Best of FHOTD: Old does not equal skinny!
Sep 22 2009
I’m posting this one for a third time, but (a) winter is coming, (b) someone keeps asking for it in the comments and (c) someone just left a fabulously fucktarded comment on the thread about the seized horses in Thurston County, Washington, saying a thirty year old horse isn’t going to be “firm and fit” and alleging that the pictures posted showed horses in normal condition given their alleged (bzzt! wrong!) ages. So here you go, just in time for fall!
Just to make the point again, because honestly it’s a point that can’t be made too often, here are some of your very old, very good weight, very happy horses! I also want to talk a little bit about what your best tips & tricks are for putting weight on an oldster. Some of the things I like to try if the obvious things don’t work (i.e. free choice hay/good pasture):
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5. A stressed horse will not put weight on – remove him from stress. If your other horses are hard on him, come on -it’s easy to put in a cross fence with hot tape and t-posts. A horse who is in a lot of pain on a daily basis will not put weight on. When a horse cannot maintain weight due to pain, it is probably time to say goodbye.
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“She was an Appaloosa/TB broodmare at the time (by Rustler Zip) – broke, but poorly (had a rearing habit, absolutely couldn’t abide any pressure on her mouth). She had a quirky reputation and some disturbing behaviours, but right from the start I trusted her. She was hot and reactive, but honest with a heart of gold and we got along famously. It wasn’t long before she became a wonderful horse to ride. I trail rode her in the mountains and showed her in hack classes. Unfortunately when her owners sold her the following year for $2,000 I was unable to buy her because I was a starving student. Her new owner had a beautiful stable and was an advanced rider, but it was a bad match … her behaviour deteriorated again until she gained a reputation for being dangerous. They decided she had a brain tumour that was making her crazy, and a couple of years later they sold her at auction for $405. It took me a few months to track her down because her new owner hadn’t updated her papers, but after canvassing all the vets and farriers in the area I finally got a tip that paid off. I bought her from a dealer for $600 (she was 10 then) and swore she would never be sold again; she was too easy to misunderstand and in the wrong hands would have had a miserable life. She soon became one of the most reliable horses I’ve ever owned. I showed her in hack classes and dressage and won a lot. I also trail rode her extensively. There were some hard times in those first years when I had nothing to eat except plain spaghetti with nothing on it, but she never went without.” This mare lived to be 24 and is pictured above at a horseshow with a young rider at age 21. You can bet she never got “skinny because she was old” with this owner!Now here is a before and after from someone who easily put weight back on a skinny rescued senior!
“In March 2003 we rescued a Belgian draft gelding from an auction. He was the perfect example of so much of what you preach in your blog. As we found out later, He started his journey in the winter of 02. He was an old (22) work horse that probably started loosing too much weight and then was promptly taken to the local horse auction to be ditched before he started costing his owners money. Bad news, the nearest auction was The New Holland Horse Auction in PA. They are probably the biggest sellers of horse meat on the east coast. By some miracle he left with a horse dealer not the meat man. Well, after years of abuse (and the scars to prove it) he bounced from trader to trader. All the while getting thinner and thinner. Finally he made it to our local auction. I went with a friend to look for a horse for her. But, The second I saw this poor horse I knew he was coming home with me. I told my husband, at the very least we can give him a humane end to an awful life, like the asshats that used him up and threw him away should have!”
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“Our 1st call was to the vet. After an exam and blood work we decided that he might be able to make it. The only thing we could not identify were 2 hard lumps on ether side of his neck. They did not appear to be a problem, so we decided to worry about them later if he even survived. Well after 2 months in a pasture Bull got really sick. We rushed him to NC State Vet School Hospital. They scoped him and found nearly a foot of “food” stuck in his throat. They had to DRILL the mass, and it wasn’t going well. They found food in his neck that I never fed him, like CORN! They figure he probably started having a problem with choke a while back, but was never properly treated. That was most likely the reason for his sale in the 1st place. Of course, now we knew what those 2 strange lumps on his neck were, hard masses of food product collected in “pockets” in his throat caused by chronic choke. After 24 hours my husband and I had decided that if they couldn’t remove the mass, we would have him put down. We were just thankful for the 2 good months we had. After another 24 hours they called us to let us know they finally cleared all the “food” out of his throat, and he was ready to come home! Everyone was amazed. It took 2 full days of drilling and flushing to remove all the crap that had built up in his throat, and all the while he was a perfect gentleman. Before sending him home they weighed him on their scale. He was only 1250lb, after 2 months of GAINING weight.
Over time Bull improved both physically and mentally. He had many scars from his younger days. That dent in his neck just in front of his withers was a full 1in deep indent from the harness that didn’t fit him. He also had a string of bald scars around his neck from the same harness. They where so scarred the hair never did grow back. He was very suspicious of people, and would literally cringe when you reached your hand out to him.
The happy ending? Bull grew to a whopping 2500lb! He figured out we were not going to hurt him and just loved being ridden on the trails here. He also gave lessons here to both the kids and adults. He was always the 1st to the gate to greet you. He finally had the life every horse dreams of, food to eat, kids to love him, and a family that would never sell him.
Sadly, at the age of 26 we had to put Bull to sleep due to internal bleeding and an abdominal abcess. We were blessed with the ability to give this great horse what he deserved after years of service to humans, a dignified and PAINLESS death. He is buried in the pasture so he can be with us forever.”
Isn’t it AMAZING how many of you CAN successfully keep your old horses shiny and happy and healthy? Sure, it is harder with some than with others. Some of them are puzzles but they are puzzles that CAN be solved. Don’t just accept that an old horse will look thin – I was taught that too, when I was growing up, but we’re all adults now, with Internet access, and we can educate ourselves about how to make sure our seniors look fantastic!
If you’ve solved a puzzling case where normal methods did not result in weight gain, PLEASE comment and help my other readers! Someone may be struggling with the same type of issue and your comments will be invaluable to them.Â
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79 comments to “Best of FHOTD: Old does not equal skinny!”
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one thing i want to add – digestive enzymes. YES they’re expensive, but your senior can have the best teeth, the best nutrition in his feeder, the best deworming schedule, be in no pain and have nothing else wrong with him, but if he’s not making enough enzymes (and aging affects this in most species, including humans) then he can’t digest and absorb the nutrition.
the barn owner that keeps my horses has a 28ish arab who has little in the way of teeth. he can’t eat much but wet equine senior and the supplement mix and he was maintaining a good weight, but since the digestive enzymes have been added his coat has gotten extremely shiny, there’s more spring in his step (he’s always been a cheerful sort) and he’s got a bit more fat to help him through the coming winter.
digestive enzymes boost feed utilization and reduce waste. they’re great for ALL horses but especially important for the older ones as they really don’t produce enough to utilize their feed efficiently. enzymes make the difference on a molecular level – they’re the ticket that keeps nutrients available to cross the gut/blood barrier and therefore the *most* important thing you can add to a senior horse’s diet. hays and most commercial feeds are ‘cooked’ or dried and therefore have had the enzymes that naturally occur in raw grass destroyed. so they’re pretty important and you can see an improvement with *just* enzymes (but better to up the nutrition with a mash, eh?)
Thanks for the timely reminder post, Fugs.
