Guide to Putting Weight on a Skinny Horse

Putting weight on a skinny horse is challenging, but it is possible. Uncovering potential underlying causes for an underweight horse is ideal before choosing the best feed for weight gain. Hard keepers can also be especially challenging in cold weather, so your management plan may change seasonally. And it’s likely your plan will involve more than just adding food, as lifestyle changes can significantly impact a horse’s overall weight and health.

Your horse’s weight gain team – vet and equine nutritionist

Understanding your horse’s weight

Signs of a hard keeper

Weighing your horse and the body condition score

Why is your horse underweight? Digestion, metabolism, stress, and environmental factors

Nutrition basics – current diet and the role of forage

Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, and probiotics

The best feeds and supplements to increase your horse’s weight

The importance of hydration and how to monitor it

Lifestyle changes

Exercising the underweight horse

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Your Horse’s Health Care Team

The best way to help your horse find their ideal weight and fitness is with their vet and equine nutritionist’s help. Otherwise, you are throwing possible solution darts at a dartboard closely resembling a moving target.

When to consult a veterinarian

Consulting with your veterinarian is crucial when addressing weight loss in horses. First, to locate underlying causes of weight loss. Then, outline a treatment plan and suggest lifestyle changes to help your hard keeper.

It might be that your horse has been losing weight for some time, and there’s an underlying disease process or simple fix. In other cases, a new horse might arrive in less-than-stellar condition, and it’s just as important to understand their baseline health and help them fill out.

Many possible medical reasons for weight loss and being underweight are affordable to discover and treat, but you need your vet’s help to get there.

The equine nutritionist

The equine nutritionist plays a helpful role in supporting weight gain in equines They specialize in understanding the nutritional needs of horses and developing feeding plans that promote healthy weight gain. The equine nutritionist can assess your horse’s current diet, evaluate any nutrient deficiencies or imbalances, and make appropriate recommendations for adjustments. An equine nutritionist is also an expert at working with your vet to address underlying medical issues and suggesting proper feeds, supplements, and forages to support overall health.

Look for an equine nutritionist with a higher education, like a PhD, as their background is nutrition and health, not an internet course.

And for those who may balk at the perceived expense of working with a specialist like this. But, for less than the cost of two super fancy saddle pads, your horse can have a balanced diet with no overlapping products and no missing nutrients. Without a doubt, you will make this investment up in a few months by using feeds and supplements that are not wasted by duplication.

Your vet can help you track weight and overall health

Understanding Your Horse’s Weight Issue

You can use a scale or weight tape and a body condition score to determine your horse’s weight and overall health. Regularly monitoring your horse’s weight, say every few weeks or so, allows you to look for overall trends. Our eyes deceive us.

Recognizing signs of a hard keeper

Hard keepers are not just a “skinny horse.” Sometimes, they:

- - Are picky eaters, no matter how much food you throw at them
  - Are equines who seem to eat more than their fair share and are not round as ticks
  - Seem to peak in fitness and can’t gain muscle or stamina
  - Get cold easily
  - Have a hair coat that doesn’t grow and shed normally
  - Suffer from undiagnosed metabolic disorders or have strange gut things happening

How to track your horse’s weight with a weight tape

Tracking your horse’s weight is essential to managing their weight gain progress. One method to track weight is by using a weight tape. A weight tape is a flexible measuring tape specifically designed for horses. It is placed around the horse’s girth, behind the withers, and provides an estimated weight based on the horse’s measurements.

Here’s the kicker. Weight tapes are not exact and do not replace a scale. However – if you measure your horse the same way every time and use the same math, you will have enough data to see a trend.

Use a weight tape once every three or four weeks to weigh your horse.

Steps to estimate your horse’s weight

Collect your measurements in centimeters or inches – front to back and around the middle. Have a friend help you so that you can be accurate in your starting and finishing points unless you have a ridiculously large wingspan because you are a giant.

