Older Horse nutrition?

Hi,


I have an older Arabian gelding, Magic. My vet and my farrier "estimated" his age as at least 25 yrs old this year. I obtained him from my cousin about 10 yrs ago who had purchased him from the auction so we don't have any papers or any real way to know his exact age. My question:


This year he has started to loose weight. I still feed him the same amount so I know he is not "underfed". I have upped his hay intake to 3 flakes of high quality Alfalfa hay (if I put him on a grass mix, he seems to loose weight!)..I feed hay 2x a day. I also started him on a Senior feed and then add a scoop of "Cool Calories 100" horse supplement. He is on a strict worming schedule and going in this next week to have his teeth floated. We do have him on a dry lot (we need to replant pasture). Is there anything else that someone could suggest to get his weight up and keep it on him through this winter? I just do not want him to loose anymore weight especially this early into fall. any suggests?

Older Horse nutrition?
well you wont really know if its his teeth that has been keeping him from putting on the weight till after you get them done..... you sound like you are doing what you can i have had several older horses(seniors i rescued) and have had to put weight on them and i use the purina senior, i would give them 1-2 scoops of the senior, 1 scoop of the sorce one pellets, and 1 16 oz. coffee can scoop of rice bran (powder form) in there bucket with a flake of alfalfa. then at lunch you can give another scoop of senior, and i give my horses 3-way hay for lunch(oat,wheat,barley) horses are grazing animals by nature and if you watch your horses they do look to eat or graze around mid-day. then same for dinner the bucket of the same amount of good stuff with the flake of alfalfa. now as far as the beet pulp i was told by a nutrionalist( i talked to one of them too for more info on what to do to fatten up my rescues) who studied at the equine program at cal state pomona, pasedena or one of the colleges out here that has the huge equine program.... anyways he told me beet pulp is a natural psyllium and it actually doesnt help to put the weight on, i had tried it on one paticular older gelding to see, gave it to him per exact instructions and he got the runs..... called my nutrionalist friend and he said thats why, its a natural psyllium!!!so i hope you can find the right mix to help your old guy keep his weight on i know what i did worked for my older ones and hopefully you will figure out what he needs to help him..... keep up the good work!!!
Reply:i have a 30yr old TB mare i have the same problem keeping weight on i fed her lots of soaked sugar-beet shreds and as much hay as she eats you can also try boiled barley
Reply:I use and love Triple Crown Senior feed.


It is complete and even if your horse can not eat hay it can be fed this and get everything he needs.


It is a beet plup based feed and has all the vitamins and stuff the horse needs.


If you still need to add weight try adding fat to the diet. You can do this is several ways.


Either powdered rice bran or by adding oil to the diet. Start small and owrk up.


I always give all of my seniors free choice grass hay. Alfalfa is to high in protein and can be hard on seniors kidneys and the extra protein does not help to keep weight. Free choice grass is easier and better for them from what my vet and equine nutirtionist has told me so that is what we do.


I have mostly retired race horses and thoroughbreds are hard keepers at times but since switching to Triple Crown Senior we are very pleased with the results.


Check out their web site. www.triplecrownfeed.com
Reply:I have a 23-yr old Arab mare that started showing some rib. To get the weight back on at a reasonable pace, I started her out with 2 cups of rice bran pellets, combined with SmartPak senior vitamins and a little oats %26amp; molasses mix bind everything together. She put the weight back on, and is now on 1 cup of each, plus her vitamins and joint supplement.





Keep in mind that as horses age, their bellies may drop from less conditioning, which may cause the ribs to be more visible.
Reply:My first horse was a thoroughbred gelding. We were told he was about 20, however the vet informed us he had tohave been atleast 30. I still rode him (not competetively of course) and we formed one of the closest bonds. I knew when we needed to stop on the trails for him to take a breather and I knew when enough was enough for that ride. However, he was older and lost weight during the winter. The best thing i've ever used is Equine Senior, which is like 25 dollars per bag I believe. Also, I think it's best to leave them out to pasture all the time, however, that depends on where you are and what your horse is used to. Also, adding beet pulp to the feed can help add some weight to your horse.
Reply:beet pulp is normally the only difference between a pleasure and a senior feed. IT makes it more digestible. I have had a lot of good luck with hard keeper by vita flex http://www.vitaflex.com/product.php?pid=...


It is inexpensive and you should normally start noticing a differnce in about a month. We have all the retired horses on it. Looking at your picture she doesn't look to bad off. If she is twenty five shes not going to look the same as if she was ten. It's the facts of life look at a thirty year old person compared to a seventy year old person. there going to be some changes like a sway back especially in arabians
Reply:I agree with All Tacked Up !!!!!!
Reply:you could try the beet pulp or possibly something called happy hoof. what my instructor feeds is a some seminole sr. feed and fills 2/3's or so of a bucket with alfalfa cubes/pellets.
Reply:Blink, thank you for being such a wonderful horse owner, and carring for your horse in his advanced age.





I'ved owned horses for more than 30 years. I currently have 9 horses. Two of them are 29 years old, and one is 25 or so (unknown, like yours).





One of the 29 year olds is a purebred Morgan. I've owned him, since he was 2 years old. He has serrious problems keeping weight on now. He also has choking problems.





I got his teeth floated, and he's on a worming schedule too. I started feeding Nuetrena Senior horse feed. Then I got around to reading the lable, and was horrified to find that the fats come from animal byproducts. In other words, ground up bits of animal. I will NOT purchase or use products which go against nature (my horse has never hunted a cow and eaten it).





After much lable reading, I settled on Purina Senior Horse feed. My "baby" has been on it for two years now. I'm able to feed it without turning it into a mash. My horse really does not like soft food, yet he has a choking problem. Zero problems with the Purina Senior Horse. Best of all it really make a HUGE difference in his condition! It took about three months, and he put all his weight back on. He looks great now.





For extra fats, I add one cup of Canola oil to his feed also. Extra fats are good (oil), extra sugars (grain) can cause serrious health problems. You can get a 5 gallon jug of the canola oil at Costco, or Sam's club for a pretty reasonable price.





If your horse will eat the beet pulp, it's an EXCELENT idea. Some horses turn their nose up at it. Add a little molasses, cut up carrots, cut up apples, or applesauce to the beet pulp. If you use beet PELLETS be sure to soak them. Some folks feed the shreaded beet pulp without soaking them. For a senior horse, I soak either.





Hope this helps!





~Garnet


Homesteading/Farming over 20 years


Horse owner over 30 years
Reply:I have had many seniors and the best results i have gotten was with Equine Senior ( i believe purina makes it?) and I've added calf manna to it...a lot of people in my area use it in underweight horses and it seems to bulk all of them up, and it has done wonders for my horses, but you only have to use a tiny bit! :) Also, older horses may be loose weight because their teeth wear down and they may be loosing a lot of feed when they chew. Perhaps you can throw a large rock in with their feed bucket so they slow down and actually chew the bites they take out of their feed bucket. Some horses will not eat the feed they drop on the ground, and if their teeth are bad, a LOT of feed will drop :) My seniors have all done well with this :)
Reply:Have you had his teeth checked? In your comments you said he was due, that could be the problem..
Reply:Hi there,


Older horses need a bit of care in feeding. There are a number of good pre-mixed feeds on the market. A good feed suppler should have a range to show you.





Or you can buy the ingredient and mix your own. It can be a bit of a hassle but you can then tailor your horses diet to it's exact needs.





I will give you a link to a very good book. It was written for Australia but I can not see why it would not work for you.





Good luck with feeding your horse.