Diego has seemingly made the switch from easy keeper, all of his life to a slightly harder keeper as far as his weight is concerned. We’ve had alot of hurdles to overcome in the past 6 months concerning his health: he was malnourished when he arrived at our current barn in June. Coat was decent but not too shiny, his hoof wall was terribly, dry, cracking, his skin was prey to constant fungal infections and was super slow to heal from even the smallest scratches or cuts. He became a pasture 24/7 horse last June and once I added a ration balancer supplement back to his program I started to see major improvement by Sept/Oct. I would have seen results within the first month but I made a mistake on the dosage <embarrassment> and did not up the dosage till Sept. Summer and fall that was all he needed to be healthy and maintain a proper weight: grass & ration balancer about 4-5 times a week. (1lb for light work)
Winter came though and this is our first winter together since being in a pampered barn with a stall every night. I admit I did not take the advice of putting weight on him before winter as seriously as I should have and I regret it. It’s too hard to try and put/keep weight on at the last minute, preparation for winter should begin in October if not before. Ideally once the grass dies and even before that, which for us living in southern USA, is around December - horses should have access to hay 24/7. According to Diego’s body weight he needs atleast 19lbs a day to maintain healthy weight & gut health. Unfortunately this winter we have had troubles at my barn obtaining enough hay and keeping it out there constantly for the horses. While Diego isn’t in any immediate danger he has gone through winter much thinner than I prefer and it has had me stressed and worried for far too many months. Work, family life and other commitments keep me from being able to come out everyday to feed. Sometimes I feel very guilty, like I’m not being responsible enough for his well being. =(
Now because of the lack of hay issue, I am having to look into alternative ways to put weight on him. To some people this may not be unusual, or a big deal, but to me it’s very unnatural (for him) and frustrating. Horses were not meant to ingest large amount of commercially processed grains. While he might go the whole winter with no adverse side-effects (IF I choose the feed wisely and limit the starch & molasses) from excess amounts of grain my instincts tell me this is not the way to go. How many people out there have been faced with non-ideal feeding situations with their horses at boarding facilities? I find myself really wanting to hear their stories right about now. I have opinions thrown at me from all sides and it can get very overwhelming. I face judgment sometimes from all sides as well, no matter what decision I finally settle on. Most people are well meaning but also all of them think they know what’s bets for my horse. *sigh*
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The options I have settled on for now are: Beet Pulp & Rice Bran Oil.
I started D on ½ cup of vegetable oil and then moved up to a homemade mixture of coconut & canola oil. My trimmer pointed out that canola is higher than certain other oils in Omega 6’s though which can promote inflammatory responses in the body. With D’s arthritis that’s something I definitely want to minimize. I’ve switched to rice bran oil currently and may continue to use coconut. Uckele.com has a coconut/soybean oil combo for about $18 which was tried and tested for us many years ago (and met taste approvals of our horses) so that’s an option too. As of last week he is now up to 2c. A large amount I know but it’s not permanent - I am looking for improvement and will drop back to 1c for maintenence.
The beet pulp from what I hear is slow to put weight on but reliable. Just this week we have moved up to 4lbs of it (dried, shredded measured). The trick for me is of course managing his intake - he is fed in one meal 4-5 times a week, so that presents a challenge of not overloading his stomach at one time. I break it up into 2 feedings over a 2hr period:
*2-3lbs beet pulp upon my arrival, before our work
*2lbs beet pulp + 1lb ration balancer + oil & hoof supplement before I leave
We'll see how this goes...
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UPDATE on the weight issue: 3/31/11
Apparently it's not just him being a "hard keeper" that's been the problem all winter. I've been at the BP and oil thing for a month with only minimal results. Recently it was discovered that D has a jaw problem and there is significant suspicion now that the problem has caused the majority of weight loss through the winter. More on that in subsequent entries!
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