Here’s a chuckle for the day. I just saw this ad on craigslist for an AWESOME RARE COLORED HORSE!
http://roseburg.craigslist.org/grd/1386938996.html
I’m thinking, maybe an odd leopard app, maybe a brindle?? ROFLOL! Click and see! LOL!
Just remember a skinny old horse has to be fed the appropriate food. If your older horse is skinny and has a very hairy coat, he could be Cushings and require testing and medication (not expensive). Any older horse that you feed and feed and he keeps getting thinner could be a candidate because the sugar and starch in senior feeds are like poison to an insulin resistant horse and he gets worse instead of better. Another simple blood test.
PRS, tell them about Blueberry! That mare is how old? You’d never know it. And Buck, too. Your old horses look incredible.
Personally, I have a 20 year old arab mare who’s still going strong, we had a scare while back, though. She suddenly began to lose weight and my first thought was teeth (although she gets annual dental care already)- turned out to be correct- she’d broken a tooth and a fragment of it had abcessed. Because I noticed her sudden weight loss and responded with an immediate trip to the vet, she was ok, but had I dilly-dallied and put off the vet trip it would have cost her her life- the abcess was such that my vet said it might have ultimately gotten into her sinuses and/or her brain and she would have had to be put down.
This brings up a touchy subject for me- I’d like to know how you all feel about this. How much money are you willing or able to spend on medical care, either emergency or long-term, for your old horse(s) vs for a younger horse?
As much as I love my old arab mare, my budget is limited. I hate to say it but I would definitely not hesitate to pour thousands of dollars into my 5-yr-old provided there was a reasonable chance of her being usable once she’s better- for example colic surgery. But if my 20-year-old needed $2,500 colic surgery I’d probably put her down- not just because of the cost but also because I feel like at her age, she’s served me her whole life and she deserves a painless, peaceful end, not the potential for all the complications and pain and suffering that would come along with the surgery.
There’s also the question of how long it would prolong the life of an already old horse- if you fix a 5- or 10-year old horse, you might get another 15+ years of quality life for them- but if you fix a 20+ year old, it might lie down and die of old age 2 weeks after it gets better. I’ve known healthy-seeming horses who simply died of old age at 18, 20, 22 years old. Just laid down in their stall, went to sleep, and never woke up.
So when your funding is limited, how do you decide how much is too much? How do you draw that line? Has anyone here had to make that impossible decision? Will you share your experience?
You cannot repeat this message enough. I agree 100% that old horses need not be skinny. “He is skinny because he is old” is a popular cop out. Some folks even believe it but many of them are just unwilling to go to the expense or extra work that keeping weight on a senior sometimes entails. I have 2 seniors, a 23 year old gelding and a 26 year old mare. Neither one of them is anywhere near skinny. They might even tip a little to the, ahem, portly side. They both get wormed and their teeth floated regularly, they are both on senior pellets, free choice pasture or hay which is supplemented by soaked alfalfa cubes in the winter (never feed alfalfa cubes without soaking them first). Neither one of them is ever “stressed” and I will know immediately if either one of them is in pain because I see them at least 3 times a day. If someone doesn’t eat his/her food I will be looking for why not. If someone is limping or a little “off” I’ll notice. Me and my vet have a great relationship and you can bet he’ll get a call and will come if I need him. Heck, I even have my bank account set up to auto pay him $200 a month! I once saw a welcome mat with these words on it: “My vet drives a Porsch, ask horse for details” and thought it was about me! I’m not rich by any means, I make the necessary sacrifices so my animals get the care they need. It is as simple as that.
PS: Bull’s story made me cry…not a good thing to explain while I’m supposed be working
I just want to add a note to readers in cold climates. If you let your horse get fuzzy and in the dead of winter s/he starts losing weight putting a sheet on them can actually make things WORSE. The horse’s coat operates on the tried and true fluffy hair holds warm air principal. You put a sheet on top of that it mashes the hair down, no more warm air. It’s like putting you outside in a sweater at -20 and hope for the best. So if you have a fuzzy horse that starts to lose weight once the temperature drops, make sure you use a heavy weight blanket or whatever is appropriate for your climate. A turnout sheet in Maine in the beginning of January could only be worse for your horse if you hosed him down after.
There are some people who do not want to be educated about this subject. “Old horses are thin,” is a proven fact to them. They are not going to change their mind. Kids can jump even if they can’t canter yet, right? Same mentality. And it will be worse this fall/winter as the economy is still bad.
That is one of my favorite posts. Touching pictures. Thank you to the proud owners of these lovely animals.
Well, dont yall know old horses are bony because their old! not because they are starving! Every fhotarded byb with a straight shouldered greyhound looking nag, (oops, i mean stallion) will tell you that!
I think some people mistake “takes some effort to keep at a healthy weight” with “impossible to keep at a healthy weight”. Tricky words, those! Effort and impossible, very alike.
28 in the picture, 31 when I last saw her and she didn’t look any different at all.
Fugly, what is your experience with senior (or younger) horses that choke? I have an 33 year old morab who chokes regularly. He has been seen many times by different vets, and to no avail. He has been scoped, and has had his mouth looked at from top to bottom. He has had bad teeth removed, and gets floated every 6 months. We have had good results with soaking his grain, and this has made a huge improvement in his choking. He chokes on, or balls up his hay, so he is fed only fine 2nd cut hay or dengie. He is also on soaked hay pellets. He is on full day turnout and eats grass, but once winter hits he does not eat the hay outside. He’s also on cool calories, but refuses to eat beet pulp or hay cubes. His weight really is being well maintained right now, but I didn’t know if you have ever come across a horse like him.
Dont have any pictures that I can digitally send, but my 35 yr old gelding (at the time of his death) looked great, sure he sagged a bit in places you dont normally see in young horses, but at that age who wouldn’t. We had the vet out several times in the months before he passed and she always was amazed at how wonderful he looked. It took a lot of work, I never trusted that he would not choke so I always soaked his senior feed/weightbuilder mush and he got alphalfa hay. He was always blanketed in bad weather and regularly saw the vet. He was ridden right up until 2 months before we had him put down. He was still feisty and wanted nothing more than to run as fast as his old legs would carry him and would get very onery if not ridden on a regular basis. ‘
Shame on those cruel, heartless individuals that let these elderly horses suffer.
With older horses, one has to check them often, both visually and running your hands over them. They can change condition quickly and it tends to take longer for them to bounce back.
My oldest is 29 now & needs very little special feeding. I have him with a companion gelding (he is a stallion) who is younger and sometimes pushes the old guy around. So for each meal, I pull the old guy out to his own space and give him time to eat. He is eating mostly hay with a small amount of soaked pellets and senior feed. I have to get up earlier to give him time to eat before I leave and I have to stay up a bit later then I sometimes want to and it does take extra walks outside to move him back when he is done. But to see him in such great shape is worth it.
oldmorgans.blogspot.com
Adding a quarter cup – a half cup of flax seed oil to their grain can also be a big help. Making sure they have access to a mineral block as well as clean water in the winter. Some people think that their horses will eat snow and they dont need to supply it. Snow wont be enough for them. Having it a heater in it will encourage your horse to drink. Blankets will help if your horse tends to lose weight in the winter, at any age. But I would blanket an older horse. Depends on the horse too. If a horse at any age is losing weight then a vet check and dental check might not hurt. In the long run a persistant health problem can cause more damage then the eye can see. But any new change in diet needs to be done slowly. Even changing a hay supplier. Different hay can effect a horse as well. My mare is 20. I think she has plenty of more miles to go. I dont want to think of her as old yet.
