racemare

[windyr]

I have a 5 year old racemare who has won 2 races and placed several times. She would win a lot more races if she would put on more weight. We check her mouth and worm her regularly. She eats well, but she never fills out as she ought to. I am thinking of putting her on Body Builder. Is this a good choice or are their any other recommendations?

[Rushtawin]

This website seems well written - though it doesn't seem to mention parasitic immunity to certain dewormers or the possibility of an ulcer. Hope this helps and happy new year to all!

[clh]

Great article Rushtawin. Windyr - we have used Body Builder for the last several years for our mares and foals. We believe it is beneficial. I do not know how helpful it would be for a mare not putting on weight however. If she is eating well and cleaning up all her grain/hay it might indicate that she doesn't have a dental problem but you might want to go ahead and have her teeth checked out just the same. One of my colts didn't eat clean his grain up all the time and I was concerned so I checked with the vet and we went ahead and gave him a course of Gastroguard. He then started eating well so she might have some ulcer issues. I know there are horses that are hard to put on weight - adding corn oil, increasing the protein percent of grain, etc... would be some things I would try if all medical conditions were ruled out first. Good luck

[cewright]

Why not just feed her more food? Not every horse has the same metabolism. I have some horses that get fat smelling an empty feed bucket while others require a high calorie load to maintain weight. As a general rule, I have found that top dressing my commercial pelleted feed with oats is a good way to add extra calories. Rather than increasing the portion sizes I increase the number of feedings. I believe this helps minimize the risk of carbohydrate overload and related problems.

Good luck!

Chuck

[larrygene]

Try adding yeast cultures. Not brewers yeast. Put a handful of yeast in feed once a day. Diamond V makes this product and is very economical compared to other products. Most feed stores handle it especially if there are dairy farms in your area. It will take about 3 weeks to start seeing results. I feed it to all my horses whether racing , broodmares or stallions.

Good Luck,
Larrygene

[Laurierace]

I would run her through a course of gastroguard and then if the weight starts to come on during that time, then give her another two weeks on the full dose. Maintenace dose from there on out. Its expensive as heck but does the job like no other.

[windyr]

I have started her on a course of gastroguard. I'll keep you posted on how this works.

[Cathyleabo]

Plain old pelleted rice bran has worked wonders on our two mares and one VERY old mule (33 this year).
It helps them absorb the nutrition in their rations more efficiently. Very interesting article in Western Horseman magazine on this subject a couple of months ago.
We raced one of the mares and without it we fought constantly to keep her weight up. We added 2 cups rice bran to her food each day and she filled out and stayed that way.
Sometimes the simplest substance makes all the differnce.

[windyr]

I started the mare on a course of gastroguard as recommended, for 25 days now. I saw her ths morning and she has really began to put on some weight. Her quarters are rounding out, her flanks are filling out and she is walking around as if she is owns the paddock. I hope she can put on more weight and keep it on.

[Laurierace]

OOOh I love being right! I am so happy for you and your mare. Keep up the good work!

[windyr]

This was really very good advice. The race mare is a very special lady. She is stabled in Trinidad and is a full sister to our triple crown winner. When I bought her she was the highest priced filly every sold in a local yearling sale. She is such a beauty, chestnut with four white socks, that we named her Eye Candy.