Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Care of older horse

From: Sandy

What advise can you give for the care of a 24 year-old gelding? I bought this horse for my daughter to start with, and he rides beautifully but his appearance is lacking. When I bought him he had been somewhat neglected and was rather skinny but sound. I took him to the vet (all shots, float, general check, etc.) and he suggested a "senior feed". For 5 months I have been feeding him Purina Equine Senior, along with biotin supplement, Strongid C2X, and corn-oil, as well as good hay and some pasture. But he does not seem to be gaining weight, and his coat is still shaggy and dull. My other horse looks wonderful and he is on a lower quality horse and mule feed. I'm wondering if there are other suggestions for improving his appearance, or am I expecting too much from this "older" horse.

Thanks.

Hi Sandy! Some horses, like some people, just naturally require more food than others to maintain good physical condition. Older horses don't digest their food as efficiently as young horses do, so we often have to give them more nutritious feed when they're old than they needed in their prime years.

If this horse was neglected for a long time, it will take him quite a long time to recover his condition, and he may never look quite as shiny and sleek as your younger horse. You're on the right track with the feeding, though! You may find that what you're feeding is excellent, but that he simply needs MORE of it. I don't know how much corn oil you are feeding, for instance, but you can feed him two cups a day -- just be sure to add some vitamin E, because it's an oil-soluble vitamin that horses don't produce! They depend on their feed for vitamin E, and you can actually create a deficiency by adding a lot of oil without adding some E along with it.

It might be a good idea to have bloodwork done on this horse -- talk to your vet about this! And in the meantime, you can step up the Equine Senior a little, and see whether that doesn't make a difference. Be sure that the horse has full-time access to a mineralized salt block, and that he gets as much turnout time as you can give him -- full-time if possible. Constant gentle exercise -- walking around a pasture and nibbling -- is ideal for his health and his digestion.

Sometimes it takes a year to get an older, neglected horse looking really good-- why don't you try taking a photo of him every couple months? He may be making better progress than you think, but it can be hard to judge improvements in weight and coat when you see the horse every day. Comparing photos taken at two- or three-month intervals can be VERY encouraging!

I recommend the book THE OLDER HORSE by Eleanor Kellon. It gives you lots of information about managing older horses and keeping them as healthy as possible. There's a review of it -- and the publisher's address -- in the "Horseman's Bookshelf" section of my web pages (the URL is in my sig).

- Jessica

Materials from Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE, The Newsletter of Holistic Horsemanship® may be distributed and copied for personal, non-commercial use provided that all authorship and copyright information, including this notice, is retained. Materials may not be republished in any form without express permission of the author.

Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org

Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.