HDF I say none of the above, she looks like a red chestnut/cherry sorrel with a flaxen mane and tail, although she might have a bit of sabino in her. Definitely nothing rare about her.
Just thought I would post this link to a video someone just posted of a 42 year old pony doing intro A with a child at a dressage show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyDX9BDT_R4
Freedom Treeless said: This brings up a touchy subject for me- I’d like to know how you all feel about this. How much money are you willing or able to spend on medical care, either emergency or long-term, for your old horse(s) vs for a younger horse?
As much as I love my seniors if anything expensive and/or painful happened to them I would euthanize them rather than either beggar myself or cause them long term suffering. At their age they deserve a peaceful, painless end. As for my 7 year old gelding…it would depend on the prognosis. I have a number in mind that if his vet bills would go above such number I would euthanize him. If something bad happened to him which would leave him as a pasture ornament for the next 20 years…well, I’d have to cross that bridge when I come to it but I suspect I would have him PTS. If he is not sound enough to be ridden he HAS to be in pain all the time and I just can’t imagine feeding/vetting him for the next 20 years and not be able to ride and enjoy him. I wouldn’t risk him being abused or neglected by dumping him on a buyer either, that would feel too much like shirking my responsiblity to him, a responsibility I take very seriously. Besides he is a complete knucklehead and I can’t imagine anyone but me putting up with him.
I have a 19 yr old Arab mare, (not OLD by any-means), that I couldn’t keep weight on. Wormed for regular and tapeworms, no improvement. Had dentistry done, not much better. Took her to the vet for blood work and physical,
everything was normal. I was POURING food into her )beet pulp, rice bran, sunflower seeds, senior feed, all-in-one, timothy pellets, sweet feed, heavy grain hay, little alfalfa), and fed separate, she was still a BCS of about 3.5. (I started keeping the vet records in my purse to prove she was being taken care of). Nothing seemed to work until I just sat and watched the herd for a while. Turns out she was being constantly “pushed” by a younger, larger mare that is an air fern. When she was turned out on pasture she wasn’t getting a chance to graze, rest, or sleep. When I moved her to a small paddock she started picking up and looked gorgeous in 3 months.
Lesson learned: Check to see what is going on between the personalities if your horse is in a herd situation.
eww
3bees: I use this stuff:
http://www.equerrys.com/plus.htm
It has vitamins, minerals, probiotics, enzymes, yeast culture, microbes AND biotin all in one supplement and is not much more expensive than a vitamin/mineral supplement. IT ROCKS!!!!!!
some tips i would like to share that have worked well for me. for old horses that cant chew hay you can either mulch good hay with a clean lawn mower or take it into the feed mill and they will chop it up for you. i happen to have a mower used exclusivly for chopping hay for oldies. the chopped up hay can be soaked and is easy to eat. also i use veggi oil for added calories. if you read the label on weight builder all it basically is is granulated veggi oil i have a nifty 1 oz pump that can be gotten cheap at any farm supply store on a 1gal bottle of veggi oil up to a cup and a half(you have to work up to that if needed) can be given daily to boost weight most horses gain nicely on only 5oz a day. we recently lost our oldie. he was 36yrs old he looked great the last three years we owned him sadly we had to put him down his guts quit working properly he wasen’t digesting food and he was in heart failure. other oldies i have had the pleasure of caring for was a 37yr old arab mare a 32yr old percheron and a 25yr old appy. i have found in extreme cases such as the 37yr old mare apple cider vinigar is an excellent for getting a horse who is off feed to eat again. when i got her i got her from a “horse trader” who used her on a rent a horse string in lake geneva wi they ran her into the ground.she was in a herd of 50 and was low in the herd and couldent eat from the one round bale in the field.when i first saw her she was skin draped over bone i could run my fingers over her ribs and they would dip between her ribs her hair felt like straw she felt like petting a dead horse. she had open sores on her back and chest from a bad fitting saddle and a breast collar and she had shoes on all four feet.i couldent leave her there i got a crash course in senior horse care from her. i got her home had the vet out.blood work done. she had really bad teeth and was in liver failure. the vet recommended apple cider vinigar and the veggi oil in her food.gave her fluids her liver improved we got her all better. she lived to be 37
Check it out…it’s a cutting bread quarter horse. How talented it must be! http://nashville.craigslist.org/grd/1386938685.html
I never had a lot of luck with Weight Builder working – usually had better luck with regular old vegetable oil, working up to as much as 1c per week, plus senior feed up to 4x per day depending on the horse, plus as much hay, dengie hay, or soaked cubes as they can eat, plus 24/7 access to pasture with a nice, deep, insulated run-in shed if they chose to be up out of the elements.
I think what happens in a lot of cases – because I’ve seen it happen – is, people just don’t want to take the time to properly care for an older horse; it’s too much trouble to feed 3 times a day, or take 20 minutes extra to soak cubes, or worry with putting on and taking off a blanket when necessary. Sad.
This is Beau; he was somewhere around 27 in this photo (and I was much, much younger
. He was with us until his mid-30s, and never really slowed down until his last year.
Somone posted this on the COTH boards today, a 42 year old pony doing Intro Dressage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyDX9BDT_R4
I have 2 older horses that are proof that old does not equal skinny
First up is Cheyenne. She is a 33 year old unregistered paint mare. She is healthy and sound and is still active in the show circuit.
Then we have Katie. She is a 20 year old unregistered paint mare that was brought to us in starved condition being removed from her previous owner who stated ” She is not that skinny and it is only because she is older and older horses tend to be on the thin side”
This is her a few weeks after she arrived (her coat was shaved due to lice)
This is her at the end of August
My farrier and I were just having this conversation last week! We have a 30 y/o pony mule that we are actually trying to get some weight off of! I also had to site the great work Karen V has done with Beau. My farrier said he rode an endurance ride a few weeks ago with someone ridding an arab over 30 years old. Unfortunatley one of his clients has an old guy that is dropping weight badly… I gave him links to both you and Karen’s blogs to pass along.
I have a 20-something rescue with no dental problems. Am using the area vet’s “tried and true formula” for gaining muscle mass (working like a charm on my 15-y.o. TB). The vet’s formula is alfalfa pellets, rice bran, soybean meal or pellets, and alfalfa hay at night. I feed Bermuda in the mornings and sometimes 3-way (oat, wheat, and one other grain) hay for lunch, though I really hate the mess and the mice, so I double on the Bermuda.
The rescue isn’t doing as well with one scoop of everything, so I double his alfalfa pellets, add a bit of sweet feed to the mess and dump everything in a great big feeder with LOTS of water. He sounds like an Insinkerator, but he eats it all and is maintaining his weight. I’ve had him two winters now, and he always grows a thick coat (not Cushings thick, but thick). He does not have any other issues that I know of — he’s a rangy bugger and will never fill out like a draft. He’s 17hh, slab-sided, and got withers like a shark. Good appetite, though — if it’s in a bucket or pan, he’ll eat it. (I feed him peppermints and he makes little sucking noises because the “cold” feels funny on his tongue ;o)
I have not added probiotics to his diet, but I’m going there next. One of the joint supplements has probiotics in it, but I’m thinking more would not be a bad idea. The best one I’ve used is Forco.
