Try adding 3 Nexium tabs to his feed for a month to see if it helps his pickiness.
Also, you may try probiotics.
I’m beginning to get a complex because all my senior horses do exactly what you are describing in their twilight years. But one thing I’ve found is after their hay intake starts decreasing, they are much more prone to digestive discomfort than they used to be post illness, injury, and medication.
We’ve done the nexium protocol many times over the years and scoped for ulcers. He has a tell when he’s ulcery and this isn’t it. Treating for ulcers has never resolved for his pickiness. It has helped when he’s stopped eating and I do use ulcergard whenever he’s on bute long term or antibiotics. He’s super relaxed and chill now and my husband can handle him completely (he handles him 95% of the time) which he cannot do when he’s ulcery. This horse wears his emotions/pain on his sleeves. If I can find a probiotic he’ll eat, I’m not against it, most he tried in the past were poison (poison leads to a week long hunger strike).
He is actually eating a lot of hay outside. I spent a lot of time observing yesterday. We put out a round bale last week and he must have spent 6 hours in front of it. Which is pretty good. It’s nice hay and baled from the field next to the one where we get our small squares. I haven’t done rounds in years so this is an experiment.
I’m going to hang his hay net tonight (needed another hook) and once he’s fully transitioned to the active, I’ll start adding oil or a pelleted supplement. I don’t want too many changes at once.
Related to what’s mentioned here, I’ve had success adding ground flax to soaked hay cubes. My 26yo Thoroughbred is PPID and insulin resistant and is also a picky hard keeper and a choker so I worked really hard to find a program to provide the calories and nutrition he needs while keeping everything appropriate for his special dietary needs. No small feat! For him, simpler is better. The more things I add, the more suspicious he gets. I really didn’t expect him to like ground flax since he’s refused it in the past, but if I feed it mixed in his soaked hay cubes, he can eat about 3 cups a day (split into a few feedings). He likes the Triple Crown Golden Flax. I think the comparatively small amount of flax mixed in the large volume of cubes makes it less offensive. And the flax mixes and soaks better in the hay cubes than it does in his feed. The flax gets slimy/goopy when it’s mixed with some soaked feeds. And he likes the Triple Crown Timothy Balance Cubes way more than I thought he would- they’re timothy hay cubes with some beet pulp added. He gets 10 pounds a day of them and they take care of part of his forage needs (they’re not as caloric as alfalfa so they might not work for your guy, but they’re working well for us). I also agree with your thoughts about looking at the delivery/feeding of the food. Little details like frequent smaller meals and appealing/ergonomic feed tubs/mats can make a big difference for some of them. Best of luck- the seniors are extra special.
For oil, I always liked the fatty acid profile of Cocosoya, and there is a granular form awa the liquid oil.
Another option, though probably not as nuanced an approach as everything discussed so far here, but one I’ve had good results with, is Manna Pro Senior Weight Accelerator.
I just switched to Full Bucket probiotics. They smell heavenly, and my guy who is a bit particular loves it. Recommended by my vet and stuffed with good bacteria. I did the 5 day kick start with 2 tubes per day (they also smell and taste good (yes I taste things to see what I’m dealing with!)). Then went to pellets. I do the extra strength.
Quick update.
I’m going to look into all the suggestions and add one thing at a time after he’s fully transitioned onto the Senior Active. He’s eating small amounts of it so far so progress? I doubt he’ll eat it without the sweet feed mixed in, but honestly, I’d rather he eat then not eat anything. My vet and one nutritionist told me not to stress the sweet feed. If I can move it him 2/3, 1/3 ratio, great, but I won’t push it.
In other positive news, I got his new hay net up last night and it’s HIGH (he doesn’t need to lower his head at all to eat; he doesn’t have to raise his head either). And he emptied 3/4 of it. More hay than he’s had in his stall in weeks/months. He was eating hay again after breakfast when I went to turn out. He at much less alfalfa, but wasted almost no hay. I found he went back and forth between nets, but spent most of his time at his new orchard hay bag. So, the height of his feeder box was definitely bothering his neck and it looks like he’s got some neck arthritis going on. Either way, I’m THRILLED at the amount of hay he ate and I’m going to stuff it full again tonight. I also bumped up his alfalfa pellets (kept the cubes the same) and he cleaned those up. He was VERY happy this morning.
The lip 
Hello, handsome! Your mom is doing her very best for you, can you help out by eating your meals? Maybe just meet in the middle? 
That’s great news! I use a back on track neck wrap for my oldies. It seems to help.
