Freedom is like one of your skinny friends who eats all the time but still complains about being too thin. While eating six quarts (6.5 lbs) of Triple Crown, two quarts of alfalfa pellets (2.5 lbs) and all the hay he wants per day, he was getting ribby. I know that Willow and Curly are feeling the pain. When I fed him lunch last week they were standing around his feed pan hoping he would miss a few pellets. Since he’s the alpha horse they won’t come any closer but they are definitely bummed. They both can gain weight by watching another horse eat.

This happens every summer (Fattening Up Freedom from August, 2011). His activity level goes down and so does his weight. It shouldn’t. So I think it’s the bugs. They make him fret and fidget and the weight just drops off of him.

Last year I gave him Purina Amplify. This year I tried adding lunch (an extra quart each of Senior and Alfalfa pellets). It didn’t help much. So I picked up one of those huge containers of oil at Costco and worked him up to two cups of oil/day. It seems to be making a difference and it’s a cheap way of adding calories.