Senior Horses: Special Care

[Gypsy Rose]

For those of you with senior horses, what do you do differently so far as care and feeding than you would with a younger horse?

For Gypsy, I try to watch her weight a lot more closely- seniors have a lot tougher time regaining weight if they suffer a loss.

I also keep a closer eye on her in extreme cold or heat- she seems to have less tolerance for extreme temperature changes.

I also try to feed more easily digestible feeds and hay, along with a good pre/probiotic and digestive enzymes.

Anyone else with seniors care to share their tips?

[mtnmollie]

Joe and Nancy gave their seniors senior feed. They looked good.

Add water to pellets for horses with no teeth.

[walkinthewalk]

1) The horse in my avatar is 21 years old now and has EMS (Equine Metabolic Syndrome), so his care is geared toward taking care of that.

Because of that I have taken back the farrier work on all four horses to put that cost into the herbs and supplements Duke needs. He has never foundered but is laminitic so his care includes constant hoof monitoring.

Were it not for the EMS, Duke would be gaiting along as if he were only 10 - he's a Tennessee Walker:)

2) I rescued my Arab as a head attached to a skeleton 15+ years ago. He is 22-1/2.

He has lost 3 molars and had the fourth one pulled. Thankfully he developed "nubs" where those teeth were, so he can still chew hay. That being said, my hay guy waited a little too late to cut and it is on the stemmy side this year. I cut Streeter's hay in bite sized pieces with pinking shears every night.

I have 30 bales of soft & fluffy, locally grown, bermuda hay for him but I have to wait until Jan-Feb to start feeding it so I don't run out before spring. My barn was already full of the grass hay, so 30 was I all I could fit.

Streeter is also on the same base diet as my metabolic horse. That being pelleted rice bran and a pelleted vit/min supplement. I sprinkle warm canola oil and a few dashes of water on his feed, so if he misses a chew, things will slide down the hatch anyway.

Streeter is a slow and cautious eater anyway and seems to understand gobbling his food is not a good thing.

Streeter is also on a probiotic.

He also came to me with an injured vertebra and, over time, has developed a slight hunters bump in that area. He gets meds for that too. Suffice it to say, he has always been a lesson horse for small children and thrives on attention from babies and toddlers, when he isn't being second-in-command to the alpha horse, Duke. Duke is mentioned above - lol lol

To-date, neither of these horses has weather issues, but traditionally, I bring my horses in at night. They have plenty of trees for windbreak and shade, or they can come up to the barn where there is an open-end stall and a 20 X 24 overhang attached to it; providing them with some shelter, until I get home from work and can put them in for the night.

They always tell me when they're ready to come in. Generally in the cold of winter (Middle Tennessee style - lol), they are at the front fence when I pull in the drive at 5:30 - lol lol. During the spring and fall, I have to call them in, during the summer they are ready to come in around 8:00PM because they've had enough of the heat and want the fans stuck in their faces - lol

The two younger horses are 14-1/2 and 12. They are 3rd & 4th in the pecking order and would stay outside much longer were it not for the two old guys who say "we want in the barn and you WILL come with us:p

[Ryle]

1. Appropriate feed--balanced and more easily digestible--is very important with these guys. Without enough digestible energy and an appropriate amount and balance of nutrients, every system in the body will be functioning less well. For horses with poor dentition or even just hitting that 26 yrs old or older range when continued wear and slower or stopped eruption of teeth can mean that chewing of feed provides minimal result, feeds that have been processed for easier digestion with the addition of a bit of water to make them soft or soupy may be necessary.
2. Blanketing in extremely cold weather is also important because these guys may be more susceptible to cold.
3. Deworming is also something that you need to take more seriously. Senior horses may become more susceptible to parasites--again, the body systems aren't functioning quite as well as when the horse was younger--so they may be more heavily parasitized, even carrying ascarid loads along with strongyles.
4. Regular dental care because there is more risk of fractured teeth, tooth loss and uneven wear that can affect their ability to chew.

[WashingtonBay]

SO FAR, Bay doesn't get anything different than our other horses... and he's 28. He still has no trouble with hay and is on a ration balancer too.

