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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 596
 
| A friend just bought a new horse and they told them horse was a hard keeper. But they have been feeding good feed, hay 24/7, teeth done he just will not put on any weight. Any suggestions ? |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 669
Location: Central Texas | If his teeth have been floated properly and he's not gaining weight on a correct/healthy diet, I would have a blood panel done and see if anything shows up. |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| Remove grain from diet, add alfalfa pellets or good alfalfa (6-12 lbs) and rice bran (2-3 lbs), and treat for ulcers using Gastrogard or Ulcergard. Add a good stomach supplement like SmartGI Ultra or CurOst Stomach. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| classicpotatochip - 2015-12-16 9:32 AM Remove grain from diet, add alfalfa pellets or good alfalfa (6-12 lbs) and rice bran (2-3 lbs), and treat for ulcers using Gastrogard or Ulcergard. Add a good stomach supplement like SmartGI Ultra or CurOst Stomach.
This^^ |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1037
| I am doing everything I can to put weight on my guy and its finally working. Probably overkill, but he has really beefed up since I got him in June.
He gets 3 lb scoop of Ultium morning and night, 1lb of Renew Gold at night, alfalfa and coastal morning and night, platinum CJ and Forco at night. He also has a slow feeder of coastal 24/7.
Have really seen him start to put on the pounds after starting him on the Renew Gold. Had complete testing done on him in late october and teeth floated. Does not have ulcers, but a slight stomach issue when hauling. Never has the nervous problem any other time. Started giving him Probios an hour before loading him per vet and it has cleared up his "nervous hauling" issue. Still trying to get him all figured out and see what works best for him.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 596
| Thanks everyone I will let them know |
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 The One
Posts: 7997
Location: South Georgia | I have had good results with Ultium in the past, high quality alfalfa, and Cool Calories fat supplement. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | What are they feeding him now and how much? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 596
| I think they have him on safechoice |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 596
| Who makes the Ultium and what's it run a bag ? |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| strawfly special - 2015-12-16 12:00 PM
Who makes the Ultium and what's it run a bag ?
Purina - depends on where you buy it, our TSC runs around $25 a bag. Its nice feed. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1037
| strawfly special - 2015-12-16 12:00 PM
Who makes the Ultium and what's it run a bag ?
Purina. Mine went down a few cents at our local feed store.. $24.75 a bag. |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | Rice bran, rule out any physical issues first. Also a high fat feed, like ultium will help. |
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The One
Posts: 7997
Location: South Georgia | It's expensive, like all of the good ones. Well worth it. SafeChoice is not really suitable for a hard keeper. |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | I see that Safechoice has a few to choose from, I wonder what one they are useing? I would look into Bluebonnet feeds for a hard keeper, and something with higher % of fat. |
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 Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | Safe choice will not put wieght on a Horse.. Find a high fat and calorie grain ... |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 805
Location: Montana | I've had really good luck putting weight on my gelding with alfalfa pellets (two scoops soaked am/pm) two flakes grass hay ( am/pm ) an alfalfa based grain that we have here locally called Haystack Special Blend similar to strategy and omolene with the amplify nugget. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| Sounds like a hind gut issue. With the amount of feed that horse is getting they should be huge. Ultium and renew gold together? Holy smokes. That's a ton of fat. Once you get the hind gut working then they will start to assimilate their feed better. The horses diet should revolve around high quality forage. I use a product that conditions and keeps my horses hind gut working properly. All bagged feeds safe choice or ultium are packed with artificial vitamins and minerals that are counter productive in a horse. |
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Tried and True
Posts: 21185
Location: Where I am happiest | Again, the bagged complete so called grain feeds are crap. I have never EVER had a hard time putting weight on a horse. I feed free choice hay and alfalfa, and real grains. If they are down on weight, then I feed C.O.B untill I get them up where I want them then switch to oats or rolled barley. Feed a good prebiotic and platinum performance. |
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Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | FLITASTIC - 2015-12-16 11:45 PM Sounds like a hind gut issue. With the amount of feed that horse is getting they should be huge. Ultium and renew gold together? Holy smokes. That's a ton of fat. Once you get the hind gut working then they will start to assimilate their feed better. The horses diet should revolve around high quality forage. I use a product that conditions and keeps my horses hind gut working properly. All bagged feeds safe choice or ultium are packed with artificial vitamins and minerals that are counter productive in a horse.
