Need to know how to help a horse to gain weight? Whether it’s through age, type, illness or fussiness, some horses struggle to gain and keep on the pounds – and feeding horses like this can feel like an uphill battle.

Concerned owners should call their vet first to determine any underlying medical issues. It’s also wise to consult a qualified equine nutritionist for help tailoring your horse’s diet for weight gain.

It’s important to be sure your horse needs a significant increase in their body condition. Many horses in the UK are overweight and so your eye may be used to seeing horses that are fat, rather than fit. The glimpse of a rib or two coming into spring is healthy for most horses, so it is worth doing a body condition score check first before starting an active weight-gain programme.

Once you are confident your horse needs to gain weight, it’s not just what’s in the diet that counts. While feeding the best feeds for weight gain will usually have an impact, adjusting meal sizes, changing the types of forage the horse consumes, weighing feeds rather than guessing, and splitting feeds into smaller portions can also help a horse gain weight.

Looking for in-depth advice? Here are some helpful, practical tips from experts to help you tailor a poor-doer’s diet and optimise how you feed to make him gain weight.

How to make a horse gain weight: tips to help poor-doers

1. Consult your vet

“Remember that factors like stress, poor dentition, horse worm burdens or underlying health problems can also affect how well a horse maintains their weight,” says Katie Reeve, equine nutritionist at Dengie. “If your horse is struggling, it is worth contacting your vet.

“Speaking to an equine nutritionist is also helpful as they will be able to provide more tailored advice for your horse’s feed and forage.”

2. Underweight or undermuscled?

Louise Scott, senior nutritionist at D&H, explains that a horse’s muscle tone may give a false impression of their body condition. “Many horses lacking muscle and topline will look poor even if they have a healthy body fat level,” she explains.

“Conversely, some horses with a lack of topline and weak core muscles may have a dropped belly, making them look like an overweight horse even if they are underconditioned,” she continues.

“Take the time to assess topline and muscle tone, as well as rib cover and overall body condition score, before making any adjustments to your horse’s routine.”

She adds: “Calories are key to putting on body fat to support condition, so look for conditioning feeds that have a digestible energy content of 12MJ/kg or higher.”

Louise says that to support muscle development and topline, owners could focus on supplying adequate protein in the diet.

“Look for feeds with ingredients rich in quality protein, such as soya, or with added amino acids.”

3. Deliver more calories

Vanessa Allen, nutrition content manager at Spillers, reminds owners to ensure their poor-doers’ meals are calorie-dense.

“Oil is high in calories, relatively cheap, non-heating and starch- and sugar-free, so may be a useful addition,” she explains.

“With oil, 300ml is equivalent to 1kg of oats. Oil for horses should be introduced gradually, and it is advised to check with a nutrition specialist if you’re feeding more than 100ml per day.”

Katie of Dengie concurs. “If you’re interested in feeding fibre sources that are highly digestible, alfalfa and beet pulp are useful ingredients to look out for,” she says. “Using feeds that are low in sugar and starch is preferable for supporting gut health and helping your horse to get the most out of what you’re putting in.”

4. Investigate different energy source types

Emma Short, senior nutritionist at Baileys, encourages owners to be mindful of different energy source types – both what they are and how they work.

“The calories in quick-release sources are rapidly absorbed and readily available, so may not suit the fizziest types, but do work well for many horses,” she explains.

“Quick-release sources include carefully cooked cereals,” she adds. “They are used in higher-calorie horse feeds for weight gain because they are a highly digestible and concentrated source of extra calories for promoting weight gain.

“The starch they contain can increase acidity levels in the stomach, which may exacerbate gastric discomfort in the horses prone to gastric ulcers, however.”

On the other hand, slow-release energy sources include highly digestible fibres, known as “superfibres”, such as beet pulp, alfalfa and soya bean hulls, and vegetable oils.

“They provide more than twice as many calories as the same weight of cereals,” says Emma, and these are more suited to feeding horses prone to ulcers.

