Horse Feeds & Supplements to help maintain weight

Feeding to help maintain ideal weight and body condition

The elite performance horse. The hard-keeper. The picky eater. Packing on the pounds is never easy when caring for one of these types of horses. In most cases, the strategy is to raise the amount of calories in the horse’s diet. Note that certain medical conditions may require specific nutritional support, so be sure to consult your veterinarian and/or contact us in these cases.

There are a few ways to adjust the diet of your horse to help attain and maintain a desirable weight.

Add calories by making changes to your horse’s current diet. Forage, particularly hay, can vary in the available calories to your horse depending on the type and maturity at harvest. However, good quality hay can be hard to find and costly. One solution is to add a higher quality alternative forage source to replace a portion of your hay, such as SAFE 'N EASY™ Complete. Digestible fiber from ingredients, such as soybean hulls and alfalfa meal, helps to keep the hindgut healthy and supports the delicate microbiome in the horse’s hindgut.

Grain products vary in calories depending on proportion of ingredients used to mix the formula. Choose a grain that is higher in calories per pound, such as CADENCE™, CADENCE Ultra, TRIFECTA™ or SUPREME™ 14. This is the easiest option to minimize the volume of feed needed and the complexity of adding supplements. It may also save you some money in the long run as well.
Add calories to the current grain with a fat supplement. Using fat, you can easily add calories without a drastic increase in the amount of grain your horse has to eat per day. You can accomplish this with ULTIMATE FINISH™ 25, 40 or 100. These fat supplements are easy to use and less messy than adding vegetable oils. If you are feeding multiple horses, you can tailor their calories to meet their individual needs.
Consider the form of grain you are using. The ability to digest the feed you are providing your horse can be as unique as each individual horse. Ulcers and other digestive disturbances can impact digestion, and the breakdown and usage of nutrients in grain. Change to a pelleted or extruded form of feed – or both. This can help increase available calories for your horse to utilize versus a texturized form. BUCKEYE Nutrition products that include pelleted components include EQ8™ Gut Health, EQ8™ Senior, CADENCE Ultra and TRIFECTA. SAFE 'N EASY Senior is 100% extruded, making it easy to chew and digest.