Best Weight Gain Supplements For Horses

On the surface, weight growth supplements for horses appear to be a poor choice. While it is true that a horse can subsist entirely on grass and water, this should not be done to your horse. Horses, like other animals, require nutrition. It is especially true if the horse will be raced. If you see your horse is losing weight, visit your veterinarian and provide a supplement to his food.

Today, our post will focus on choosing and listing the best weight gain supplements for horses that are available in the market.

Quick Comparision

Image Product
Formula 707 Weight Gain Equine Supplement Best Value: Formula 707 Weight Gain Equine Supplement
Editor's Rating: 9.8 Brand: Formula 707 Check Price
Adeptus Gleam and Gain Supreme Best Package: Adeptus Gleam and Gain Supreme
Editor's Rating: 9.7 Brand: Adeptus Nutrition Check Price
UltraCruz Weight Gain Supplement Best Budget: UltraCruz Weight Gain Supplement
Editor's Rating: 9.6 Brand: UltraCruz Check Price
Farnam Equine Weight Builder Best Overall: Farnam Equine Weight Builder
Editor's Rating: 9.5 Brand: Farnam Check Price
Purina High-Fat Horse Supplement Best for Providing Protein: Purina High-Fat Horse Supplement
Editor's Rating: 9.2 Brand: Purina Check Price
Horse Guard Super Weight Gain Supplement Best for Providing Prebiotics and Probiotics: Horse Guard Super Weight Gain Supplement
Editor's Rating: 9 Brand: Horse Guard Check Price
The Equine Edge Muscle Mass Supplement Best Ingredients: The Equine Edge Muscle Mass Supplement
Editor's Rating: 8.9 Brand: T.H.E. Equine Edge Check Price
Vita Flex Hard Keeper Supplement Best for Providing Omega: Vita Flex Hard Keeper Supplement
Editor's Rating: 8.6 Brand: Vita Flex Check Price
Manna Pro Senior Weight Accelerator Best Seller: Manna Pro Senior Weight Accelerator
Editor's Rating: 8.5 Brand: Manna Pro Check Price

Contents

How to Know If Your Horse Lose Weight?

Underweight horses are simple to notice. The most significant of these is rib visibility. So, if you see that your horse’s ribs are apparent, he is underweight. It may not be the case if your horse gets worms, in which case it may gain weight without revealing its ribs.

In less demanding situations, determining whether you are dealing with an underweight horse or not necessitates a thorough inspection.

The following are the items you should look into:

  • Look at the neck. Is it emphasized?
  • Look at the withers. Is it necessary if they are pointy or rounded?
  • Take a look at the trailhead. Is it noticeable?

If you answered yes, sharply, and yes, your horse is underweight. Now is the time to contact your veterinarian and prepare to modify your horses’ diet.

When faced with such a circumstance, many individuals increase the amount of feed. It is not a viable option. Aside from contacting a veterinarian, an innovative initial approach is to check whether adding a horse weight increase supplement improves the issue.

Why do horses lose weight?

Various emotional and physical reasons can cause a horse’s weight loss, and his troubles may result from several issues. Of course, some horses appear to be more prone to weight loss than others. A “hard keeper” may have a metabolism that requires more calories than typical for maintenance, or he may quickly lose his appetite – and pounds – in reaction to even minor changes in management routine, weather, or other variables. 

Similarly, an agitated horse due to travel, rigorous training, herd disputes, or other interruptions may eat less and burn more energy, resulting in weight loss. However, if your generally healthy horse suddenly loses weight for no apparent reason, contact your veterinarian to assist you in determining the problem. Here are a few possibilities.

Illness

A variety of illnesses can cause weight loss. Most will be accompanied by other visible symptoms, such as diarrhea, colic, fever, or lethargy—however, in rare situations, signs of the disease may be exceedingly faint or nonexistent. Ralston advises that if your horse begins to lose weight and his food remains the same, you should call a veterinarian right once. Examine his liver and renal function, as well as his immune system for persistent infections.

