boosting my horses weight

Question
Hi, I have a 29 year old Arab X Welsh, his teeth are poor and this year he has started to lose his topline weight, I am currently feeding him a scoop of senior feed mix, a scoop of hi fibre nuts, a scoop of fast fibre in the morning, this plus a scoop of happy hoof and apple chaff at night.  He is on grass during the day and comes in at night and has hay during the night, I ride him lightly once or twice a week and do have to watch what he eats because he can fizz up easily apart from losing his topline weight he looks very healthy, shiny coat etc. Could I feed him anything extra to put the weight on? He wears a blanket if it rains or is windy.  Hopefully you can help.  Best Regards Vicky Tester

Answer
Hi Venetia,

Thank you for your question.  Your horse is starting to get to the age where he becomes a little more difficult to keep in shape. As a horse's digestive system ages, it begins to slow down and processes feed more slowly...so some of the tricks for weight gain that work on performance horses certainly won't work for your horse.  For these older horses you need to avoid starch and only use minimal/processed vegetable fat because the older digestive systems can not process these nutrients.  You have to rely on fermentable fibre (good quality forage, fibre by-products, beet pulp) as an energy source and quality protein sources (including isolated amino acids) for muscle maintenance.  You have started down the right path for your horse by choosing quality fibre sources.  You could include some beet pulp that line up if you have access to it, 1kg/day (weight before water added) soaked and split into a couple of feedings.  The senior feed mix should have the protein that you need for your horse so that is covered.  If you can find an extruded vegetable fat (like Purina's "Athlete") you could add a cup a day to the diet.  The extrusion process will help improve the digestion of the fat, solving the problem older horses have with fat.

I would also suggest that you feed yeast in the diet, as it will help your horse use all of the fibre that you are feeding him, allowing it to be converted to energy that will help him keep his body condition.  Of course you're going to want to establish a regular dentist routine for him, to keep abreast of any tooth problems he will develop that can interfere with his ability to keep his condition.

I hope that helps to some extent.  You have to keep in mind that horses eventually reach an age where they will be difficult to keep in shape, so don't feel that you're doing something wrong when it happens to your horse.

Thanks, Corlena