The Best Feeds for Helping a Horse Gain Weight

There are several reasons why horses can be underweight. Food alone may not be the entire issue—bad teeth can make it painful for the horse to chew, cause the horse to swallow poorly masticated food, or make it chew very slowly. Internal parasites may also be stealing nutrition from your horse as well as damaging the digestive tract.

If your horse is underweight make sure it has had a recent fecal examination for parasites and had its teeth checked by a veterinarian before simply adding more feed to its diet.

Be sure that other horses aren’t preventing your horse from getting to the food, and that external pests like biting insects aren’t causing it to burn off energy trying to get relief. Your veterinarian may also want to test your horse's blood to make sure his internal organs are functioning normally. Once you’ve eliminated all these reasons why your horse is underweight, 

look at the food you are giving it.

Best Feed for Underweight Horses

The best feed for an underweight horse is good quality hay or pasture grass.1 Give him free choice hay unless there is some medical reason (such as metabolic syndrome, founder (also known as laminitis) or Cushing’s disease) not to. Introduce horses to grass gradually to decrease the possibility of founder, colic, or diarrhea. Many horses do very well on grass or hay alone. More hay in its feeder or longer grazing time may be all it takes to see weight gain.

However, some horses, such as growing horses, horses under heavy training, pregnant or nursing mares, or old/sick horses will need more calories than grass hay or pasture can provide. Alfalfa and other legume