i got a new horse from dogers and he is under wait and i dont know what to feed him

Question
QUESTION: hello, not to long ago i got a 15.5 hand Arab well we think it is a Arab or hes a Anglo we don't exactly no but I've had him for about a month now and he hasn't gained any wait I've been feeding him 2 1/2 cooked barely whit one scoop polared one scoop charff in the mornings and after i take him out for a long ride in the afternoons i give him 3 scoops polared 2 scoops charff 1 scoop pellets but he is not gaining wait and you can see his back bone sticking out and he has no real muscle and i don't know what to feed him?

ANSWER: Hi Lizz,
Thanks for your question.  I am a little embarrassed to say that I'm not familiar with some of the feed terms to which you are referring.  Could you describe the feeds that you are feeding and let me know what type of pellet you are feeding?  This would better help me make some suggestions on a ration.  
Sorry for the inconvenience, Corlena

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QUESTION: well barley is like seeds and you cook them and they really good for gaining a horses weight and the 2 1/2 is using one of those little ice cream containers. then polared is like like a kind of wheat that is really thick and also good for gaining weight.chaff is like chopped up hay which has a good energy source.and the pellets are just normal horse pellets. hope that helps

ANSWER: Hi Lizz,

I had to lol at your follow up feeling a little silly.  I am very familiar with barley and chaff (although I thought charff was a product I was unfamiliar with)  so polared is the only one I really did not know.  Now that I have that cleared up, here are some suggestions.

Barley and wheat are cereal grains that contain a lot of non-structural carbohydrate (NSC).  Although NSC are technically the best nutrients for getting horses to gain weight, some horses can not process NSC for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they can not be digested by the stomach and as a result make it to the hindgut of the horse where they are fermented by bacteria which results in hindgut acidosis (a fairly detrimental condition for horses).  When NSC are digested properly, they are converted to sugar and sent to the horse's blood stream...and some horses can not deal with that sugar rush. Oddly enough, Arabs and Thoroughbreds seem to have the most difficulty utilizing the NSC.

If your horse falls under this group who don't do well on starch, the best way for them to gain body weight is to feed them fat and highly fermentable fibres. The best fat sources for horses are oilseeds (soybean, flaxseed, sunflower seed) or vegetable oil.  Animal fat is not a suitable source for horses as they are unable to digest it.  One of the best fibre sources on the market today is beet pulp.  It ferments rapidly in the horse's hindgut, converting to energy faster than hay or grass.

The nutrient value of chaff depends entirely on it's source.  Legume chaff is more energy dense than grass chaff which is more energy dense than straw chaff.  It's not something we feed a lot of here and it is probably best replaced by the beet pulp suggested earlier.

Finally, a pelleted feed can contain anything so it might be a good idea to ask the manufacturer for an ingredient list to monitor what is in it.

From a horse health standpoint I always suggest having a horse's teeth checked and ensure the horse has been dewormed when you have a weight gain issue.  Include yeast in the horse's diet, either on it's own or included in the pellet.

So to recap...minimize starch, use some fat and use as much fermentable fibre as possible.  If you let me know what ingredients and products you've decided to use I could certainly give you some help with feeding rates.

Thanks, Corlena



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QUESTION: thanks for the great advise i think he does need his teeth done but i am selling him so i dont now if i should get them done or let the new owner deal with that. would beet pulp be cheaper of more expensive then chaff and ill have to check on the other stuff to see Wat is cheapest k

Answer
Hi Lizz, Beet pulp would almost certainly be more expensive than chaff but would provide more bang for the buck and would be worth the extra cost.  You can get better results from feeding less of it, and in the end you will spend less to put on the same weight.
As for the teeth, if you don't want to work on them yourself, I would suggest at least mentioning it to the new owner so they have a starting point.
Thank you for introducing me to a new product.  Corlena