Does anyone know the calorie information for this product? My horse is losing weight at the new boarding facility. He doesn’t like the hay. I’ve been adding compressed hay, which he adores. Problem is that when I feed the compressed hay, he doesn’t always finish his grain ration. Vet says its better to have him finish his grain, that there’s more calories in this feed - but I can’t find the caloric information for this feed.
It’s better to finish the hay and to have good hay the horse will eat. Trying to make up for crap hay with bagged feed is a losing game. I realize it happens in bad boarding barns but it’s just not the right move
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I have a older horse that REALLY did not do well on the Sentinel products (I tried the Performance LS.) They’re so light that a pound of product is just a bonkers amount of feed. The volume she needed was just so far past what she was willing to consume. I’m not surprised your guy is having a tough time with it, he’s definitely not alone in that.
The Performance is 1635 kcal/lb according to my post here (I don’t remember where I got that number, there’s a comment here that says 1580) so Senior is probably a bit south of that.
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My Paint gelding did well on Sentinel LS and Sentinel Active Senior. He was on pasture board with free choice round bales. I started him on LS for the nutrition and calories in his early 20s. I moved him to Active Senior when he was 27. It has a different balance of some of the minerals etc. for older horses. His teeth were pretty good so he didn’t need regular Senior for fiber. We have a company Blue Seal store 5 minutes away. The manager knows her products, the competiton, and my horse well.
All of the Sentinel products are extruded. It is easier to make a transition to another formula. LS is a performance formula but it is also good for adding calories. If you go to their website there is lot of information on products including lists of ingredients. They have expanded that product line. They manufacture in Vermont.
When we retired to another barn someone dumped way too much water in his grain one day. He loved it soupy, lapped it out of the tub and licked the stall walls. 3 servings per day. He was in a stall with a big runout. They would throw 4 flakes by the wall between 2 stalls. He grabbed a giant chunk in is mouth, then waved it around in the air to loosen it up. He made a very neat pile of fluffy hay along the wall. He usually pushed a bit out the back door under the overhang. I had to put him down last July. He was amazing.
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It sounds like he needs to finish all of the above. Not sure about calories off the top of my head, but Sentinel Senior doesn’t have much fat in it, either (5.5% I think) so that doesn’t help. But it doesn’t matter what nutrition is in any hay or feed if he won’t eat it. I’d continue to get him hay he will eat and be looking for another, more palatable feed option. Does your barn offer anything else or can you bring your own?
Thanks everyone! I agree, Scribbler. I’m not a nutritional expert, but I think quality hay is the basis of a good diet. The horse has always been beefy on just 2 pounds of feed a day & quality 2nd cutting. Now, he’s on 6 pounds of food & less quality 1st cutting. It’s not working weight wise & he’s hungry. 6 pounds doesn’t seem like a lot, but as Simkie said, it takes a lot of this food to make that weight.
I buy the feed, so I can put him on whatever I like. The vet, for some reason, loves this food. He said to cut the hay ration & push the food & to consider “that there’s hay in the feed.” Again, I don’t understand this statement as this isn’t a complete feed - meaning, you still need hay if you’re feeding this.
I’m going to continue getting him a hay he’ll eat & try adding some water to this feed. If he’s still leaving feed, I’ll switch to something else. Food only adds weight if it’s eaten LOL.
Thanks again.
Sentinel Active Senior (AS) and Performance LS are similar with 12% fat vs 5.5% in Senior.
Fiber is 15% maximum in AS and 20% max in LS. The diifference is that the minimum fiber in Senior is 17%.
If you look at the feeding directions on the website:
Senior has a Maintenance level of .40-.65 lb/100 lb of body wieght. Light exercise is .45-.65 lb/100 and Moderate is .55-.75
AS and LS don’t have a Maintenance level. Light exercise is .40-.60 and Moderate is .45-.70. They have heavy and very heavy levels.
Senior recommends changing to Active Senior for Heavy exercise and Hard Keepers.
Senior also has Diets with Minimal Hay for Maintenance 1.00 - 1.25 lb/100 body weight. That is where the 5.5% fat comes in. 10 lbs of 12% fat is way more calories compared to 10 lbs of 5.5% fat.
All three weigh .85 lb/quart.
My horse was about 1100-1150 lbs. His teeth were in good shape so he didn’t have a problem with hay. That is why he was on LS and AS. I fed him his grain at our original barn but he wasn’t getting enough hay. We retired to a stall with runout at a luxury barn. I kept him on Blue Seal; the barn fed another brand. The BO was meticulous about feeding each horse. She got him back to excellent condition with normal body weight.
I figured he should have about 6 lb/day and there were 3 feedings. That is about 2-1/4 quarts/meal. I got him a pitcher-style scoop and put his name on it. I weighed the grain and marked the scoop. It stayed in his grain bag. If you rely on the usual scoops with the handle you don’t know what you are feeding other than a “scoop” which measures volume. That’s usually okay until they start aging, their teeth start wearing out, and their nutritional needs start to change.
The new barn’s grain room had 2 white boards. One had scheduling - my horse got b’fast grain and supplements, supper grain, and late night grain. The other one had recipes and hay: b’fast was one scoop of grain, one bagged supplements. They hung onto old SmartPak drawers for bagged supplements. The barn changed hands but the new BO stayed with that plan. It sounds more complicated than is. Once I figured out what my horse needed it didn’t make any difference who fed them, as long as they used the white boards.
When I had to put him down in July his body weight was normal and his coat was shiny. He was a bundle of energy. It was tough because he looked so good, but not so bad because he wasn’t a ribby raggedy old man.
I looked at several websites before I decided to stick with Blue Seal. A big reason is the amount of information they post and you can compare products on one screen.
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Thanks for the nutritional info. I’m weighing his food so I know how much he’s getting. I’ll look into their other products. I just went with the vet’s recommendation.
I’m sorry for the loss of your boy. He was lucky to have such a conscientious owner. I’m sure your good care brought him happiness right to the end. 