Thats not what Original Poster is feeding thats what a reply poster said they feed .. Original gets safechoice |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | FLITASTIC - 2015-12-16 10:45 PM Sounds like a hind gut issue. With the amount of feed that horse is getting they should be huge. Ultium and renew gold together? Holy smokes. That's a ton of fat. Once you get the hind gut working then they will start to assimilate their feed better. The horses diet should revolve around high quality forage. I use a product that conditions and keeps my horses hind gut working properly. All bagged feeds safe choice or ultium are packed with artificial vitamins and minerals that are counter productive in a horse.
This is not the horse that OP is talking about, this one was posted from another BB that was telling the OP what she is feeding hers. |
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Expert
Posts: 5290
| Southtxponygirl - 2015-12-17 7:06 AM
FLITASTIC - 2015-12-16 10:45 PM Sounds like a hind gut issue. With the amount of feed that horse is getting they should be huge. Ultium and renew gold together? Holy smokes. That's a ton of fat. Once you get the hind gut working then they will start to assimilate their feed better. The horses diet should revolve around high quality forage. I use a product that conditions and keeps my horses hind gut working properly. All bagged feeds safe choice or ultium are packed with artificial vitamins and minerals that are counter productive in a horse.
This is not the horse that OP is talking about, this one was posted from another BB that was telling the OP what she is feeding hers.
Got it, but I stand behind my approach to the person who was having to feed ALl the ultium and Renew Gold. Maybe Winwillows will chime in but I don't think that product was designed to be combined with any other commercial feeds. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 999
Location: Sunny So Cal | If they haven't treated for ulcer they might want to try that. I prefer GastroPLUS because it is also for digestive health to and not just ulcers. Also maybe try some beet pulp. That has always helped in the past. |
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 It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | Broken record over here, but I would assume hind gut issues causing the 'hard keeper' status
I feed the following
2lbs Oats
1/2 cut Flax
Grass and Alfalfa
Cur Ost (blend depending on horse) |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | Feed MORE-be sure to check the bag and give the correct amount-yes-weigh it to be absolutely sure. If the horse is strictly on hay-no grain-I would make sure the horse is NEVER without hay and then add a flake of alfalfa morning and night, if that doesn't work then I would add the grain-oats, flax.
Honestly I feed a couple of pounds of oats and a cup of flax to help keep from feeding high dollar rounds of alfalfa twice as fast as I want to-that's it. If I could afford to roll out a $65 bale every 4 days for my 5 head I would do it over feeding grain once a day. |
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Expert
Posts: 1694
Location: Willows, CA | FLITASTIC - 2015-12-17 9:23 AM
Southtxponygirl - 2015-12-17 7:06 AM
FLITASTIC - 2015-12-16 10:45 PM Sounds like a hind gut issue. With the amount of feed that horse is getting they should be huge. Ultium and renew gold together? Holy smokes. That's a ton of fat. Once you get the hind gut working then they will start to assimilate their feed better. The horses diet should revolve around high quality forage. I use a product that conditions and keeps my horses hind gut working properly. All bagged feeds safe choice or ultium are packed with artificial vitamins and minerals that are counter productive in a horse.
This is not the horse that OP is talking about, this one was posted from another BB that was telling the OP what she is feeding hers.
Got it, but I stand behind my approach to the person who was having to feed ALl the ultium and Renew Gold. Maybe Winwillows will chime in but I don't think that product was designed to be combined with any other commercial feeds.
Adding another fat source along with Renew Gold can work for faster weight gain over the short term. You can increase the Renew Gold for a while to give them a jump start, then back it back down as they fill out. It should not be necessary on a daily basis once the desired condition is reached. This is usually done when hay quality is low, feed concentrates have been too high, or in a horse that has other issues that need to be resolved. Hard keepers usually have an inefficiency in the hind gut that is preventing them from capturing the calories that are available in their roughage. When this happens people have a tendency to add more concentrate, which, if grain based, further effects the hind gut in a negative way. This is a downward spiral that a lot of horse owners fall into. While I MUCH prefer RG to Oats in supporting hind gut function, oats can be used if the amount is controlled. Please understand that my preference would still be there even if I did not make RG. It has so many advantages over oats through the entire digestive system that it is just a better answer. As to adding additional fat to these horses in addition to RG, I would use straight stabilized rice bran, not raw, at around one pound per day until they reached proper weight and then discontinue it. You are just looking for digestible calories in this case. Most other blended fat supplements have fillers and random ingredients that just make the bag look fuller but not the horse. The final point on hard keepers is to be sure they are up to date on parasite control, and, of equal importance, that their teeth are up to date. |
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