Cross Breeds

How can i put weight on my aging mare?

I have a 25 year old15.hh Retired race horse mare, shes ridden once a week for half an hour, walk troy and canter. Shes dropping weight very fast currently. What can i do to help her gain weight and muscle?

Public Comments

1. Well, first get her blood and faeces checked for any physical problems. Second, feed haylage adlib (with a haylage supplement to prevent acid build up), high calorie feeds including barley, maize, and sugar beet. You might need to break it down into several smaller meals. Also keep her nice and warm. A cold horse will quickly lose condition so rugs 24/7. Being ridden only once a week, I am not sure that she is fit enough for canter work though.
2. Get vet to check teeth, worms (fecal count). Check for lice....those nasty critters can cause dramatic loss of condition. Blanket, it helps the horse use needed calories to maintain condition instead of wasting calories to keep warm. High Alfalfa content hay really helps. Add fat into grain. (flax is the best) Break up graining to smaller feeds more frequently in the day (3x to 4x times a day). It gets hard to keep weight on an old horse and you have the double whammy of a thoroughbred (which I have) TB's are definatly overall a higher maintenence horse. I feel your pain...
3. We do two things... 1st, you can buy her a certain kind of feed that has a lot of fats and nutrients. We use Purina Senior and it works good. 2nd, you can put certain things on their feed. We use Dac oil and it fattens them up and keep their coat shiny. of course, the posters above me have good ideas too ;)
4. this is most likely because of the weather. is the grass already starting to die off where you are? give her more hay, also blanket her when its cold. shes most likely using all her energy to stay warm and shes not getting enough hay/energy food. good luck!
5. Blanket her to let her keep the calories that she eats instead of burning them off. Also, give her access to as much good hay as she wants 24/7. Have the vet check her teeth- when has she had them done last? Also, make sure you're keeping her on a rotating dewormer schedule, have the vet check her poop. And feed her grain more often during the day- probably a scoop to two scoops for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Use senior feed, and add corn oil to make it go down easier. I wouldn't ride her until you get her weight back up. The last thing she needs is to be burning off precious calories.
6. Talk to a vet and they will most likely recommend senior feed for horses. Yes older horses need senior feed especially if they are losing weight. We had a senior horse who we fed normal food such as hay, oats, and even mixed in molasses and he kept losing weight and getting skinny. We asked our vet and he recommended senior feed for horses. Your local feed store will probably carry it and if not, ask and they might be willing to order it in for you.