She adds: “Many conditioning and competition feeds now contain energy sources which take longer to digest and absorb into the bloodstream and do not exacerbate excitability, so are ideal for fizzy, stressy horses.”

5. Consider gut health as a whole

Some horses seem to eat well, but don’t gain weight as expected.

“Supporting the whole digestive system, from encouraging saliva production and helping to manage stomach acidity, through to supporting nutrient absorption in the small intestine, can make a real difference,” shares Jane Bansted, customer experience and advocacy manager at NAF.

She adds that adding an appropriate gastric supplement or gut balancer could be helpful. “Nourishing the hindgut with prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics helps maintain a healthy microbial balance, supports efficient fibre digestion, and ultimately allows the horse to get more from the diet they’re already eating.”

6. Consider your forage – and forage alternatives

Emma Short of Baileys says the texture of your forage could hold information about its nutritional value. “Choose soft, leafy forage – hay or haylage should be clean and sweet smelling, but feel it in your hand and look for the least stalky bales.

“The stalkier the grass when it was harvested, the less digestible it is,” she continues. “So, try to find softer hay or haylage, with a higher leaf content, which will also be more nutritious and reduce the amount of additional calories that will need to come from bucket feed.”

If your horse is not a good hay or haylage eater, Emma suggests providing some alternatives, such as one of the best hay replacers. “Adding additional fibre sources in separate buckets alongside his forage to browse on and increase your horse’s overall fibre intake.

“This will supply some extra calories from digestible fibre but will also help ensure that gut health and digestive efficiency are optimised so that the system can make the most of the whole diet.”

7. What is ad lib really?

D&H’s Louise Scott acknowledges that feeding forage ad lib is best, but staying informed is even better. “Giving forage ad lib allows horses to self-regulate how much they want to eat,” she begins.

“However, it is important to be aware of how much you have provided, especially if your horse is underconditioned or your horses share access to forage, so you can notice if your horse is not eating enough or if there are any changes in his eating habits.”

Calculating how much hay to feed a horse depends on a few factors.

“Horses that need to gain condition should ideally receive around 2% of their total bodyweight in forage each day on a dry matter basis,” says Louise. “Dry matter refers to the amount of water in the forage and differs depending on whether you feed hay or haylage.

“Haylage contains more water than hay, so you need to feed more haylage to provide the same dry matter than if you were feeding hay.”

So, how much do you actually need to feed? “For a 500kg horse, 2% is equal to 10kg of forage on a dry matter basis. If you feed hay which is around 85% dry matter, this means feeding 12 kilos of fresh hay each day.”

The table below demonstrates the approximate fresh weight of hay or haylage you would need to feed daily, depending on your horse’s weight. Weighing haynets is easy to do with a handheld luggage scale (like this one on Amazon).

8. Know your bucket feed size

Vanessa suggests being clear on bucket feed weight, too. She adds that it’s good practice to weigh all your horse’s feeds to make sure you’re feeding the correct amount, and know how much your scoop holds.

“Keep meal sizes small, no more than 2kg per meal for a 500kg horse,” she advises.

“Feed three or more meals if you need to feed more than 4kg per day. Horses don’t digest large meals so efficiently; feeding large quantities may cause other issues or simply waste money.

“Smaller meals can be useful for tempting fussy horses – large meals can be overwhelming.”

How to help a horse gain weight quickly

According to H&H veterinary consultant Karen Coumbe, those with concerns about their horse’s weight and body condition are likely to benefit from a second opinion before rushing to feed him up quickly.

“Owners who see their horses every day can find it hard to perceive changes in their horses’ weight in either direction, or simply become used to how the horse looks,” she explains.

In Karen’s experience, the average leisure horse owner’s opinion on body condition differs from the average professional competitor. This depends on many factors, especially discipline, but what really matters is that weight and body condition are appropriate to the individual horse.

