A little background info and please NO BASHING, my horse is 22 going on 23. He started having problems choking at feedtime and the vet said that more than likely he had a tumor or obstruction in his esophagus causing the problems and either to take him off of feed completely or try a mash. The pasture at my moms is not in the best condition so we moved him to my place with a much bigger pasture with 24/7 turnout and always fresh hay for him to see how he did. That was in the summer, over the winter he dropped weight DRASTICALLY, so i started him back on a senior feed a little at a time and watered down and he doesnt seem to be gaining any..ive tried soaked alfafa cubes with his feed and just recently bought a bag of Manna Pro Senior Equine Accelerator to see if that helps any. Ive also wormed him. Just wondering if anyone has tried the Manna Pro or any other tips for my old man. Im worried about him and hate seeing him in this condition..

When was the last time you had his teeth checked are floated? I would start there and BlueBonnet has a feed called Senior care, its soft and easy to chew and got the Vits thats needed for the Senior horse, I have my 25 year old on it.. 

Thank you, it has been a while since we've had his teeth floated. Ive never heard of the BlueBonnet feed, not sure that I've seen it around here. I have him on Safe Choice senior feed. It seemed to work well on the other horses and the two that he shares a pasture with around the same age didnt seem to drop weight like he did this winter. 

I would have his teeth checked first and the Safe Choice feed is not a good feed in my books, lol.. Look up BlueBonnet feeds, its a awesome feed and the best out there.. where do you live maybe you have a Bluebonnet dealer in your area that you could talk too.. I'm just not a fan of Nutrena feeds at all..

At 23, he may or may not have molars left.  We have 2 geriatrics...31 and 32 this year, and they haven't had most of their teeth for several years now.  They have been on soaked Equine Senior (Purina) for probably the last 5-6 years, and have done mostly well.  They've been on Equine Senior for the last 12 years, but dropped weight bad, and when we went to soaking it they picked back up and looked phenominal.

They cannot chew hay...the 31 yr old gelding quids his badly...so they are on pasture.  We were not able to plant them any triticale last fall, so they dropped more than I'd like over the winter, but spring grass is coming on so hopefully they will pick up again.  If not, I will be adding soaked Hayrite alfalfa cubes to their ration.  

i haven't seen anything good come from the Safe Choice line....

Biggest thing you need to look at is the fat content of the feed. Buckeye feeds are really nice and I also like Kalm Ultra by Tribute.... But that is what I can get around here in NW PA. 

I put my older guy on Buckeye Cadence Ultra. The higher protein and fat content really put good weight on him this winter and it's easy to chew. 

My 30 year old is doing great on Bluebonnet and Renew Gold.  Had his teeth floated and he came back and refused to eat the Bluebonnet Senior so I put him on the Renew Gold and he started back eating.  I also put him on an arthritis formula that I get from "Forloveofthehorse.com".  Since doing that he is back to eating full grain ration of the Bluebonnet Senior and 1 lb of the Renew Gold.  Here is a picture of him that was taken this winter.

My old man who is a hard keeper, started choking when he was getting fed with my other horses. He's a slow eater and would "bolt" his food trying to eat it fast. Which was causing his choking. We had him scoped thinking other things were going on. But once he was locked up so he could eat by himself the choking stopped. Might try that first. If his teeth are in good condition, i have my 21 yo on Nutrena Topline. And its working great. Along with free choice hay and alfafla at night. The Nutrena topline is 30% protein. He's actually fat right now and I probably need to cut him back a smidge. But i'll take him fat over skinny any day.

I also need to add that all my 3 get the Omega horse cubes.  They absolutely "love" them.  The picture is of my 30 year old that is eating his.  These cubes are the BOMB.  I don't have the best of hay in my part of the country.  When I do manage to get some decent horse hay, I pay dearly for the price so the Omega cubes have helped a lot with making my hay go further.

I have a 23 yo pregnant hard keeper. I thought for sure I was going to have a skeletal mare by this point this year but I have kept her plump (for her) all winter with double alfalfa (15 lbs a day), cool calories (max serving) and rice bran (2C per day). She gets about 2lbs of beet pulp shreds and 2lbs of Legends Carb Care (x2) per day plus about 10 lbs of timothy hay. No amount of feed or supplements will keep her plump while she is lactating, but I have been very happy that she is going to go into foaling with good weight.