I love seeing these oldsters. Old guys and gals are the best. Thanks for bringing this back, Cathy.
Out of the 7 horses we’ve owned 4 have been 18+. We’ve tried everything. Here’s what we’ve found that works:
Alfalfa is HARD on a senior horse’s digestive system. If you need more fiber & fat, beet pulp and oil does wonders. Access to a salt block at all times.
Free choice (or close to it) QUALITY grass/timothy hay. Rice bran (OMG Amazing stuff!). Probiotics. A little bit of senior feed to round it all off. In winter, add HOT MASH beet pulp to the rice bran mixture
And a heavy blanket once it hits about mid-October to mid-November. This (in our area) gives enough time for them to build up a nice, thick, fuzzy coat.
We’ve tried commercial weight builders and they work wonderfully, but rice bran does just about as good of a job and is way cheaper.
I have two 21 year olds, a 25 year old, and a 37 year old. All mares, all on 10 acres of pasture 24/7, right here in the NW. (We have excellent pasture…. even now 2/3rds of it is 10 inches deep.) They get no special feed. They get very little hay, just in winter when there is snow too deep for grazing, ice, or those horrible weeks long stretches of rain combined with temps in the 30′s and 40-60 mph winds. They all have waterproof sheets, which get put on after they have grown their winter coats and stay on until it stays above 40 at night in the spring. Their teeth are checked every year (the 37 year old has the best teeth) I have a warmer blanket and hood for each of them for blizzards. I give them a teensy bit of grain to keep them coming when I call. All are ridden several times a week (on hills) and I have no problem at all keeping weight on them. In fact, they wear muzzles much of the summer. There is NO excuse for skinny horses at any age.
****Cathy, I’m sending the pictures I just took of my girls, so you can post them here in the comments, if you would. I’ve got a horrendous headache, and no clue how to post pics
Thank you! To everyone posting who puts in so much effort for your oldies! I would like you to meet SC’s Chloe, a 29yo Thoroughbred mare who was abandoned and found wandering the roadside. Naturally nobody owned up to her so she came to us. Chloe is putting to bed the myth that “Old Thoroughbreds just cannot keep weight on to look good.” She’s over at the knee, swaybacked and floppy lipped but she looks fabulous, she gives pony rides to a very small child and she regularly has a canter about the paddock with her buddies. We’re so delighted that she has such a fabulous home who put in the word to ensure her a happy retirement and the Vet tells us unless she gets a sudden complication like colic she’ll comfortably go another few years yet.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/Yarraman/chloe/chloe.jpg[/IMG]
We also have SC’s Romeo, a 21yo TB gelding (who incidentally had a LONG race career and was since well educated for dressage and jumping before he came to us as a neglected, starved horse) who is packing around a 12yo girl who just loves him to death. Even at his age there is no signs of arthritis yet and he’s playful and a real character.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/Yarraman/Romeo/romeosept.jpg[/IMG]
And here’s Duchess, a 17yo mare who got out and was hit by a car some time in the past. She came to us a starving wreck, she got out again and the owners were notified by the authorities that she was impounded and they never bothered to come get her. She has a bung knee, a dodgy foot, a massive scar from the accident on her hindquarters, some arthritis and yet she is still enjoying life, the vets happy with her condition and quality of life. She is only 17 and we don’t expect she’ll go too many more winters – her knee and hindquarters just won’t cope comfortably at some point – but until then she’s living the good life with a couple of our lovely members who dote on her and work hard to ensure she’s happy and healthy.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/Yarraman/Wannaroo%20girls/Duchess129jul09.jpg[/IMG]
We find that most of the oldies (17 plus are considered aged here) that look poor are because they’re essentially ‘useless’ to the owners so they just do not want to spend the money keeping them looking good. The belief “They’re skinny coz they’re old” is perfect justification to not bother and not spend the extra $$ and most just outright refuse to even try. They tell us they’ve tried absolutley everything when they haven’t really and just do not want to know.
I totally agree old does not mean skinny.
I saw one girl mention that she knew her horse was old because the vet who checked the horses teeth said it was old. I’m sure I’m going to get flack for this, but VETS DON’T KNOW SQUAT ABOUT TEETH!! The best vets I know are the first people to say it. A friend of mine got a rescue horse once and had the vet do her teeth. The vet said based on her teeth she was 25. I was able to run what I could read of the horses tattoo and compare it against her markings. That mare was 16, not 25. Ten years off is a BIG difference.
I refuse to let a vet anywhere near my horses teeth, or feet for that matter. Having worked under reputable trainers for many years, I have met and used a lot of different vets in my life. Some are better than others, but the better ones generally refer people to an actual equine dentist for teeth.
I have been using an equine dentist (who is employed by my vet clinic) for 6 years now. I get much better results with this guy than I ever did with a vet. He does a float for $70, and he won’t sedate the horses unless the horse is being a TOTAL retard. Why would I pay a vet $250 for something my guy can do a better job of and not have to drug my horse for $70?
Oh, and in the past when they were on pasture, the water was treated 3+ times a day with a few buckets of HOT water from the house. They also were given at the beginning and end of each day a large tub of boiling hot water.
What brand is the orchard grass pellet? Has anyone found anything comparable in Texas? I’m not talking about alfalfa pellets or cubes though.
My mom owned an older Quarter Horses Gelding when I was in my early 30′s (she bought him as a yearling when I was 3 or 4). I had my own horses also so mom’s horse was retired to pasture. I fed all the horses and for the life of me, I could never keep weight on this old guy in the winter. If I weren’t the one feeding him, I would have swore that he was not being fed at all. Well, one day I got the vet down to do teeth checks on all the horses and float the ones in need, confident that this would help the poor old man that would drop to skeletal status in winter and blossom again in the spring. To this day, I am still amazed at what the vet found when he looked in this old guys mouth. He had a cancerous growth the size of a softball in the middle of his tongue. No wonder he couldn’t eat right. He was euthanized after mom had a chance to say her goodbyes and never had to suffer through another winter. This taught me to always look to the mouth first and don’t just feel the teeth for sharp edges. Look deeper for other causes. If you are pouring large quantities of special feed made for old horses that can’t chew correctly into them and still having weight issues that make it look like your horses is being starved, get the Vet out immediately. If the vet had been called out at the first sign of this old man dropping weight, he might have been saved. It still hurts me today 15+ years later to think of what he suffered without my knowledge.
“Fugly, what is your experience with senior (or younger) horses that choke? I have an 33 year old morab who chokes regularly. ”
My darlin’ multi-champ part-Arabian gelding developed choke when he was about 16. It was an odd problem — when he was choking, you could *see* the ripples of spasm in his throat running in opposition — from the head down, but from the body UP. He was on “mud”, soaked complete feed pellets, for the rest of his life, hot water soak in the winter, plain in the warm seasons (in Texas). Stayed fat enough to need some dieting, lived in the yard, loved to show, and won two regional Top Fives at 27, three days before he passed away of either a stroke or a cerebral aneurysm — obviously just fell over where he stood, no sweat, no marks, no struggle, just a small trickle of blood out one nostril. Now his teeth stayed pretty good — but give him dry food, and he’d choke.
