Can you stand just one more feeding question?

[wingnut]

Okay, so we continue to have trouble getting our 11 yr old mare to gain weight. I will being bathing and clipping her this weekend to take pictures...I'll share them when I have them ready. For the record she is 33.5 inches and last July weighed 204lbs. I think she weighs less than that number now.

I've tried all sorts of things to get this girl to look healthier in the weight department. Beet pulp, alfalfa pellets, weight-gain supplement, high calorie pellet feed (Ultium) and adding vegetable oil. She will eat some of this some of the time, but often flat out refuses to eat anything if any of these items are in her feed bucket. Each new thing has been introduced slowly and over time, that is if she doesn't flat out refuse it.

The only thing we KNOW she will eat is the Omolene 300. I'm already giving her up to 2lbs of that per day (1lb per feeding) and giving her that much grain makes me really nervous about feed colic. Because she will eat an entire pound at one feeding, I don't believe we're dealing with ulcers or other pain issues. My "guess" is that if this were something to do with pain, she wouldn't eat the 300 either.

She can have all the hay she wants but picks through it. We have her on our pasture up to 6 hours a day and are considering giving her more time but again, we're concerned about causing other problems (i.e., founder). Alfalfa hay is hard to find in my area, according to my dh. I may try harder though, in hopes she'll find more of it to her liking then the current timothy/orchard grass hay we're using.

Her teeth were floated in March. The vet declared her healthy 3 weeks ago. He feels she's not terribly under weight, but I disagree with him on this point. If I could get her to just gain 5-10lbs, I think I'd be happy with her weight.

For those of you still reading....thank you

My questions then: What else can I try? I've found that the Omolene 500 has more fat and calories. And if it's similar in most aspects to the 300, she's more likely to eat it.

Could I be over thinking this? Is 2lbs of this type of feed really too much? I've switched the other three to Strategy which has the same calories per pound. Is the risk of feed colic the same for a "sweet feed" vs. a pelleted feed?

Finally, if I had the vet come out to do a blood workup...what specifically would I be looking to investigate?

 

[Sue_C.]

Can you post a picture of this mare, please? Without seeing her, I cannot think that is is skinny at that size and weight. To give you an idea of why I ask, here is one of my mares, who is 33.75 inches, and at the time of this picture, nine years old, and 180 pounds.

 

[Bess Kelly]

IF she truly needs weight, consider 3 meals a day? This would space out the grain, so less issue with the "too much" portion. Apparently you feel she has "areas" that need weight? It may be her build? Yep, pics would help.

 

[targetsmom]

How about adding some alfalfa pellets (soaked)? Don't take up much room to store and I think you can get them almost anywhere. I give some to ours as a bedtime snack, so I just soak them when I feed dinner.

 

[Miniv]

I agree with SMALL alfalfa pellets..... And check out SENIOR pelleted feed as well.

 

[Mominis]

I feed Shake chops. I get bagged chopped hay from TNT. The pellets make me nervous, cubes are just too hard, so the chops are the perfect solution for us. I hear Purina also has chops.

I agree with the three (or more) daily feedings. Another thing you may want to try is CocoSoya Oil. It's a great weight gainer. I use it with Shake, not for weight gain, but for the great coat condition it gives. I only feed .5 oz, but for weight gain, you'd likely want to go with an ounce.

Good luck!

 

[chandab]

If you have another supplier close, you might try a different brand of alfalfa pellets; they are not all created equally.

I bought alfalfa pellets from the local elevator, they were cheaper than other pellets I can get, although these are the only ones available locally. I tried to feed them to 4 of my 10 minis, and my senior half-Arab gelding; only 2 minis ate them readily, one would eat them mixed with other feed, one went off all feed if they were mixed in, and, the senior gelding wasn't thrilled, but ate them mixed with his senior. So, I dropped these particular alfalfa pellets, and everyone went back to normal eating.

I'm running short of hay this spring, so I bought Purina Horse Chow 100 to stretch hay; they all love it and nobody refuses it. Purina also makes Horse Chow 200, which might be worth trying on your mare; its a complete performance horse pellet (it can be fed without hay if necessary), and its lower in sugar/starch than many complete feeds (18%NSC last levels I got).

 

[wingnut]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to give your input

I hadn't thought of finding a different supply of the pellets (which are very small, about the size of a pea). Soaked or not, what we have now she absolutely won't eat and will refuse her entire feeding if they're in there.

We've tried adding a feeding mid afternoon, but she either refuses what we give her or she then doesn't eat much of anything at the evening feed. I may give it another try though.

I will take pics this evening to share. Until then, here's two pics from the past.

This is from last July shortly after she was weighed and determined to be 204lbs. I feel she is less than 204 lbs now.

This is a pic from the person I bought her from. Not sure of when it was taken.

In each of these pictures, there seems to be some "rounding" over her hip bones, which to my eye, she doesn't currently have. Maybe I'm so hyper focused on her that maybe she's not as bad as I think.

