Weight Gain Question

Question
Hi, I have a 18 year old Quarter Pony mare who has for the past month been recovering from an ulcer. She used to be very fat, but since the ulcer she has lost a ton of weight and now you can see her ribs. I give them lots of hay everyday, they have grass to graze on, and every night she gets senior feed. I have recently been increasing the amount of grain so I can fatten her up. She gets medication with her grain to help with her ulcer and to help treat the heaves that she has. Is there anything else that I can do to get her to gain weight? I'm afraid of buying weight gaining supplements because our other horse would always just eat around it and it was a waste of money. So any tips?

Answer
Hi Maddison,

Thank you for your question.  I would be cautious about feeding too much grain to a horse with ulcers as high concentrate diets can further aggravate her condition.  Make sure she has unlimited access to good quality forage, including at night if she is kept inside.  Instead of weight gain supplements, I would suggest that you feed a good quality probiotic such as SmartDigest from SmartPak Equine or LifeForce Formula from Alltech.  Her weight issue sounds more like a hindgut disturbance than a diet short in energy.  Certain medications can disrupt the good bacteria in the cecum (that are responsible for digesting forages) and cause feed inefficiency that will lead to weight loss.  Increasing the amount of grain fed in this situation will further disrupt the hindgut and you fall into a vicious cycle of weight loss.  The probiotic will help re-establish the proper balance of forage digesting bacteria and weight gain will follow.

I hope that helps.

Thanks, Corlena