The teeth issue is interesting; I had a 31-year-old who still had great teeth. (He laid down for a nice nap in the sun on a crisp November day and just didn’t wake up — he’d settled 5 mares that year.
) OTOH, I have a 24 year old who is just about completely out of molars. He handles extruded feed well, but I’d like to put about 25-30 pounds on him. He actually does a bit better in the winter (again, TX — the heat here can be harder on them than the winter). I watch the carbs closely, too. Probably always wise with the older horse; and they need extra FAT, not extra protein, which can be harder to digest! 3Bees, I’m going to look into the enzymes, as this is the first oldster I’ve ever had that I didn’t have to work to keep weight OFF, but then Arabians tend to be like that!
It was my friend that took the video at the show. As you can see, the 42 year old pony looked wonderful and is certainly sounder than I am
BTW, they were at the show with ex-CBER rescue Chanel and she scored a 66% her first time out so hooray for her – not bad for a dumped, teenage ex-broodmare!
Also another tip for those with horses that seem to stop keeping enough weight on even though they eat more then enough.
I have owned a QH/TB cross for over 20 years now. He was always a hard keeper. But the last 10 years he has been really bad. But I thankfully I discovered that he keeps good condition if I take the forage away (ie, grass, alfalfa, oat hay etc) and replace it with pellets or cubes. The difference in keeping the fat on is huge. He loves his food and does not waste anything now. Before I had to feed 3-4 large flakes twice a day. Most ended up as bedding because he would leave the stems. Now I save money and he looks good for a 32 year old horse
this is San enjoying scratches just a few weeks ago
also Old horses are not all skinny lol..
this is Oreo. I owned him for years. this is a picture at a gymkhana championship about a month after I bought him.
He needed some pounds on him.
This is the same horse after years with me at the age of 32. This was his retirement show. He won the Hunter/Jumper title. Not a bad way to leave showing
He started to move stiffly so I retired him. He passed away at 35 looking just the same. Only reason he was put down was because cancer had set in 
ss – I would stop the hay and go to 100 % hay pellets, very well soaked. Think thick soup for the consistency!
drillrider – thanks for the recommendation – i’ll pass it along. she started with digestaid and then switched to forco recently – they’ve both been great.
corn oil. free choice hay/soaked pellets. blankets.
…and don’t forget the BEET PULP! It’s cheap, it’s tasty, it’s easy to chew, it’s easy to digest, it’s okay for IR elders (rinse it first if your horse is IR), it’s low effort. It even smells nice >g<
Want to learn the latest, most accurate information on equine nutrition? Then take Dr. Eleanor Kellon’s online courses. VERY in depth, fabulous information based upon the National Research Council’s 2007 edition of Nutrient Requirements of Horses, and a great learning environment. Her website is:
http://www.drkellon.com
My 27 yr old Paint gelding, Johnny No Spots, started dropping weight about a year ago. His teeth were checked, no metabolic disorder, and LOTS of hay — both alfalfa and bermuda — and we’d tried all manner of commercial feeds with limited success. Dr. Kellon helped formulate a custom “senior diet”, much more appropriate than most commercial senior feeds, inexpensive and easy to mix, and within a month, he simply bloomed!
Sorry — that SHOULD have had pictures – img src tags didn’t work? Here are links to a couple of pics –
In December 2008 I adopted 6 horses from direct to slaughter lots and broker lots in the northeast. Three are over 24 yrs old and one of these is too old to age by his teeth. Here are the 2 most dramatic changes. Hope the images work.
Before
After
and Before
After
Things that help: frequent small feedings, mashes (beet pulp, rice bran, hay pellets) especially if poor teeth require it, free choice grass hay, separate feedings from dominate horses, supplements appropriate to each case – weight gain, probiotics, stabilized flax, joint care, vegetable oil – plus regular vet and farrier care in addition to proper shelter and blanketing as already mentioned here. As they gained weight and their condition improved, I had to cut back because they were starting to get fat!
The only pellets available here in west TX are alfalfa. Has anyone ever tried cutting grass hay into short lengths and soaking the short pieces to add to a mash?
Beet pulp and oil have always been my friends when caring for hard keepers and oldies. Ive been very fortunate to have owned two great senior citizens!!
This is Tug he is 32 in the pic. I was still showing(in fact he’s resting between classes in the pic) him and trailriding. He was missing a few teeth(and was blind in one eye)but never looked skinny!
And this is Mugsey,she was an OTTB. 21 in the pic. She was a VERY hard keeper But nobody could ever tell.
I personally do not have an “old horse” that I own. I loved one VERY much who I leased for a year and a half. I bought my OTTB at an auction, and he was sold to a “forever home.” I thought about him daily, and kicked myself for not taking him. I found out on Craigslist that he was in a rescue. Through a series of very misfortunate events that I don’t think that I will ever understand, was left abandoned on the Peninsula. Talk about being beyond pissed. I went to visit him at the rescue in Graham, WA and he looks amazing! His rescuer is doing wonders for this 24 year old OTTB. He’s not the most amazing example however. While I was visiting my old friend, another horse came over. The rescuer had me guess his age. I said 18? This horse is 38 years old!! You would never guess it! He LOOKS AMAZING!! She had to show me his teeth (or lack there of.) It just proves that it CAN be done!
I purchased an older welsh pony cross at an auction early this year for $50. She was really ribby, had long feet, had a poor coat and a huge potbelly. Knew the little girl was full of worms. She was sweet and had an adorable face and ears, we were looking for a kid’s pony, and I fell in love. Plus when two kids rode her bouncing in bareback and I saw despite all that she was sound and sane-I had to take her home.
Got her home, got her cleaned up and trimmed up and started feeding her slowly-hay 4x a day and mush 3x a day. She got dewormed a ton of course. She gained weight quite quickly-after one week you could tell.
“Mercy” proved to be a great little kid’s pony and let them do literally anything to her. They started lightly riding her bareback with a pad after about 4 weeks and she proved to be a great riding pony-broke to death, but still teaches them to ride.
Well, she didn’t just have a wormy belly. Though the belly reduced after 4 tubes, it was still there. That’s because it was a foal! She has a little colt 7 weeks after we got her. She lost weight again for a bit but after increasing her feed and switching her to mare and foal pellets she started gaining weight rapidly. (We only realized she was pregnant a week before she gave birth.)
So I got an old, nursing mare to gain a TON of weight and it really wasn’t that hard. Free choice hay and pasture, deworming and probios, and a grain/beet pulp/alfalfa cube mash 3x a day. She eventually looked so good we dropped the mash to 2x a day. She was my first “rescue” and I’d love to do it again someday but am a little maxed out at the minute with the surprise she had for us.
Here’s the day she had the foal:
One month later
Tks Fugly
He looks relaxed all the time, so no stress I can think off.
I did ask twice about you repeating your ‘recipe’
I read all the comments and would appreciate any other help I can get
I have a 15 y/o 16hh3 TB gelding who’s a hard keeper but I just can’t keep the weight on him this summer
I do, and have always done the following;
He’s on pasture but I also keep free choice grass hay in a feeder for them. He lives outside full time, only comes in for riding (4-6 x/wk) and 2 meals a day. I keep an alfalfa mix hay in his stall so he gets to munch on that when he comes in to eat.
