24 year old palomino gelding super skinny!!!

[Bunnylady]

Everyone has given such good advice. Just another thought....

My aunt had a horse that lived to be 38 years old. I remember him from foal to helping break him and I was there when he passed away. The only time my aunt ever had a problem with him getting too thin was after they changed him over to a senior formulated feed. They had bought some land and were having a house built so they had him boarded. The people there said that had seen that often when feed was switched to some senior formulas so they put him back on his original feed and...well, he lived to be 38! (Sorry but I do not know what feed they were using.)

I haven't seen a lot of senior feeds, but at least one that I know of is the typical "sweet feed" - pellets and whole grains and molasses. For the life of me, I have never been able to figure out what that company can be thinking, calling that a senior feed. You don't have to see grains sprouting in the manure piles in the pasture too many times to figure out that a lot of grain passes through intact, even if the horse is young and has good teeth, so why give it to an animal whose dentition may be compromised? And then there's the sugar content. . . If that's the kind of senior feed the old fella was getting, I'm not surprised he was losing weight.

 

[Sassysarah123]

Got any pics of what he looked like when he arrived and what he looks like now? Feeding any minerals? Last time he was wormed?

If he was fine when you got him but has lost weight since you've had him, I'd examine what has changed for him since his last place of residence~feed, hay quality, overstressed soils, shelter, water supply?

I think so. I will post some

 

[Sassysarah123]

He looks like he is getting a lot better! We have been feeding him a lot of sweet feed and are mixing in like a cup of ''cool calories''.
I did notice though that he likes the hay from Atwoods better than the bale of hay I got off craigslist, so we have been giving him that instead. Is the Atwoods hay better for him? Why does he like it better?
We were so desperate to get some weight on him we gave him a whole bag of sweet feed! lol

 

[promiseacres]

He looks like he is getting a lot better! We have been feeding him a lot of sweet feed and are mixing in like a cup of ''cool calories''.
I did notice though that he likes the hay from Atwoods better than the bale of hay I got off craigslist, so we have been giving him that instead. Is the Atwoods hay better for him? Why does he like it better?
We were so desperate to get some weight on him we gave him a whole bag of sweet feed! lol

I hope the bag lasted a couple of weeks??

 

[Sassysarah123]

I hope the bag lasted a couple of weeks??

More like a couple of days! LOL!
When we brought in the bag of feed he was picking it up and throwing it up in the air! Haha

 

[Baymule]

Be careful with over feeding. You can founder or colic him, neither of which you want. But I am sure you already know that. I've used feed before that the horses ate LOTS of and still remained skinny. I have used an all purpose pellet from Martindale Feeds for years now and will drive to get it. I have two 28 and 30 year old seniors that look like 8 year olds. It's base is sugar beet shreds. Maybe you could feed your horse a warm mash of sugar beet shreds? Start small and slowly increase.

 

[Bunnylady]

We were so desperate to get some weight on him we gave him a whole bag of sweet feed! lol

Y'know, I'll bet if you gave him a whole bag of Valentine's candy, that would probably put weight on him, too . . . if it didn't kill him first.

Sorry, that was sarcasm - not helpful, I know. Bad Bunny!

You do know that Cool Calories is pretty much powdered Crisco, right? You could probably get the same result for a lot less using vegetable oil, as others have suggested here (start with 1/4 c, and add more gradually; don't give a whole cupful at the beginning).

Equine nutritionists almost start foaming at the mouth when the subject of sweet feed comes up. As I commented in an earlier post, most of the whole grains in sweet feed pass right through the horse, undigested, so they are wasted nutrients as far as a horse is concerned. The other issue they have with it has to do with the sugar content. A high carbohydrate diet is not good for any horse, but there are some heath issues that are common in older horses that make a lot of carbohydrates (sugars) really bad for them. Of course horses like sweet feed - it's like feeding them Froot Loops, or any of those other sugar-coated breakfast cereals. Think about it; how healthy do you think you'd be if you chowed down on that stuff morning, noon, and night?

I'm glad your horse is doing better, but there are better, more nutritious feed options out there. You've been given a lot of good advice about safe, healthy ways to put weight on a horse. Now that your boy no longer looks like he's knocking on death's door, perhaps you should explore them? A good place to start would be giving him a more nutritious, pelleted feed, rather than the sweet stuff. He probably won't like it as well, so I would mix the two, gradually weaning him off the "candy" and onto something he can actually use.

 

[Sassysarah123]

Y'know, I'll bet if you gave him a whole bag of Valentine's candy, that would probably put weight on him, too . . . if it didn't kill him first.

Sorry, that was sarcasm - not helpful, I know. Bad Bunny!

You do know that Cool Calories is pretty much powdered Crisco, right? You could probably get the same result for a lot less using vegetable oil, as others have suggested here (start with 1/4 c, and add more gradually; don't give a whole cupful at the beginning).

Equine nutritionists almost start foaming at the mouth when the subject of sweet feed comes up. As I commented in an earlier post, most of the whole grains in sweet feed pass right through the horse, undigested, so they are wasted nutrients as far as a horse is concerned. The other issue they have with it has to do with the sugar content. A high carbohydrate diet is not good for any horse, but there are some heath issues that are common in older horses that make a lot of carbohydrates (sugars) really bad for them. Of course horses like sweet feed - it's like feeding them Froot Loops, or any of those other sugar-coated breakfast cereals. Think about it; how healthy do you think you'd be if you chowed down on that stuff morning, noon, and night?

I'm glad your horse is doing better, but there are better, more nutritious feed options out there. You've been given a lot of good advice about safe, healthy ways to put weight on a horse. Now that your boy no longer looks like he's knocking on death's door, perhaps you should explore them? A good place to start would be giving him a more nutritious, pelleted feed, rather than the sweet stuff. He probably won't like it as well, so I would mix the two, gradually weaning him off the "candy" and onto something he can actually use.

We used to give him senior feed, but we thought that sweet feed would put more weight on him because it has more sugar in it. Guess not... Thank you for the helpful info! We will put him back on his senior feed.

 

[alsea1]

I don't think anyone has pointed out yet that as the horse ages his system begins to lose the ability to break down feeds. I use a feed that has added probiotics and such to aid in digestion.
Sweet feed can be hard on an ageing horse.
If I were managing this animal I would make sure the teeth were vetted and make sure there were no underlying health issues.
I have uploaded a pdf with the stats on the feed I give my senior mare. This stuff is really good. I would look for something that is comparable
We also have to remember that horses actually have small stomachs and are not designed to eat large meals. Feeding too much feed at a time really creates havoc.
Feed moves along at a certain rate weather its been digested or not. This can create a train wreck.
As many small meals as possible are the key to good health.
As was pointed out corn oil is a good calorie builder that is relatively cheap and absorbed easily so safe additive. Molasses is only added to appeal to the animal like a twinky appeals to us. Its sugar that the animal was never meant to eat and process. Horses can get a form of diabetes.
There are tons of good articles on the net concerning the latest studies on horses and nutrition in different life stages.

 

[Beekissed]

I've heard good things about poor doers getting some weight and better health on Chaffhaye. Anyone have any experience with that? Or Haylage?

I've seen some really good things happen with animals that were fed fermented feeds and it seems it's doing good things for horses as well.