“When I’m working with racehorses, you can admire almost every bit of muscle on them,” she continues. “They’re built for speed, so there’s barely an ounce of excess fat there.”

Although the average horse owner does not own a racing thoroughbred, Karen adds that horses generally benefit from being on the leaner side.

However, if you’re worried about a very thin or emaciated horse, consult your vet and/or a professional nutritionist to avoid the dangers of refeeding syndrome.

“Certainly very thin horses are better fed back up slowly,” she says. “When we start to think about getting horses to gain weight quickly, it can be dangerous.”

Karen cautions against an immediately calorie-dense diet, adding an influx of volume and energy to bucket and forage at once. This can unbalance a horse’s fat metabolism, or the ability to break down and store fat, and do far more harm than good.

Abrupt changes to the diet can also contribute to gastrointestinal conditions, such as colic, or inflammatory diseases, such as laminitis. Gradual weight gain, therefore, is safest – find out more about how long it takes for a horse to gain weight.

“A golden rule is to work a horse ahead of his feed,” she adds. “This helps avoid problems such as tying up (exertional rhabdomyolysis, or azoturia).

• For unlimited access to advice on how best to care for your horse, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

You might also like:

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This week I would like to start at the end. As we operate within a college environment, we tend to think in academic years as opposed to calendar ones. Summer is therefore always the time of year when we have to say goodbye to the outgoing crop of students and also to our interns too, who are based with us for a year.

One of these is Kate Lefrancois who has been working with us as graduate assistant over the past year, a role designed to allow Hartpury Masters students work alongside their studies.

Kate has not only conquered the quite incredible feat of completing a two-year MSc course in a single year, but also worked to become a huge asset to our team since she moved over from Canada to join us. She will greatly missed by everyone.

We had a nice official end to Kate’s year here in the form of Hartpury’s Summer Fair (6 June), during which we had the most amazing haul of volunteers involved to make the day go as planned (pictured top).

Every year we seem to accumulate greater numbers of work experience students within our ranks, and in a wider society where young people often get a bad rap, our acolytes are definitely bucking the trend.

Our regular student volunteers were joined on the day by my boss’ two sons, Max and Eddie, who were on hand for all manner of things. They finished their shift by getting the chance to help Grace – one of our canine hydrotherapists – swim my dog. Essentially this meant a bit of instruction, and then them racing Damson up and down the pool! The children and the dog were all elated as each other, resulting in a whole load of laughing, splashing and basically two under 10s having had the best time ever.

Feeding matters

Feeding horses who are on a combination of box rest and controlled exercise is one of the greatest challenges we face on a day-to-day basis.

Our in-patients generally come in one of two forms: they are either slightly on the portly side having done quite well during field or stable rest prior to starting work, or they are atrophic and need to build muscle and gain condition.

We have a weighbridge to help monitor the horses; sometimes they appear to be dropping weight by eye but actually they’ve lost it on their tummies and put it on as muscle on elsewhere.

If you can’t get access to a weighbridge, a really useful way of monitoring at home is to take pictures of the horse every couple of weeks, as well as measurements of the thickest point of the neck and around the barrel. You can of course use a weightape, which are pretty accurate for well-proportioned horses but your long-backed tubular varieties can deceive the tape!

I think the most important thing is just that you give yourself something measurable to go by, whichever of these means you chose.

If we do have a good-doer on our hands we follow really simple principles. We weigh their hay and trickle feed it to them throughout the day, and often use treat balls to keep them amused.

Those who are allowed out in the field can go in our bare grass pens, but for horses who are on box rest this is obviously not an option.

The trouble with overweight horses who are carrying an injury is that it can put more strain than desired on the affected structures. Horses with back pain can also be adversely affected by being too hefty — the abdominal muscles need to be tight and strong to allow a horse’s back to remain supple and fully supported.

I very firmly do not believe in starving horses however; it’s not how they are designed to eat and so I’d rather soak the life out of hay just to give them something to chew on than succumb to risk factors such as gastric ulcers.

