[daisymay]

well, i dont know where to begin, but here goes
My horse used to be kept in a barn, with pasture during the day. well now i have him in pasture, because stalls are very expensive and he mentally does better in pasture but physically does not.
its been about 7 months since hes been in pasture( five acres which he shares with one other horse with two lean toos, he also wears a blanket when cold), he gets feed four big flakes of grass hay and about 8 pounds of Safe Choice every day. and his skin is horrible, his weight isnt bad but not the greatest border line thin. for feeding that much i thought he would gain weight abit better and his skin would be better.
is this a bad feed? He has really bad dander, and some spots of hair on his face are falling off, i thought it might be rainrot so i bought cowboy magic rainrot shampoo, it doesnt seem to do much. He looks so bad i dont know what to do.
He is current on worming and is getting his teeth done tomorrow, which arent bad. he is 11 years old and is a bs paint but looks like an appendix QH.
By the way, he was either fed two flakes of alfalfa a day, or 4 flakes of grass hay and was a healthy weight when stalled at night. and great skin

[2manypetz]

We supplement ours with BOSS, Ground Flax , beet pulp, bean meal, we put in some mineral salt and always keep a mineral lick, and a round bale out for them. We have an older one that has a hard time with the winter we give him senior feed on top of all the supplements. You can see how beautiful their coats are by clicking my picassawab link down below. Here is Red the 19 year old TWH picture taken about a month ago, in barn, before shedding. Thye are all out 24/7 with a run in barn.

[mtgirl]

Welcome to the forum!

Although I am not an expert on this topic and there are many others who can help you out more, I would also suggest some fat in his diet. Like 2manypetz said, boss, flax seed etc...

[AQHA Hunter]

Could you post a photo of him, and the nutritional information on the safe choice?

[NorthernDust]

Okay, we were feeding our pony safe choice for a while, and we never had any problems.
I would add some oil, that helped my OTTB's coat glossen up. And flax seed, like ya'll said, works WONDERS.

[NorthernDust]

PS Here's the Info, AQHA Hunter... I found it on Nurtina's website.

Guaranteed Analysis (min. amounts except where noted)Crude Protein14.0%Lysine0.80%Methionine0.30%Threoninemin. 0.50%Crude Fat7.0%Crude Fibermax. 15.0%Calciummin. 0.90%-max. 1.20%Phosphorus0.75%Copper50 ppmZinc160ppmSelenium0.6 ppmVitamin A3,500IU/lbVitamin D350 IU/lbVitamin E100 IU/lbBiotin.45mg/lb

[Quick2Skip01]

You said his hair is falling off in patches?

Are you sure he isnt getting bit, or rubbing his face on fencing, branches etc?

[2manypetz]

oh and you might want to get a fecal and have him checked for tape worms, they can drag a horse down fast, and not all wormers have tape control in them. That might explain the hair falling out. Just another thought.

[daisymay]

and he said he has allergies to something? what he is allergic too i have no idea? had his teeth done and he said they werent bad.
so i was searching a little about the the balancer feeds.
we have purina, nutrena around here i dont think anything else, what would be a good feed to change him too. Is 8 pounds normal to feed a horse grain?
i want to add boss but also considering changing feed. i want to feed whats better for him. can i feed the flax seed whole? he is boarded so i want to make the feeding as easy as possible. i had him on Rice bran but only a bag. so i dont know if that would of made a difference.
thanks for all the help.
i dont have any pic of him, he is a little under weight, can see ribs, even with hairy coat(well TB hairy, even though he is a Paint)and of course he doesnt have much muscle tone, but i can tell the difference between muscle and fat. also for the hair coat. i ordered some MTG for his spots so hopefully that would help.
please can you give me some adive for feed

[cminor]

Did the do a fecal sample, his pooh for worms, that should be your first step. Secondly could it be rain rot that he has? If it is the skin will be flaky and feel bumpy at that base of his coat and fall off in little clumps usually with dead skin attached to it. I know some people frown upon this but if it is rainrot, you get betadine surgical scrub and a soft mini curry cumb and scrub the rain rot. Leave it sit for just a minute or two and then rinse thoroughly repeat for 2 or 3 days and it should clear up. I had tried all kinds of stuff for rainrot, but that is what finally cleared it up for me 4 years ago when I first got my mare. It is very important to not put a blanket on a wet horse because it can cause rainrot. The blanket will trap the moisture in there and then get warm and if there is any type of fungus mixed in there, it is a perfect warm moist environment for it to grow in. So never put a blanket on a wet or even damp horse that is going out to a pasture. As far as the weight, you need more calories if you have ruled out teeth issues and worms. You can do it by adding a fat supplement of various types. But I would want to make sure the fecal is clear first because otherwise pumping feed into him isn't really going to do any good if he has parasites.