My senior Quarter Horse gelding Cobbles has heaves and pars pituitary intermedia dysfunction (PPID). I manage him outdoors on good-quality grass pasture and timothy/alfalfa hay. In addition, I feed him 6 lb (2.7 kg) beet pulp (dry weight) and 2.5 lb (1.1 kg) of ration balancer daily. I also supplement with 2 lb (0.9 kg) stabilized rice bran and an electrolyte. I am interested in adding chasteberry to his diet along with something to help muscle atrophy. What would you suggest?

Will soaking hay pellets in hot water have any effect on nutrient content?

I am creating a diet for my horse. In the past, he has maintained his weight on grass hay, and I fed him a ration balancer to fill in the nutritional gaps. He is working harder now as I improve his fitness, and I think he could benefit from the energy in rice bran, a supplement that I have had success with in the past when fed to other horses. We live in a rural area, so getting my hands on a stabilized rice bran will be costly. I do, however, have access to raw rice bran that contains no additives. If I fed him 1-2 lb (0.45-0.9 kg) of this daily, would this completely mess up the nutritional balance of his ration? Pros and cons?

A fellow boarder was feeding her horse ears of field corn one evening. The kernels were hard and a deep golden color. I asked her if this was from this year’s planting, and she said it was from an old corncrib that was on a relative’s farm. Is this a safe practice?

Basso is my 15-year-old gelding that is in moderately fleshy body condition - dead on BCS of 6. He needs to lose some weight. Right now he spends 24/7 in a drylot with six flakes of green, leafy alfalfa hay a day in addition to 2 lb (0.9 kg) of ration balancer. He gets 2 lb of a low-starch feed mixed in with his balancer just to make it more appetizing. He’s also given a calming supplement, probiotic, and MSM as an anti-inflammatory. My job prevents me from working him at all right now. I’d like to restart him on soaked beet pulp - about 1 cup daily - but it seemed to cause him to gain weight. Should I change his feed? I think his weight is creeping up, not down. What can I do?

I have a 19-year-old Missouri Fox Trotter gelding that needs to gain weight. I scheduled a dental appointment, hoping to find that a dental problem might be the source of his gradual weight loss. While his teeth needed some maintenance, the dentist found nothing that would interfere with his chewing ability. She did indicate that the horse is developing EOTHR but doesn’t believe the horse is experiencing pain from it. I have two questions: (1) is there anything nutritionally I can do to stop or at least deter the progression of EOTHR, and (2) why do you think my horse is losing weight? He has access to decent pasture with fair coverage, fresh water, and a salt block.

I feed hay to my grade gelding in the winter. While he’s healthy on the whole, he shows some changes to manure consistency that coincide with every new load of hay. I buy hay one load at a time, and the supplier brings whatever he has available at that moment. Given that I cannot change the supplier—we live remotely and he’s the only game in town—is there anything I can do to better manage this?

I own a poor-doing Thoroughbred gelding. At 16.3 hands (170 cm), he’s a big horse, and I’ve found it nearly impossible to get him to gain weight. He is fed 4-8 flakes of mid-quality, local-grown grass hay and 4 lb (1.8 kg) of alfalfa hay per day. In addition to hay, he’s fed coconut meal (6 cups), food-grade copper and zinc, spirulina, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, fenugreek, fennel seeds, kelp, rosehips, hemp seeds, nettle leaf, L-lysine hydrochloride, L-methionine, and MSM. He has been on this diet for nearly a year. Aside from the weight issue, he lacks energy, has terrible hooves (requiring glue-on shoes) and a fuzzy, patchy coat, and has recurring dental infections. He’s mostly sound but with all of his health issues I hardly ride him. I will not feed him corn, soy, and wheat because of the potential for genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Can I feed big bluestem hay to horses?

My 34-year-old Arabian mare has only a few molars left and is underweight. She eats 3 lb (1.4 kg) of complete senior feed two times a day and now consumes little forage. While she has had no problems with founder for over 12 years, she had a flare-up when she was given steroids for allergies. How can I improve her body condition given this double whammy of missing teeth and founder?