Horses not gaining weight

Question
I have three horses at my house that I just can not find a good mixture of grain that will help them gain weight. They are all on grass and can eat as much hay as they want. One is a 4 year old tb, one is a 8 year old tb and the other is a 5 year old standardbred. I started out feeding ultium which is a very high fat grain and beetpulp they were on this for about a month and a half with no improvement. Currently I switched them over to something with more protein and i still do not see a difference. I have been up to about 10 lbs a day cause ear are 100 plus in weight.  They are all wormed regularly. All have had their teeth check. I am at a loss of what to feed now.

Answer
Hi Christine,

Thanks for your question.  You are certainly doing everything right in trying to help your horses gain weight.  You supply grain (an energy source), keep them dewormed and maintain their dental needs.  But sometimes, there are underlying issues that prevent some horses from gaining weight that go beyond just their diet.  Some horses will experience an upset of the hindgut (which can be caused by so many different circumstances) that prevents them from being able to properly ferment forages and results in their inability to maintain body condition.  It's true that grain is more energy dense than grass/hay, and dietary energy is what you need for your hrose to gain weight, but grass/hay makes up the largest portion of your horse's diet and although less energy dense...it brings the most energy to the horse over the course of the day.  So if your horse(s) are unable to properly ferment that forage and turn it into energy then you end up with a weight issue.  The normal response to weight loss is to feed more grain, but sometimes too much grain can further compound the horse's hindgut issue and what you end up with is a bit of a vicious cycle of poor body condition.  Switching to a higher protein feed will not help with weight gain, as protein is used by the horse to build muscle (and only if the horse is being exercised in conjunction with a high protein diet).  Feeds with higher energy content (preferably from fermentable fiber and vegetable fat sources) are what you need to put on body condition and fat stores.

So in your case, although I am going to suggest a feed to use, my first suggestion is that you feed a good quality prebiotic/probiotic to your horses for at least 60 days.  Of course you can feed them indefinitely but often times the horse's hindgut can be 'reset' and long term treatment is not always necessary as long as you can provide proper diet management.  I would strongly urge you to feed either; LifeForce Formula from Alltech (available from them online) or SmartDigest or SmartDigest Ultra from SmartPak Equine.  As I mentioned, feed the supplement for 60 days quite religiously and expect it to take at least 7-10 days before you see a notable response.  In the interim, try Purina's 'Strategy Healthy Edge' which uses mostly fermentable fiber and fat as its energy sources, with only nominal amounts of controlled starch.  Only feed the suggested feeding rate of the Strategy and be careful not to over do the grain.  If you would like to send me more information about your horses I would be happy to balance their rations using my 'Ration-X' software.  I will need to know what kind of grass/hay they are consuming (what kind of grasses or legumes it contains), each of their body weights and their current workloads.  Simply send me their information and I'll make some more concrete feeding suggestions.

I hope that helps, and I know that this approach will work well for your horses.

Thanks, Corlena