Hmmm maybe not a bad idea…
How’s your guy doing @pompeii ? Did you end up trying any other feeds? Did adjusting the height of the feeder continue to help? I’m looking for ways to keep one of my old guys eating this winter and definitely interested to hear what’s worked for others!
@HappyHorsey he’s doing OK. Still on the Purina Senior Active mixed with the Omolene 200 sweet feed and while he doesn’t love it (senior active), he’s eating it consistently enough. I was whining about his weight and then my farrier showed up a couple of weeks ago, took a look at him, and commented how great he’s looking. So, part of it might be that’s he’s lost a little more muscle which is why he’s looking a little rough in my mind. But, now, if I force myself to be objective, he isn’t looking bad.
I tried to feed chopped hay and found that he will eat it. Unfortunately, if he eats the chopped hay, he skips out on his cubes/hay pellets. So, I pulled back on the chopped hay. It was just about a pound or so but the cubes and pellet combo is way more important. No clue why he will eat one or the other. I’ll try again when it gets colder.
He’s hit or miss with his grass hay. Some nights he demolishes it, other nights he doesn’t touch it. I’ve decided not to stress. I am going to keep feeding round bales outside because he decided to be a pig with access to a round. They hay isn’t as great but he spends more time eating so I think it’s worth it. Mostly my other 2 are pigs so he hangs out with them and if they’re eating, he might as well eat.
Otherwise, all nets/bags are hung high in his stall and buckets are chest height which he likes. I haven’t added oil, but it’s an option for winter as is a fat supplement if oil is a no.
That’s a good sign! One trick my trainer used on the thin ones is to take a pic once a month or every 2 weeks to compare.
I have a very picky senior mare here who doesn’t like much in life. She needs some weight heading into winter and the only hard feed I’ve found that she’ll eat readily and heartily is CR ProFibre Crunch complete feed by Step and Purina Pur-Athlete (for the extra fat) with a hearty scoop of BOSS. I don’t particularly like the Step line, but if my picky 27 year old is going to eat it and actually seem to enjoy it to the point she’ll defend her bowl… I won’t argue.
Just thought I’d update about a month later.
I ended up making a few changes. My senior is currently eating Purina Senior Active without any sweet feed at the moment. I actually ran out of the sweet feed (switching over from the equine senior to the senior active left me with 3 kinds of feed and I miscalculated my feed supply) and I decided to just see how much of the senior he’d eat with out sweet feed. And I managed to go more and more and longer and longer and then I was out and he just sort of kept eating… He’s been on the senior active exclusively for 2 weeks. He’s not thrilled with it, but he is cleaning his bucket so we’ll go with it for as long as I can. If I need to go back to sweet feed, I’ll see if he’ll do the Omolene 500 vs the 200 to mix in. But for now…
Unfortunately, he’s doing less well with his cubes. He’s eating the cube/pellet mash (this bag of pellets are just much harder than usual and I wonder if I have a mislabeled bag and they’re timothy/alfalfa vs straight alfalfa), but they’re not soaking as well and if they’re hard, he won’t finish or if the wind blows in the wrong direction, he’ll leave the soaked pellets.
He also stopped eating grass hay and was pretty much exclusively eating his alfalfa. I did get a new batch of alfalfa (not western, but nice PA alfalfa that my hay guy looked at and was highly impressed by) and it’s super soft.
That said, the other day I was steaming hay for my other 2 (allergies and gut issues) and my senior suddenly decided that he NEEDED to have steamed hay. He’s been cleaning up 2-3 flakes a night (5-7 lbs) depending on how much alfalfa he eats. Next week he may decide he hates steamed hay, but for now? I’ll take it. Last time I offered steamed hay he wouldn’t touch it…
I do plan to add it a fat source as he’s dropped weight again. Since he’s been super picky about his cubes, I’ll probably add in ultimate finish (he’s never like amplify). I have a round bale outside and he is eat that.
Recently started my guy on Platinum Performance Healthy Weight. It’s a flax based oil and he LOVES it. You might find 2 oz twice a day gives him a boost.
I need to stick with a pellet vs oil. I thought I could add oil to his cubes, but he’s so finicky about them right now that that is out. I definitely won’t add any oil to his feed. (He will eat the ultimate finish 25)
Bless these seniors, they do like to keep us on our toes!
Thanks for the update! My guy is definitely keeping me on my toes this fall, so I’m glad to hear what’s working and not working for other people. I do wonder if it’s the weather changes at this time of year that make the older guys a little fussier. My guy has been going back and forth on grain but seems to like hay pellets - maybe it’s because of variations in feed texture or something, but it’s definitely anyone’s guess every day!
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
