I have been feeding my horses 3x a day Hay and 2x a day Grain, I was feeding 14% sweet feed 1 cup 2x a day and now I am feeding 400 OMELEAN by Purina 1lb 2x a day with Hay 3x a day. To put on weight I can see there hip bones and high wirthers and butt bone. But there ribs are not showing. The feed mill suggested this Omelean to put weight on. I ride my horses and work my horses every day for a about an hour and do more riding on the weekends.Do I stay on the Omelean or do I go back to sweet feed and give more. I just want my horse to have the best care of complete feed. So my question is What is your feeding programs and what do you feed? I know every horse is different. I have a 4 year and a 8 years old and a 11 year old. Also do you feed supplements? THANK YOU FOR READING.

I know the problem. My stud and all the kids are ok but my broodmares look poor.

You did not say what type of hay you are feeding. But in general hay has been very unconsistent - at least here in AZ. The protein content can be very low - which would cause the problem you describe. With low protein you can feed as much as you want without getting real results.

I was once told by a vet that small amounts of grain are actually counterproductive. It takes more energy to digest it than they get out of it. "Senior" is a good source of protein and it is formulated for easy digestion.

I have made some progress with hydrogen peroxide - something I have researched for many uses. If you want go to pinecreekranch.com and click on the stuff. It is used in dairy cattle a lot.

Good luck!

I feed all the horses on pasture, free choice grass hay (except broodmares) A mix of Mare & Foal, beet pulp, flax seed, corn oil, DE and fermastar or Equerrys. They each get one scoop a day which is about 4lbs. Plus any workers or growing foals get some alfalfa as a energy/weight management program.

Broodmares: Depend on where they are at in the cycle. The only time I really have to watch mine as they get closer to foaling (5-7months) or have foaled.

If your working horses, they are athletes and needed to be fed as such.

I have all of mine (23yr. old to 16 month old) on straight alfalfa, plus anywhere from 1 cup to 3 cups of strategy, and a multivitamin (Vita Plus). I have two horses that are allergic to grasses and weeds, so no grass hay for us. Plus I don't have a barn were I can store my hay, just tarps, and we get rain and snow. So, I find if alfafa hay gets wet you could loose a flake or two, but if grass hay gets wet, you loose the whole bail just about.

For my 23yr. old I put him on beet pulp to fatten him up when I first got him. He had been in with another horse and was definitely on the bottom of the pecking order. In fact I'm pretty sure that the other horse kicked him in the mouth and we had to pull two of his front teeth, because they were broken off just below the root.

You don't mention pasture turnout.
Start out with a fecal count=make sure your not feeding worms and have their teeth checked=if they can't chew it its no good.
Then general rule of thumb, they should be eating 1-2% of their body weight. If underweight between 3-5% of body weight.
Roughages either in the form of pasture or hay should be in front of them @ all times. If they eat everything offered they are not getting enough to eat=increase what you offer.
There are certain feeds that can increase weight better than others but, protein and calcium requirements only increase slightly with intense work, do not overfeed protein [more than 12 %] it can do more harm than good.
A safe choice is soaked beet pulp.
Do read the feed bag, most suggest between 10-15 pounds, that is most likely what your horses need @ this point.
Good Luck