Having problems keeping weight on my mare!

[hunterjumper1125]

I have a Thoroughbred mare who is 12 years old. She was trained hunter/jumper then had 3 foals. She had her last foal May of 08. I am in the process of bringing her back as a hunter/jumper BUT have noticed that she's been dropping weight. Especially when she comes into her heat cycles. She normally is what you would call a nervous mare but has been keeping perfect weight until this years heat cycles. She's currently on Omolene 200 and Strategy like the rest of our barn with added Legends Rice Bran Pellets but since i'm starting her under saddle again i need to drop her protein back down to a 10% or 11%. I feed my warmblood Ultium a product of Purina but was wondering if anyone else had any suggestions. Someone also suggested putting her on Mare Magic?! Anyone ever use this product?! They suggested it because of the fact she only drops the weight when she goes back into her heat cycles. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!:D

[Sansena]

I believe Omolene 200 is a sweet feed? Get her off of it. Carbs aren't doing her any favors.

Then, Scope for ulcers
Have her teeth done
Panacure power pak
Cocosoya oil

grass
grass
grass
grass

and

hay. Lots of it.

[hunterjumper1125]

she was checked for ulcers and that came back negative. Teeth were done 3 months ago and she was wormed 2 weeks ago and before that was wormed on a regular worming schedule.

[CallMeGrace]

I second the worming and ulcer check. We have 2 ex-skinny TBs. I have the mare on Strongid, Gleam & Gain, and a feed called Tough to Beet (there is also one called Unbeetable). She recently lost weight after a barn move. Put her back on ulcer treatment and she is better. The gelding is also on daily wormer, rice bran, and Unbeetable. They are both fat and happy!

[PlantersPunch]

My thoroughbred gelding could eat his weight in grain and never gain an ounce, now that he's on lots of good quality hay and some beet pulp with dinner, he's getting too fat!

I tried mare magic on my mare, I didn't notice a huge difference (although I've heard a lot of people love it). The thing that helped her gain just that little extra was the beet pulp.

[quicksilverponies]

If you don't want to go the Ultium route, which is what I feed my stallions to keep weight on during breeding season, I would suggest the Strategy, which is fairly low in starch, along with a Buckeye feed called Unbeetable. It is made from primarily beet pulp, is low in starch and fortified with Grow N Win and Ultimate Finish. I would also add additional Ultimate Finish - up to 2 cups per feeding to add fat and Fast Track, a probiotic to improve digestion. Good luck with your mare.

[jumpingmaya]

Hi there... been there done that!!!!!
Well my mare has always been the definition of the HARD KEEPER...
But it wasn't too too bad until we found out that she is allergic to pretty much all feeds... Yikes... initial reaction was... she's gona starve to death... Mind you I've always been one of those that believes that forage is more important than grain but she was still one 1 scoop twice a day plus Ultra bloom by seminole and beet pulp at lunch...
So one year later, she is on a cooking cup (yes Cooking Cup) of oats twice a day with the Challenge Supplement (to make the oats into a more complete feeding) and pretty much 6-8 flakes of hay per day (depending on size of flakes). She is also on 12 hours of turnout and is fatter than ever :-)
My first reaction when I hear about horses that can't hold wait is: More hay and more turnout. I truly believe that my mare had a hard time holding on weight because of how stressed she was only being out 2-3 hours a day at our show barn. I know turn her out with a "buddy" and she is as happy as ever. She is still a very hot mare but not stressed any more!!! Really helps! And her stall doesn't look like a race track anymore :winkgrin:
Good luck!!!! :)

Also, Just like QuickSilverPonies said... adding Probiotics to her diet has made the world of a difference!!!! Not expensive (for a supplement) and worth it's weight in gold!

[Limerick]

Have you tried Fat Cat?? I understand it adds weight without adding energy. One of my favorite breeders uses it with great results.

[Heineken]

I believe wholly in probios as others have mentioned. Add a low starch/sugar feed plus some beet pulp and you should see a huge difference. I also am a believer in Senior feed for horses who aren't seniors...My 6 year old TB eats senior feed because it has more fat.