Your front-to-back measurement goes from the point of shoulder to the point of the buttocks. Different than measuring for a blanket! This line may not be horizontal, so don’t worry about that.

Wrap the tape around your horse’s barrel for the girth measurement, formally known as the heart girth measurement. Go snugly behind both elbows and end at the highest point of the wither. Then slide your tape one inch or so towards the tail.

Bust out the math

(Girth in inches x Girth x Length) / 330 = Approximate weight in lbs.

(Girth in centimeters x Girth x Length) / 11,900 = Approximate weight in kg.

The lines to follow for measuring your horse’s estimated weight

The body condition score (BCS)

The body condition score (BCS) is valuable for assessing your horse’s overall condition. It evaluates the amount of fat deposition on specific areas of the horse’s body and indicates its body weight and composition. Fat deposits are assessed on your horse’s spine, trailhead, ribs, shoulder area, neck, and withers.

The Henneke Body Condition Scoring Scale ranges from 1 (emaciated) to 9 (extremely fat). You and your vet can examine your horse and see where they land on this scale. A score of 4 or less indicates your horse is underweight. A score of 5 or 6 is moderate and a good target, while heading upwards of 7 enters the overweight zone.

You can look at specific examples here from the original Henneke scale

Identifying the Causes of Weight Loss

Addressing the underlying causes of weight loss in horses is essential. There are many reasons, some quite obvious, like dental issues, and others, like hindgut digestive issues, that are harder to pin down. Easy keepers often have more than one issue, leading to an overall decline in weight and health.

Dental health influences weight

Dental health, digestive health, and parasites

Not chewing well means not digesting well; ultimately, calories are lost. Logically, because a horse’s teeth continuously grow, there are no problems. But hooks, ramps, cracks, abscesses, and broken or missing teeth impact a horse’s comfort and ability to chew. When chewing becomes more difficult, you may see horses quid and spit out chunks of semi-chewed food.

Poor digestive system health will prevent proper weight gain in hard keepers. They may develop malabsorption disorders, hindgut ulcers, inflammatory bowel disease, and all sorts of -itises that signify digestive tract inflammation, among others. Chronic diarrhea is a big one, too. Digestive health is also closely linked to other body systems, like the urinary and cardiovascular systems. Trouble there can lead to weight loss, too.

Internal parasites, including worms and bots, can compromise the horse’s digestive system. These invaders steal nutrients and create physical roadblocks. Horses may colic from a parasite overload and look poorly and dull.

Your vet can do regular fecal egg counts to monitor your horse’s parasite load. Gone are the days of rotational deworming with different medications given on a schedule. Because parasites are increasingly resistant to dewormers, only horses with parasites above a certain threshold need deworming, and the type of dewormer should match the need.

Read more about quidding here, and learn about dental health here.

Read these to learn more about internal parasites and fecal egg counts.

Ulcers in horses

In the digestive tract, a few significant problems impact a horse’s gastrointestinal health and ability to digest nutrients and calories. Gastric ulcers are painful and decrease a horse’s appetite. These stomach ulcers can be exacerbated by feeding meals instead of using slow feeders, stress, high starch and sugar diets, training, and stall life. Your horse will be in pain and may show you weight loss and so-called behavior issues under the saddle.

For a definitive diagnosis of gastric ulcers, your horse should be scoped. This lets you know how many there are, if any, and how big they are. Treatments from there usually include omeprazole in paste form, although promising new therapies are on the horizon, too.

Metabolic disorders like PPID (Cushing’s disease)

Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), formerly known as Cushing’s disease, can contribute to weight loss in horses. PPID is a hormonal disorder that affects the metabolic rate and overall health. The chain reaction of hormones involves both cortisol and insulin. Cortisol is the stress hormone that tells your horse to grow hair like it’s going out of style, among other things. They also tend to lose weight and muscle mass. Insulin dysregulation creates a higher risk of laminitis, too.

Other metabolic disorders like equine metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance can go along with PPID in some cases, but for the most part, those are closely linked to obese horses. PPID is the one that influences weight loss.