A horse will always look its best when it’s living a normal life in work and going in the field, but while injured, you just have to manage them the best you can.

In some ways horses who need to gain weight are easier to feed, provided they like to eat of course! If they don’t, as anyone who has a fussy horse knows, it can be even more stressful. It can also be difficult to resist the temptation of feeding these types of horses too much too quickly.

We do get horses coming into us who look poor despite their owner’s best efforts because they are out of work and not doing well on it. This type of situation takes time and patience, but you cannot build muscle by feed alone. Our job is to make sure we give the horse enough fuel to build as they progress in their work, but not overcook them. Supplements such as Equitop Myoplast can be really useful in these types of cases, which is for all intents and purposes an equine protein-shake.

Baileys supply our feed and we must consume literally tons of Topline Cubes every year, while Lo-Cal Balancer is really useful for those who need a lower calorie intake but all to still meet all of their daily nutrient requirements. In terms of chaff we range from using alfalfa to a light chaff, and dried grass too. I also feed a lot of unmolassed sugarbeet and soya oil up to amounts of around 60ml per day.

I am fascinated by the whole business of feeding horses and long has rumbled the debate of science vs art when it comes to this subject.

I personally think it is a combination of the two. In the past I’ve worked in places where we only fed straights, with the horses receiving a combination of oats, rolled or naked, broad bran and barley boiled with linseed.

In New Zealand I worked on a stud where it was a case of “one coarse mix fits all”, which was formulated specifically to address the nutrient deficiencies of their land.

Feeding is essentially largely down to preference, economics and situation. On our yard all the horses will have their rations decided on by discussion with their owners and possibly the vet in charge of the case, the latter of which is essential in post-operative cases. The art comes in knowing when to alter things in light of the horse’s daily work or in response to a change in its development or demeanour.

Fizz

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It can be frustrating when your horse doesn’t finish his feed. Some horses are just plain fussy, but others seem to go off their feed for no reason.

If a horse starts to turn his nose up, consider what might have changed — perhaps an increase in work level, or a new batch of feed. Also, consider having his teeth checked.

Horses in hard work that are turned out during the day on good quality grazing may be eating some much forage in the field that an extra bowl of hard food is over-facing their appetite.

Tempting stressed horses is another matter. The root cause may be physical or mental.

Among the physical causes of poor appetite could be discomfort, usually in horses eating small amounts of forage. In this case either gastric ulcers or overflow of starch (from a high cereal meal) into the hindgut causes discomfort. Something as simple as a new batch of forage can precipitate this.

Anxious horses are more difficult to settle into a regime of eating. You need to work out what is concerning them, and rectify that. Things that work are feeding at the front of the stable, frequent small meals, turning them out, or visual access to other horses.

For sudden loss of appetite in a horse, especially those that are good eaters, you cannot rule out illness or disease, so if in any doubt, check the vital signs and consult with your vet.

Top tips

• Make the meal more tempting: offer less per meal, and more meals per day; mix in apples, carrots or a glug of molasses to make the meal more succulent; or add a scoop of soaked molassed sugar beet pulp to the feed.
• Turn out to chill out: increase the time horses are turned out, especially if they can pick at grass.
• Variety: horses increase their time spent eating if a variety of forages are offered in different locations around the stable, as this helps recreate the natural browsing instinct.

Find something they do like: changing downwards to a low-energy, high-fibre or horse and pony type cube, has been shown to work.

• Gorse: this old wives tale does seem to work. A frond of gorse in the manger, however unpalatable it sounds, seems to encourage the appetite.
• Vitamin B12 injections are often used as a pick-me-up, and to perk up an appetite. Using a B-vitamin supplement may therefore help with fussy eaters.

This feed forum feature was first published in Horse & Hound (9 December, ’04). Don’t miss this week’s feed forum, which focuses on the problem of gastric ulcers

If for humans the maxim is five portions of fruit or vegetables a day, the typical horse (who weighs about seven times more) must be approaching 40!

