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 pounds of Purina Equine Senior daily and all the wild grasses she can eat, plus I worm her 2 to 3 times yearly. This diet keeps her ribs rounded out and has given her enough energy to trot occasionally! I should mention that the grains are divided into two meals per day. We just cherish each day and look forward to the days to come!

When I had my boy who was in his 20's, I would give him a couple flakes of hay and 1 scoop of sweet grains in the morning and the same at dinnertime. He had all the grass he wanted to eat during the day with some additional hay, mostly if it was cold. This did well for him, he was fit, nice shiny coat when he wasn't rolling in the dirt. In the hot Texas summer, I would cut back on the sweet and go with an oat mix and occasional carrot snacks. Adding a little olive oil doesn't hurt either.Best to just keep an eye on them, don't let them get overweight. I am definitely not an expert, just sharing what worked for me. Enjoy your horse, I sure miss my boy.

Wow, congratulations. I thought we were lucky with two of our guys who have reached 26 & 25. Ours get all the grass they want, alfalfa hay to supplement and Purina Active Senior.

My 32 year old developed cushings. Key to keeping them alive and thrifty is by eliminating all sugars.Boy does that send you learning about how much sugar is in "everything"!Very interestingly Equine Senior which is developed for the aged horse has a ton of sugar in it. Alfalfa which is always recommended for the senior horse, tons of sugar.Without having a commercial feed to feed her safely I developed a recipe that not only kept her alive and not succumb to laminitis from the cushings, but looking great also.I had 'timothy 'only' hay cubes shipped in from Canada. They were soaked in hot water and then mixed with a construction tool used for mixing taping compound. To make a wet mash and then a small amount of pure black strap molasses, vitamins and electrolytes, and pelleted stabilized rice bran were added to that.There was no way to store this mixture so it had to be made twice a day fresh. Difficult at best to prepare during below freezing temps but she was worth every minute it took to prepare! :CMy vet gave her a year to live. She lived to be 36 on this home made diet and actually died from something other than the Cushings.Baksheesh - 36 year old Tennessee Walker

Nevermind. I thought this was a question about my DW.

Interesting, we used to be able to buy molasses granules in a 50 lb bag. Haven't seen it in the feed stores anymore. I see you purchase your hay pellets out of Canada. Wonder how their operations are run? In WY and MT a lot of the hay pellets are made from hay that isn't selling well because of quality. Of coarse timothy would have to come from a wetter climate. You see a lot of timothy east of the Mississippi where the water table is too high to raise alfalfa.

What Do You Feed Your Old Horse | Good Sam Community

12 Replies

hawkhill
Explorer
May 16, 2013
Wow, congratulations. I thought we were lucky with two of our guys who have reached 26 & 25. Ours get all the grass they want, alfalfa hay to supplement and Purina Active Senior.
tropicdad
Explorer
May 16, 2013
When I had my boy who was in his 20's, I would give him a couple flakes of hay and 1 scoop of sweet grains in the morning and the same at dinnertime. He had all the grass he wanted to eat during the day with some additional hay, mostly if it was cold. This did well for him, he was fit, nice shiny coat when he wasn't rolling in the dirt. In the hot Texas summer, I would cut back on the sweet and go with an oat mix and occasional carrot snacks. Adding a little olive oil doesn't hurt either.

Best to just keep an eye on them, don't let them get overweight. I am definitely not an expert, just sharing what worked for me. Enjoy your horse, I sure miss my boy.

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What Do You Feed Your Old Horse

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