Your veterinarian may also recommend a fecal egg count and discuss your deworming plan during the checkup. A high parasite load will not only deprive your horse of calories, but it can also damage his digestive tract to the point that he is unable to take nutrients from his food. 

Your veterinarian will also look at probable sources of persistent discomfort, which can cause a horse to stop eating. Weight loss, tooth grinding, a grumpy mood, and poor performance are some of the most common symptoms of stomach ulcers. Treating any underlying diseases or injuries will very certainly be sufficient to encourage him to gain weight again.

Furthermore, arthritic discomfort might interfere with a horse’s feed intake by stopping him from walking to hay feeders or covering enough land to graze adequately. Feed stations placed strategically in more extensive pastures may make them simpler to access, and horses with neck or wither problems will graze more quickly from a net or rack at shoulder height.

Dental issues

Uneven wear on a horse’s teeth can create hooks, waves, and other abnormalities that hinder eating, and cracked, broken, or infected teeth can be painful enough to prohibit a horse from chewing his food properly. Aside from weight loss, indications of a horse’s dental issues may include losing partially chewed meals from the mouth, poor breath, fussiness with the bite, and unchewed grains and hay bits in the dung.

Routine dental exams – once a year for most adult horses or every six months for seniors or horses that have had difficulties in the past – can detect and manage any developing issues before they impair a horse’s general health and body weight. A horse’s teeth may be worn out by the time he reaches his late twenties or thirties, rendering him unable to eat coarse feed or hay. He’ll require softer meals like soaked hay pellets, beet pulp, or senior dinner to maintain his weight.

Social problems

Horses in stable herds form unique social hierarchies. Individuals at the bottom of the pecking order – often the very young, the elderly, or the submissive – may be driven away from the hay feeder and other food sources. One option is to confine the low-ranking horse to a small pasture or stall where he may feed quietly. Another alternative for turnout horses is to spread hay to numerous feeders or use one that the horses can access from all sides without becoming stuck against a fence so that everyone receives a piece.

Remember that a horse’s social position can vary over time and that the addition or deletion of other members can completely rewrite the equation. Keep an eye on the situation in the field to ensure that no horses are being bullied away from the food or water.

Personality

We’ve all seen the horses who spend their day racing back and forth between windows and doors, nickering at other horses and seeking attention from everyone. These gregarious butterflies may struggle to concentrate on their meals. It would be best to relocate them to a calmer area or serve them their larger meals at night when the barn is quieter, so they can relax and concentrate on eating.

Then there’s the fussy eater, who moves his pellets around or selects the best parts of hay before pooping on the rest. If this is your horse, you may need to be inventive, experimenting with different types of forage or modifying its shape. Some hay-picking horses will happily consume pellets or cubes. 

And, in some instances, a horse that goes away from a full manger will eat the same amount if it is divided into six smaller meals each day. Slow feeders, which are hay nets or other systems with small apertures that allow a horse to take out just tiny amounts of hay at a time, can keep a horse engaged in “grazing” for more extended periods and with less wastage.

Environmental conditions

Horses expend more calories in cold temperatures to remain warm, while excessive heat can lead them to lose interest in eating.

In the winter, adding blankets and bringing the horse into the barn when temperatures drop are two things that can help a horse that is struggling to keep weight. Ensure that pastured horses have access to shelter that will protect them from strong winds. Access to hay will also aid a horse’s ability to create internal heat around the clock. Slow feeders can assist keep the grass clean while also extending the life of the ration.

Bringing horses inside a cool, well-ventilated barn with fans may help them cope with the heat on the hottest summer days, and deep, shaded shelters are vital in turnouts—to give protection from the sun and stinging insects. Horses may waste a lot of energy pounding, shaking, and fleeing pests like horseflies. If biting flies are an issue in your region, covering your horse with fly sheets, sprays, traps, and other methods can help him concentrate on grazing.

How to Choose the Right Weight Gain Supplement For Horses?