Your vet can easily do a few simple blood tests to screen for all manner of metabolic disorders. The results will tell you if PPID is the culprit and if you need to alter your horse’s diet and lifestyle to adapt to this new higher risk of laminitis. Horses will develop metabolic disorders long before they show outward signs; sometimes the first clue is the founder.

Musculoskeletal problems

Joint pain, arthritis, chronic pain, past injuries, lameness, and all manner of impaired or compromised movement may affect how your horse eats and, therefore, the amount of calories they consume.

Neck or back problems may make using hay nets off the ground difficult, or they may do better with a hanging net.

Due to their lower pecking order position, herd members with reduced mobility may need help accessing higher-quality feeds and pasture.

Your vet can help diagnose these movement and pain issues by prescribing medications and making diet changes to alleviate inflammation. You can also change your horse’s herd group and make feed more accessible.

Some horses do not handle competing well

The impact of stress, environment, and seasonal weight loss in cold weather

Stress is a major factor in equine welfare; high-stress lifestyles contribute to poor health. Here are a few things that can add stress to your horse:

- - Showing
  - Trailering
  - A new barn or herd
  - Missing nutrients in the diet
  - Chronic pain (it’s a cycle!)
  - An empty stomach with less chewing time
  - Extreme weather, especially cold
  - Over-training

Cold weather stressors

When the weather turns colder, horses naturally gain a few pounds and grow a winter coat to prepare for the season. Some skinny horses don’t gain enough to fend off the cold and spend all their calories staying warm instead of adding pounds.

In winter, horses drink less, which interferes with digestion. Dehydration can lead to impaction colics, among other things.

As the seasons change, so might the quality of available forage. Pasture-kept herds may eat dormant and crispy grass, or the local hay sources are winding down, and only less nutritious cuts are available.

Nutritional Basics for Putting Weight on a Skinny Horse

To effectively put weight on a skinny horse, it is crucial to establish strong nutritional foundations through their diet. Providing the right balance of nutrients and additional calories is essential for healthy weight gain.

This included forages, commercial feeds or supplements, and available pasture for grazing. Because forage and pasture can vary, it’s best to reevaluate your horse’s diet periodically. And it’s not always about calories – your horse needs vitamins, minerals, fats, and proteins to build muscle and weight.

Evaluating your horse’s current diet

Evaluating your horse’s current diet is the first step in determining their nutritional needs and adjusting for weight gain. Start by assessing the quantity and quality of forage and concentrate feeds they receive, then move on to making changes that gradually help your horse gain weight.

The role of forage when feeding the underweight horse

Quality forage is the foundation of your horse’s diet and provides the most calories your horse needs to improve their health status.

The calorie count will vary with the type of forage, with legumes like alfalfa providing more calories than a grass hay, like orchard. Offering a blend of hay types reduces the need for supplements to balance the vitamins and minerals. For example, alfalfa is high in calcium, which may require a phosphorus supplement to balance that ratio. This is another reason to have an equine nutritionist help you – things get complicated!

Hay should be as fresh as possible, without mold and excessive dust. If your horse has respiratory issues, steaming or quickly soaking hay will remove that dust. Horses tend to prefer leafy hay. A horse with dental problems can also eat soaked hay cubes or pellets to add forage.

Now that you have your horse’s estimated weight, you can see if their forage amount needs adjustment. A general guideline is to provide 1-2% of their body weight in hay daily. For example, a 1,000-pound horse needs 10-20 pounds of hay daily. That’s a big difference between 10 and 20 lbs of hay, so work with your vet on slowly increasing the amount. This is especially important if you are adding new hay to the mix.

Strategic Feeding Practices – Adding Supplements

Implementing strategic feeding practices can support healthy weight gain. Additional calories can be added to the diet through various sources, including rice bran, beet pulp, and oils to provide Omega-3 fatty acids. These high-fat supplements can increase the energy density of the diet without relying on large amounts of grain, which often come with additional sugars and starches.

