I have owned Seattle (12 years old, appendix QH, 16.3hh) for a little over a year now and her weight has consistently been a problem.  This past summer Seattle came with me to a camp that I worked at as a horse director.  Having her there to ride on the 800 acres of land was amazing.  However, she dropped a lot of weight over the two months we were there.  I attribute this to the set up of the farm there.  They don't feed hay in the summer due to the availability of free choice grass.  But I don't think Seattle chose to graze enough. ;) 

Now that we are back at our barn with a more traditional set up (stalls!) I am trying to put this weight back on her without bringing out the energy of her TB half.  She is on 10 lbs of 12% sweet feed a day as well as six flakes of hay a day (sorry, I don't know the weight off hand).  The manager at the barn swears that Seattle is gaining weight after being back for three weeks, but I'm not so sure.  Her coat has definatly become more shiney and healthy looking, but I don't see her becoming more rounded around the edges.  Is it possible to have a more healthy coat without the weight gain?  Has anyone had a difficult keeper with success?  What did you do?  What about beet pulp? (I already referenced that recent post).  Any good supplements? (I am thinking grow-n-win) She has had her teeth done and has been dewormed recently.  I really think this just comes down to a necessary adjustment in her diet.  

 Thanks in advance!

Equine Senior (regardless of the horse's age) and beet pulp do wonders together :)

Yes, I have a hard keeper. I put his weight on with the above, and I keep it on by giving him enough hay and Estrella pellets (an alfalfa based pellet). He's a 27 y/o TB, I hate him looking skinny.... so I'm happy he doesn't anymore :)

Jessi

When Lila lost weight, I put her on Cool Calories. It says that Start to Finish Makes it. It worked well. It also worked for my friends horse.

There are many good weight gain products on the market these days, some of which have already been mentioned.

My first thoughts are:

1.  She is on a worming program and is up-to-date.

2.  Her teeth have been examined and floated if necessary.

3.  Lose the Sweet feed.  IMO, sweet feed is the worst thing to come down the equine pike since Bot Flies and moldy hay

3.1  Again, there are a lot of great feeds on the market today.  Look within a distance you can afford to drive for the best quality and price available for feeds that contain beet pulp or rice bran.  Oftentimes these feeds come in pelleted form.  They can be spruced up at feeding time with a warm splash of canola oil.  I say canola because it is high in Omega-3 as opposed to corn oil that is high in Omega-6.  While a good balance of both is necessary, if I am going to over-do one of them, it is the Omega-3

4.  Might also want to consider a probiotic.  It is possible she is a "quietly nervous" horse and something to help her digestive system can't hurt.  12 is not too young to be using some type of probiotic.  There are many good ones on the market - I use ProDiZyme for my rescued Arab and my metabolic TWH.

Hope this helps you some

CheyAut:

Equine Senior (regardless of the horse's age) and beet pulp do wonders together :)

Yes, I have a hard keeper. I put his weight on with the above, and I keep it on by giving him enough hay and Estrella pellets (an alfalfa based pellet). He's a 27 y/o TB, I hate him looking skinny.... so I'm happy he doesn't anymore :)

Jessi

That's exactly what my 25ish yr old gets!  Although he was an easy keeper until he started losing some teeth recently.  I also tried the Canola oil like WTW suggested, but he hated the taste so I went back to corn oil, and in the winter he gets alfalfa cubes soaked.

I have an Appendix Quarter Horse, too, and when I first got him, he had a hard time keeping weight on. But I did a couple things to add weight. The first was to add beet pulp to his feed- it gave him more calories, but didn't make him hot. I also added 1/4 to 1/2 cup of vegetable oil to his feed a day- it's pure fat and it really helped him put weight on. I also used these two things to help put weight on a 23-year-old Arabian, and it worked amazingly well. Good Luck!

I have 2 hard keepers. One thing that works well is to spread the meals out throughout the day. 4 or 5 smaller meals will do better than 2 big ones. Yes, loose the sweet feed. I use give them 6lbs. grain/hay based pelleted feed(you can't get it nation wide so I won't mention the name) with a 1/2 cup of corn oil and a small flake of grass hay at lunch. They each get 1 flake alfalfa in the am and a huge flake of grass hay in the pm. They are both doing great. If I have time they get beet pulp some days. But neither of them really care for it that much.

Triple Crown Senior feed is great for putting weight on.  It also contains no corn, which seems to make my horse (he is a 23 yr. old Arabian gelding) go crazy.  Also, give him as much hay as he can eat.  If that still doesn't work, you may want to try a weight gain supplement or oil.

I wouldn't give him sweet feed if he is a hard keeper/energetic horse.  All the corn and sugar can bring out the worst in them, and it is not good for them as well (too much sugar).  A balanced commercial feed will give your horse the best balance of essential vitamins and minerals, thus helping him to better utilize the nutrients in his feed.

I would feed him at least 3 times per day.  A lot of times hard keepers simply will not eat enough if given a large ration all at once, so try to spread it out.  Hope this helps.

 I have an Appendix who is not an easy keeper too.

Lose the sweet feed.  I use Nutrena's SafeChoice and it is awesome at adding weight when I want, keeping his weight steady when I want and never makes him hot.  If you need a little more oomph and fat add Nutrena's Empower -- it chock a block full of fat but doesn't make a horse hot (I think it's 14%).  I swear by these two products!

My 12 y.o. Pain uhh Paint (altho sometimes she is a pain!) mare is a hard keeper.  She's fed 3x/day, hay in the AM and PM, and a mixture of beet pulp, sr feed, and alfalfa pellets for lunch.  She hasn't gained an ounce, and my trainer suggested a daily wormer.  In her experience that's helped hard keepers put on and maintain weight.  So, we're going to put her on Strongid and see what happens.

Has anyone had any experience with LMF feeds?  I spoke w/a rep recently, talked about Lucy being a hard keeper, the supplements she's on, etc.  He told me that if I'm feeding the right stuff she won't need all the supplements she's on, and recommended Showtime (G) feed.  I'm going to talk to the trainer/BO re this.  Calculated if what he says is true, I could save a few bucks every month!

Mary

You may want to check out http://www.ruralheritage.com/vet_clinic/index.htm#epsm and read up on EPSM (Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy).  It does not just affect draft horses; sometimes in quarter horses it is called PPSM.  It is a metabolic syndrome where the horse does not process sugars and starches & need added fat to their diet.  It is common in several (yet un-named) performance quarter horse bloodlines.  Quarter horses do not experience some of the high-level symptoms that draft horses do; often times it is just that they seem to be a hard keeper or get sore.  No sweet feeds for these horses; hay, low-starch feeds like SafeChoice, vitamin E & selenium (if needed), and added fat in the form of vegetable oil.  There are tests; the most conclusive one is a muscle biopsy, but you can also just add fat to their diet; it doesn't do any harm.  The DNA test is not always conclusive.  Good luck!

I have a big TB who is a hard keeper. I'm still putting weight on him and it's not easy since he's finicky with his hay! I make sure he has alfalfa in front of him all the time. I switched his feed from a nice beet pulp based pellet to a Senior grain called Seminole Wellness Senior Mix. I believe this is only in FL. This senior feed is higher in fat which is what he needs. He gets this grain twice per day and for lunch he gets soaked beet pulp with ground flax seed. I add corn oil to his a.m. and p.m. feed. I believe I will try Seminole's Ultra Bloom next, which is a nice weight gain product. Seminole feed is a wonderful, high quality feed just as Nutrena is (if not better).