I just bought a new horse, 6yr old Appendix mare. She is a dunskin and16'3, beautiful! Sad thing is she is on the skinny side, as he previous owner had 28 horses and not enough hay. Anyway since she arrive on Sunday, she has been getting our 2nd cut alflafa/grass hay and a one or two more flakes than everyone else, as i don't want her to over indulge on her food. 

She  is also going to get her teeth checked tomorrow when our vet is out to geld my weanling. So its perfect timing. 

Now I was thinking of getting her on some grain, as its bittesweet cold here (-6 celcius during the day and night) (she is wearing a blanket now, wasn't before, as she doesn't seem to have a thick coat). For grain I was going to put her on rice Bran, Senior Feed and maybe some Beetpulp. Now I have never fed Rice bran before, do you soak it or feed it like it is?

Any other suggestions on what kind of grain mixture to giver her?

 

Thank you

Estimate her present weight with a weight tape. Take 2% of that weight to calculate the total amount of hay she'd get per day. If she's skinny, let's say she's #900. Two percent of that is 18 lbs of hay. Add several pounds to that amount since you need her to gain weight, say try #21 per day. If you feed three times a day, that is #7 per feeding. Wait a few weeks and see how she looks, then add more or reduce the amount accordingly. I think just throwing hay at her randomly--without knowing how much it is--is a recipe for overfeeding, which does no good for any horse, skinny or not. My 15.3 CWB mare get #20/day in the winter, and #19 during the summer to keep her at a good weight. If I can see a glimmer of a few ribs on her sides she's at a good weight, IMHO. During the winter my girls have too much hair to see whether or not they look good, ribs wise, so I count on knowing how much hay to feed by weighing them. You can weigh a horse regardless of how hairy they are.

 I would definitely be focused on getting weight on her before winter, I think you are on the right track.  You don't need to do anything with the rice bran, whether it's pellets or oil, just throw it in with the feed.  My OTTB gets the same mix, grain/rice bran/beet pulp and results are slow but steady.  The high fat content of the rice bran is wonderful and will not make them hot.  As for a feed choice, I would pick a quality feed that is relatively high in fat and lower in protein.  

If she is not used to supplemental feed, add it to her diet gradually and increase it slowly to an appropriate level.  She will definitely need the insulation in the cold, so until she gains full weight, I would keep her well blanketed too so she does not shiver away calories.

Of course, I am acting on the assumption that horse is significantly skinny -- ribs and hips sticking out a bit?  That's where my guy started in September and after two months, his ribs are almost gone and he's starting to look like a proper horse!

I feed rice bran and a vit/min supplement.  I use the pellets and don't soak them.

 Rice bran doesn't expand like beet pulp does:)

If the rice bran is the powder like we get here, adding enough water to make it kind of a pablum consistency makes it easier for them to eat.

You don't say how you have her stabled so I'm gonna assume you have her alone in the pasture and stalled. She needs good quality hay in front of her 24/7. When she's stalled, put a full bale in a hay bag and let her have at it. Tie it up high so when she empties it, it won't hang down so low she'd get caught up in it. I prefer using a rope one. The hay will help her gain the weight and digesting hay will actually help keep her warm.

I am a big advocate about soaking feed to help the skinny ones. It helps them to digest it easier, which in turns helps them absorb the nutrients instead of passing through their system. But I am not a fan of senior feed. Its a very rich feed and alot of horses have problems with that. Rice bran and beet pulp are great. You could also incorporate some hay stretcher in there. I feed Nutrena SafeChoice. People either love it or hate it. I have never had a problem with it and everyone I've ever had it on, put on weight and kept it on. The best part of all these feed's I've mentioned is that you don't have to feed alot of it to get results.

Also have the vet run a fecal and get her dewormed if she needs it. Usually if a horse is fed in a herd enviroment and fed off the ground where there are alot of horses feeding and tracking mud and manure, they will have worms.

Good luck with here and be sure to post before and after pics for us to see your success!!!

If she's an appendix she's probably a bit of a hard keeper and IMO you cannot feed too much hay to hard keeper.  The safest way to get weight on her is to feed her as much hay as she will eat THEN supplement with a concentrate or a ration balancer if necessary.  I think the alfalfa/grass mix you're feeding is good.  Feeding her a feed that's low in starch and carbs and higher in fat will help put the weight on without turning her into a fruitloop will be best.  She's a big girl so it might take a while to get her there, but doing it slowly is the way to go.  Keeping her blanketed for the winter will also help her conserve energy.  Rice bran is fine and you don't need to soak it. 

