Before & After: Scotty

Scotty is a 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding who came to Revolution Equine Nutrition needing to gain weight. At the time, he was engaged in moderate work as an event horse and his owner was hoping to compete with him by the end of the year. He also had recently been diagnosed with EPM.  

Starting Body Condition Score (BCS): 4.5

Ending Body Condition Score (BCS): 6

His owner wanted him to gain weight and help support his body with EPM. Additionally, she felt like there could be a better feeding program to help him but needed guidance on what would be best. 

Before 

Before Scotty's owner began the 90-day transformation program with Revolution Equine Nutrition, he had a low BCS of 4.5. He was dropping feed while eating and tended to need a lot of feed while in work but it was difficult to maintain a healthy weight.

Additionally, Scotty had recently received an EPM diagnosis that changed his personality drastically. His behavior got aggressive, he was very nervous, and he became overly afraid of things. His personality completely flipped upside down.

Before making any changes to his feeding program Scotty’s diet consisted of Alfalfa, Timothy pellets, beet pulp, MSM, and a vitamin supplement in addition to his pasture and hay.

Goals

After consulting with Scotty’s owner the following goals were identified:

• Build his topline, back, and hindquarter muscles so he would no longer struggle to carry himself.

• For him to be happy, both generally and with his feed.

• Achieve a BCS of 6-6.5

• Identify a feeding program that supported recovery after EPM diagnoses and also had the flexibility to add or remove calorie intake as his BCS and workload changed.

Dietary Changes

The first change we made was to give him free choice hay. Horses need about 1.5-2% body weight in hay (or grass) per day. For Scotty, this meant that the total from hay and grass consumed should be around 22-25 lbs a day for his needs. As a general rule, horses can consume about 1-2 lbs of grass an hour on good-quality pasture.

Additionally, we moved from a vitamin, mineral, and forage diet to a nutrient-dense performance-feed diet that was at the right level for his dietary needs, work level, and his owner’s performance goals. Additionally, the feed we chose contained high-quality protein and high levels of “cool energy” to support his weight gain and topline development while not making him too hot.

By moving to a performance feed that better suited his needs, we were able to remove the beet pulp, alfalfa pellets, Timothy pellets, and vitamin supplements that were not meeting his specific needs.

Within the first month of his new program, Scotty had adjusted to his feed, was happily eating all of it, had “pep in his step,” and had good energy. Additionally, he was starting to gain weight on his neck, topline, and hindquarters.  

Additionally, approximately 2 months into his program, Scotty moved to Minnesota from Oklahoma. To account for this move and his history of losing weight in travel, his performance feed was temporarily adjusted. We also identified supportive “snacks” that would support him in this move while not adding stress to his gut.

Throughout Scotty’s 90-day transformation program, we saw gradual and excellent progress and were able to make customizations as he needed, such as the addition of a digestive supplement and changes to performance feed quantity, until he reached all of his owner’s goals and was able to sustain a healthy BCS.

After

Scotty is now back in Minnesota happier, looking better, and having more energy. The 90-day transformation program allowed his owner to customize each step of his nutrition program, allowing for customized changes through each physical change. He is now at a BCS of 6 and ready to compete.

Do you have a horse that could benefit from a nutrition consultation? Reach out today to feel confident in your feeding choices and support your horse’s needs.