For those of you that follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me tweet about how my barn manager put my lease horse, L, on a weight gain supplement. L is half TB and half Trakehner, and he has the hard keeper characteristics of a TB. He is not super underweight, but he could stand to have a little more fat in his rib and hind area. My trainer and I noticed that he lost a little bit of weight after moving up to work 5-6 days a week, so we spoke to my barn manager about his feed regimen. My barn manager decided to up L’s food by a little bit and put him on a weight gain supplement. While these were not the choices I, or my trainer, would’ve made, we decided to try it out since my barn manager had already purchased the supplement for L.
My barn manager originally wanted to give L Cool Calories because I said that I did not want him on anything that would make him hot. The feed store was out of Cool Calories, so my barn manager purchased this saying it was most comparable to Cool Calories. I researched Weight Builder online, and while it differs a bit from Cool Calories, it seemed like the safest option in terms of making sure L was not being given “hot energy.”
For comparison, Cool Calories is 99% fat. It has no other ingredients. Farnam Weight Builder is only 40% fat and has 14% protein. The reviews for the product were mixed, with some people saying it worked and others saying it didn’t. A handful of individuals said it made their horse hot. I wasn’t happy about the Weight Builder, but like I said, I was willing to try it.
Within a few days of being on the supplement, I noticed L was spookier than usual. He was spooky in his stall, which was incredibly out of character. I only rode him two times in the week he started the supplement because the weather was extremely hot and humid, and he spooked during both rides, which is also very odd for him. My trainer and I decided to give him another week or so to see if he leveled out or if he seemed to be getting worse.
The spookiness was on and off for the next week. He still seemed a bit antsy and not himself. He was not acting dangerously, but he definitely was a bit more “up” than usual. L is pretty level-headed, and he doesn’t really spook at anything unjustified, so I was taking note of all the behavior changes I was seeing.
Then, after about two weeks of him being on the supplement, I had a terrible lesson on him. I felt like I was riding a spring. Again, he was not being dangerous, but the horse underneath me was not the same horse I had been riding for the past 6 months. He was doing the fire breathing dragon act at the canter, barely listening to my leg, and spooking at nothing in the same corner. I had my trainer get on after my lesson so she could feel what I was dealing with, and she agreed that he was NOT himself.
Normally when there is a change in a horse’s behavior, you want to take note of what you may have changed in his routine because that can often contribute to behavior change. Luckily, only one thing had been changed in the past few weeks, and it was the weight gain supplement, so I had a pretty good idea of what was making him act differently. For the record, I didn’t see much of a change in weight gain either, even though it wasn’t given a full month to work.
I’ve removed the supplement from L’s feeding regimen, and he has gone back to normal. He is no longer spooky or hot. He doesn’t seem to have a bunch of pent up energy, and he definitely does not seem as agitated as he was when he was on the supplement. While every horse is different, I wouldn’t recommend this supplement to anyone. However, like I wrote above, the reviews on this product were mixed. Some people swear by it, and others would never recommend it for a horse. I obviously fall in the latter category.
I personally feel that a weight gain supplement should be the last resort. A horse needs forage, first and foremost, and then appropriate grain for his work level. You should also make sure that your horse is on a regular deworming schedule and rule out any other potential issues that could be causing weight loss before assuming that your horse just needs to be on a supplement that will help him pack on the pounds.
Have you tried this supplement and had success or the same results? Let me know in the comments below!
the legal equestrian 