I've been considering adding some oats for added energy during the riding season, as he's slowed down a bit with age.

I also recommend that people not wait too long with these old guys, to treat aches and pains and arthritis with either bute or injections or whatever works. I think it's a lot better to prevent pain and inflammation than it is to undo it if the horse has already gotten quite stiff. People are wise to be cautious about giving any drug, and should consult their vet for their specific case, but overall, bute is a very tried and tested drug if given correctly even over the long term.

[Gypsy Rose]

Thank you everyone so far for your input!

Ryle, you gave a very clear summary of what has been brought up so far.

Another thing that I'm finding helpful is replacing part of Gypsy's hay ration with soaked shredded beet pulp. I've been very slowly increasing the amount weekly. Gypsy is one of those strange horses who even when she was younger, you couldn't get more than about a pound of any feed other than hay in her at a time.

When her teeth were checked this spring, my vet stated that she had one of the best set of teeth he's seen in a 29 year old horse.

However, I do know that someday, most likely she'll lose the ability to chew her hay properly, and I'm trying to get her accustomed to a different source of roughage.

WB, you brought up a very good point about arthritis mamgement- another area that should be carefully managed.

[Ryle]

Yeah, don't let those "he has great teeth for his age" comments fool you. ;)

My old man was having no trouble with hay and got that same comment when my boss floated him at 30, but 2 weeks later I found the first lost tooth next to his feed pan. No matter how good the topside of those teeth look in horses over 28, you have to realize that you are getting to that time in their life when all of the tooth that was stored in their jaw when they were born and that has pushed up through the gumline slowly throughout their life to compensate for the wear of a grinding style of eating is quickly running out. This means that they are getting to the point where there just isn't enough tooth root left to hold the teeth in place.

[Gypsy Rose]

I do understand that Ryle, and thanks for posting that clarification. I simply meant that Gypsy was still chewing hay well at this point. However, you are right- at that age, anything can change at any time- that's one of the reasons I'm feeding more beet pulp. At the time of her exam, she still had all of her teeth, at any rate, and she still had enough chewing surface left to chew her hay reasonably well.

I won't switch her to a senior feed until she can no longer get any benefit from her hay- she's a different horse- she actually prefers her hay over grain, go figure!

[Country Girl 43]

My ole Ladybird gets soaked pellets at night. She is loosing her teeth. She prefers the hay, but at least with the soaked pellets, I know she is getting what she needs. I also give her 1/4 cup cornoil to help keep weight on in the winter and keep things moving inside. I keep a close eye on her during the changes of weather, because she does tend to gt colicy. So I have to watch her intake of water and food and check her poop daily so make sure she doesn't colic. Poop checking is done moslty during the season changes as that is when she is most likely to colic, if I see it is getting really dry or compacted, I up the cornoil for a day or two.

Other than that, she gets to just be a horse when we are not spoiling her. :)

[mtnmollie]

I like senior feed- it is full of goodies-
as a supplement or treat-

my oldest is 15 or 17 ... all less then 20.. :cowboy:

How time flies.

[walkinthewalk]

I keep a close eye on her during the changes of weather, because she does tend to gt colicy. So I have to watch her intake of water and food and check her poop daily so make sure she doesn't colic. Poop checking is done moslty during the season changes as that is when she is most likely to colic, if I see it is getting really dry or compacted, I up the cornoil for a day or two.



^5 Watching during a huge & sudden weather change.

and I ^5^5 the poop watching. I have had people guffaw over the fact that I do that every day. It is one of a few reasons I bring everyone in at night. I want to see what kind of "business" they are conducting.

How many piles they typcially leave or don't leave for the hours they are shut in also tells me that a big weather "event" is going to happen in the next 48-72 hours. The consistency won't change but the amount sure will. Sounds dumb, but I've tested my theory on paper enough times thru the years to know that it's accurate 95% of the time:)

[missdixie]

Sundown gets plenty of hay, mostly grass with a little alfalfa, probiotics, a little senior feed, and a gram of bute every other day. He is looking a smidge ribby so I'm thinking it may be time for some warm senior feed mash :)

[Gypsy Rose]

missdixie, is he still chewing hay and digesting it well? If so, his digestive system may just need a little more help- pancreatic enzymes come to mind here.