 

[Mominis]

Have you tried giving her some Probias and maybe a B12 shot?

 

[Hosscrazy]

Have you tried Purina Equine Senior?

Liz R.

 

[wingnut]

Probios? I have the babies on it and was thinking about trying to add some to hers...just leary of how quickly she refuses anything new.

What are the benefits of a B12 shot?

Purina Equine Senior? No, haven't tried that. We did try a senior feed made by our local mill last year. She ate it but it didn't seem to be quite enough...meaning, I didn't see the improvement I was looking for.

Forgot to add that she's being wormed regularly.

It's pelleted feed she seems to dislike, so I'm not sure trying a different pelleted feed will get us anywhere. It doesn't help that the only way to find out is to buy 50lbs and give it a shot. Unfortunately, most of these options I can't give to the younger three because they simply don't need it. They're having NO problems keeping on the weight

I wonder if I could get "samples" from Purina?

 

[RhineStone]

Does she have any "open sores" in her mouth that some feeds more rich in salt could be affecting? Remember that balled up rotten hay issue someone had a few months ago? They cleaned out the horse's gums, and it ate fine after that?

Also try Rice Bran.

 

[joylee123]

Betcha it is still her teeth. Most regular vets don't do mini teeth properly. Try and get a hold of an equine dentist. I have a mare who was skin and bones( yours looks OK in the photos) I had her teeth done several times in an 8th month period. Then Carl came by and you wouldn't have believed what he took out of her mouth! Now she is fat and sassy and in foal.

JMO

Joy

 

[wingnut]

Betcha it is still her teeth. Most regular vets don't do mini teeth properly. Try and get a hold of an equine dentist. I have a mare who was skin and bones( yours looks OK in the photos) I had her teeth done several times in an 8th month period. Then Carl came by and you wouldn't have believed what he took out of her mouth! Now she is fat and sassy and in foal.

JMO

Joy

We did use an equine dentist. My vet prefers to not float because he knows he doesn't have the expertise, nor the time to do a good job. The ED we ended up with is *fabulous*. I could not say enough good things about him. With that said, he gives a "12 month guarantee" for all his work so it wouldn't cost us anything to have him come back out and check. He re-checked his work a month after seeing last winter when I had him come out to check the other 3 just as a routine matter. He found her to be in good shape.

Open sores? Not that we know of but it something we can try and take a look at.

Love all this advice/input. It is *truly* helpful and very much appreciate!

 

[love_casper]

I had one like that, that hated pellets and only picked at food periodically during the day. She was my friend's at the time, and thin, so when I took care of her when the friend was out of town I tried everything to get her to eat! She didn't like supplements, would colic on processed feeds, I felt like I'd have to force feed her to keep food in her! She was always a bit dissinterested in food. They ended up feeding her 2 large flakes a day, and she ate enough of those to keep her looking good.

But now she's mine, and I feed all my girls together. This mare learned within 2 days of me having her that if she wanted to eat anything, she better stick her face in the food pan and not come up for air till every morsel is gone, or her stall mate would eat it. She's fat now!!

So maybe a little competition over the food would help her value her food a bit more? I also like rice bran for adding weight. My BLM Mustang is the pickiest eater I've ever seen, but she licks her bowl with my beet pulp, rice bran, oats, and BOSS mix. Her and a few minis didn't like the beet pulp or rice bran at first, but they'll eat anything with a few oats sprinkled on!

 

[Mominis]

For the Probias, I just get the tube stuff and give a weight appropriate amount. The B12 along with the Probias stimulates the appetite and gives them a nice vitamin boost.

 

[happy appy]

Probios? I have the babies on it and was thinking about trying to add some to hers...just leary of how quickly she refuses anything new.

What are the benefits of a B12 shot?

Purina Equine Senior? No, haven't tried that. We did try a senior feed made by our local mill last year. She ate it but it didn't seem to be quite enough...meaning, I didn't see the improvement I was looking for.

Forgot to add that she's being wormed regularly.

It's pelleted feed she seems to dislike, so I'm not sure trying a different pelleted feed will get us anywhere. It doesn't help that the only way to find out is to buy 50lbs and give it a shot. Unfortunately, most of these options I can't give to the younger three because they simply don't need it. They're having NO problems keeping on the weight

I wonder if I could get "samples" from Purina?

When I was having trouble finding a feed that a new big horse would eat I contacted the purina horse feed rep in my area. We talked about What I had tried and the needs of the horse and then they brought over a bag to try. Turns out the horse loved the new feed and I still feed it now.

 

[Marty]

Ok here's a couple things you can try:

(and I'm going with the mouth thing mostly too)

1. De-worm with panacur. If she has any kind of sores or lesions in her mouth, panacur has some healing properties in it that can heal it.

2. What about a light conditioning program? Try working her at the trot especially and maybe that will help move things about and restructure her body.