# Feeding for weight gain but ulcer prone...



## gingerlegs (14 January 2016)

Looking to see if I'm missing anything with feeding by orange chap. 

He is a 6yo 16.2hh TB, typically light in the frame and always seems slightly underweight. Even when he was turned away for a few months on 15 acres of good grass he still didn't get 'fat'.

Now by all means I don't want a fat horse but he will be showing this year and could do with some extra condition. His topline is developing nicely but I think this is also not helping him put on weight as all his energy seems to go into building muscle!

He is always a little ribby and I'd like him a bit rounder behind. He is particularly laid back in general so not worried about him hotting up but MUST be low starch and low sugar. He has been on the Agrobs range... didn't do him any favours. 
He is currently fed the following -
Alphabeet
Alfalfa Pellets
Healthy Tummy
Coolstance Copra
NAF EnerG

I have recently (2weeks) switched him from Micronised Linseed to the Copra to see if it makes any difference.
I have been recommended Equinox as an additional.

Any recommendations gratefully received!  
Token pic of the gent in question...


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## DirectorFury (14 January 2016)

TopSpec UlsaKind is both good for ulcer-prone horses and a conditioning feed so it might be worth phoning TopSpec and seeing what they think.


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## only_me (14 January 2016)

When mine was younger he was difficult to keep weight on, tried everything! The only thing that worked was releve, a low starch feed. We have a bluegrass one, I think in England you guys have the sarcren one?

http://bluegrasshorsefeed.com/re-leve-low-starch-feed.html

Definitely recommend, horse finally put weight one!


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## gingerlegs (14 January 2016)

Thank you, 
Topspec Ulsakind seemed to make him worse so we had to stop feeding it unfortunately.

Thanks Only_me I was looking at the Saracen feeds as I think they do a few 'low starch' ones for weight gain, might have to make an enquiry


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## Slightlyconfused (14 January 2016)

Dodson and horrel ers.pellets are fab. Expensive to start with but within six weeks our tb went from hat rack to nicely covered.


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## Kati*89 (17 January 2016)

We moved to Saracen re- leve and micronised linseed (2 cups a day) and he's finally built up this year, he almost looks plump this winter- seems to be good energy wise, no silliness but a bit more oomph!


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## Mike007 (17 January 2016)

Good hay and lots of it.


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## Scarlett (17 January 2016)

Speak to Keyflow feeds. I feed 4 Tb's on their feeds and they are all looking fab, prefect combo of weight gain, muscle gain and energy. They are also cooked differently to make them more digestable so they are kind to the digestive system and it means you feed less.
Brilliant stuff


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## soulfull (18 January 2016)

Kati*89 said:



			We moved to Saracen re- leve and micronised linseed (2 cups a day) and he's finally built up this year, he almost looks plump this winter- seems to be good energy wise, no silliness but a bit more oomph!
		
Click to expand...

This is what I built my TB with too


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## nikkimariet (18 January 2016)

Try oats? They are great for bulk without heat (and very *clean* as nothing added) and a complete high oil feed like Winergy Condition? Mine would never sustain a good weight on your feed, in any quantity. 

I love the elite equine supplements. Organic amino acids (no toxic build up). The mega build has been an absolute god send for Fig my OTTB, who is the poorest poor doer and suffers from ulcers too. He's also a stresser. Fence walks and box walks.

To play devils advocate, Releve sent him bonkers and he wouldn't eat Ulsakind cubes.

I can't feed rice bran as mine in intolerant but I know lots of people who have had success with equijewel and keyflow feeds.


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## Pinkvboots (18 January 2016)

The only thing that worked on a friends tb was Equijewel he looked a different horse in a few weeks.


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## Bernster (18 January 2016)

I had this a few years back.  Vet advice and spoke to Saracen - hay and grass is the key source, so plenty of that, and I added Saracen Equijewel, which is rice bran.  Not sure of the starch content as wasn't so aware of that at the time but it did the job.

ETA mine didn't have ulcers in the end but had been scoped.


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## Lanky Loll (18 January 2016)

Daft question possibly but is he warm enough?  My ulcer prone TB sounds similar to yours - she doesn't gain weight when turned away and if anything goes back.  We see a real difference in her when she's rugged up and really warm.  She's currently out of work due to an injury and unclipped so we had been trying not to over rug her but the last month she started dropping weight so we've put a warmer rug on and it's really made a difference.  She's still being fed the same as she was.


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## wench (18 January 2016)

Baileys outshine? Soya flakes? Pure feeds? Equitop myoplast?


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## nikkimariet (18 January 2016)

wench said:



			Baileys outshine? Soya flakes? Pure feeds? Equitop myoplast?
		
Click to expand...