[Everythingbutwings]

Our Maddie is on Strategy and BOSS, along with a scoop of biotin and was fretting off weight. SaraPony mentioned feeding brewer's yeast so we tried that and she's keeping much better. She's been on it about 6 months and it's about as inexpensive a supplement as you can find, a $15.95 tub lasts months. :)

[hollyhorse2000]

Beet pulp.
Pre/probiotics (Fastrack is good)

Treat anyway for ulcers, despite negative scope. She sounds like the perfect ulcer horse. Do one tube of Ulcergard a day for seven days and just see if anything changes in her weight.

[Hauwse]

All the things that the posters have stated.

Sometimes wormers do not work well for blood worms, get your vet to check her counts to make sure there is nothing going on there, blood worms will knock the weight off a horse like crazy.

As far as feeding, as much hay as she wants. I am a big advocate of probiotics. Sometimes we cook the grain for horses that have a problem keeping weight on, it makes it a lot easier to digest resulting in them getting more from it. Adding corn oil to standard feed helps add weight. Fat Cat does work really well, but I think that corn oil does just as good a job for weight gain.

Lots of time to be a horse.

[Heineken]

I just reread the OP, try Depo or Regumate as well, it might regulate and settle her cycle so you don't see the weight loss when she's hormonal. I have geldings so have no clue but would guess this might help.

[QHmom]

I second the power pack. I would do the ulcer way too, but scoping maybe the best route before dumping unneeded meds as that can be expensive. We use Papaya juice for the gut issues with great success. Flaxseed, Calfmana, unlimited hay,and equine senior keeps our hard keeper, hot head fat and grounded.

[showponies]

I have had GREAT results with ottb and thbd brood mares by using cool calories. Along with a good grass mix hay, vitamins and a 14% grain....In my opinon there are WAY to many grain products out there...I am very old school:)

[zahena]

I have a gelding so.... I'll still share fwiw.

His previous owners had little to no knowledge of horses and they were basically starving him. When we took him on, we started with beet pulp and upped his pellets. When we didn't see much success, we power packed him. I also had his teeth floated. Twice! (but for other issues with his bit)

We started to see success after the power pack but then it all went horribly awry. It turned out that he had ulcers. I didn't have him scoped because he had enough problems to warrant the treatment and I didn't want to add to the stress of scoping.

I was looking at him last night and he is FINALLY gaining weight! He is on Cool Calories (Smart Gain didn't really help) along with 2 lbs of Cadence by Buckeye and 1 lb of beet pulp.

[hollyhorse2000]

OP said horse was checked for ulcers, so I assume that means the horse was already scoped and it was negative. Nevertheless, I'd personally treat for ulcers as a "can't hurt/might help" approach. She might need preventative Ulcergard just during her cycles as she flares up then (like doing prevention for showing or trailering). The Regumate is a good suggestion as well. A repro exam might also be in order.

[KyJumper]

I second the suggestion on the COOL CALORIES. A good friends horse had lost well over 100 pounds due to a bout with Lyme disease; looked simply dreadful with ribs sticking out everywhere...a true "holocaust horse" as she called him. Anyhow, after just about a month, he has put significant weight back on, has a pep in his step (25+ years) again and is looking very healthy.

Never had to try any weight gain products with my own gelding, but she has been very satisfied with the product and results so far.

Good luck and Happy Riding!

[kraslad]

Echoing kyjumper and showponies - this last winter my TB lost weight which normally happens but not to the degree of this year. He is on t/o about 5 hours a day with hay available that entire time so there is no shortage of food.

I had heard about COOL CALORIES and decided to give it a try as it was to help add weight without making him totally crazy (which would have happened if I added oats, etc.). He is on senior feed and gets about 6 quarts a day, so unless we wanted to add another feeding, which really didn't seem like a good idea anyway, this was a good option.

The result was SUPER. His weight, even in the dead of NY winter, has come back and he seems perfectly happy.

I didn't mean this to be an advert but just wanted to say that I can highly recommend this product and you can get it at SmartPak or you local Ag store.

Good luck.