He lives w/4 other horses, and he’s at the top. I do notice their behavior and no one pushes him away from food
He came to me 3 yrs ago w/severe mental issues, he was a basket case and dangerous to handle and ride.
Fugs I know your thoughts on NH LOL but that’s what saved him. I used whatever I was learning from going to clinics and what I knew from my classical background, and I turned that horse around. He’s now much calmer, has great ground manners, is wonderful on trails and on the flat. He still gets a bit excited when we jump, but it gets better every time.
But back to his diet… LOL
He was on regular texturized grain when I got him, but I know feed him a low sugar/starch formula, 7 lbs/day
He’s on lots of beet pulp, w/added wheat bran to balance the calcium/phosphorus ratio. BP is really off one way, bran is off the other, so they balance each other out (learned that from Horse Journal). (BTW is rice bran off too then?????)
In his stall I keep a good quality free choice loose salt and a mineral mix. Outside they have both a mineralized salt block and a regular plain salt block.
His teeth are done yearly by an equine dentist. My vet is the 1st to admit, that w/out extra training, vets come out of school knowing only the very basics about teeth.
He gets a vit/min supplement, source, a joint supplement, and selenium (adjusted by getting a yearly blood test for it)
I don’t feed vegetable oil. It’s too processed. I feed Cocosoya instead.
He gets Ultimate Finish 100, a fat supplement from Buckeye
He gets about a dozen Alfalfa hay cubes a day, soaked, w/the beet pulp
I think digestive enzymes are not needed if you feed a good quality grain made from a good source of protein, but I will look into it for sure
I’ve tried probiotics and saw no difference so I stopped. But I intend to put him back on it when he’s showing next summer and exposed to more stress. He tested negative for ulcers.
I use to use the daily wormer, but I’m not comfortable putting poison in him on a daily basis. So I went to rotating worming every 2 months, but I’m not happy w/that either. So now I get fecals done 2-3 times/year and only worm if needed. But I do worm w/a praziquantel product every spring.
I vaccinate every spring, but only booster what my vet recommends in the late summer for what is prevalent in our area, this year Potomac
He’s blanketed in the winter, not just a sheet, I actually have a light, medium, and heavy weight blankets and rotate depending on the temperature LOL (I’m at the barn every day)
Blood work will be my next step I guess
What else?????? LOL
tks to all
I forgot to add…He is NOT a picky eater
thank goodness for that one
My 21 y/o Half Arab is terribly picky, but he’s a bit on the porky side
I know I’ve posted about her before, but this was our 28 year old mare that still competed at 1D barrels and poles. OLD definitely doesn’t mean DONE, and there is NO reason for them to be skinny.
This is a sad example of an underweight, 16.1 hand, 15 yo gelding in desperate need of an upgrade. His back legs don’t have the strength to support an adult rider. The horse is emaciated…. Feed it.
Words truly fail me. If I could take him in, if only to give him a vet check, adequate feed or euthanasia, depending on the extent of his problems, I would. I will never understand this. Never. Put the horse to sleep, don’t pawn him off for $50.
http://toledo.craigslist.org/grd/1384675757.html
This photo of him is worth a thousand words.
http://youngstown.craigslist.org/grd/1383014359.html
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK so my earlier post photos didn’t show up – and I can’t see a way to edit the post to fix it…
Anyway… here is a photo of 29yo TB mare Chloe have a play in her paddock and showing off!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/Yarraman/chloe/chloe-1.jpg
Wormer – try a Panacur Power Pack to get rid of encysted small stongyles (moxidectin doesn’t get all of them and can be dangerous to ill horses). This can make a big difference to some skinneys. I start with a single worming to clear out a bunch or worms, then power pack three to four weeks later. You can power pack with liquid Fenbendazole or even Oxfendazole (look at the cattle drenches) for a fraction of the price of using pastes, and most horses will happily eat it in their feed so you don’t even have to syringe it down them.
Fenugreek (aka Methi in the Indian stores) – multiple good points! Horses love the flavour so it will help a picky eater. It helps digestion in several ways too. Adding 30 – 60 grams to the feed each day for an ‘average’ sized horse (up to 80 grams for a really bad case) can help a lot in re-building topline and fat levels. HOWEVER it should not be fed to pregnant mares or very young foals, or to a mare you’re trying to dry up (it has hormonal effects that boost milk production). I give it to all my skinneys now, and they’re definitely picking up weight faster than in the past. You can pick it up at a very reasonable price at Bulk Supplies stores (the ones that sell all the spices – usually Indian around here).
Aches and pains – most oldies have at least a bit of arthritis which might be impacting their weight. I give MSM and Glucosamine to all the ‘creakies’, along with my ‘Secret Spice Mix’ (2 parts hot chilli powder, 2 parts turmeric powder, 1 part ginger powder – feed about 1 – 2 tbsp per day). Making sure the feet are in good shape (comfortable and functioning correctly) can make a huge difference. I’ve also started Ace, my latest acquisition and oldest boy (either 24 or 34 according to his brands – teeth say either) on Hyaluronic Acid (sp?) in the last week and it’s already making a difference to his comfort, and hopefully that will help him put on the last bit of weight (he came as a c.s. 1.5 six months ago, is now a good 4.5 with some actual muscle and topline!).
And finally, make sure you know the difference between healthy fat and inflammatory ‘bloating’. If your horse has packed on an amzing amount of weight in a very short time, it’s possible it isn’t actually fat. Feeds with legumes (soy, peas, even alfalfa and clover) can do this. I took on a grossly obese mare a couple of years ago, but within a month of a decent low sugar, anti-inflammatory diet it became obvious that it wasn’t fat – and underneath it turned out she was thin (about a c.s. 3). Feeding her up was a dicey game since she was quite Insulin Resistant and the slightest bit of sugar made her bloat like crazy and start triggering laminitis, but when she went to the Rainbow Bridge six months later she was at a good healthy c.s. 5. Likewise, it would be relatively easy to feed Ace something bloating and have him looking fat and glossy in a weeks time – but I’d know it wasn’t really ‘good’ fat, so I’m not going to stress his old body like that
Claire Vale
Kahurangi Equine Rescue
New Zealand
Oh, and of course: ULCERS. Any horse that has been stressed at any point in his life could well still have ulcers from that time, and the chronic pain / discomfort can have a drastic effect on weight. If nothing else works, then even if the horse doesn’t have any obvious signs of ulcers it’s worth treating for them to see if it helps.
Claire Vale
Kahurangi Equine Rescue
New Zealand
>> Ok pictures take two<<<
I have owned a QH/TB cross for over 20 years now. He was always a hard keeper. But the last 10 years he has been really bad. But I thankfully I discovered that he keeps good condition if I take the forage away (ie, grass, alfalfa, oat hay etc) and replace it with pellets or cubes. The difference in keeping the fat on is huge. He loves his food and does not waste anything now. Before I had to feed 3-4 large flakes twice a day. Most ended up as bedding because he would leave the stems. Now I save money and he looks good for a 32 year old horse
this is San enjoying scratches just a few weeks ago
http://www.geocities.com/linika_1/oreow.jpg
also Old horses are not all skinny lol..
this is Oreo. I owned him for years. this is a picture at a gymkhana championship about a month after I bought him.