Choosing a supplement should not be taken lightly. Anything that has the potential to alter your animal’s physical structure should be studied. As a horse owner, it is your responsibility to ensure that the supplement is safe and provides the nutritional benefits that it claims.

Also, before switching to a supplement, take a look at what your horse eats regularly and see if there is any way you might enhance your horse’s nutrition.

Active Ingredients

A weight gain supplement for horses is made up of two types of ingredients:

  • Active ingredients
  • Inactive ingredients

The latter is simply there to improve the flavor and preserve the supplement, so don’t worry about it. The former, on the other hand, is where you should focus your attention.

The active components provide the advantages claimed by the supplement. For example, active chemicals in weight gain pills are responsible for increasing weight growth.

However, when purchasing weight gain supplements, search for rice bran, lipids, proteins, and fiber sources like flaxseed meals. These active substances help grow muscle and provide other advantages, such as increased skin sensitivity.

Other active compounds may be present, but these are the main ones you will discover.

Supplement Type

Supplement type is another factor to consider when selecting a supplement for your horse. Horses, like people, have varied tastes. As a result, it is not certain that your Arabian will like powdered supplements in his diet, just as it is not sure that your Friesian will enjoy liquid supplements.

So, test first, and then place large orders. Finding out your horsy doesn’t like powdered vitamins while you’ve spent your entire life money on some is a horrible sight to witness.

Possible Side Effects

When selecting a supplement to help your horse gain weight, it is critical to consider the potential adverse effects.

A supplement is similar to medicine. On the one hand, it cures or improves a particular ailment, but on the other hand, it may have unfavorable side effects such as blood thinning. Chestnut extract, for example, is a popular nutritional supplement for horses. It alleviates leg discomfort and edema. On the other hand, the chestnut extract is a blood thinner and lowers the efficacy of diabetic medications.

The same may be said for weight gain pills. When you consider how delicate the stomachs of younger and older horses are, consulting with a veterinarian becomes critical.

Certification

Your last consideration should be a certification from a relevant authority. If you want to buy a supplement as a medication, make sure the FDA has approved it for this purpose. Accessories that aren’t aren’t generally made to claim to address a health issue. The use of phrases like “helps to decrease inflammation” indicates that the supplement is not a medication.

Similarly, when selecting a supplement, make sure it has NASC safety certification. The National Animal Supplement Council is a non-profit organization that oversees the regulation of animal supplements. The accessories that the council approves are labeled with a Quality Seal to make them recognized.

To summarize, before purchasing any supplement, seek safety certificates from the FDA, if it’s a medication, and NASC, if it’s a supplement.

Top 10 Best Weight Gain Supplements for Horses

Choosing the best supplement for your horse’s weight increase is a difficult task. I did the hard work for you because I care about you and your horse. The ten most excellent weight gain supplements for horses are listed here.

One of the most well-known supplements on the market is Formula 707. And there's a purpose for it.

The primary reason for Formula 707's popularity is due to the components. The supplement's foundation is made up of vegetable lipids, fiber, and protein. These three factors work together to ensure that the nutritional makeup of the forage is balanced. It does more than simply cause your horse to gain weight. It causes your horse to achieve a healthy amount of weight.

Here's how these components affect your horse:
Vegetable fats have enough calories to offer an energy boost. A horse with more energy is a healthy horse.
Proteins are in charge of muscle development. Muscles are the main contributors to weight gain. As a result, having more muscles means carrying more weight.
Fiber is essential for a healthy digestive tract—the better the digestive system, the greater the absorption of nutrients.
As you can see, all of these active components work together to satisfy your horse's nutritional needs. As soon as his needs are fulfilled, your horse will begin to gain weight. In short, it is a reliable product that is beneficial to both young and senior horses.
Adeptus Gleam and Gain Supreme

Best Package: Adeptus Gleam and Gain Supreme

Editor's Rating: 9.7 Brand: Adeptus Nutrition Check Price ❯
The Adeptus Gleam and Gain are available in two variants. The main distinction between these two variants is the fat percentage. The fat proportion in the original recipe is 41%, whereas the ultimate formula has a fat content of 60%. Aside from that exception, both versions are identical.

