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underweight horse

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underweight horse
  • I have a7 year old Thoroughbred gelding that I have owned for 3 years now. during that 3 years I have never successfully got any weight on him. he is currently on a grass alfalfa combination a senior grain with oil on it, multi vitamins as well as weight builder. I have had him to the vet to have his teeth floated and an all-around health check they find nothing wrong with him. IDeworm on a schedule, he is not lethargic and has plenty of energy rode 3 to 4 times a week but it bothers me that I can see his ribs. my mare that shares a pasture with him does not have this problem. he is definitely the dominant horse that kicks her off the hay. does anyone have any suggestions for ways to get wait on him my vet and I are stumped.
  • Hi Colleen! I wish this forum had more traffic. It crashed and rebuilt a while back and so many people just gave up. There are a core group of people here, though. We mostly say hello on a daily thread but even then we get busy and might not post much. This format isn't the easiest to navigate if you're not used to it.

    ANYWAY, I have questions that come to mind when reading about your horse. Where are you located? What kind of riding do you do? Do you keep shoes on him? I'd love to see a picture. Hoof health can affect a surprising number of things and hopefully his teeth are aligned properly, not just "floated".  (you can look up natural equine dentist Dawn Darnell in Cave City KY for some good teeth info) At one time I was able to get weight on a VERY hard keeper (my other three were FAT and he looked like a starvation victim). I used an ADM product and offered 24/7 grazing/hay. Not the most practical way to do things. Right now I have 2 boarded in KY  (at Dawn's) and they are on pasture/hay 24/7 with nothing else. All the horses there are roly-poly.

    The ADM website has a lot of good information: www.admani.com/.../Horse%20Index.htm

    Black Oil Sunflower Seed (BOSS) is a great additive and, if nothing else, will really keep his hooves hard.

    I'm sure others will post eventually. These are just thoughts off the top of my head. Hope to see more of you and your t'bred!!