Your horse will likely also need to round out any gaps in their diet, which is entirely likely despite being on a forage-based diet. Feeding only hay ignores the depleted vitamins and minerals, like Vitamin E, that disappear as hay ages. Additionally, the presence or absence of selenium, derived from the soil that grows hay, needs to be accounted for.

Omega-3 fatty acids

The delicious Omega-3 fatty acids are crucial in promoting overall health and weight gain in horses and are often lacking in forage. They are “anti-inflammatory” throughout your horse’s body and appear as brilliant shine on the coat. Flax, chia, and fish oils are excellent sources of Omega-3’s.

For years, corn oil and vegetable oils were the standard, but science tells us that there are too many Omega-6’s, and then the oil becomes “pro-inflammatory.”

Balancing vitamins and minerals

Vitamins and minerals keep your horse’s body and systems running smoothly, and supplements fill the gaps in a forage-based diet. Many bagged feeds, or “grains,” provide some vitamins and minerals. Ration balancers are bagged feeds that offer vitamins and minerals without extra calories, while complete feeds do the same with added calories. These feed options are not best for all horses, and a supplement may be the answer.

A quick note about mineral blocks. Those red mineral blocks are not balanced for horses, and many will never use them. The texture is designed for cattle, and many horses don’t like the feel on their tongues. There’s also no way to ensure your horse doses themselves correctly on a daily basis.

Probiotics and their benefits

Probiotics are live microbes that can support weight gain. Prebiotics are the food for your horse’s gut microbes. Together, these beneficial ingredients help promote a healthy microbial population in the digestive tract, which is crucial for proper digestion and nutrient absorption. They are available in paste form, pellets, or powders.

The best horse feed for weight gain

The best horse feed for providing enough calories and supplementing quality is usually a senior feed. These tend to be more palatable, too, but verify that their sugar and starch value is less than 10% or so. The non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) value measures the potentially too many sugars and starches. Sometimes, the feed label is unclear, but you can deduce the NSC value.

Calculate the NSC by adding the water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) value plus the starch value. Don’t rely on a “low starch” or “low sugar” label. Call the feed company and ask, or you might find the info on their website. Anything with molasses may be too much sugar.

The amount of grain or feed you give your horse should match their weight. There’s a chart on the bag; the volume usually increases as your horse gains weight.

The best supplements for weight gain in horses

When you find a supplement that supports weight gain, it’s best when your horse likes it and fits your budget. There are many oil, pellet, and powder options, and they usually have a flax or rice bran base. Some prefer dry supplements, while others don’t mind a liquid, so you may have to experiment a bit.

Hay nets are amazing at helping horses have a more natural lifestyle.

Slow feeding practices and making dietary changes

Help your skinny horse by using slow feeders. Slow feeders reduce the time that your horse’s belly is empty. Slow, steady food is more natural for their bodies and their brains. These nets, hangers, and grain feeders come in many shapes and sizes to suit your barn.

And yes, you can get slow feeders for pellets, commercial feeds, and grains. They are usually buckets or flat trays with smaller pockets. Horse toys are another option, and the countless styles have differently-sized openings to accommodate hay and feeds of all types.

A commonly overlooked slow feeder is the grazing muzzle. While usually appropriate for overweight and high-laminitis risk equines, an underweight horse is likely not healthy enough to consume copious amounts of pasture grass. Better safe than sorry.

Grazing muzzles are wearable slow feeders.

The Importance of Hydration and Digestive Health

Water is critical to the digestive process and must always be clean and fresh. You should also monitor your horse’s water intake, as abnormal drinking can be a red flag.

You can measure water intake by manually filling and tracking buckets or using an automatic waterer with a measuring device. These can be built into the system or purchased as an add-on from many manufacturers. Measuring water intake is more challenging for herd life.

Ensuring adequate water intake

You can encourage drinking and boost hydration.

First, provide clean, warm water. This is pretty easy in the summer, but in colder months, you may need a heated water source. Horses prefer to drink cold water but will drink more warm water.

