How To Make a Horse Gain Weight
Health Reasons for Poor Body Condition in a Horse
The first thing to do in assessing skinny horses is to recognize health issues that may cause them to become inappetent. Healthy horses should be bright and alert, interested in food, and have shiny coats of appropriate length for the season. No nasal discharge should be seen. Their manure should be soft-formed fecal balls. When eating, horses should be able to easily draw food into their mouths using their lips, chew without dropping feed, and swallow normally without coughing.
Your veterinarian should assess horses who become too skinny. Dental issues are a major cause of weight loss in horses. Horses' teeth continually grow and change shape throughout their lives and are ground down by the chewing of roughage (hay and grass). Sometimes the teeth are unevenly ground down, resulting in points that can cut into gums or cheeks and make chewing painful. Older horses grind their teeth down to a smooth surface and may even lose teeth. An oral exam should be performed annually to rule out dental disease even in horses of appropriate weight.
A fecal sample should be taken during the exam to assess for nutrient-stealing internal parasites. Blood may be drawn to check for underlying infections, liver and kidney enzymes, and other diseases. A veterinarian will also ask what you're feeding your horse and whether there's competition between horses in the herd at the feed trough.
A very common reason for recent weight loss in horses is increased energy expenditure. Mares will lose weight after foaling because producing milk requires significant energy. An increase in exercise often requires an increase in caloric intake, too. Another common reason for an increased need for energy is the rapid fall in environmental temperatures. Horses often maintain a body condition just on hay or pasture but grain supplementation is often necessary when winter temperatures drop below freezing. Make sure to check your horse’s body condition daily with their blanket off in cold temperatures, as this change can happen in a week.
