Keeping the golden oldies sound and comfortable

[dani0303]

I’m in the process of bringing my golden oldie 24 year old SF gelding out of semi-retirement for a few more small jumper shows this year. So far he’s sound and happy but I want to keep him that way and offer as much support as I can.

Right now he’s on 6 qts (roughly 6 lbs) of Triple Crown senior a day with SmartPak Smart Combo Senior Ultra supplement. He’s on free choice orchard grass hay and 2-3 flakes of alfalfa supplemented. He’s in a good weight right now but do I need to up his feed as his workload increases?

The vet is coming next week to inject his hocks. Any other meds I should ask him about? Adequan? Osphos? Surpass? He shows very no soreness and only mild arthritis.

There are some new products on the market like the Back on Track stuff. Is that something I should consider as well? I’m specifically looking at the mesh sheet and quick wraps.

Sorry for the deluge of questions. I have all the experience in the world but get blinded when it comes to this particular horse. I know 2’6 jumpers is nothing compared to our days of glory in the 4’6 but I still want to keep him sound and happy as long as possible.

[JB]

Does he get grass in addition to the hay?

Only time will tell if he needs more calories. If so, you can quite safely increase his TC Sr to 10lb/day if you want, 5 each feeding. Or you could add a fat supplement if he won’t eat 5lb in a sitting, or you would rather not feed that much (but it’s low NSC makes it very ok) Or maybe 1-2lb of a fat supplement would suit him better than another 4lb of feed.

for a fat supplement you could do rice bran (I’d get fortified (added calcium) since most of his forage is grass-based), or a branded product like Purina Amplify, Nutrena Empower Boost, or Progressive Envision Classic. Fortified rice bran, such as Max-E-Glo, is probably cheaper.