Originally Posted by P8ntCrazy

Angela,

Horses starting at age 2 and until they are 5 years old need their teeth done yearly. During this time period they are shedding caps (baby teeth), when these caps come off they leave razor sharp points that will cut into the cheeks and tongue. These caps can also become retained, causing extreme pain, pulling these off will releave the pain. The other thing that I would make sure was done is that his wolf teeth have been pulled. This is a very small premolar located in front of the upper cheek teeth, tissue hangs down and the bit will bang against that tissue and cause pain. Also at this age they are getting their getting in their K9 teeth they can have 4 of these coming in also.

All of these things can cause a horse to stop chewing their food properly and start swallowing it more whole, by doing this they are not getting the nutrients out of their food like they should. I would get both of their teeth done and give them 30 days before I would go and change their food. You would be amazed at how much weight a horse will put on once its teeth have been done.

Strategy and hay is a good combonation, it is what I have my pregnant mare on with free choice grass hay. The stallion that I handle is also on strategy and bermuda hay and looks great. The nice thing about strategy is it is a high fiber feed. But once you get his teeth done and find that he is doing just fine on hay (& you don't want to feed grain) I would recommend looking into one of the 3 following products by Purina and see which one would work best for you:

Mare & Maintenance
Free Balance 12:12 supplement
Born to Win supplement

A good weight supplement is their Amplify it is a top dress to what you feed and is designed not to mess with the balance feed ratios (strategy and hay you are feeding). It is 30% fat which is higher than other feed sources. I have personal experience with this product and love the results I got on a friends barrel horse.

I would check with your vet and see if they use motorized tools to float teeth with. Motorized equipment is better all the way around. It takes less time and is easier on everyone invloved. It will cost more than hand floating but you will only need to do it every other year after the age of 5 years (yearly between 2 and 5 years) with the motorized. Where hand floats still have to be done yearly. Down here where I am it was about $250 per horse, that included the farm call, sedation, floating, and a good physical exam. The horse needs to be sedated for the safety of the horse and people, floating should always be done under sedation.

Hope this helps.