Almost any of us would do just about anything to shave off a few pounds. But for some horses, keeping off the weight comes naturally. Hard keepers as they’re called are horses that tend to struggle packing on the pounds, despite having a ready, available, and steady supply of food at any time.
For horse handlers and owners, maintaining a proper weight is vital to ensuring the proper development and health of a horse. So if your trusty steed just can’t seem to maintain proper poundage, here are the best horse feed brands to give your hard keeper.
What Do Horses Generally Eat?
Horses are naturally grazers. They eat small amounts of food frequently throughout the day. In fact, horses spend close to 16 hours of their day just eating. They do this to support gut health, since they have a pretty long and sensitive digestive system.
Since their digestive system is remarkably long, horses maintain a high-fiber diet. In the wild, they’ll mainly eat grass or hay with a high roughage content. For the uninitiated, ‘roughage’ simply pertains to the portion of food that doesn’t get digested.
This stuff sweeps through the horse’s exceptionally long gastrointestinal tract, making sure it’s free from blockage, impaction, and filth. In domesticated settings, horses can also eat some fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts for variety. But since they don’t seek these things out in the wild, they’re not necessary dietary additions.
When is a Horse Considered a Hard Keeper?
The last thing you’d want to do is to force your horse to gain weight when it doesn’t have to. You should only resort to offering your trusty steed hard keeper feed if it matches the description of a hard keeper. Remember, not all thin horses are hard keepers.
So how can you tell if your horse is a hard keeper?
Well, for starters, your horse should struggle to keep and gain weight despite being provided an adequate diet. Hard keepers often score between 2 and 0 on the horse body scoring scale. So it’s important for owners and handlers to know how to score a horse based on this standardized scale.
For old school horse owners, determining the proper horse weight can be done with a simple ocular inspection and a touch here and there. At a glance, the horse shouldn’t have any protruding bones along its hips and topline. When touched, the horse’s ribs should be felt with a firm press on the barrel, but they shouldn’t be seen through the coat.
Another thing is that certain horses are predisposed to being hard keepers. These include:
- Older horses 20 years and over
- Certain breeds, mainly race horses, like Thoroughbreds and American Saddlebreds
- Horses with faster metabolic rates
Some breeds of horses tend to be leaner and more athletic. When these breeds, like the Thoroughbred, gets subject to serious injury, illness, or stress, they’re more prone to rapid weight loss simply because they don’t pack too much weight in the first place. Learn more interesting facts about the Thoroughbred in our detailed article.
Possible Underlying Issues
Keep in mind that some horses may become hard keepers because of underlying problems. That means their being a hard keeper is the result of a different issue. Addressing that problem may help your horse maintain a healthy weight and live a longer life.
Some underlying health concerns that could cause trouble with weight include:
- Poor dental health
- Injury or illness
- Stress
- Too much work, activity, or exercise
- Poor quality feed
- Competition for feed versus other horses in the herd
- Physiological demands of reproduction, pregnancy, and nursing
- Lameness
- Certain medication and medical treatments
- Ulcers
If your horse struggles to gain weight because of any of these problems, address the underlying issue first. Only offer hard keeper feed to a horse that struggles to maintain a healthy weight in the absence of any root cause and despite being provided ample, high quality food.
Best Hard Keeper Feed Brands for Horses
Generally, you should strive to feed your hard keeper high quality, young hay. Less mature hay contains more calories per pound versus mature hay which tends to have more plain fiber and roughage content. Alfalfa also offers close to 300 extra calories per pound versus grass and hay.
But if you want to support your hard keeper even more, there are certain commercially prepared horse feeds you can try. These include:
1. Buckeye Nutrition - Nutrition Ultimate Finish 40
Offering an extensive range of horse feed and supplements, Buckeye Nutrition based in Dalton, Ohio, serves up quite the assortment of commercially prepared feed for horses struggling to keep on the proper weight, including some of the best complete horse feeds.
Their Nutrition Ultimate Finish 40 offers a higher fat concentration to satisfy caloric needs without risking colic through increased starch intake. Enriched with omega fatty acids, calcium, and phosphorus, this feed works well for horses of all ages.
Having been around since the late 1800’s, Purina Mills offers food and wellness products for all sorts of animals. Their range of horse feed and supplements cater to specimens of every age and condition. But among all of their products, their Equine Senior Horse Feed typically gets the most traction.
Intended for older horses struggling to keep on the pounds, this formulation offers up to 14% protein and 5.5% crude fat to give your horse a balanced combination of caloric sources. It also maintains about 7% glucose - just the right amount to give your horse enough energy without overwhelming their gut with starch.
Operating for over 75 years, Farnam offers everything you might need to guarantee the health and happiness of your horse in domestic care. While they don’t provide an extensive range of food products like Purina and Buckeye Nutrition, they do dabble in feed, especially for special horse care.
The Mare Plus formulation that offers optimal nutrition to maintain healthy weight for pregnant horses.
Also, the Farnam Weight Builder feed incorporates 50% fat, making it the ideal choice for particularly emaciated horses hoping to gain weight fast without having to take an excess of sugars and carbs.
Although they’ve only been around since 1985 (which is a short time compared to their competition), Manna Pro has established itself as a formidable feed provider for horses of all kinds.
Their Senior Weight Accelerator has gained serious popularity for maintaining healthy weight in aged horses.
But if you’re looking for the best performance horse feeds, their Safe Performance Elite High Fat feed can help keep horse looking healthy and strong in the face of increased activity and exercise.