Triple Crown Senior or Blue Seal SBP 14/10 are examples of good quality low starch, low carb feeds.

http://www.blueseal.com/equine/productpages/SBP_14-10.pdf

http://www.triplecrownfeed.com/feeds/senior-horse-feed-formula-seniorhorsefeed 

When shopping for feeds, don't just look at the nutritional analysis...look at the ingredients.  The links I gave you will help you know what ingredients to look for.

 Hope this helps...  Good luck with your girl and post some pictures for us! edtied to add: I'll be the first one to raise my hand and say that I hate SafeChoice. It's too high in NSC's IMO. Boy did horrible on it. Was as high as a kite and lost a bunch of weight. It's got a lot of soy in it, so if your horse is sensitive to Soy I would not feed it. I do know people that feed it and like it, but I didn't have such a great experience with it and would never feed it to any of my horses. Not trying to start a train wreck... IJMHO

 

I tried Rice Bran a few years back, my horse actually ate the powder, she's such a pig.  But I later did more research and I have to agree that Triple Crown is a very good product.  I like the forage cubes.  One thing I have learned is that alfalfa is a legume, not a grass.  Over a long period of time if you offer too much of it, a horse can (I said can) develop kidney problems.  Additionally, legumes are what contribute to nitrogen fixation, which in return is converted into ammonia (via atmosphere), aka the nasty ammonia we smell a lot of in barns is where you usually find a lot of alfalfa being fed.  Now all you science people might say I said that wrong, but I think basically most would agree with the end result.  Pewwwwy!

 

Alfalfa causing kidney problems is a myth:

http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/hrs3243#You

That's all some farms out west feed because that's what's most available. So...if that were the case they would have a kidney epidemic out there.

My vet wanted me to add some alfalfa to my girls' feed. She says that current alfalfas do not make the horse hot, but do help the digestive tract work better. She likes the idea of making 1/4 of the hay I feed alfalfa, mixing it in the meals, not separated.

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 Had the Vet out yesterday to geld my weanling and while he was there he checked her teeth and they needed to be done. So we got them all prettied up and good to go. I asked him about feeding her grain and what kind, and he said I have some of the best hay he has seen (yay we grow it ourselves) and to give that to her as I've been giving it to her in the am and pm, I haven’t weight it, but it’s 5-6 flakes of my 75-80lbs bales. I’ve been watching her and she isn’t inhaling it as to fend for herself.  My vet said to give her the rice bran, vitamin/mineral supplement(total equine), senior feed, fat pellets once a day (he told me the max amount she should be getting by next week to gain her weight for 3-4 weeks and then reduce to maintain) and we should be good to go. My order for her blanket finally came in and so she will get it on as soon as I get home. 

All my horses are kept outside 24/7 in their individual pens and their shelters have 3 full walls and 1/4 wall at the entrance, so they can hide well from the wind. She was dewormed the day I brought her home. 

I will try to take some pics of her now. She isn't extremely skinny, where her hip bones are sticking out and such, but you can see her ribs her spine is sticking out.  She isn't in the healthy weight category I like to see my horses and my Vet agreed. 

When I started giving her the grain yesterday for the first time, obviously small portion to get her used to it, she looked at me very funny and was like is this for me? Obviously she isn’t used to individual treatment and being loved and spoiled.

Thanks for all the input! She is a super sweet mare and I look forward to start working her come February/March and get her into shape, because besides being skinny she also has no muscle tone left.

FYI, mtegge, when I bought Juno, my CWB mare, I tried her out in Terrace where she lived. I picked her up myself later: I live in NW Washington state, and her owner took her to Kamloops and met me there so I didn't have to drive as far as Terrace. So, I know your neck of the woods.

 The only other requirement is that you supply us with pictures!!  ;-)

 one pic i got on my phone, as i haven't had a chance to get any yet. will try this weekend, but she mighthave gained some weight by then.

She is on my FB. Don't know if this will work with me entering it here. always have issues. 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150409277763605&set=a.10150124537538605.293447.516118604&type=1&theater