The ultimate version's 60 percent fat content, which we're addressing here, has numerous advantages in young horses. I say 'young horses,' since a feed with such a high-fat content is not appropriate for a senior horse.

However, young horses gain significantly from this. Flax meal, for example, not only improves weight but also aids in the removal of unwanted particles such as sand from your horse's digestive system.
UltraCruz Weight Gain Supplement

Best Budget: UltraCruz Weight Gain Supplement

Editor's Rating: 9.6 Brand: UltraCruz Check Price ❯
If you are concerned about grains in your horse's diet, consider UltraCruz Weight Gain Supplement. There is no grain in the supplement because it is in liquid form.

However, removing grain isn't the only reason you should consider this supplement. The presence of active substances such as flax oil and Vitamin E is beneficial since these aid in weight growth.

Flax oil is high in fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids decrease inflammation, aid in the maintenance of appropriate cholesterol levels, and encourage the development of new tissue. In other words, UltraCruz did an excellent job in selecting flax oil as an active component.

Finally, Vitamin E helps to strengthen the immune system, which results in a healthier horse. It is an excellent supplement for competitive and performance horses.
Farnam Equine Weight Builder

Best Overall: Farnam Equine Weight Builder

Editor's Rating: 9.5 Brand: Farnam Check Price ❯
Farnam Equine Weight Builder is a good alternative for those who want a powdered supplement. For starters, it contains 50% fat. Because there is such a high percentage of fat, your horse will have enough calories. More calories equal more pounds.

Furthermore, the supplement includes Omega-3 fatty acids. It is worth noting that Omega-3 fatty acids are excellent at lowering dangerous cholesterol levels and inflammation. They also aid in the maintenance of your horse's glossy coat.

Finally, by taking this supplement, you are neither bringing any sugar into your system nor creating calcium: phosphorus imbalance.

Aside from all the positive aspects, there is one minor inconvenience. Powdered supplements will be avoided by most fussy eaters (food lovers). So, give it a go before committing to a large quantity.
It appears that high-fat supplements are now widespread. Why shouldn't they be? A high-fat content offers more calories for your horse. More calories equal more pounds.

Purina High-Fat Horse Supplement includes 25% fat from rice bran, flaxseed oil, and vegetable oils. Furthermore, the fat content is increased with proteins and vitamins. Purina Horse Supplement is an all-around nutrient-rich product as a result of all of these factors.

Fats give energy, proteins create muscles, which contribute to weight increase, and Vitamin E eliminates free radicals from the horse's body. The only drawback I can think of is the price. If Purina can reduce the cost, the product will improve much more.
Poor gut health is the most common cause of weight loss in horses, in my experience. Your horse will regain all of his lost weight once the gastrointestinal condition is improved and nutrients are added to the diet. And here is the Horse Guard Super Weight Gain Supplements sales pitch. It is a supplement that works by improving the health of the intestines.

The addition of prebiotics and probiotics distinguishes the Super Weight Gain. Prebiotics and probiotics help maintain healthy microbial flora in the gut, which is essential for gut health.

Furthermore, the supplement contains a blend of proteins, soybeans, vitamins, and trace elements. Soybeans give energy while proteins develop muscles. Both of these factors lead to weight gain. Overall, it is a fantastic product that merits your attention.
The Equine Edge Muscle Mass Supplement

Best Ingredients: The Equine Edge Muscle Mass Supplement

Editor's Rating: 8.9 Brand: T.H.E. Equine Edge Check Price ❯
The Equine Edge Muscle Mass promises to be a daily supplement. It implies that the substances employed in its production are both safe and helpful to your horse.

We're talking about the following ingredients: Proteins, E, C, D3, and B vitamins, Flaxseed.
Proteins help create lean muscles, while flaxseed gives you energy. Furthermore, vitamins are a significant bonus because vitamins are an essential component of a healthy weight gain diet.

Finally, trace quantities of minerals such as iron and Himalayan salt are present. Iron regulates blood oxygen levels, whereas salt is an electrolyte. These two minerals boost performance.

