What Do You Feed Your Old Horse
Our old girl turned 35 this past January and she looks really, really good for her age. I've played with her diet some and have hit on the magic formula for her. She gets 16 pounds of sweet cob, 2 p...
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I did pergolide twice and she fell into the bracket of one of the ones that would have side effects so we had to come up with another plan. Equine Nutritionists and cushing specialists at the U assisted me.
Ditto on the finding out the 'big' popular senior feeds were really not the best. If you are really diligent about reading the labels, just like you did many would find that the less advertised BUT by no means not the smallest manufacturer are far better for your horse.
Before my whole herd started heading down the 'real' senior path with various ailments that come along with it. I 'was' feeding Equine Senior. Thought I was doing the best thing.
The one thing I learned and will share that I honestly did not know with the Senior feeds is:
There are Senior Feeds and there are COMPLETE Senior Feeds.
The major companies lead you to believe thru advertising that their "Senior" Feed is complete. This is not true.
A "Complete feed" means you can feed that pelleted food and NOTHING else and they will survive. Most of the popular Senior feeds are NOT complete feeds and loaded with sugars. As mentioned you will find the COMPLETE feeds in other brands.
Finding a 'complete' senior feed is paramount when you are dealing with horses where the molars have either fallen out or are removed because they can no longer eat hay or try and you are finding what I call spit balls in the pasture which means they can't chew anymore.
I had my Mare's top molars extracted because they were at their end of their life cycle and were loose/cracked, causing pain and infection. They ground the lowers to look like slabs of marble. Sound barbaric but within 2 days after the dentist did this she was out in the pasture bucking like a filly. The pain in her teeth was that bad prior to making her lethargic and everyone wrote it of to 'oh she's just old'. I felt guilty I didn't know and waited so long to do it.
Horses teeth are programmed by nature to stop growing after a certain age so that in nature they can't eat and die. The circle of life per se.
With all the great modern vet care nowadays our horses are outliving their teeth and we have to come up with different feeding practices to accommodate that.
I know I don't mind the extra work! :C
I did pergolide twice and she fell into the bracket of one of the ones that would have side effects so we had to come up with another plan. Equine Nutritionists and cushing specialists at the U assisted me.
Ditto on the finding out the 'big' popular senior feeds were really not the best. If you are really diligent about reading the labels, just like you did many would find that the less advertised BUT by no means not the smallest manufacturer are far better for your horse.
Before my whole herd started heading down the 'real' senior path with various ailments that come along with it. I 'was' feeding Equine Senior. Thought I was doing the best thing.
The one thing I learned and will share that I honestly did not know with the Senior feeds is:
There are Senior Feeds and there are COMPLETE Senior Feeds.
The major companies lead you to believe thru advertising that their "Senior" Feed is complete. This is not true.
A "Complete feed" means you can feed that pelleted food and NOTHING else and they will survive. Most of the popular Senior feeds are NOT complete feeds and loaded with sugars. As mentioned you will find the COMPLETE feeds in other brands.
Finding a 'complete' senior feed is paramount when you are dealing with horses where the molars have either fallen out or are removed because they can no longer eat hay or try and you are finding what I call spit balls in the pasture which means they can't chew anymore.
I had my Mare's top molars extracted because they were at their end of their life cycle and were loose/cracked, causing pain and infection. They ground the lowers to look like slabs of marble. Sound barbaric but within 2 days after the dentist did this she was out in the pasture bucking like a filly. The pain in her teeth was that bad prior to making her lethargic and everyone wrote it of to 'oh she's just old'. I felt guilty I didn't know and waited so long to do it.
Horses teeth are programmed by nature to stop growing after a certain age so that in nature they can't eat and die. The circle of life per se.
With all the great modern vet care nowadays our horses are outliving their teeth and we have to come up with different feeding practices to accommodate that.
I know I don't mind the extra work! :C
