How To Get Weight up?

im looking for easy ways to fatten my tb mare up... and suggestions? right now she is on chaff, lucerne, pony cubes, and barley, oaten and meadow hay...
thanks Very Happy

The very best thing to get weight onto any horse is hay, hay, hay and more hay.

How much of each thing are you giving her? What sort of paddock/grazing is she on?

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There is never a music so sweet as a soft whinney at dawn

a about 1 acre very grassy paddock, in the morning ausing a big icecream container haha about half a container of pony cubes, 1 scoop lucerne, 1 scoop chaff, 1 biscuit oaten 1 biscuit meadow
same at night except 2 scoops chaff and one cup of barley
so at night makes about one large bucketful and in the morning over half...

Ok so if she has a good grassy paddock during the day it is safe to assume she consumes around 3 kilos of grazing on her own daily.

You'll need to guestimate her weight and from that, take 2% of the total kilos... thats how much feed she requires daily. Of course around 3 kilos of this is ALREADY taken up by grass...

SO if she weighs approx 550 kilos, she'd need 11 kilos of feed daily. I would recommend whilst you're getting weight up and not riding her, 90% of this should be roughage and just 10% hardfeed.

So out of 11 kilos:
- 3 kilos already on grass
- 6.9 kilos needs to be hay (this usually amounts to roughly 4 flakes of oaten) split into two feeds if poss
- 1.1 kilo of hard-feed split into two feeds.

How to accurately guestimate her weight? Get a measuring take and a friend...

So first things first, HOW do you determine how much your horse weighs? The most accurate way is to have your horse weighed on a proper weighbridge or at your local large animal Vet Hospital.
For most people this is impossible so there is a second way to estimate your horse’s weight which is accurate to within a few kilos. You will need a tape measure, a calculator and a sheet of paper.
Measure from the POINT of the horse’s shoulder to the point of its buttock to get the length measurement needed. It is best if you have a helper to not only hold the horse still but to hold one end of the tape-measure for an accurate reading! Record this measurement in cm.
Now measure the girth circumference, placing the tape measure at the base of the withers and roughly one hand’s space back from the horse’s elbow. Record this measurement in cm.

Now use the following formula to calculate your horse’s weight and you’re ready to go!

Girth measurement squared x Length and then divide by 11,877 EQUALS your horse’s estimated weight in kilos.

If she wastes some of her hay don't worry - it is MUCH better for her to have a little too much than she feels like eating than too little as not only will all this hay put the extra weight on steadily and properly but feeding a lot of hay is incredibly good for their digestive system and also can prevent sand colic plus being closer to their natural diet.

As a racehorse, she won't be used to small hardfeeds and lots of roughage because they feed them mass amounts of grain whilst in training so give her a week or two to get used to the new diet.

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There is never a music so sweet as a soft whinney at dawn

Hay is definently the go! Also make sure your horses teeth are up do date or they won't be eating as much as they can.
I also found excellent weight lifters are:
Whole Soaked Lupins
Barley (not much though)
Copra
Lucerne Chaff

Both my horses have struggled with weight now my Arabian Warmblood is round in just three months of a fattening diet and my mare in foal has picked up DRAMATICALLY.
Two quality feeds a day plus LOTS of hay will do the trick. Pony cubes are really just a filler and don't offer much to the horse at all.
Good luck!

thank you both very much!

Mill Mix is great too, the pollard puts the wieght on while the bran pushes the gunk out. Has the TB been drenched recently? if its got a belly full of sand (which can sit in there for quite some time) then feeding will only go so far.
equilibrium is brillant for TBs i found.

I've bred thoroughbreds for 20 yrs and also look after post-op horses.They loose weight after surgery so it's important to slowly build them back up again.To keep any thoroughbred happy and covered you must[as someone else already suggested] worm and teeth.Flyveils are important in summer not just for obvious reasons but also because if a horse is comfortable they will graize more.I've found that in winter thor. can't go without rugging if you want to keep the weight on.It takes about a month to put weight on a horse safely.Here is a basic diet I have found suitable...vary to suit your horse.
Kind and Kool...the amount is on the bag...mix well with other feed.Pellets can cause choke with greedy horses.
bran
shandy chaff [rough cut and lucerne mix]
hay..
must have graizing or 4 bisc. hay daily...oaten or really good quality meadow..
Thorougbreds and grain feed [unless you are really sure you are comfortable in feed/ work ratoi don't go together very well!