Fortunately, horses eat grass, which is a substitute for the majority of these portions, but stabled horses do appreciate succulent extras.

Carrots and apples are the most commonly fed, but bananas are also popular worldwide, as are soft fruits such as berries, grapes, pears, plums and apricots, as well as vegetables like swedes and turnips. Vast quantities of succulents were shipped to the equestrian park at Athens and British Olympic dressage horse Active Walero is known to have a particular penchant for unblemished bananas.

Fruits and vegetables are essentially a wet and nutritious sweet, full of water and sugar.

Freshly served, they are about 90% water, with any nutrition coming from the 10% dry matter that, while predominately sugar, also contains vitamins and natural plant antioxidants, albeit in relatively tiny amounts.

These days, their value lies mostly in their succulence, but in earlier times, carrots in particular were a staple part of heavy horse diets. Rates of 12-13kg per day were not uncommon, and can still be fed today by some heavy horse keepers.

So are they worth inclusion in your horse’s diets? Almost certainly the answer is yes, if only to make sure the horse enjoys his food by adding some tasty variety. This is especially true if the horse is a fussy eater or has gone off his food for some reason, such as the stress of competition.

Unless you are feeding kilos of them, though, don’t rely on significant nutrient additions to the diet.

Eat your veg

• Remember to cut carrots down their length to avoid the risk of choke
• Make sure that there is no soil contamination on fruit or veg soil harbours, potentially harmful microbes, including species of the bacteria clostridia and listeria, which can cause disease.
• A few pieces of fruit or veg a day really won’t make much nutritional difference. A carrot weighs 75-100g, but you need to feed 100 carrots or apples (8kg) per day to get the equivalent of a scoop (1kg) of oats.
• Bananas are energy rich (but again do not provide much benefit if you feed only one or two per day) and contain high levels of potassium.
• Potatoes were popular after World War II, when other feed were in short supply for working horses, or for putting weight on horses once cooked. Up to 10lb per day were fed. Potatoes are really like wet barley – full of water and starch, and there are now much easier ways of increasing a horse’s weight.
• This article first appeared in Horse & Hound (19 August 2004)

The well-known phrase “eating like a horse” does not always ring true. Sometimes, horses have trouble eating. This is a condition called dysphagia, which literally means “difficulty in swallowing”, but it is commonly used to describe a general difficulty in eating.

There are many reasons why a horse could have dysphagia. There may be a physical problem with getting food into the mouth – for example, instability of the mandible or jaw. Sometimes horses snag their lower jaw in a stable door catch, panic and then pull back, resulting in a fracture of the lower jaw – a readily apparent reason for dysphagia.

A systemic disease such as botulism can also result in poor eating. For example, ingestion of the botulinum toxin affects the conduction of impulses along the nerves and causes dysphagia. But it is not only the nerves involved in swallowing that are affected, so that other signs such as generalised weakness may be present.

The process of eating can be broken down into several steps. The initial stage is getting the food into the mouth. It then has to be chewed or masticated, swallowed and passed on to the stomach. Problems can be encountered at any of these stages. In equine practice, the most common problem is choke, which occurs when a soft ball of chewed food (a bolus) gets stuck in the oesophagus and fails to pass into the stomach.

If we consider each stage of eating separately, we can understand how problems arise in this everyday but complex, carefully co-ordinated activity. These are as follows:

• Prehension or getting food into the mouthThe upper and lower lips are the main structures involved in grasping food, aided, to a lesser degree by the incisor teeth and the tongue. Horses are usually very careful and particular about what objects they take into their mouth when grazing: it is surprising how the horse’s relatively large, clumsy-looking lips can pick up individual pony nuts from the ground. It is obvious how wounds to the lips or tongue, fractures of the upper or lower jaw and neurological diseases affecting the nerves of the lips, will cause difficulty in getting food into the mouth.
• Chewing or masticationProblems in this stage are usually caused by dental disease – for example, fractures of the teeth, gum disease, damage to the soft tissues of the mouth, occasionally, tumours in the mouth or, rarely, damage to the temporomandibular (ie jaw) joints.
• Swallowing
  This is a very complicated procedure. One of the first signs of a problem is the return of saliva and chewed up food from the nostrils as well as coughing, due to food being aspirated into the lungs.Difficulty swallowing may be caused by congenital (present at birth) or acquired problems. The former includes cleft palate and developmental problems of the structure of the larynx (voice-box) or pharynx. Animals with these deformities will have problems from early life, so the age of the horse when the problem was first noticed may give a useful clue as to the possible cause.Acquired causes include “space occupying lesions” of the pharynx, for example polyps, abscesses, neoplasia or foreign bodies. Sometimes, swellings on the head which exert external pressure on the pharynx, such as snakebites or a strangles abscess, can cause a problem with swallowing, but the first sign with these lesions is usually a marked respiratory noise.Diseases affecting the nerves that co-ordinate swallowing, such as grass-sickness or a fungal infection in the guttural pouch – also have a role to play.
• Passing the food bolus down to the stomachChoke is a common problem which occurs when an accumulation of food material blocks the oesophagus. Classical, unsoaked sugar beet is a cause, but choke can also occur with cubes, grain and any poorly chewed fibrous material, especially when the food is bolted down very quickly.Dysphagia can be present from birth or occur suddenly. Whatever the case, it is important to consider all the possible causes and conduct a thorough veterinary examination. The sooner a diagnosis is made, the sooner treatment can begin, and the sooner your equine can be eating like a horse once again.
• This article first appeared in Horse & Hound, 8 May 2003 issue

Expert advice from HORSE magazine on how to tempt a fussy eater

Q: My horse is recovering from an operation and, although he seems well in himself, his appetite has decreased. I am unable to turn him out in winter, which does not help. Can you suggest ways in which I can encourage him to eat?

Nutritionist Christine Smy replies: First, you need to find an appetising feed that will interest your horse. Try herby mixes for maximum palatability, or those high in soya and oil – the latter can be fed in small quantities, yet are excellent for weight gain. Molasses or honey can be added for sweetness.

Many horses appreciate fresh foodsuch as cut grass and alfalfa, together with succulents, including carrots, apples and greens.

These can be chopped very small or grated to prevent the horse from picking them out.

Feed your horse little and often, if possible. Give him asmall amount of concentrate – about 1lb (0.5kg) – four or five times a day and remove any untouched food after an hour.

Although bran mashes are not often recommended, in this case, you may find your horse prefers the soft texture. Other feeds can be added to provide nutritional value, including a mineral and vitamin supplement to balance any deficiencies. Experiment with different textures and levels of dampness to find one your horse enjoys.

Also, consider the position and depthof your manger as some horses will not eat readily unless they can see around them. If your horse’s appetite has not picked up after several weeks, consult a vet in case there is an underlying problem. Often, a B12 injection from a vet can be enough to kick-start a horse’s appetite and start him eating normally again.

Q: I own a very fussy eight-year-old ID X TB middleweight mare who is in poor condition. I bought her froma dealer a year ago and know nothing about her past. She will either refuse her feed altogether or pick out the bits she likes.

I tried feeding her a weight gain mix but this just made her hyperactive. She is also on Blue Chip feed balancer.

Christine Smy replies: To put weight onto a horse you have to increase the calories in the diet.

Horses will either lay the extra calories down as weight or burn them as energy. Unfortunatelythe horses who need to gain weight are often the ones who burn the extra calories as energy.

This is why conditioning feeds were developed. They usually contain good levels of oil and protein, both ideal for weight gain.

As your horse tends to be silly on a weight gain mix, I suggest you change to the cube version. The grinding of ingredients involved in the pelleting process helps lower digestive stress. Cubes are also higher in fibre and lower in starch than a cereal mix – starch is an instant energy source and can cause hyperactivity.