He needed some pounds on him.
http://www.geocities.com/linika_1/oreow.jpg
This is the same horse after years with me at the age of 32. This was his retirement show. He won the Hunter/Jumper title. Not a bad way to leave showing
He started to move stiffly so I retired him. He passed away at 35 looking just the same. Only reason he was put down was because cancer had set in 
http://www.geocities.com/linika_1/Img_3722.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/linika_1/oreow.jpg
This is the sort of advice that cannot be offered enough. Our 3 boys are in their late teens now and especially for the TB who’s a bit more sensitive to temp changes than the welshies, it’s good to know what the options are.
Late teens may not be very old, but this is: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/288936.html
51 year old pony!
Thanks! Bull’s story always makes me cry…the other other stories here are wonderful. People willing to put some time in and be rewarded with a wonderful horse.
3bees…
Can you put a name on a digestive enzymes product you’d recommend? I’d like to look into this further.
I don’t see why its *that* difficult to keep an old horse looking decent. I don’t personally care for any right now, but my first horse was 19 when he died (colic). He was a healthy playing fit and was playing polo until a few days before he died. In the winter he required a heavy blanket and a lot of hay and quite a bit of grain and vegetable oil, but it really wasn’t that difficult to keep weight on him even with riding him 6 days a week if I kept on top of things.
The owner of the carriage company I work for keeps all her retirees. The oldest she’s currently got is one of the Perchies she founded the company with. He’s something like 36 this year. He doesn’t really have teeth anymore so he gets a complete senior feed made into a mush. He gets hay because he gets mad if he doesn’t, but he mostly just gums it and then spits it out. I don’t think he gets any special supplements. The only real concession they make for him is to bring him into the city and he gets stalled when it drops below freezing. The farm just has run in sheds and its just not enough shelter for him anymore even with a huge winter blanket.
There are probably 20 horses that are 20+yo that my boss owns. Some are on the company’s farm and some have gone home with various drivers that liked them (she retains ownership, its a free lease kind of thing so they can go back to her at any time to ensure they’re well taken care of and never sold to slaughter). Every one of them looks as fat and shiny as they did when they were working downtown a decade ago.
The mare I drive is 18 and has been pulling a carriage for us for 12 years. People are always surprised to hear that, “But she doesn’t look old!” No…we take care of them… They work 2-4 days a week and are rotated out to the farm the days they don’t work so they can just chill and be horses. Most of them get much of the winter off entirely.
Also, feeding an old horse isn’t CHEAP. It’s extremely expensive and many people won’t put the money into it. Good quality hay costs more. Especially when it’s fed free choice. Senior feed costs more. Especially when you feed 15 lbs of it a day.
My mare is all running horse bred and has never been an easy keeper. She had a foal this spring at 21 years old. Through out the 4 months of nursing I had to pump the food into her at an alarming rate to keep weight on her. She had “crack” alfalfa. I call it that because it was green as a crayon and all leaves, few stems. When you picked it up it would disintigrate into the air it was so leafy. At $20/bale she went through a bale every 3 days. She also had orchard/alfalfa hay free choice at $12/bale. She ate 12 lbs of equine senior and 8 pounds of alflafa pellets a day.
For 4 months I estimated she cost me about $500-550 per month in feed alone. Now that she’s been weaned it is significantly less, but she still gets 15 lbs a day of senior feed and free choice orchard/alfalfa hay.
http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/SpottedTApps2/Horses/Patti/7-6-09014.jpg
[IMG]http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/SpottedTApps2/Horses/Patti/7-6-09014.jpg[/IMG]
I am very worried about how this winter will be for horses/owners. Craigslist has been inundated all summer with people trying to unload horses – lots of free older horses. I will not be surprised if there are more horses looking for homes this winter than last. I don’t know how people can be so callous.
I was the proud Auntie to Stonewall Jackson, aka Hi Tone Boy, a Morgan gelding who lived to the ripe old age of 51. He was fat, sassy, and had the attitude to be naughty up until the end — although is body couldn’t quite keep up! He was put down after he had stroke. He did have to be fed pelleted food, and he mostly gummed it. He couldn’t eat hay, but liked to have some in his stall to play with even though he’d just make quids that he’d drop. His teeth were at the point where they couldn’t do anything to them — there wasn’t enough tooth! He was last ridden when he was *45* and still had the audacity to buck. It may take more work, but you can keep an older horse at a good weight. I’ve known many 20-30 year old horses who were still in use and looked great.
Thanks for posting this again, it’s a great reminder for everybody now that winter is coming. I know two Haflinger horses, a gelding and a mare, who are 22 and 23 years old and are owned by a midle aged lady who bought them for her young daughter. They are the first horses she’s ever owned and are both great weight. I consider her living proof that even a beginner can keep an elderly horse healthy and at a proper weight – it may sometimes take some work and figuring out, but it’s not rocket science either!
Trying one more time….
Here are before and after of 2 of my old guys. The first pair of pictures are of my 24-yr old Belgian gelding. The second set is my Belgian gelding who is too old to be able to tell.
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq212/publicalbum_01/Newherd032-1.jpg
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq212/publicalbum_01/6-18-09002.jpg
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq212/publicalbum_01/DSC01800-3.jpg
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq212/publicalbum_01/6-05-09009.jpg
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq212/publicalbum_01/4-26-09006.jpg
Everybody at my place is old enough to drink, and none of them are skinny. A few weeks ago, in the middle of the night a poor old guy shows up in my yard. Dripping sweat at one in the morning and thin as a rail. So I threw him in a pen and called animal control. Later that day owner shows up just before A/C take control of the horse so she gets to keep him. Officer asks for the background of the horse, and owner says he will be 30 in October, that’s why he’s skinny. I go back to barn chores and suddenly owner is asking me how come my horses aren’t skinny? Cause I feed em right I tell her. Later I learn that she has four horses on one dirt lot, no wonder the poor old guy (with really bad teeth) is skinny, he can’t even be alone with the hay he can’t eat. I told her, soak him some pellets and maybe some senior feed. It would be so easy to get this guy up in weight if she was only willing to go to a little extra effort. I can’t use the senior on my old man, most of them are too high in protein, and he sure doesn’t need the extra biotin, I was having his feet done on a four week schedule while he was on the senior feed. I do use a complete pellet in the winter, grain and such already in there, along with a homeopathic joint supplement, during the summer they get just an alfalfa and bermuda pellet and all the grass hay they want. And ofcourse, worming, teeth, shots and all that jazz. This morning I thought someone had traded horses in the night, the old man was behaving like a two year old, running, bucking, jumping but it did get down to the high 50s so maybe the cool weather had something to do with it.
beet pulp is good stuff i use beet pulp alot! one thing i have found is some older horses are bothered by the cold weather and dont eat as well so i microwave the beet pulp and mix it with the mash so it warm alot of horses like that!.
forco is excellent stuff! i have used it before and am using it on a IR 28yr old pony who has had founder issues. i have tried rice bran but my horses are picky little guys and refuse to eat it! my best luck has been chopping hay with a mower or feeding pellets with veggi oil. one big problem we had with bert was getting him to drink enough water in the winter. he had almost no teeth and the ones he had left were useless. i really think cold water bothered him he wouldent drink nearly enough in the winter so i used to put a electrolyte in his food and i served a warm bucket of water with his meals that he always drank right up
lets see if this works heres a pic of our 28yr old insulin resistant pony dressed as a unicorn at a pet store costume contest. this pony is a saint! he was a 4h show pony and some butthead nerved his tail so it doesent work at all! when i got him his feet were terrible! he hadent beeen touched in years since the kids who once rode him grew up he just fell in love with my daughter who is 4 when he saw her he kept following her around she adores him and rides him on a leadline and dresses him silly all the time
Meet Marigold. She it a tattooed OTTB and just turned 32 this spring! She has 1 eye and it is blind. Yes she still rides, yes she is still with us, and yes she is a VERY happy and healthy horse now.