However, these nutrients are difficult to find in horse weight growth supplements. It's worth noting that they're present in the Equine Edge.
Hard keepers are horses who are incredibly fussy about what they eat. As a result, it is usual for hard keepers to lose weight. Vita Flex says that their supplement is appropriate for both regulars and hard keepers. And, for the most part, that claim is correct.

The supplements in question have a protein content of 13% and a fat content of 40%. The combination is highly clever because weight increase requires both proteins and fat.

Vita Flex has also included Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids in the supplement. There has already been a lot stated about these, so that I won't go into depth. The gist of it is that these fatty acids are excellent for preventing skin allergies and keeping a glossy coat.

To summarize, Vita Flex is an excellent product, even if it is far less expensive than the competitors.
The Manna Pro Older Accelerator, as the name implies, is designed for senior horses. And it's reflected in the components.

For starters, the supplement contains fat that is easily digested. Furthermore, the inclusion of probiotics facilitates the digestion of this supplement. With that out of the way, let's see how Senior Weight Accelerator can benefit your senior horse.

The fat content supplies the energy required. Aside from providing an energy boost, the supplement also contains Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, and antioxidants. Whereas fatty acids assist in reducing allergen sensitivity in elderly horses, antioxidants and vitamins give much-needed nutrition.

FAQs

How can I make my horse gain weight fast?

To assist your horse in gaining weight quickly, try the following:

  • Make sure there is always hay available for your horse to eat. How will he gain weight if he doesn’t eat much?
  • Add a handful of alfalfa to the regular amount of grass. Alfalfa has more calories than hay and, as a result, can assist your horse in gaining weight.
  • Mix in weight gain supplements to improve the forage’s quality. The accessories are beneficial for an elderly horse whose metabolism cannot fully absorb nutrients from hay.
  • Instead of one huge meal, feed several smaller ones. It will cause your horse to eat constantly, which is what its digestive system is built for.
  • Make sure your horse is getting enough exercise. Exercise burns fat gives you energy, and helps you build muscle. Muscles are heavier than fat.

Fast weight growth is not a good thing in the same way that losing weight in a couple of days is not a good thing. And expecting your horse to acquire weight quickly and without negative consequences defies logic.

What can I feed my older horse to gain weight?

Older horses require a more appropriate diet. Older horses lose weight for various causes, including dental disease, a poor digestive system, and a lack of physical activity.

And they can’t eat the same supplement-rich diet as younger people to gain weight. There are several weight-gain techniques available to you. 

  • Substitute alfalfa for a fourth of the hay. Alfalfa has a lot of calories. Thus it might help you gain weight.
  • Pallets of fodder can be fed to your horse. Pallets are easy to chew and digest, which is beneficial to an elderly horse’s digestive tract.
  • Feed beet pulp to your horse as a fiber source. Beet pulp is typically harmless and a good source of energy.
  • As a source of fat, use rice bran. Combining rice bran with a protein source is an excellent method to balance your aging horse’s diet.

Just remember to use moderation when implementing these techniques. It might be tempting to add more beet pulp or shift your rice brain vehicle into fifth gear. Increasing the quantity will have no effect. On the contrary, you risk injuring your horse.

Does beet pulp help horses gain weight?

Beet pulp has enough fermentable fiber to be an excellent substitute for grass and help horses gain weight. In most situations, it is utilized to supplement hay rather than replace it. As a result, rather than using beet pulp as a sole food source, try it as a nutritional supplement.

What is the average time it takes for a horse to acquire weight?

It might take three weeks to a month for the benefits of a diet modification to become apparent. Owners can generally detect a weight change after this period.

Wait at least two weeks after beginning to make adjustments to your diet before measuring your weight again. Horses, especially elderly horses, need time to acclimatize to their new feed.

Conclusion

Finally, whether your horse is slightly overweight, underweight, or you just want to maximize feed efficiency, the formulae shown above can assist you in maintaining a good equine body condition.

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