I THINK THEY'RE A WEE BIT SKINNY

Hi Gang!

Looking for some advice on feeding. The critters are losing their winter coats and I think they may be a wee bit thin. Their hind quarters look good but there isn't alot of meat over their ribs. I'm used to fairly plump horses so I don't know if they are thin or I'm just a worry wart. Here's their current feeding regime (Thunder's of course is a bit different but he's a chubby little fellow!):

0630 - 1 cup haystretch, 1 cup BSS, 1 cup Nutripac, 2 flakes hay
1200 - 2 flakes hay
1630 - 2 flakes hay
1930 - 1 cup haystretch, 1 cup BSS, 1 cup Nutripac, 2 flakes hay

Our hay over here isn't very nutritous so I'm not sure what they're getting out of it. It is good quality in that there isn't any dust or mold. I'm thinking about trying some Purina Equalizer in order to up their vitamin and mineral intake. One of my boarders eats manure alot. Well, his horse does - not actually him (tee hee!).

I'll try to get some pictures today to show you what I mean - and then you guys can help me figure things out.

ok really slow here this morning......what is BSS

might be boss.. ???

Yes, I meant BOSS. I guess too much BS is running through my head this morning so I'm a little bit confused. I took the pictures so now just have to upload them.

I THOUGHT YOU WERE POSTING PICTURES...............COME ON WOMAN I'M WAITING!!!!!!!!!!!!! :face:

OK, OK ...

First there is Stretch. He's turning 18 tomorrow! :king:









Next is Reo. He's a boarder here but I think he is the one that looks the thinnest.







Thunder, of course, isn't lacking a thing. But I didn't want him to feel left out! :D



Barney keeping an eye on things ... he's one FAT cat!



Mia - in good shape.



These are my new barn boots. Just thought I'd throw a picture of them in. Nobody in the neighbourhood is quite sure that they like them. All they say is, "nice boots Tam!". I'm taking that as a positive comment!



Let me know what you think of the critters. My farrier is coming out today to trim the boys and have a look at them all. She's known all the horses for longer than me so I count on her to tell me what is "normal" for each of them.

Stretch doesn't look thin at all, he looks fit :lol:. Reo is a bit thin though, you can really see it in the bum shot where his tail head is quite pronounced. I wouldn't be overly worried though with grass just around the corner. If it was October and we were just heading into winter, I'd be a bit more worried.

I had the opposite problem this year, Dexter porked out big time. I fed second cut hay all winter and now Dex looks pregnant :roll:.

My friend came out today and said that she also thought they had dropped weight. So I'm going to up their feed gradually and see how they make out with that. They are already eating hay pretty much non-stop but there isn't alot of nutrition in the local hay. And to buy any shipped in from the mainland would pretty much double the cost (about $9 instead of $5/bale). We don't have any pasture so they are fed hay year round (pasture is a rare commodity in our neck of the woods - or should I say ROCK).

You could try soaked unmolassed beet pulp. Its a good source of forage rather then adding more grains.

And how much do you think your flakes of hay weigh?

I didn't realize there's no grass coming. I guess I take it for granted living in NS :oops:. I've never been to NFLD.

How much do they really get out of beet pulp in terms of nutrients? I've fed it myself many times but only for something to mix pellets with or to give them a warm meal in the winter. I'm only asking because it was suggested to me not to feed it to Prince when he was a yearling (the reason being he would fill up on it and not eat enough hay/nutrients). Wouldn't it be the same for mature horses or is it because they are no longer growing? Now I've confused myself :roll:.

Quote :

Beet pulp is the fibrous material left over after the sugar is extracted from sugar beets. It's an excellent source of digestible fiber, with a relatively low crude protein content (averaging 8 to 10%), comparable to good-quality grass hay. Its digestible energy is somewhere between that of hay and grain. In terms of other nutrients, it's not a stand-out--it has a relatively high calcium content and very little phosphorus, is low in B vitamins, and has virtually no beta-carotene (the precursor of vitamin A) or vitamin D. Its chief value is as a soft, easily digestible supplement to your horse's roughage (fiber) intake, and as such it's a useful addition to the diet of many types of horses.

