Feeding For Weight Gain Spotlight: Pryde's EasiConditioner
Weight gain is always a hot topic when it comes to equine health. It’s an aspect of feeding that owners often struggle with. There are those horses that are poor doers and are difficult to get weight on, horses who are recovering from illness or injury, horses who have been purchased by new owners in poor condition, or those horses that are older and struggle to keep weight on.
There are many reasons why a horse needs condition and extra weight added to their body score, so for the next four weeks we’re going to spotlight four feeds that are great for doing just that.
Start with the horse’s health
Before embarking on a weight gain feeding regime, we must first address the horse’s health to ensure there is no underlying reason why the horse is not gaining and maintaining weight.
Health Checklist:
- Teeth and dental up to date?
- Worming and parasite control up to date?
- Virus and infection free?
- Gastric ulcer free?
- Is the horse getting at least two per cent of its body weight per day in roughage?
- Have you changed/ removed external factors that may be causing stress and anxiety?
Feed for the job – Pryde’s EasiConditioner
Pryde’s EasiConditioner has rapidly increased in popularity since its introduction to the market. This feed has been labelled the no fuss solution for weight gain and muscle building and is an ideal feed for spelling horses, aged horses and horses needing to gain weight. This feed is ideal for horses that struggle to hold weight in the cooler months
EasiCondition assist with weight gain because it's super dense in calories (𝟭𝟰.𝟳𝗠𝗝), is made with quality protein and all the essential amino acids necessary for muscling and topline building.
Pryde’s uses a set recipe formulation with the same premium ingredients in every batch, so you know your horses is getting the same quality ingredients in every bag, including the same premium quality protein is used in every batch, which has an incredible muscle building capacity. EasiConditioner is fully extruded (cooked) to allow your horse to extract nutrients and maintain a healthy hindgut. This feed is also low salt formulation to reduce gastric ulcer irritation in spelling horses.
EasiConditioner’s superior nutrient profile and digestibility will allow you to feed approximately 1kg/day less than a similar pelleted feed making it an economical choice for horse owners.
Keep it balanced – it’s about the big picture
Feeding a complete pelleted feed such as Pryde's EasiConditioner is a great base for your horse’s weight gain regime, however, don’t forget these important feeding rules to ensure that all the horse's requirements are being met:
- Free access to fresh, clean drinking water
- Feed at least 2% of the horse’s body weight in roughage per day (fresh pasture, hay and chaff)
- Feed smaller feeds more often, this is how a horse’s digestive system is designed
- Feed by weight not volume and always feed the recommended amount for you horse’s weight/ workload
- Don’t feed more than 2kg of grain at once as this can cause stomach issue, such as ulcers
- A complete feed does not always meet the required intake of vitamins and mineral if there’s a deficiency in the horse or the pasture is depleting them of something (for example horses on high oxalate grasses may need extra calcium added to their diet), therefore it is important to keep it all balanced. There are apps such as FeedXL that can help you calculate and balance your horse’s feed.
- Oil is a great way to add extra calories without adding extra hard feed
- Be careful to not overfeed your horse, this can cause issues and will for the most part be a waste of your money as it will pass straight through the horse.
- Weight gain, conditioning and topline building takes time, this will not happen overnight but rather over months!
Stay tuned for our next weight gain blog! You can read our previous weight gain blog in Johnson’s Every Horse Weight Gain here.