Use blue buckets and tubs to offer water. They seem to drink more from these.

Add water to your horse’s meals, and soak hay if necessary. The downside to soaking hay is that it will reduce dust, sugars, starches, and vitamins. But if your horse has a balanced diet with a vitamin supplement, it should be fine.

Give your horse a water buffet with flavors to encourage drinking. You can add electrolytes, some tasty feed, or a few hay pellets to tempt your horse to drink more. Always offer fresh water alongside, just in case.

Clean water in a lovely blue bucket to entice drinking.

Checking your horse’s hydration

There are a few ways to monitor your horse’s hydration levels.

The skin tent test involved pinching a bit of their neck skin and timing the return to normal, which should be a second or two. Dehydrated horses take much longer for the skin to smooth out. But mature horses have less elastic skin, so check their gums instead.

Feeling your horse’s gums between the upper lip and upper teeth is fast! Dry or sticky gums are dehydrated, and slippery gums are hydrated.

Monitor your horse’s urine. This is the hardest thing to do, but pay attention to the volume and location of any pee spots as you clean. Does everything seem good and similar to the previous day? If you catch your horse urinating, take note of the color, volume, and foam (it’s normal for a bit of foam), and notice changes from day to day.

Learn more about a horse’s urine here.

Lifestyle Changes for Putting Weight on a Skinny Horse

Consider your horse’s day-to-day life and make changes to help them achieve the ideal body condition. The goal is to gain weight and create a high quality of life for your thin horse. Make any diet changes slowly, even if you add a different, quality hay into the mix.

Blanketing

Blanketing can be a valuable tool for weight gain in skinny horses, particularly in cold weather. A horse’s lower critical temperature (LCT) is the temperature at which they expend energy to keep warm. Then, they will burn energy and bodily reserves to keep themselves warm. Adding hay overnight in the winter is a great way to help horses stay warm, but skinny horses need more help.

Blankets help protect against wind and should always be waterproof. If you are worried that the blanket will squash their coat down, it certainly will to an extent. Just use a warmer blanket.

For more on blanketing, read this.

Herd management

Watch the herd dynamics at different times, especially feeding time. Is your hard keeper missing out because of their herd rank? Are they getting picked on and run around? Do the other horses interfere with your horse’s drinking? These scenarios interfere with weight gain and add to stress levels.

Can you move the herd around? Try feeding your horse their supplements separately from the others. When putting out hay, create more hay stations than there are herd members.

Exercise and Weight Management

Exercise helps weight management. Feed for a weight gain of 0.5 to 0.75 pounds daily.

Ask your horse to exercise within their current capability. You want to encourage movement and build muscle without burning too many calories and stressing their bodies. Walking in hand or under saddle is a great option.

Your vet can help you make an exercise plan, including cardiovascular fitness and strength building.

Tracking your horse’s overall fitness

Tracking your horse’s overall fitness is essential for managing their weight and ensuring their health and well-being.

This doesn’t have to be complicated at all. You are already keeping tabs on their weight every few weeks, and after exercise, you can start tracking their fitness with their vital signs. You can do this “by hand” or use a fitness monitor that attaches to their girth. As you exercise, your horse’s heart rate goes up. When you finish, take their heart rate, and again every five minutes until they return to their normal resting. That recovery time gets shorter as your horse becomes fitter.

Read this for more info on tracking fitness.

Is putting weight on a skinny horse fast safe?

Weight gain should be slow and steady, under a pound a day. Dietary changes should also be slow to avoid overwhelming their organs and digestive tract. A good starting point could be adding about 4500 extra calories a day. If you need to increase good-quality forage from 10% to 20% of their body weight, do so slowly and with your vet’s help.

What signs indicate a skinny horse is gaining weight effectively?

You will slowly see their bodies change shape, and their coat becomes shinier. Their appetite will usually increase, as will their energy levels. Their personalities can shine through when they start to feel healthier after weight gain.

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