If he's having trouble with hay, you may just have to go with the feed mash.

[missdixie]

He is still chewing his hay, seems like it takes him a little extra work though. I don't know if he's digesting it well. I got a good look into his mouth a few weeks ago and his teeth are like nubbins :( He is on probiotics though. He doesn't get too jazzed about senior feed oddly enough but I'm going to try to add hot water and see how he likes it.

[walkinthewalk]

He is still chewing his hay, seems like it takes him a little extra work though. I don't know if he's digesting it well. I got a good look into his mouth a few weeks ago and his teeth are like nubbins :( He is on probiotics though. He doesn't get too jazzed about senior feed oddly enough but I'm going to try to add hot water and see how he likes it.

My 22-1/2 yo Arab has four molars missing and also has nubs back there.

My hay guy waited about 10 days too long to cut hay this (fear of rain), so much of it is very long and slightly stalky. My Arab has trouble eating it.

I hate to say this, but I park a stool beside Streeter's hay tub and cut his flake of hay into bite-sized pieces with pinking shears --- that is not a joke:eek:

Streeter was throwing his hay all over the stall looking for small morsels he could chew. So aside the from fact that he was stressed from not being able to eat everything, I was losing money because most of the hay was ending up in the middle of his stall where he pees:eek:

So far Streeter hasn't wasted any hay since I've been cutting it up. On the plus side I only have to do this until mid-January because bought him 30 bales of locally grown bermuda hay that is soft, short, fluffy, and I would eat it with a little Ranch dressing added.

Had I known the bermuda was going to be of such great quality, I wouldn't have filled my barn up with as much of the grass hay:(

Anyway, I am sorry for the suggestion, but try the pinking shears method and see if the bite-sized pieces encourage him to eat more hay. Think cutting meat for a 4-year old:)

Also, maybe adding some warm canola oil to the warm water will help him eat his feed. My horses would inhale an entire bottle of warm canola oil at one sitting, if I let them, and so would the dogs:)

[ownedby7horses]

Well in the summers, Cawl gets all the grass he can eat & he loves that the best. Now that it's starting to cool off, we've been giving him beetpulp & all the hay he can eat. He still has access to pasture and is out there looking for any green blades of grass left while the rest of the horses have their faces shoved in the bale. He is getting ribby, so yesterday I bumped him up to beet pulp 2x a day. Plus he gets molasses & the boss just went and bought him a bag of vit/min. Cawl will clean the beet pulp up, he loves it. When the vet was out to do his teeth, he said that judging by his teeth he's ATLEAST 30, but would bet he's closer to 35. I don't know forsure, but I just say he's around 30.

I am thinking about blanketing him this winter. I worry about blanketing though through the winter. The weather can change in a second & if it's warm out he'll sweat with a blanket on. Then in the cold, he'll be wet under the blanket. Unless I take his blanket off him in the morning & get the BO to put it on him again at night? I don't know forsure. We just bumped him up, so Im gonna give it a few days & see how he's doing. If I need to take it further, I will.

I just want him to be comfortable. The old trooper doesn't owe anyone a thing. He takes care of his riders, he'll do anything for them. He's a PITA to catch if he has any incling that there's going to be riding involved! He runs like a bat outta hell still!

[APPYT]

My appy, Cheno is 29 and blind from ERU. He still grazes in summer but has started losing a bit of condition without extra feed as the grass dries up in August. I feed him Beet Pulp, Alfalfa pellets and Total Equine all soaked twice daily. He also gets whatever hay he wants to eat. Had the dentists out this past spring and he reported Cheno has some missing molars and some that will go missing soon if not already. He has always been an easy keeper so seeing a few ribs last summer was very unfamiliar. I don't blanket as a rule but will if anyone gets chilled. If he needs it, I'll do it.

My next elder horse at 17? is my DIL's mare who is a very easy keeper(IR prolly). She gets shut off grass as needed when it's stressed so she doesn't blimp up.