She is a classic example of how pain can keep the weight off a horse. She was very underweight when she arrived, and her one eye was shrunken and infected. We got her up to a reasonable weight and removed the eye. After that she blossomed. It took 1/3 of the time to put the remaining weight back on her.
[IMG]http://i554.photobucket.com/albums/jj413/ez2bbad64/338.jpg[/IMG]
and heres one of bert who took 4th in a fun show halter class last summer at the age of 35! sadly we had to put bert down this year…
[IMG]http://i554.photobucket.com/albums/jj413/ez2bbad64/286.jpg[/IMG]
Love this post.
And all the comments! Excellent information here…. And…
If that person is this excitable in real life, it’s no wonder she has issues catching the horse! It’s running for it’s LIFE every time she comes near the gate. Whose needs to use that many exclamation points!!! I mean really!!! It’s silly! And embarrassing!!
Ok, I’m done making fun now. >.>’
Again, thanks for the posts! and the pictures.
Bull’s story is so happy and sad… I just want to give him cuddles.
Whoops, it didn’t add the Link I was referencing. XD
>>> http://youngstown.craigslist.org/grd/1383014359.html
one last thing i thought of that works well for old horses and hard keepers. brewers yeast!. they sell it in a pelleted form but its a bit pricey if you have more then one horse needing it. i buy it in a bulk powderd form and a bag last forever just keep it in a cool dry place. i give everyone a ounce a day oldies and hard keepers get two ounces a day you can also feed it to other livestock such as goats and things
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk263/doublegstable/marigold/HPIM1758.jpg
This is Marigold’s pic
I do not recall where I last read the story about Bull. Probably here. In any case, he stood out to me and I am so happy to see that his life ended so well. What a great guy!
Anyone out there have recommendations for picky eaters? One of the horses I’m around sometimes is getting rather thin, but he basically turns his nose up at almost anything wet, so mashes are out (both beet pulp and orchard grass have already been tried). The only thing that he’ll accept is a little corn oil in the feed, but too much and that becomes unacceptable too; and he’s happy to munch on grass when he gets taken out on walks. He’s 30+ so everyone loves babying him, but it’s a bit of a concern that he’s so stuck in his “I like my foods dry” ways when he maybe can’t chew them efficiently.
Any suggestions for extra-tasty senior food? I’m intrigued by the fenugreek tip but I’d like to get a list going of things to try out since he is notoriously picky.
Just wanted to add this lovely lady to the old but not skinny club: http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2791575000100789832GtsEXh
That picture was taken last year when she was 27 years old. This mare came to live with me after she was dropped off and left tied in someone’s downtown backyard as part of a nasty divorce. Guess if her previous owner had any doubts about divorcing the jerk, that incident would have cleared those right up.
Ponygirl–
Rice bran, rice bran, rice bran!
We’ve fed beet pulp and oil, alfalfa and grass hay, grains and weight gain products for YEARS but recently adopted an old mare who has to be fed a LOT of it to keep weight. We were recommended to try rice bran by a woman I bought a horse from, who worked/works for a carriage company. She has a 30+ year old Belgian gelding who gets senior feed and rice bran, as well as grass and alfalfa mixture. He is fat and happy.
We started using rice bran and our gets significantly less of that than she did beet pulp but is fatter! Now all we have her on is a good grass hay (6 flakes a day and she’s on pasture, so pretty much free choice), a couple of scoops of rice bran, probiotic and 24/7 access to a mineral block and she is finally stabilizing at the weight she needs to be, so she’ll probably need to be cut back once she hits it.
I used to be a big advocate of beet pulp and oil, but unless I find a horse who needs more fiber or won’t eat rice bran, I’m never, ever going back!
Another thing you can try is to sneak the mash up on him. Assemble his food, take a half (or quarter) cup of the mixture and mash it, leave the rest dry but mix the mashed stuff in with it, and gradually build it up if he starts to accept it.
Best of luck.
Ponygirl, long shot, but try adding some apple juice to the water you make the mash in. I’ve known this to work…
I lovvve this blog! First time commenter.
It drives me absolutely crazy when people use age as an excuse to starve a horse! I own an absolutely lovely oldy: a twenty-six year old quarter horse gelding named Champ. He gets regular teeth-floating, farrier, worming, and vet care, is fed twice a day and is exercised regularly. I feed him senior pellets with rice bran and corn oil mixed in, free choice hay, and pasture 12 hours a day. I ride Champ every day that weather permits, whether we go out on a trail or just on a gallop through the pasture. He’s great at keeping up with the young horses on the trail, and everyone that meets him is shocked by how old he is. I plan to ride him in an upcoming open show in October. Champ was my first horse: I received him for Christmas when I was eight. It’s been nearly eleven years now, and he’s been an absolute dream come true! I love him more than anything in the world, and I can’t imagine what my life would be like without him.
Here are some pictures of him with my best friend Amanda that were taken this summer :
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I currently have an older horse that was purchased by a friend and put in my pasture. I am trying to find out exactly how old he is, but according to the information I just read, that is not necessarily the biggest issue. I love all animals and have owned horses before, but only under the supervision and advice of an experienced horse owner. This horse is in extremely bad shape! His back bone and hip bones are protruding, and his ribs are visible. He was put in my pasture in December, and had a bad cold at the time. We put him on antibiotics immediately, and separated him from the other 2 horses. He got over the cold just in time to get a terrible abscess on his throat. After a lancing and more antibiotic, he is feeling much better, but still looks HORRIBLE! He has been wormed, but my experienced friend has advised that we should worm again. There are 2 other horses in the pasture, and I always feed him separately to make sure he is getting all his feed. It takes him twice as long to eat as the others, so my friend suggested soaking his feed, which we will start doing tomorrow. We recently switched his feed to the Senior, and have added rice bran. We have increased his feed to two coffee cans per day. He is getting unlimited hay and fresh water. The current owner thinks he looks better than when we got him, but I can’t tell since he still looks so bad to me! He definitely acts like he feels better. He used to just stand in the pasture in one place all day, even if the weather was bad. I would have to go out and lead him into the stall to come out of bad weather or eat. Now he gets excited to see me coming and meets me in the stall. He’s a talker now too. How long should it take before we should be seeing serious improvement? My experienced friend says several months- we’ve had him just over two months, and he was not feeling well for a month of it. Do you see anything here that looks wrong or do you have any other suggestions for this specific horse? I am following the advice from the vet and my experienced friend, but I’m so worried about him that I am constantly researching and am looking for other expert advice.
BTW, just so you know I’m not a complete idiot, I did read all the advice already given and fully intend to follow it. I mainly want you to look at what we’re currently doing to see if it looks right.