Taken from: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=314

In a perfect world I would recommend feeding more hay over anything else but since she doesn't have access to more hay I personally feel its best to replace those calories with forage instead of grain.

With Prince, I think Hug told you to cut out the BP because you had access to lots of good hay. Hay is the best.

Okay, gotcha. Thanks. An old neighbour of mine used to feet a lot of beet pulp because she didn't want to spend the money on hay. Excellent quality hay was plentiful, we were surrounded by dairy farms, but she was just being cheap :evil:. I felt bad for her mare when she would stare at me putting out hay across the fence.

Sorry for stealing your thread Tammy :oops:.

Quote :

Excellent quality hay was plentiful, we were surrounded by dairy farms

Dairy farmers are smart. (They have to be, their milk quota depends on it)... So they test their hays regularly to make sure they have the best quality for their cows to produce more milk. If they are buying hay from another farmer, and it doesn't suit, or has not been tested, they don't buy it. That simple. So the Hay farmers selling to dairy farmers have to have the hay tested in order to make money...
(Us horses owners seem to go on look, smell, feel etc... Not on nutrient value for our particular horses. )
However, Dairy farmers, feed waaaay more protein and like their hays with HIGH sugar content. NOT good for ponies. It looks great, because it is, for a cow.



A note on this though, I was informed by a friend this fall, that the research farm in Nappan, is looking at producing hay better for horses. :cheers:

Your best bet is to have it tested. Maybe hays around here in the maritimes are better then what is fed out west or down south, but if a horse is overweight, underweight, or is prone to founder/laminitis, I would definitly take this step before adding more grains which can compound the problems.

so, could she add HAY CUBES........not straight alfalfa, but there are half and half timothy.

Hmmmm ... I may try beet pulp or the 50/50 hay cubes (I love the smell of them!). I'm going to look into getting the hay tested so that I can stop with the guessing and feed more effectively. Our average bale weighs 40 lbs. We go through 2 per day between the three horses and one pony. Keep the advice coming - I want to make the most informed decisions that I can!

why don't you try a dose of probiotics?, it won't do any harm.... and It worked for Bay-Lee..

Howdee,

I'm certainly no expert but Reo is thin. I have a rather hard keeper (named Rio actually--20 year old quarter horse)...and I feed him the following twice a day: one apple juice can (you know--the big apple juice can) Purina Hi Fat Hi Fiber (HFHF), 200 grams Purina Equilizer (that's about 1 1/2 cups), one heaping cup of ground flax, and 2 cups of crimped oats. I did feed him soaked beet pulp through the fall, winter and just stopped feeding it (that's when i threw in the oats). I consulted with Pam MacKenzie at Purina, Nutritionist, awhile ago and she suggested I feed him 1 1/2 apple juice cans of HFHF twice a day actually but I'm holding off increasing the HFHF right now. They get table salt in the evening (about 1 teaspoon) with their grain and this helped with the water intake! I don't have pasture so hay it is all year round. Pam is a great help to make sure we're on the right track. If your Reo is not high on the pecking order then please ensure he has a place and time alone to get his share of hay--if he's out all the time it might be good to put him in at night so he can "catch up". Also--I had a mare who was quite lean going into winter--I didn't have a clue really and wasn't feeding her enough--it's hard to get a balance sometimes--talk to ten different people and get ten different opinions! Take care.

If nothing else, try and feed more hay if you can Tammy. A horse need 2-3% of its body weight in hay alone daily so 80lbs between 3 horses and a pony is not enough, they need almost double what they are getting now. Can you get haylage? How much movement are they getting? Movement helps with weight gain too. Spreading out your hay in slow feeders or a bunch of small piles will keep them all moving and help slow down their eating too.

feed more hay or 50/50 tim/alfalfa cubes but I'm also leaning on lack of muscle?...sometimes this can be confused with weight loss