[Ryle]

These old guys when they are really up there simply cannot make sufficient use of hay for it to be counted as a big part of their diet. Between the digestive tract as a whole being less efficient and changes in dentition making chewing less effective, digesting course fibers like dried grasses is minimized.
While hay and grass should be available just to keep them feeling content because they have a mental "need" to chew/graze, it's really likely not doing them much good nutrition wise and you should work to provide all their nutritional needs through a complete senior feed.

[42many]

Anyway, I am sorry for the suggestion, but try the pinking shears method and see if the bite-sized pieces encourage him to eat more hay. Think cutting meat for a 4-year old

I wonder if this would work with my oat hay for my 22 yo TB? I may have to try it, although I cringe at the idea! It is actually pretty nice for oat hay but a little stemmy and he chucks 1/2 out on the ground, where I can usually salvage about 1/2 of that. So, we do waste a fair amount! I was giving him grass hay to go along with it, but I realized a little while ago that I am going to run out of grass WAY before oat, so I really have to start just giving him the oat.

As a senior, he also gets loads of Equine Senior feed (topped with oil if he starts looking too ribby) and during the colder months I add alfalfa to his diet (my vet told me he probably needed the extra nutrition, although I generally don't like to feed alfalfa).

He also is the only one of mine who occasionally shivers during a cold night, so I keep his blanket handy just in case.

I get his teeth checked 2X a year.

Otherwise, I just keep a close watch on his weight and relative ups n downs so that I can see what, if anything, needs adjusting at any given point.

[walkinthewalk]

42Many, if you try the pinking shears, put a bandaid around the finger that the shears rub against so you won't get a big fat blister. Just ask me how I know to do that ---------now - lollol

I am fortunate I only have to do that for one flake of hay every night. They all get turned out in the morning and there's still plenty of grass.

Is your horse on any type of probiotic? That helps the digestive process a lot. The Arab who gets his hay cut up for him is 22-1/2; the horse in my avatar is now 21 and metabolic, so he also gets a probiotic.

They are both doing well. Is the probiotic helping?

I am sure it is because I rescued the Arab 15+ years ago and had him on a probiotic all that time until we moved to Tennessee and I ran out. The barn was already built but we were waiting on completion of the house, so no computer to research and the feed stores looked at me like I was crazy.

The following August the little Dollface ended up with an ulcer, so I did some quick research on the Net, put him back on a probiotic and he's been better than "fine" ever since:)

Probiotics don't wilt the checkbook and it doesn't take much at each feeding. The one I currently use is also for metabolic horses, so I at least don't have to buy two different brands:cowboy:

Hope this helps and don't forget the bandaid:)

[Gypsy Rose]

I can back up the sucess of probiotics- Gypsy is living proof. She wouldn't be digesting much of anything at all without them. I did have to graduate to pancreatic enzymes with her, along with the probiotics as she's gotten older, though.

[missdixie]

Well Sundown is not a big senior feed or concentrate fan ( or oats or beet pulp )- I even tried making a warm mash out of it and he was not thrilled. He really won't eat more that like 3 cups of senior a day. I think we are going to try to replace some of his grass hay with alfalfa to bump up his calorie intake but are there any other ideas? Should I start giving him some oil on his hay? I definitely can't stand over his hay cutting it with pinking shears twice a day! He does eat all his hay but I just don't think he's pulling asa much nutrition out of it as he used to.

[walkinthewalk]

Should I start giving him some oil on his hay? I definitely can't stand over his hay cutting it with pinking shears twice a day!

I wouldn't put it on his hay this time of year because it will "grease up" and get really yukky. It sounds as if he is a really fussy eater, so he may decide to scatter his hay to the four winds if you put oil on it in the winter time:)

I've never had a horse quite this particular, so I'm about out of ideas - lol lol Hopefully someone else will come up with something that doesn't involve molasses:cowboy:

[Hill]

Ok Senior horse questions seemed to fit in here!

