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  Discussion on Diet for the aging performance horse
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 4, 2002 - 3:41 pm:

I have a Swedish warmblood/thoroughbred cross gelding that just turned 21 years old. He is in good health, and is getting regular Corta-flex supplementation. He is ridden at least four and sometimes five days a week in Dressage - first and second level - for 45 minutes to an hour at most each time. Back in February, he began losing weight noticably, and I increased his whole oats to 1 1/2 lbs twice a day with 1/2 lb sweet feed (his normal ration for five years up until this time was 1/2 lb oats and 1/4 lb. sweet feed). He can get "hot" if given more sweet feed. His weight loss stablilized, and he did gain some weight back, but he still looks a bit 'ribby' - there is no spare fat on his body. On the advice of my trainer, I started giving him a pound of Equine Senior feed every day for the fat calories, and I've noticed that his coat is shinier, but he still really hasn't gained much weight. My vet suggested adding corn oil to his diet for the extra calories, but I've been told that corn oil can make a horse hot. I've been reading a book entitled "Keeping the Older Horse Young" which appears to suggest that maybe he needs more protein in his diet - he's getting 12% overall now. As I progress with more collection in my dressage work, I'd like to see more muscle development in his haunches, but they actually look like they're losing muscle! Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

Janice

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 4, 2002 - 9:25 pm:

Possibly, he's not getting the full benefit of his hay anymore, due to ageing dentition. I've had many older horses, and as they've aged, they slowly lost the ability to chew and digest the quantity of hay they needed. If you've not already done it, have his mouth gone over.

Senior feeds helped my old guys a lot during their early "older years". But as things progressed ( the ones that made it to late thirties or more ), they lost all their molars. At this point, we found great success with a whole pelleted feed served up in small portions three or more times a day. It helped their digestion and manure, and no matter how much they ate, they stayed on an even keel.

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 5, 2002 - 6:09 am:

Hello Janice,
We have addressed all of your questions in the following articles. I place them in order of importance:
1) Care for Horses: Nutrition: Nutrition for the Horse: an Overview of Feeding Horses (there is a section at the bottom on feeding older horses)
2) Care for Horses: Disease Prevention and Health Care: Geriatric Horse: Problems and Care
3) Care for Horses: Nutrition: Fats and Oils in the Diet of Horses
I would like to comment that fats and oils are not considered a pyschologically "heating" food compared to carbohydrates and in fact have been substituted to help calm horses down.
DrO
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