Practical Steps for Preventing Weight Loss or Promoting Condition

Whilst winter is the most obvious time for horses to lose weight, some can “drop off” at any time of year.  Following some basic principles should help prevent this and help find a feeding regime which will put the weight back on and keep the horse looking good.

STEP 1: Make sure you’re feeding enough FIBRE

Ideally, hay or haylage should be fed on an ad lib basis. If this is not possible, horses should receive a minimum of 1.5kg per 100kg of their bodyweight in forage/fibre per day (on a dry matter basis), which can be increased to 2.5kg per 100kg when weight gain is required. For example, as a minimum, a 500kg horse would require 7.5kg per day in forage, increased up to 12.5kg per day to help build weight and condition. Pasture also contributes towards the total daily forage intake, though a greater proportion of hay or haylage will be necessary if grazing is poor over the winter months.

Fibre is an essential part of any horse’s diet, as it supports the way that the horse has evolved to graze and provides a bulk to the feed to maintain digestive health. Furthermore, it also allows the horse to better utilise the nutrients received through the concentrate feed, as well as assisting with heat production, warmth and weight gain. A good quality, early-cut, softer and leafier forage is ideal for providing a higher calorie intake.

If your horse is a poor forage eater, consider offering alternative sources of fibre, like Alfalfa Blend and/or soaked Fibre-Beet, in separate buckets from any hard feed.  This should encourage the horse to "browse" their fibre/forage options and so increase their overall fibre intake.  Click here for more information on forage alternatives.

STEP 2: Get the gut healthy

Ensuring your horse is getting plenty of fibre will help support gut health but some horses need additional help to encourage a healthy balance of hindgut bacteria.  Feeding a digestive enhancer can help provided targetted support for the beneficial bacteria to support digestive efficiency so the horse can get as much out the diet as possible.  Read more on digestive enhancers here.

STEP 3: Feed the most SUITABLE FEED for your horse’s workload and condition  

If you are working your horse relatively hard but only using a feed formulated for light work, there is likely to be an overall lack of energy/calories in the diet so the horse will not have enough to gain weight and may even lose weight. Your horse will also be missing out on the correct balance of vitamins and minerals which play a vital role in maintaining good condition.

STEP 4: Feed the RECOMMENDED QUANTITY of concentrate/hard feed

Manufacturers formulate feeds to be fed at certain levels according to the horse’s bodyweight and workload so, if you are under-feeding you will not be supporting your horse’s energy requirements and he may struggle to maintain his condition. Feeding recommended quantities of a feed fortified with vitamins and minerals, alongside forage, will provide a fully balanced diet to support a healthy metabolism, which is essential in promoting weight gain and condition.

STEP 5: Keep MEAL SIZES manageable

Due to the relatively small size of the horse’s stomach (about the size of a rugby ball), only small volumes of feed are able to be digested efficiently at any one time. The horse has evolved as a ‘trickle feeder’ so smaller, more frequent meals are preferable to improve digestion and utilisation of the nutrients and calories contained within the feed. As a guideline, we would not recommend feeding more than 0.5kg per 100kg of the horse’s bodyweight in one meal. For example, a 500kg horse should have a meal weight of no more than 2kg so divide the recommended daily feed quantity into as many small meals as you can. The weights of soaked feeds, like Keep Calm, Speedi-Beet or Fibre-Beet, should be considered as their dry weight, before soaking.

STEP 6: Increase your horse’s CALORIE INTAKE

If Steps 1-4 are being met and your horse continues to lose weight or needs to gain additional condition, the next step is to increase his calorie intake. Establish what calorie level your horse’s current feed provides then consider ‘stepping up’ to the next stage for a higher calorie feed. For example, for a horse in light work, requiring weight gain, who is currently being fed recommended quantities of Everyday High Fibre Cubes (or similar), a possible next step up would be to move onto Working Cubes.

Calorie levels in horse feeds are referred to as their Digestible Energy (DE) content, measured in Mega Joules per kilo (MJ/kg)

“Calories” and “energy” are essentially the same thing and are supplied in different ways by different feed ingredients.  Cereals, for example, are a traditional source of extra calories and provide highly digestible starch, which is rapidly absorbed as glucose, and often referred to as supplying “quick release” calories/energy. Dietary fibre is fermented by bacteria in the hindgut in a much lengthier digestive process, to supply “slow release” calories/energy, while oil is also digested more slowly to supply slow release calories.

Slow release energy source are useful for excitable horses, as cereal starch can exacerbate their fizziness, while fibre and oil should help encourage a calm temperament. They are also particularly appropriate for those prone to gastric ulcers, for whom dietary cereal starch levels must be kept to a minimum to help control gastric acidity levels.  Our Feed Finder tool can give you a quick recommendation of which conditioning feeds would be most suited to your horse’s temperament or have a read of Choosing the Right Conditioning Feed.

If you would prefer to stick with your horse’s current feed, and you are confident that it provides sufficient vitamins and minerals to support your horse’s workload, an alternative option would be to add in an additional source of calories to supplement your horse’s existing ration. Assuming you are feeding recommended quantities of a mix, cube or balancer, it is important to make sure that any additional calorie sources are ‘unfortified’, so have no added vitamins and minerals, in order to maintain a balanced ration. Suitable products from the Baileys range include:

• Alfalfa Plus Oil (12.5 MJ/kg) – A high calorie chaff which also provides a source of good quality protein to support the muscles. Remember, this is quite light ie. 1kg = 2.5 Stubbs scoops.
• Speedi-Beet (12 MJ/kg) – Micronised unmolassed beet pulp that requires only a fraction of the soaking time compared to traditional beet pulp. This can be fed up to a maximum rate of 500g (dry weight) per 100kg of bodyweight per day (e.g. 2.5kg dry weight per day for a 500kg horse).
• Fibre-Beet (11 MJ/kg) – Contains all the benefits of Speedi-Beet but with added alfalfa, for quality protein, and oatfeed to increase the fibre content of the feed. This can be fed up to a maximum rate of 1kg (dry weight) per 100kg of bodyweight per day (e.g. 5kg dry weight per day for a 500kg horse).
• Outshine (24 MJ/kg) – A concentrated, high oil supplement containing essential antioxidants to support efficient utilisation of the oil, which is fed in mugs (rather than larger scoops), so is ideal for increasing the calorie content of the horse’s diet without significantly increasing the volume fed. This is advantageous if you are only able to feed once or twice a day and are already feeding large volumes of a mix or cube.

Struggling to keep meal sizes small? Another option with the larger volume “fibre feeds” mentioned above is to provide them separately from the compound feed, in a large bucket or trug.

Traditional “conditioning” extras, like barley, maize or even Cooked Cereal Meal, may be added to an existing balanced diet to provide further calories but are likely to significantly increase the overall starch content of the diet, which may be undesirable for many horses.

Assessing Body Condition

Horses carry different proportions of muscle and body fat according to their type and level of fitness. It is important to monitor this and adjust feeding and management accordingly.  Body Condition Scoring, using a numerical scale where 1 is “poor” and 9 is “obese”, can be a useful way of objectively assessing condition by looking at the horse’s neck, ribs and rump. 

It is also helpful to monitor your horse or pony’s bodyweight by using a weightape or a weighbridge.  This will not only help you in your calculation of how much to feed but is beneficial in assessing progress, especially when you are hoping to make considerable changes to your horse’s condition.

If you keep a constant eye on your horses’ condition all year round you should be able to spot any changes early and act accordingly. When adjusting the diet, it should be noted that in can take up to 6-8 weeks for a difference to be seen in the horse’s weight and condition.