Background-My small quarter horse is somewhere around 30, been around 800 lbs all the time we have owned him (since 1999), always looked fat. So last winter he started loosing a lot of weight, I knew his teeth had been done, so rather than check with the vet, I just added Amplify fat supplement to his 2x day feeding of Safe Choice Senior and hay. Within a couple of months and one bag of Amplify, he was back to his shiny fat self. I thought great, until the farrier visit. Now the farrier is on a 7 week faithful visit for trimming but this foot issue coincided with just then finishing the bag of Amplify. The foot issue-for the first time since I have owned this horse (1999), with very good feet, he had a soft white line, kinda receding (just a little up into the foot). His feet had also grown more than usual between his 7 week trims. BTW, this horse has always been barefoot. Since the only change I had made was the Amplify, I stopped it immediately and by the next farrier visit, his feet/white line looked much better and went on to look normal again over time.
Ok, so on to this winter. He has continued to eat his Safe Choice Senior, about 5 lbs a day and now eats soaked alfalfa cubes since he no longer can or will eat hay. He has lost a lot of weight since I stopped the Amplify supplement and haven’t dared try anything else to add fat. He recently went to the vet who doesn’t recommend floating his teeth. The vet says he has a low irregular heartbeat now and so doesn’t want to sedate him. Vet says what teeth he has don’t have sharp points. But the vet says he highly recommends adding a fat source like Amplify or Empower Boost. Vet thinks the hoof issue could have been caused by other factors, i,e. a wet time of year, etc. All I know is I had never used Amplify before and the issue seemingly immediately cleared after stopping.
So my dilemma now, what can I safely do to add fat to this horses diet to get a little weight back on him? I have upped the Safe Choice Senior to 6 lbs daily and upped is soaked alfalfa cubes spread between 3 feedings daily, per the vet but am afraid to add a fat supplement as vet wishes. Vet says I need to find a balance between what works with the fat supplement and what is too much, scary for me.
Has anyone else experienced a hoof issue with adding a fat supplement to their older horses diet? Advice please and thank you for reading this long post.
With an aged horse, I’d bet money the hoof issues had little to do with the Amplify and everything to do with decreased absorption of nutrients.
The key is to answer the question “why is he losing weight?”
Could be many things, including age-related Cushings that can cause muscle atrophy and hoof abnormalities. Old horses with Cushings often look thin, but it’s not just weight it’s loss of muscle.
Might be worth having the vet draw bloods and/or test for Cushings. You don’t want to trade one problem for another - some things like Empower Boost are pretty high in NSC - I’d probably try to avoid those.
Get blood test to find out what’s going on and how well he is absorbing what he is getting. I would go to a lower sugar senior feed if I was going to add extra fat. Some Fat supplements can be higher in sugar and add that on top the senior can be too much. You could also top dress with a ration balancer for extra protein and see if that helps as well.
My go-to feed when I had seniors was beet pulp, 2 lbs ration balancer, alfalfa cubes, and top dress with the Legends omega max. It worked well for me getting all the protein in them. They just don’t absorb the nutrients as well so you have to make it easier to absorb or provide denser nutrition.
Yes, I’ve also noticed when on a fat supplement, horses have increased hoof growth.
At 800 lbs I’d have him on a minimum of 13-15 lbs a day combined cubes and senior feed. 18 lbs wouldn’t hurt, given he’s underweight.
800 lbs was at his younger age, when he was fat looking. He is a small quarter horse, not a pony just small, he wears a 68" winter blanket. I have not used a tape measure on him, nor analyzed him on a body score now just know that he has very very little padding. His top line, hips, over the tail bone, at the withers are nothing but bone.
I wouldn’t be convinced that the amplify had anything to do with his hoof issue. I would however be feeding him a lot more feed/cubes. I have 1000lb mare who is 18 and has junky teeth, she eats hay though and she still gets nearly 8lb of senior feed a day split up in to three meals, the keeps her a body score of 5. I have previously had to feed up to 12lbs a day when she was having more issues with hay. If he can not eat hay , he needs a lot more feed/cubes, but up his feed slowly.
How many lbs (dry weight) of cubes is he eating a day? I think tinah is correct on her suggestion of feeding more like 13-18lbs.
Also please take the time to access his body score. This will help you track his weight.
I don’t think the Amplify caused the problems with his feet. As horses age, their immune system weakens and leaves them more vulnerable to opportunistic issues. Not a vet, but have seen plenty of issues like this working in the nutrition industry and have experienced it with my own aging horses. Fat is usually a very “safe” feed stuff for horse.
I do not think I would go the hay cube route necessarily with this horse. If he were mine, I would go to Triple Crown Senior, with the intent of doing three meals a day and as much hay as he can consume without wasting it, if his teeth will allow him to eat it. The TC Senior will add calories with fat and other highly digestible ingredients, with an adequate level of protein. If he is not blanketed, I would blanket him, and keep him in during incliminent weather if at all possible.
The question I have for you is why are you second guessing your vets recommendations?
Equishure helped my 30-yr-old gelding who was dropping weight. Also, I have him on Flax seed oil, which he loves.