I wouldn't feed myoplast (to anything) but especially not ulcery horses. It aggravated 2 of ours and gave another ulcer symptoms when he didn't have them


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## Lyle (19 January 2016)

Second giving oats a try. They really promote chewing and saliva production when eating, and as we know, saliva is a natural buffer for the stomach. Feeding them with the Alfalfa pellets and copra is ideal too, I've had plenty of success with that combination for a long time! Also maybe consider the addition of Rice bran oil (I wouldn't recommend the bran, sent all of mine nutty) or Soyabean meal as a source of high quality protein to help build topline.


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## Goldenstar (19 January 2016)

Gain freedom mix with their opti balancer has transformed my ulcery stressy horse .
He was living out on straights and haylege we had increase the amount of feed to keep his condition when he was hunting and he went off his food .
He's doing great now on freedom mix and a bit of speedi beet .
Just will add I have never had any issues with myoplast and horses who have had ulcers .


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## amandaco2 (19 January 2016)

Ad Li hay. Copra plus linseed. Oats are good as well I used them for my lad. 
Are teeth and working ok?


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## TPO (19 January 2016)

I feed copra AND linseed along with soaked grass nuts (higher Mj/kg than alfabeet iirc) to my TB along with adlib forage at all times.

My friend has 4 TBs and one had really serious ulcer/hind gut issues. She feeds Keyflow feeds to all of hers and they look great in the photos she's sent. Try pm'ing the user Scarlett for more info.

ETA - Oops, didn't realise that Scarlett had already replied <blush>


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## TheSylv007 (19 January 2016)

My mare is a bit like yours and always struggles to put on topline.  My instructor suggested Protexin to help her make the best of what she's eating.  I use the Acid Ease one as she showed slight ulcery symptoms.  It does seem to have helped.  She also gets kwik beet, Top Spec grass chaff, 3 cups of micronised linseed and a broad spectrum vitamin and I've been getting compliments on how well she looks.  She's also well rugged up so we're not wasting any energy!


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## leflynn (19 January 2016)

Third vote for oats and another for checking they are warm enough, mine like to be on the hot side of warm or he will drop a little weight.  Also started feeding a third of a scoop of top spec cool conditioning cubes and they seem to be helping too (also feeding linseed and yea sacc)


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## whizzer (19 January 2016)

Another recommendation for oats, my very fussy,ulcer prone,poor doer loves oats & does really well on them,along with linseed,a&p veteran vitality & some conditioning cubes.


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## Pigeon (20 January 2016)

The vet who treated my guy for ulcers recommended corn oil! Apparently there is a correlation between feeding it and ulcers not recurring. Good for calories too!!


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## gingerlegs (20 January 2016)

Sorry I should have given a bit more info! He lives out 24/7 with constant access to a bale of good hay so the forage is definitely not an issue. We generally have more of an issue with not allowing him to get too hot, he isn't a 'cold' horse by any means. 
Some good suggestions thank you, my main aim is to get as many low starch and low sugar calories in to him in as small a feed as possible, too big a feed and he just pushes it round for an hour and doesn't eat! Although, he never has an excessively large feed.

ETA - teeth etc all good


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## bounce (20 January 2016)

How about a balancer just in case there is anything that he is not getting from each of the feeds?  

I'm also having the same issue with mine at the moment as she has suddenly dropped weight and I need to feed her up without her getting loopy and I've opted to add a balancer first of all whilst upping the amount of alfabeet as I'm probably not feeding enough.  I'm also changing to haylage for a while rather than hay to see if that will also help as she is being picky on her hay at the moment which is not helping.

Also splitting to several feeds rather than one large one may help.  I generally only feed one hard feed a day but am thinking I may add an additional bucket.

Good luck with it.


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## Lanky Loll (20 January 2016)

gingerlegs said:



			Sorry I should have given a bit more info! He lives out 24/7 with constant access to a bale of good hay so the forage is definitely not an issue. We generally have more of an issue with not allowing him to get too hot, he isn't a 'cold' horse by any means. 
Some good suggestions thank you, my main aim is to get as many low starch and low sugar calories in to him in as small a feed as possible, too big a feed and he just pushes it round for an hour and doesn't eat! Although, he never has an excessively large feed.

ETA - teeth etc all good 

Click to expand...

How often are you feeding?  We feed up to 4 times a day if we need to get more calories in and don't want to overface with 2 huge feeds.


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## amage (21 January 2016)

Another vote for Blue Grass Re-Leve. it has turned my 19 year old inside out. He always ran up a bit light and after a horrific 5 day colic in October (we nearly lost him) he was horribly skinny and weak. He has always been sharp and spooky but no issues at all on the Re-Leve. It's a feed I have used a fair bit in the past and found it very good. I also have him on a quarter tube of peptizole daily and suspect this is really helping too.


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## gingerlegs (21 January 2016)

He is fed twice a day, no option to feed more often unfortunately.. he's on private land, not a livery yard and I work full time. 
I would be really interested in the theory behind feeding oats to ulcer prone horses, even anyone has any relating research? everything I have studied has said no grains at all, mainly due to starch levels I believe! 
Definitely going to look in to the Re-leve as it seems quite favourable.


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