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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 559
 
| What do you all feed your seniors that can longer eat hay ? Mine is about 26 yrs old .. He no longer can get hay .. Just wads it & spits it out . He is currently in beet pulp & purina equine senior . He looks great , but sometimes he doesn't want to finish the beet pulp . I also don't how loose their stools become on just a senior feed .. But I don't think I have baby options to fix that . Would alfalfa cubes be better to help that , since it's more like hay ? Just seeing what everyone feeds theirs ! |
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 The Vaccinator
Posts: 3810
  
Location: Slipping down the slope of old age. Boo hoo. | A good senior feed plus beet pulp is good -- but I always felt bad for the ones that could not eat hay -- I'd try to give them bits -- tiny bits to gum around because it seemed to keep them happy -- and try to keep them on a good pasture. I have fed soaked alfalfa cubes, too - but a good senior feed plus beet pulp seemed to do the best job putting on and keeping weight on them. And I fed them 3 times a day - morning - when I got home from work and before I went to bed. During the winter when I had them up I'd sprinkle alfalfa hay around their stall edge and paddock - little sprinkly bits which gave them something to do nibbling around looking for that - and apparently they did get some down for nutrition because it would be gone next time I was in the barn. A great deworming program is really important for the old ones, too -- just a small worm infestation will pull an old one down quickly and keep them down. And I have always kept the old ones away from the younger ones - since they don't move as well and will get driven off their feed -- they have had their own pasture. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1440
Location: Texas | I just feed senior feed. He doesnt get beet pulp etc. His stools are fune and he looks great for 31. |
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | it doesnt matter if he doesnt finish the beet pulp.. sr has beet pulp in it.. so feed according to directions for horses that cant eat hay .. hes 26 and im sure the sr isnt what is causing his issues.. id not switch around with a sr..their tummys are delicate... the alfalfa will make him looser imho. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 421
Location: Texas!! | Mine gets senior feed with soaked alfalfa cubes, he loves the cubes!! His stools are sorta soft. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 559
| The stools age just going to be softer no matter what .. Bc he's not eating hay. I hate it but there's nothing you can do when this happens.. I may try the cubes .. He used go love feed .. Always ate every last thing .. But he became picky / slow eater like over night .. His teeth were just done by a very good vet .. He just became a typical picky senior .. Idk how he's stays so fat to be honest .. Must be doing something right .. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | Soaked alfalfa or hay cubes will make it soft and the fibers are a bit longer, almost like grass. If he can't do that then soaked alfalfa cubes makes mush. |
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"Heck's Coming With Me"
Posts: 10797
Location: Kansas | I have one 27 years old that is on pasture and eating Equine Senior mixed with Omolene 200. If I feed him just the Equine Senior he gets bored with the flavor and won't eat but part of it, so the Omolene 200 spices it up for him. He's on grass and hay but does tend to cud his hay and spit it out. Aging is the worst, animals and people both. It sucks. |
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Tried and True
Posts: 21185
Location: Where I am happiest | I would change the beet pulp for alfalfa pellets or cubes soaked. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 559
| Frodo - 2015-04-08 7:20 PM
I have one 27 years old that is on pasture and eating Equine Senior mixed with Omolene 200. If I feed him just the Equine Senior he gets bored with the flavor and won't eat but part of it, so the Omolene 200 spices it up for him. He's on grass and hay but does tend to cud his hay and spit it out. Aging is the worst, animals and people both. It sucks.
I couldn't agree more !! :( |
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 On the Countdown
Posts: 2934
Location: Texas | My oldie is 33 this year. I feed her Triple Crown Sr. She hasn't looked this great in years. She also gets alfalfa pellets. I have to watch her on grass, stays in the stall or small turn out the majority of the time. I have had her on Purina Sr also, and Nuturena Sr. and just couldn't get her the way I wanted. I don't have to feed her near as much as either of the other two and she looks great. I do make sure it comes from a mill that is ionophore free though. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | We have a 36 year old. He gets Purina Sr feed, beet pulp, Platinum CJ, and Platinum Healthy Weight oil. He quids his hay mostly because he has hardly any teeth left. He will take spells where he will leave anywhere from 1/4 to over 1/2 his feed uneaten, and it worries me to death. Then the next day he cleans the trough. My friend says he self regulates, and that he may be getting more hay in his belly than I think and could just be full. I was concerned about how he came out of the bad winter, but my farrier volunteered to my boyfriend last week when he trimmed everyone that Dan looked amazing. He said most of his clients with "normal age" horses don't look nearly as good as he does right now. He was my first horse I got after a devastating car wreck where my best friend was killed and I lost my left leg above the knee; he was my rock and eased me back into horses when I doubted I'd ever sit in a saddle again, let alone own another horse. So when people ask me WHY???? As in why do you feed and take care of a horse that old that requires so very much and yet isn't rideable anymore-----my answer is cause he took care of someone who needed so very much. I know I wrote a book and got way off track, but it makes me happy knowing there are folks out there willing to go the extra mile for their older partners! |
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 Hugs to You
Posts: 7551
Location: In The Land of Cotton | My senior likes you to change up his feed. So, right now he gets straight oats and soaked alfalfa cubes. He is also out 24/7. In the winter he gets a round bale (to make his mother feedl better), soaked beet pulp, and soaked cubes in hot water. During the summer he gets the cube cold.