Fussy horses can be very difficult, especially during the winter. Many people add a tablespoon of honey per feed as an appetiser as this is a natural sweet product.

You may find equine milk pellets will help. These are a soft, easily absorbed product, which will help condition and do not need to be fed in great quantities. Try grating carrots and apples into the feed to prevent your mare picking them out and eating them first.

Feeding little and often can help the appetite. Feed as little as 1 lb (0.5 kg) six times a day if necessary to mimic the horse’s natural feeding instinct.

Blue Chip helps stabilise the gut so it is important your mare continues to eat this product.

If she’s happy to eat chaff, choose high calorie version, either those rich in oil or dried grass or alfalfa as these will add more nutrients to the diet than a standard molassed chaff.

Read more about feeding for extra weight:

• Coping with winter weight loss
• Q&A: Feeding for extra weight
• Coping with faddy eaters

Q: I own a very fussy eight-year-old ID X TB middleweight mare who is in poor condition.

I bought her from a dealer a year ago and know nothing about her past. She will either refuse her feed altogether or pick out the bits she likes.

I fed her a weight gain mix but this seems to have made her hyperactive.

Equine nutritionist Christine Smy replies: In order to put weight onto a horse, you have to increase the calories in the diet. Horses will either lay the extra calories down as weight or burn them as energy. Unfortunately it’s often the horses who need to gain weight who burn the extra calories.

This is why conditioning feeds were developed. They usually contain good levels of oil and protein, both ideal for weight gain.

As your horse tends to be silly on a weight gain mix, I suggest you change to the cube version. The grinding of ingredients involved in the pelleting process helps lower digestive stress. Cubes are also higher in fibre and lower in starch than a cereal mix – starch is an instant energy source and can cause hyperactivity.

Fussy horses can be very difficult, especially during the winter. Many people add a tablespoon of honey per feed as an appetiser as this is a natural sweet product. You may find equine milk pellets will also help.

These are a soft, easily absorbed product, which will help condition and do not need to be fed in great quantities. Try grating carrots and apples into the feed to prevent your mare picking them out and eating them first.

Feeding little and often can help the appetite. Feed as little as 1 lb (0.5 kg) six times a day if necessary to mimic the horse’s natural feeding instinct.

If she’s happy to eat chaff, aim for the high calorie chaffs, either those rich in oil or dried grass or alfalfa as these will add more nutrients to the diet than a standard molassed chaff.

According to nutritionist Derek Cuddeford, the first essential in coping with a horse who is a faddy eater is to decide whether the problem is all in the mind – yours, that is.

“When people phone me and say their horse is a fussy eater, I often find that he isn’t fussy at all: just overfed,” he explains.

“Horses are like kids, they’ll eat when they’re hungry. If you were hungry and given a plate of sandwiches, you would begin to eat. But, as you got more full, you would becomepicky and start looking at the fillings.

“Obviously, you need to check that a horse hasn’t got a problem with worms or with his teeth but, if his health signs are all correct, then make sure he’s not overweight.

“You should be able to feel the ribs – if you run your hand along the horse and create a bow wave, then he is too fat.”

Dr Cuddeford says that too many people worry if a horse does not eat all his feed immediately. “That’s why many people put molasses in, because horses like sweet things.”

In rare cases where there is a problem, it is important to know your horse’s personality. Some will only eat in peace and quiet, for instance. But Dr Cuddeford says that if a horse is isolated and has not seen anyone until you come to feed him, he will probably want to spend time with you.

“The ideal way to rehabilitate a horse is to put him out on good grass,” he advises. “Remember that horses are geared to eat wet food, and you will get more wet roughage by feeding haylage.

“Also, give the horse small feeds and try dampening the coarse mix.”

Derek finds that horses are often like their owners.

“Obese animals often have obese owners and the same applies to faddy ones. If a horse doesn’t eat his grub straight away, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he doesn’t like it.”

• Derek Cuddeford is the author of Equine Nutrition, published by Crowood Press.