Health & Nutrition > Hard Keepers
How to Keep Weight on Your Horse:
Managing the Hard Keeper
May, 2007
Did your horse come out of winter a little thinner than last year? Horses lose weight
for a variety of reasons—some of them medical, some of them man-made. Find out why
your horse may be underweight and what you can do about it.
First, have your veterinarian perform a complete physical examination on your thin
horse to rule-out any medical diseases or conditions. As you can see from this list,
there are some common health reasons for horses to lose weight, like parasites,
and there are some uncommon reasons, like cancer. Some of the more uncommon ones
will need additional testing to reach a diagnosis. Each medical reason has one or
more examples to help explain why weight loss can occur:
- Malnutrition – parasites, poor dentition
- Malabsorption – disorders of the small intestine
- Protein-losing gastroenteropathy – stomach ulcers
- Acute diarrhea – Potomac Horse Fever
- Chronic diarrhea – sand in the intestine
- Chronic pain – severe arthritis or laminitis
- Chronic infection – abscess, peritonitis
- Organ failure – kidney or liver disease
- Metabolic disease – Cushing’s Syndrome
- Cancer
Of course, there are non-medical reasons why horses are underweight, and those can
be divided into four categories: food, living environment, age & breed/genetics,
and use.
Food
There’s a term veterinarians use when a horse is thin simply because he’s not getting
enough quality food to eat: "agroceriosis" or, lack of groceries. Step
back and really examine the forage and grain your horse eats. Is the hay from two
years ago and does it look more like straw? Is the one-acre pasture for both horses
mostly weeds? Is your grain from a small, local source that may or may not understand
proper horse nutrition?
Now think about how much your horse eats. Is he getting 1.5 – 2.0 % of his body
weight every day in food? (for a 1200 pound horse that 24 pounds of hay and grain
hopefully divided into two or more feedings). Is he getting at least as much grain
as the label on the bag says? Are there long periods of time during the day when
he has no food in front of him?
Living environment
If you think you’re doing everything right when it comes to the feedstuffs you give
your horse, now consider if there is any stress in his life you can eliminate. For
example, does he have to compete for his share of hay and grain? Is he constantly
having to dominate or submit to other horses in his herd? Does he spend most of
his time in a stall? Does he travel and compete frequently? Does he have relief
from sun, bugs and heat in the summer and precipitation and cold temps in the winter?
Age, Breed/Genetics
Certainly as horses age into their teens and twenties, their bodies begin to function
less efficiently. However, this doesn’t mean older horses are supposed to be or
have to be thin. It just means they may need more veterinary care and improved management
to keep up their weight. The Henneke Body Condition Scoring chart, which is a scale
from 1 = emaciated to 9 = obese, takes into account the fat and muscling a horse
has over certain parts of his body, not his age. The same is true when body condition
scoring a breed that always seems to having trouble keeping weight on, such as a
thoroughbred.
Use
Next, bear in mind what calories you’re asking your horse to burn. Is he only used
for occasional trail rides? Does he get ridden lightly four to five days a week?
Is he on a heavy training and competition schedule? Remember that some horses, especially
older ones (and thoroughbreds at that), do a better job of keeping up their weight
if given some controlled exercise beyond just turnout. Hacking on a long rein, lunging
or even handwalking up and down hills or over cavaletti may add muscle back to an
inactive but thin horse.
Don’t forget the supplements! Fat can be safely added as an additional source of
calories. Look for a product with essential fatty acids, especially omega-3s. Help
build muscle with amino acids such as lysine, methionine and threonine. Newer ingredients
such as gamma oryzanol, creatine and HMB may also be of benefit in muscle development.
Stimulate appetite with the herb fenugreek, bee pollen or the number one flavor
horses prefer: banana! Finally, improve overall digestive health with pre- and probiotics,
enzymes, and intestinal protectants such as l-glutamine and licorice.
How to Keep Weight on Your Horse: Managing the Hard Keeper
By: Lydia F. Gray, DVM, MA
SmartPak Staff Veterinarian and Medical Director
May 2007