If your elderly horse has lost chewing ability then good quality alfalfa pellets watered down is a good replacement. 

I'd vet him before you start making changes in the feed, like adding more fat, protein, etc. Have his teeth checked and run a liver and kidney panel. If the liver and kidneys aren't functioning property they aren't going to process your additives to help gain weight. JMHO.

You might also add some Purina Amplify.  Works for my older horse also you don't need to add much.  That is of course after you get teeth and everything else checked out.

I just put my 20 year old on the Nutrena ProForce Senior and he loves it and is doing great. He wasn't terribly bad this winter, and still has his teeth, but fell off a bit this winter as well, and I'm using this, soaked, and beet pulp and alfalfa cubes, all wet actually to boost him back up and it's working great!

I have a gelding turning 20 this year that chokes easily. He's never missed a meal, has typically been an easy keeper but was losing condition. Wormed and did his teeth, still wasn't as plump as I'd like. I had started a hard keeper OTTB on Renew Gold and she wasn't even getting a 1/2 pound daily, and still bulked up, so he went on it too. I just leave my old forco scoop (says 2oz on it but I weighed the scoop closer to 2.75oz full of RG) in the bag, and he gets 1 scoop AM and PM (since the mare is active, she gets 2 scoops AM/PM and looks the best she ever has). I've not tried the new pellet, but he does just fine with the old crumble-pellet. I don't feed him any hay pellets or cubes because during the summer after soaking they're rancid and still not soaked completely. He just gets alfalfa hay, renew gold and a locally milled "complete" feed that is also soft and dissolves easily. He typically is fine with the hay, and since both pellets dissolve easily and quickly, I can feed those dry too and not be wasting feed that has gone bad from soaking too long... He usually has to go take a drink of water after eating the pellets since they are dry, but that's it. In my opinion, the Renew Gold bulked up both my horses quickly without making them hot, and you don't have to feed a ton of it to get results.

Safe choice in my opinion doent have enough calories

He needs FAT and soft

try Purina sr.. and add SOAKED beet pulp.. up the amount and feed him more frequently.

since he cant chew the hay is strictly for boredom and not much digesting , so to substitute it you need a senior grain and make sure its high in fat.also blanket him so he isnt burning calories..

get alfalfa cubes and soak to much and add more water ..

I've got my 25yo guy on Purina Senior Active and now MVP 6 way, because he decided he didn't like the THE muscle mass anymore.  The Purina Senior Active has a high fat content.  

We switched from Nutrena Sr several years ago, and never looked back.  I had  thought I was going to have to retire my old guy because his topline looked like poo.    Switched to Purina and his topline filled back in. 

I'd check teeth and do bloddwork first before making a bunch of changes. I have a 26 that is missing some molars and his front teeth are worn up to the gumline from cribbing. He eats Tribute Kalm N Ez (1/2 of a 3qt scoop) and 1/3 of the scoop of alfalfa pellets and stays fat. He can still eat hay fine as well. The grain & pellets are soaked in a gallon of water, he didn't choke but would get impacted a lot. Adding the alfalfa pellets and soaking it all seems to keep everything moving and he gained weight. Also give him 1/2 cup of Nutrena Boost each feeding, his topline is jsut as filled in as my 5 year old almost. And it was sunken in with that shelf appearance at the top of his ribs. I'm not a big Nutrena fan, but that product I do really like. It works better than other rice brans I've tried. I also would recommend Renew Gold, it wasn't well stocked when I tried it and it was a fight trying to get it before it was gone, so I just switched. 

Anothe rthing for anyone who has one that can't chew hay and needs a hay pellet or cube soaked, go to Lowes or Home Depot or wherever and get a mulcher or pay more and get a good chipper, and just run your hay through it. Makes chaffe and then you can just wet it a little and let them eat. You can do a couple bales & bag it & store it short term. It's a little time consuming, but in the long run saves a lot of money vs buying the bagged stuff like Standlee. It's not ideal for everyone, but if you're up for the work it's pretty handy and your hay source stays the same.