a half dose is plenty.  You
just don't need it.

One last thing---make sure his teeth are in good shape and don't need to
be floated.

Good luck!  Hope this helps.

Susan G

Stephanie Wind McCray wrote:
> 
> I don't mean to beat a dead horse (all puns intended :-) but my guy doesn't
> seem to be holding his weight. He's not HORRIBLY thin, but thinner than *I*
> like. He gets exercised three times a week - once for 30 - 45 minutes in the
> round pen (riderless), once about 20 minutes round pen (riderless) and an
> hour in the arena (being ridden), and the third is a longer - 15 - 20 mile
> rides on the roads/trails, mostly trotting. He gets all the hay (alfalfa
> mix) he can eat and at least one FULL BUCKET of soaked beet pulp a day (over
> two feedings). He was wormed two weeks ago with zimectrin (wormed every 3
> months), is getting red cell 3 times a week, alternating with Accel 3 times
> a week, and a handful of Rice Bran every day. Maybe I'm worrying needlessly,
> but I thought I'd ask anyway! Oh, and he's a stallion. I know his metabolism
> is a bit higher, but  never before was he this hard to keep weight on...
> 
> Stephanie Wind McCray
> Golden, CO