27 yr old TB gelding, how much to feed?

Question
QUESTION: I recently started caring for a 27 yr old TB gelding, about 16.2hh and weighs aprox 950-1000 lbs. and he is not ridden at all.  He is in good weight now but I want to make sure I'm feeding correctly BEFORE he can loose weight. He is getting 4 cups senior feed, 2 cups (pre)soaked beet pulp and 8 cups (pre)soaked alfalfa pellets twice daily. I dribble molasses on it to make it more palatable. He gets no hay as he has no teeth in back. Mineral block is available.
Should I do anything differently, add or subtract anything? I can't find this answer anywhere online. Thanks!

ANSWER: Dear Denise,

What does he do for roughage?  This is no where near enough to maintain his weight so I assume he has to be eating something else, grass? Are the cup measures you give dry cups or wet cups?

Thanks for clarifying and I will be able to give a better answer with this information.
Clair

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Clair,
Thanks for answering my question. He doesn't get any hay or grass, he can't chew it and/or chokes so he only gets the wet feed.

What does he do for roughage? None
This is no where near enough to maintain his weight so I assume he has to be eating something else, grass? No
Are the cup measures you give dry cups or wet cups?  I measure in dry cups and each cup weighs 1.15 lbs for the alfalfa and the beet pulp weighs 1.5 each.  He has gained weight in the last 2 weeks and that is why I am wondering about this. The old boarding facility told me this is how much he was eating there, untill 2 weeks ago when he came here. But they weren't giving him any beet pulp either. I am totally open to suggestions.
Thanks,
Denise  

Answer
Dear Denise,

Thanks for the extra info.  It sounds like he is underweight.  At 16.2hh I would expect him to weigh about 1100lbs based on his breed.  He needs to eat 2% of his ideal body weight a day as roughage.  The alfalfa and beet pulp are roughage and the beet pulp is a fantastic feed for horses but especially older horses.  I would like to se some grass hay pellets if possible because alfalfa is very high in protein and calcium.  His kidneys have to get rid of that extra protein in urine and older horses kidneys may not work as well.  He must have plenty of fresh water to be able to make the extra urine.  To balance the rest of the minerals in alfalfa you need to find a supplement made for alfalfa based diets like Select The Bests Select II I think you can buy this from Smartpak.  It would be better to have him on grass hay pellets or a mix of both.  You can feed up to 50% of his needed roughage as beet pulp and you are right to weigh it dry.  So if he needs to be 1100lbs be needs to eat 22lbs of pellets/beet pulp a day.  Beet pulp has about 2 times the energy as hays so you could feed 10lbs of alfalfa/grass and 5lbs of beet pulp from an energy stand point, this would be 1.5% of his body weight and would be the bare minimum amount of roughage.  Less than that and you are at risk of gut disfunction.

I would add to this a good quality protein supplement like www.uckele.com tri-amino to help him keep muscle as he may not be getting the quality of protein he needs from the hay alone and I would also add 2000 IU a day of liquid vit E like the one made by uckele.  You may want to consider blanketing him if he is not blanketed already as this will conserve his energy and he will not have to use as much to keep warm.  Make sure that as the weather gets worse you increase his feed.  They need an extra 1lb of hay for every 5 degree drop in temp this includes wind chill and rain can make it feel colder too.  Pay attention to your forecast and adjust feed accordingly.

Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.

Clair Thunes, PhD
Independent Equine Nutritionist,
Equilibrate Equine Consulting
info@equilibrateequine.com
www.equilibrateequine.com