When he acts like he doesn't want the cubes, he gets purina senior. (Although now with the feed issues, monension posioning, I am going to have to rethink it). |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 316
| Chandler's Mom - 2015-04-09 12:03 AM
We have a 36 year old. He gets Purina Sr feed, beet pulp, Platinum CJ, and Platinum Healthy Weight oil. He quids his hay mostly because he has hardly any teeth left. He will take spells where he will leave anywhere from 1/4 to over 1/2 his feed uneaten, and it worries me to death. Then the next day he cleans the trough. My friend says he self regulates, and that he may be getting more hay in his belly than I think and could just be full. I was concerned about how he came out of the bad winter, but my farrier volunteered to my boyfriend last week when he trimmed everyone that Dan looked amazing. He said most of his clients with "normal age" horses don't look nearly as good as he does right now. He was my first horse I got after a devastating car wreck where my best friend was killed and I lost my left leg above the knee; he was my rock and eased me back into horses when I doubted I'd ever sit in a saddle again, let alone own another horse. So when people ask me WHY???? As in why do you feed and take care of a horse that old that requires so very much and yet isn't rideable anymore-----my answer is cause he took care of someone who needed so very much. I know I wrote a book and got way off track, but it makes me happy knowing there are folks out there willing to go the extra mile for their older partners!
Exactly! They do a tremendous amount for us and it's out turn to repay them 
I commend your efforts :)
What an awesome horse you have and what an awesome family he has! |
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 Expert
Posts: 1273
Location: South Dakota | I've got a 34 and a 28 year old and they get almost 10 gallons of sr. feed a day plus 3 coffee cans of oats, 2 coffee cans of Summer Heat and 3 lbs of Amplify. I know it seems kind of crazy and at times I feel like a witch doctor trying to figure out what concoction is going to work for them. I don't think we have Triple Crown Sr. around here or else I'd probably have to try that. |
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Expert
Posts: 1273
Location: South Dakota | scamper - 2015-04-08 9:54 PM My oldie is 33 this year. I feed her Triple Crown Sr. She hasn't looked this great in years. She also gets alfalfa pellets. I have to watch her on grass, stays in the stall or small turn out the majority of the time. I have had her on Purina Sr also, and Nuturena Sr. and just couldn't get her the way I wanted. I don't have to feed her near as much as either of the other two and she looks great. I do make sure it comes from a mill that is ionophore free though.
How much Triple Crown Sr. do you feed her? I did some checking and I think maybe I can get it here. Thanks. |
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 Pork Fat is my Favorite
Posts: 3791
Location: The Oklahoma plains. | Rachelyn80 has had good luck with Chaffee hay on her senior horse- might try it? |
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 Special Somebody
Posts: 3951
Location: Finally horseback again.... | Alfalfa cubes soaked are what seems to work best on my geriatric horses and for my customers horses that are no longer able to masticate grass or hay.
Basically is is prechewed for them by being ground |
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Nut Case Expert
Posts: 9305
Location: Tulsa, Ok | My 33 year old hates every kind of senior feed (I have tried every kind available in the area). He also refuses to eat anything that is wet or soaked. He is currently maintaining well on Heritage Textured High Fat and whatever hay/pasture he manages to not ball up and spit out. |
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Veteran
Posts: 139
Location: Abbotsford B.C. Canada | I have good luck with feeding some alfalfa cubes which are soaked . That will at least give some texture or longer fiber. Try 5-10 lbs a day and keep feeding the beet pulp. Another good hay replacer is pure soyhulls. They are nice because they are high in soluble fiber that soaks up water just like beet pulp. However, they are very low in sugar and starch so add a modest level of calories . Soy hulls will actually help balance the sugar levels for a horse with diabetes or cushing's and insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome and IR etc.
I fed my mare about 5 lbs alf cubes and 5 lbs (dry wt then soaked 2:1 with water) of pure soyhulls last winter plus local hay. She is a medium sized 22 year old TB mare. She had hives so I needed forage she was not allergic too and those items helped me until I found a hay she was ok with.
Always feed a little alfalfa anyways as it works like a natural buffer and helps prevent ulcers. The extra calcium will not overwhelm the horse if it is just 5-10 lbs a day and the rest could be timothy hay cubes or pellets which also could be used in your program. If the horse has a lot of chewing issues, try alfalfa pellets as they are obviously ground even finer.
Always have long hay out so the horse can mentally relax and get its head down rooting around in the hay and drain its lungs etc.
Then feed the senior horse feed at 5-10 lbs a day and I would add a cup of milled flax as a natural anti inflammatory or one of the new DHA marine or algae based sources of omega 3 fatty acids.
Throw in a little soy oil as well if you need extra calories next winter and the horse should do well. I have horses wih no teeth on a mush like this and they do fine .
A joint supplement would help the old horse as well.
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