Hello,
We recently switched our 965 lb 14.2 hand horse from all sweet feed ( 6 qts) per day plus pasture and hay to all senior feed ( 5 qts) per day plus hay and pasture, as recommended due to her age 20+. She is still fairly active, lessons, shows, drill team, she has been on just senior feed alone for about 2 weeks and she is looking leaner every day. Her leaness was noted in Fitting and Showmanship, and she seems hungry all the time. We brougt her home in November from a farm with no pasture, and it was recommened to us to decrease grain and increase hay. She eats the pasture, does not eat much of her hay, and eats all her grain. Do we go back to her sweet feed( She was very beely fat and irritable) or do we just add some to her pellets I worried about her rapid weight loss.

Where are you from? Massachusetts

How did you locate this forum? google

Hi Cheryl,

Weight loss is common in horses as they age, and assuming there are no underlying medical conditions, teeth problems, or undue stress, your best bet is to make sure that she that her digestive system is healthy and able to utilize the nutrients that you are providing her. One very effective way to do this is to provide Ration Plus to assist the bacterial flora in her hind gut in properly fermenting her roughage.

I would not go back to the sweet feed, since sugar and excessive starch is detrimental to her health and can also destroy the bacteria population in the hind gut. And, the senior feed may not have enough calories for her. So, here are a few suggestions:

In addition to Ration Plus each day, offer her alfalfa hay. If you do not have access to it in your area, you can choose alfalfa pellets or cubes (moisten the cubes before feeding). Alfalfa will not only add more calories, but will also boost her protein quality, so she is better able to build body tissue.

See if you can find a stabilized rice bran product such as Natural Glo nuggets made by ADM Alliance. This will add more beneficial fat to her diet.

And, one last thing to consider … Each quart of feed is approximately 2.5 pounds. A horse’s stomach is quite small, so to reduce her chance of laminitis, and even colic, you should limit her meal size to no more than 3 to 3.5 pounds. Most senior feeds, for her age, will suggest feeding approximately 6 to 8 pounds a day. That translates into approximately 3 quarts. So, you are likely feeding too much of the senior feed (having a scale is the best way to measure her feed).

I realize that you certainly don’t want to cut back on her feed, but instead, offer her the amount recommended (say 3 quarts/day), and add the stabilized rice bran, alfalfa pellets or hay, and even a weight building supplement, if you like.

I hope this is helpful. Keep me posted.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Is ration plus a feed or a supplement? Can i feed her flax seed meal for weight gain? Thanks for the reply.

Where are you from? Massachusetts

How did you locate this forum? google

Hello Cheryl,

Ration Plus is a “prebiotic” or sometimes referred to as a “probiotic.” In other words, it boosts the health of the bacteria that naturally live in your horses hind gut. Without these bacteria, your horse cannot derive nutrients from hay, grass, and other forages. Also, these bacteria produce B vitamins which are essential to your horse’s health.

In order for your mare to gain weight, she has to get calories from the food that she eats. So, one of the most important ways to ensure this is to make certain that the bacterial flora are present in adequate quantity. Life stressor, aging, illness, medications, and high carbohydrate diets typically reduce the number of these bacteria. Therefore, Ration Plus is very helpful in producing weight gain.

Flaxseed meal is high in fat, and therefore, concentrated in calories. It makes an excellent addition to the diet to assist in weight gain. The key is to approach the problem from several angles. So, adding flaxseed meal is a good idea, along with adding Ration Plus.

I hope this helps clarify things.

All the best,

Dr. Getty