Help with topline decline on 20 yr old gelding

[NaturallyHappy]

Since he is 20, I second my own suggestion of asking your vet to check his ACTH for Cushings/PPID. It is manageable with the drug Prascend. If you google it, you will see many symptoms he may have that you’ve not recognized. A dropped back-pot belly can be one.

[atlatl]

My 24 year old does great on 20 lbs of Orchard hay a day, 2 pounds Purina senior, 1 pound of Purina Enrich Plus, with assorted supplements. When he dropped some weight this winter, I switched him to Purina senior active and man did he put the weight back on fast.

Good Luck!

[MNick]

Getting old sucks! I’m sure that everyone has offered great advice but I’m going to give a shout out to my two favorite choices (obviously hay by body weight is a must) Triple Crown Senior Gold and Alfalfa hay. Triple Crown Senior is good if you don’t have access to Gold. Gold offers a great gut support. I don’t know about you but as I age, my gut can use it why shouldn’t we be supporting their gut too.

There’s so much debate about Alfalfa but I’ve brought emaciated horses back with it, feed it to my OTTB without his mind exploding, everyone gets it. Amount they receive is based on the horse. Definitely worth adding!

[beau159]

@lotz03

He is due to have a full dental. We tried to have them floated late in the fall and it was a disaster. They want to fully sedate him. They used 2 doses of the typical sedation, a shoot, a twitch, and some sort of medival looking mouth piece and still couldn’t get them the last time. He has had a hard time with someone and his mouth or teeth in the past. They were afraid of creating more bad experiences and recommended putting him out to the level of a castration procedure. We have an appointment to have that done soon.

This itself might have a great impact on his weight and his nutrition.

Also, do the vets in your area do lameness exams?
At age 20, doing barrel racing and pole bending , there are bound to be some aches and pains that can be better addressed. If he has pain anywhere, it can hinder him wanting to travel collected and build the top line because, well, it hurts!!

Two of my horses are age 19 this year and they are mostly retired for my kids (ages 7 and almost 9) to enjoy. They mostly walk and trot on them. I try to ride once or twice a week when I have time (after my own horses) just to make sure they are still feeling good, tuned up, and get some exercise. And let me tell you, I spend the most money on my retirees every year!! Front shoes with pads, Osphos (for navicular), joint injections (when needed - usually front feet and hocks most years), Adequan, Equioxx during the competition season … and I’m sure I am forgetting things.

I guess I know how they used to feel in their younger years, so I do my darndest to keep them as close to that as I am able, so my kiddos can enjoy them for the next 10 years (if they make it that long!).

Now you obviously don’t have to jump into the deep end of the pool, but a quality lameness exam with a good performance vet would be another thing to check off the list at some point, to make sure he is feeling as good as you can get him.

[SpicyPRE]

Think about amino acid supplementation. * Muscle Growth:

Amino acids, especially Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) like leucine, isoleucine, and valine, are important for stimulating muscle protein synthesis and promoting muscle growth.

My guy is a very easy keeper and in trying to keep his weight down, I had been inadvertently cutting back on the nutrients his topline needed. You need a full spectrum

If this has already been mentioned, sorry.