How much to feed

[AHorseOfCourse]

I've bought a horse, a 17hh ISH mare who is visibly underweight, you can see her ribs and she needs to build her topline.

I have speedi-beet, Bailey's #4 and alfa-A chop as that's what the dealer was feeding her.

How much should I be feeding her? She's out on grass 24/7 other than coming in to ride and has hay in the stable. I used a weigh tape which puts her at 524 kg but it's not clear from the feed bags whether the recommended amounts should be reduced if adding in other feeds.

Dealer said half a scoop once a day if riding but that seems so little given how thin she is. I think I overfed her on the first day as she had runny poo the next day. Dealer might have meant half a scoop in total of the mixed feeds, I gave half a scoop of each!

I'm not a complete novice, just rusty at the details I promise! I could ask one of the hundreds of people on my yard but would rather be anonymous!

She's getting light exercise at the mo ie half an hour schooling or a hack most days.

You could ring one of the feed companies or if you have a good feed merchant go in and talk to one of them. I did this and took a couple of pictures with me and found the advice very helpful. Seeing ribs isn't always a bad thing, there is a tendency to have too fat horses and in a fit and well horse ribs are ok - obviously within reason - but by the sounds of it yours does need a bit of tlc.

What's the grazing like? I'd always start with grass and hay. Is she on ad lib hay?

She has hay when in the stable but there's plenty of grass in the field. I saw the dealer today and she advised a full scoop of each daily so I'll do that for now.

Sounds a plan. I'd split the feed into two rather than one large feed too.

For a big girl like that 1 1/2 scoops total feed doesn't sound like too much. Have you wormed her to rule them out as a reason for her lack of condition? She may have been runny due to a change in grass. For now I would stick with what you're doing.

Call Baileys Feedline.
Also recommend micronised linseed for condition - it's also non-heating and supplies Omega 3 & 6.

Oh, and Equinox do a fab feed balancer. Great for the gut. Look them up.

Firstly, worm her. Then pick a couple of feed companies and call them. They will send samples if you ask as some horses are fussy eaters (mine wouldn't touch hard feed when I first got him.) The feed companies will take down a detailed description of what work your horse is doing and other parameters and will tell you which of their feeds in what quantities they suggest.

Obviously you can play around with this a bit, but to give an idea the amount you are feeding now is a bit more than my 15.2hh gets in the summer but quite a bit less than he gets in the winter. I've spoken to Baileys, Top Spec and Dengie about their feeds, but whichever you pick will give advice.

If she is visibly underweight with no topline I honestly wouldn't be riding her until she's built up a bit.

Either worm her, or do a worm count. Also worth getting her teeth checked.

Micronised linseed is really good for weight gain, and as said up thread I'd be splitting the feed into at least two feeds a day.

I'd also get her back and saddle fit checked before riding - perhaps the lack of topline is due to muscle wastage from ill-fitting saddle? Difficult to say without seeing her.

Working long and low is brilliant for rebuilding topline, as are "back lifts" and carrot stretches. Working over raised poles is also good.

She was wormed last week and had teeth done in Nov. Saddle was newly purchased and fitted on Monday. She came over from Ireland a month ago but was ridden regularly beforehand.

This is her.

I second phoning Baileys feedline. We had one of their reps at the yard a few months ago. Was previously feeding top spec but never got it quite right. Was a tad sceptic with the recommendations from Baileys but they had it spot on!

She looks poor, bless her but nothing a bit of TLC shouldn't sort fairly easily. I honestly would leave off riding except for some light hacking till she's gained more weight/muscle/topline. And as she gains weight and muscle her saddle will obviously need re-checking - I assume the saddle fitter advised this? My saddle fitter is fairly paranoid about re-checking fit, especially of a new saddle and where a horse is almost guaranteed to change shape (young horse, one brought back into work).

Bet she's glad she's landed on her feet with an owner who cares enough to question feed etc.

TBH if she has been in hard work she is a bit thin but not terrible. Most leisure horses are far too fat these days! eyes up porky ID in field I would say slow and steady is the way to go with increasing feed. As she is new and you are getting to know her I would be wary of stuffing her with food. Your plan sounds sensible and if you are planning on stabling her at night as it gets colder then ad lib hay when she is in supplemented by a couple of well balanced feeds is the best bet for keeping her happy and putting the weight back on.