An affordable alternative for horse owners on a budget, Horse Guard offers a broad assortment of horse feed choices that target different common horse nutritional concerns. For hard keepers, Horse Guard has developed their Super Weight Gain formulation which most consider one of the best horse feeds for weight gain.
At 35% protein and 15% fat, Horse Guard’s Super Weight Gain works best for horses in the 0 to 1 category of the body condition scale. Relatively affordable and rich in various minerals and vitamins, Horse Guard proves a budget-friendly choice for owners who need to feed more horses than one.
How Often Should You Feed a Horse?
In the wild, horses feed almost for the entire duration of their waking hours. So in your care, you have to try your best to simulate those conditions. Horses eat small amounts and often because this prevents too much starch from building up in the large intestine.
In the unfortunate occasion that that does happen, horses are prone to developing colic, which in turn causes significant abdominal discomfort. So as a handler or owner, you have to make sure that you provide sufficient nutrition without overwhelming their sensitive digestive system with single, large feedings.
Generally, a horse should have one to one and half acres of free range space to graze. If you can’t provide that much room, or if your ranch doesn’t have quite enough quality hay or grass, then you’ll have to meet their nutritional needs with feed.
If you’re giving your horse grain or feed, measure out 0.5% of their ideal healthy body weight and divide that total amount into three or four. These three to four portions should be given to your horse at equal intervals throughout the day, in between which, they should be free to graze.
How Much Should You Feed a Senior Horse?
The proper amount to feed a senior horse isn’t set in stone. Remember that diets change depending on the unique needs of your horse. So even if it’s in its later years, you have to assess your horse’s distinct nutritional needs instead of basing off of set figures.
To guide you on how to assess the proper amount of food to give your senior horse, consider these methods of estimation:
- For healthy aged horses with a Body Condition Score 5 and over, provide 1.5-2.0% of their body weight in dry matter. Good quality grass or hay mix should be sufficient as these horses don’t typically require grains or feed.
- For healthy aged thin horses with a Body Condition Score 4 or lower, provide 1.5-2.0% of their body weight in dry matter good to excellent quality grass or hay mix.
It’s also recommended that you provide them grain or feed with at least 14% crude protein and 8% fat. You can provide this feed at up to 1% of their body weight.
What’s a Good Ration Balancer for Horse Feed?
According to equine nutritionist Dr. Brian Nielsen, PhD, even the best hay and grass typically doesn’t provide sufficient micronutrients that horses need. Very few roughage samples met their research’s criteria for proper equine health, which paves the way for ration balancers.
Developed to fill the gaps, these commercially prepared horse feeds deliver vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that the traditional hose diet might lack.
Today, you can find ration balancers through most major animal food manufacturers. Some of the best include:
- Purina Enrich Plus Ration Balancing Horse Feed
- Buckeye Nutrition Gro ‘N Win Ration Balancer
- Nutrena Empower Topline Balancer
Remember though that before you give your horse a ration balancer, it might help to ask your vet for their input. Horse diets vary from animal to animal, and what your buddy from across the ranch gives his steed might not provide optimal nutrition for your trusty horse.
The Ideal Ratio for Horse Feed
Again, every horse is different. But in general, the ideal ratio of macronutrients in their diets remain relatively fixed across the board. To provide your horse optimal nutrition, try to stay within these limits for these macros in their diets:
Fat
Horses don’t have gall bladders, and this makes them a little less efficient at metabolizing and using fat. They can tolerate fat content of up to 20% in their diet, but they could take more than a month to process that much and to adjust.
Keep fat low, at a ratio of about 3-4% to support proper weight and digestion.
Protein
As building block for muscle, proteins are a necessary nutritional component for any horse’s diet. Alfalfa is a wonderful natural source of protein for horses which most owners handlers seek to incorporate in their steed’s diet.
The ideal ration of protein should fit between 8-10% of their intake. But for a lactating or pregnant mare and for young, growing foals, a slightly higher ratio might be necessary.
Glucose
Also referred to as carbohydrates, this macronutrient functions as the main energy source for your horse. At the same time however, broken down carbohydrates turn to starch, which can cause colic when introduced in overwhelming amounts to your horse’s digestive system.
Generally, experts recommend between 6-8% glucose in your horse’s diet. If your offering grains or feed, feed your horse no more than 0.5% of its body weight per meal. So for a 1,000lb horse, you should only offer about 5lbs of grain to maintain low starch intake.
Will Feeding Grain or Protein Make a Horse Hot?
A ‘hot horse’ is essentially a high-energy horse demonstrating erratic behavior or excessive vitality, which may make them harder to handle. Some owners believe that feeding a grain rich in carbohydrates and proteins contributes to making a horse hot.
However, there is no sound evidence to prove that such diets induce hard to handle, high energy levels in horses. Instead, you might want to consider stress as a factor.
Changes to your horse’s typical routine can induce an increase of stress. When this happens, cortisol shoots up in their system causing certain behaviors that could make it harder to work with or train your horse.
Suggested Reading: Heat Stress in Horses - How to Prevent + Treat
With that in mind, it’s important that you incorporate dietary changes gradually over time so as to avoid abrupt alterations that could induce increased stress levels in your horse.
A Hard Keeper is a Keeper Nonetheless
Helping your horse achieve its optimal weight relies heavily on how well you can identify its present needs. Sometimes, a hard keeper struggles to keep weight because of a variety of external factors.
But if your horse just doesn’t pack on the pounds even if they’re perfectly healthy and food is readily available, you might want to try gradually introducing some of these vetted best horse feed brands for hard keepers. But whenever in doubt, always ask your vet to get professional advice on how to keep your horse as healthy as possible.
