Question
I do low-level eventing and some trail-riding with my 14-year-old, 15.1-hand Arabian gelding. I usually ride twice a week, two hours each time. He stays at a condition score of 4 on a diet of 20 lb (9 kg) brome hay, 2 lb (0.9 kg) of a ration balancer, 5 lb (2.3 kg) of performance horse feed, and 5 lb (2.3 kg) cracked corn. He has been on this ration for over a year, and he has not gained any weight. He is a picky eater with a passable appetite; he doesn’t seem to relish his hay or feed. What else can I do to support weight gain?
Answer
The current diet supplies more than enough calories to achieve weight gain, if he is eating everything offered. Does he clean up all his feed and hay?
Digestive health may be an underlying issue, ultimately leading to poor digestibility and utilization of feed. When feeding large amounts of concentrate feed, it is best to reduce meal size and increase the number of meals offered over the course of the day. If he is being fed twice a day, his meal size may be too big. Cracked corn is high in starch, which could be entering the hindgut undigested and leading to hindgut acidosis.
If hindgut acidosis is a factor, then a digestive buffer, like EquiShure, is effective in neutralizing acid in the hindgut and promoting a healthy microbial population. The microbes in the hindgut are involved in digestion and energy production for the horse. Diet and management can negatively affect these microbes, giving way to poor digestive health that eventually affects the whole horse. Many horses given EquiShure have experienced an uptick in appetite.
To bolster digestive health, I would supplement the brome hay with alfalfa hay or alfalfa pellets to provide an energy-dense, digestible source of fiber with high-quality protein. Alfalfa is highly palatable to most horses so that may help improve your horse’s appetite. Providing high-energy forages should reduce or eliminate the need for cracked corn in the diet, while still supplying an appropriate amount of dietary energy for weight gain.
You may also consider adding a fat supplement to his diet. Vegetable oil (canola, soy) and stabilized rice bran are two of the most popular choices. While a horse’s natural diet is low in fat, horses digest fat well. His willingness to eat oil or rice bran will help you decide which would be best for him.
Working with your veterinarian to assess digestive health is important, as underlying issues such as gastric ulcers or hindgut acidosis can lead to health problems such as poor body condition and reduced appetite. A thorough dental examination would be recommended based on his age and lack of improvement in body condition on a high-energy diet.
Parasite burdens can be another issue leading to weight loss or lack of weight gain even in horses on a regular deworming program due to mounting resistance of parasites to some deworming medications. A fecal egg count is an effective way to quantify your horse’s parasite burden and tailor a treatment program to address specific problems.
Many factors could be contributing to your horse’s current condition, so it is important to work with your veterinarian and potentially a feed advisor or nutritionist in your area that may be able to visit your horse.