So the elderly gentleman in my life (Pictured below destroying a pumpkin he stole off the porch yesterday!)) appears to me to be just a touchy ribbier than he was a few weeks back. He is wormed on a regular schedule the most recent of which was zimectrin gold done the first of this month. He gets between 15 and 20 pounds of hay daily which keeps him occupied most of the day. He gets 2 quarts of good and sound low starch 14% feed with 2 cups BOSS. This is all split into 2 feedings daily. HE had his teeth done right when I got him which was about 6 months ago and was checked out as fine a few days ago when I had the vet out for Peaches. It was just a surface inspection and the vet ran his fingers through his mouth and declared them fit. I was surprised he didn't lose a finger as Wren is not to keen on people messing with his mouth. We also had an intestinal parasite check run on both and blood panel on both with a CBC and Chem 27(?) it was 20 or 27 chems.

At any rate everything checked out fine and dandy. He put massive weight ON with this feeding schedule but now he's dropping down a bit again. Any clues? Any suggestions? The vet was less than helpful and said that it's just that he's showing his age...

I live in Texas so it's not cold yet. Though as discussed on a previous thread I have the worlds wimpiest horses so I *do* blanket on very cold nights! I should also mention on the worlds wimpiest horse vein, he has the tendency to colic over everything... He colics when the weather changes, colics with new food, additional foods... you name it. HE hasn't coliced in about 3 months now though! We did a round of gastroguard on him right when I got him because the vet was concerned about ulcers.

ETA We also feed sand clear for the first 10 days of each month. As per the vet since we live in pretty deep sand!

[Gypsy Rose]

Okay, so the ulcer end is covered, then.

At the risk of getting the dead horse smiley here for repetition, I can't emphasize enough the fact that senior horses can't digest their food as well as when they were younger. Most of them need a litttle bit of help- with a pre/probiotic, and possibly pancreatic enzymes as well.

Usually, when a horse has been doing well in the summer, and starts dropping weight as the forage gets less nutritious or he's switched over to hay, the first thing to do is what you've already done-get a thorough vet exam. However just because a vet declares your horse's teeth as 'fit", that doesn't mean that they're adequate to thoroughly chew grass for proper digestion, which means you would need to look at other forage alternatives.

If the vet exam turns up nothing, and the ulcer treatment didn't solve the problem, then other areas need to be looked at.

Since your horse has been treated for ulcers, and there's a good possibility he may have had them, since you're stating that his colic episodes have lessened since treatment, you would definitely want to consult your vet before trying pancreatic enzymes, since they work in the stomach and small intestine.

However, the pre/probiotic works in the hindgut, so that would be a lot safer for your horse (check with your vet anyway), and what normally should be tried first, anyway.

[Hill]

What probiotics do you use? And what do you use for forage alternative. (Aside from beet pulp which ALWAYS makes him colicy! )

I've only ever used probios paste. And that was when the goaties got the squirts and needed a little help after their abx and valbazen.

[Gypsy Rose]

Okay, I think it's time to start a few new threads here, so we can get some specific answers to all the questions.

To start you off, though, a good probiotic choice would be possibly Pro Balance- I'm not sure who else carries it besides SmartPak, but it has both pre and probiotics without the digestive enzymes. A probiotic alone will work, but IMO, not as well.

http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductClassDescription.aspx?productClassId=1913&cmPreserveSource=true&cmPreserveCategory=true

[Peggy Sue]

if you have a senoir that is not wanting to eat much look into a ration balancer at 2lbs per day not as cheap but gives them the nutrition they need then soak alfalfa pellets/cubes .. I soak from one feeding to the next ... am feeding I set up pm cubes and soak them all day and then PM I set up am cubes and soak over night

[Ryle]

Hill, how often after the last deworming was your fecal test done? And what was the drug used right before it? Remember that this time of year in Texas is also when we start having much higher parasite burdens on our pastures because the weather is right for them.

How old is he?

[Hill]

We had one done in March, again in july and again in October 16 days after the last deworming. The one done Aug 1 was Strongid we deworm the first of every other month. And I just use whatever the associate vet that works at my clinic tells me to. She lives about 5 minutes down the road from me and gets dewormers at cost through MWI I think. So we get enough dewormer for my her 4 and my 2.

We did massive fecals because it's cheap and we wanted to make sure we were on the right path. My goats fecals came back NEGATIVE I just found out today!

Wren is 18-20 yrs, we've had him since March!

Any suggestions? Are we on the right path of deworming?