Your Ultimate Guide to Gaining Weight
What Is A Good Way To Get Your Horse To Gain Weight Fast?
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editor in
Questions & Answers on
Nov 7th, 2009 |
3 responses
My horse isn’t skinny, but he’s not really up to par. He has a pretty big pin for excercise but no grass. I give him a pound and a half of oats twice a day along with a chunk of hay. I don’t really have much money so i need an alternative to buying weight gain or something. Would running him a lot be good? Or would it have the oppisite effect? Like would he lose weight from all the excercise or build muscle? Thanx for any answers =]
Feed him more!
corn puts weight on fast sweet feed horses like cracked corn best.
For his workload he should be getting about 80% forage and 20% concentrates. His appetitie is about 2% of his bodyweight so for example:
If he weighed 500Kg his appetite would be approx. 10Kg
80% of this – 8Kg – should be hay
20% of this – 2Kg – should be concentrates (ie oats etc.)
Adding oil (vegetable or soya) to the feed will help him gain weight but be careful not to overfeed or he’ll end up with diarhoea.
Running him a lot would improve muscle tone but he’d lose weight and gain muscle. Also, at his age he shouldn’t be working too hard, he’s still growing (if I’m right in thinking its your 3yo?)