First off, thank you in advance for allowing a nob into the foal. I will try to not be too big a pain in the rump. A little background on my animal. He is a 29 year old pure blood Percheron that I had the pure pleasure of first meeting when my boss bought him and his teammate at auction in 1994 @ 3 yrs old. He is the last surviving draft animal from the 1997 Mormon re-enactment Wagon Train. I had the joy of driving my boy, (and his teammate), from Nauvoo IL to SLC, Ut. When I recently found out he was still alive I sought out the owner and bought him, I was not taking no for an answer. He is amazing condition, Vet concurs, for an animal of his age. Add to that he now has the very FIRST barn shelter he as EVER had in his life.There is tons more to his story but not right now. To my question(s); what have any of you found to be good supplements, mostly joint type, skin maybe, that you would or do give to your senior animals? My Vet, and let me say I do trust her judgments, says that good quality food and water will do. I AM OLD, and I take supplements, probably too many but…my point is that I KNOW when I feel good, bad or otherwise and supplements take a bit of the old “edge” if you will for me. Soooooo, if they do know harm, and they might just do some good for my boy, whynot? Anyway, got long again, just looking to horse people, I am a devout animal lover, and only a “green horn” horseman, the Boss taught me everything I know and if I only knew what he forgot I would know more than most, alas time took him from me so now I look to horse people to fill in the blanks. I am well aware that I bought a"dead horse", but for whatever time I get with him I want it to be the VERY best for him it can be. Thanks again, Al.
Hello and welcome!
- I am a real stickler on proper hoof care as the saying “no hoof no horse”, truly has merit. It is important to have his hooves on a good maintenance schedule. Every six weeks is average but, if he grows hoof quickly every five weeks.
1.1. It is your duty to keep his hooves clean in between farrier visits. MKing sure he doesn’t get a stone stuck in his hoof or develop Thrush is critical. It’s terrific he now has a barn as a few hours in a dry barn helps hooves immensely during rainy periods, if you have a lot of mud:)
- I hate it when a vet is so generic with their comments on diets. “Good quality food” is by whose definition and more importantly the condition of the horse.
2.1. Your vet forgot to add salt. All horses should have a pure white salt block (cow salt) next to their water station. Some horses love to lick the block, others not so much, so I add one teaspoon of human sea salt twice daily to my horses feed pans.
2.2. Is the handsome fella (I trust he is your avatar:) a hard keeper. An easy keeper. Does he have known metabolic issues that would require a special diet. Does he have history of Tying up that would require a special diet.
Just like senior people, senior horses also go thru changes and he needs a simple but effective diet to reflect that.
- Supplements. Use the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid:) here and what you do buy, be sure it has credible studies behind it.
3.1. My 25 yr old is IR/Cushings, has foundered in the past and has fractured his sacrum twice since 2007. He is a train wreck that most people would have sent down the road.
3.1.1. His joint supplement is Cosequin ASU+ (plus). Not cheap but it’s the only orally fed product that seems to help him.
3.1.2. Being insulin resistant, he doesn’t eat anything from a feed store because most of those products (no matter how “healthy”) have added iron and use soy as the protein source —— both of which are huge no-no’s for this horse.
I buy HorseTech’s condensed vit/min supplement and mix it into one measure cup,of Timothy pellets twice daily.
Again, what you end up buying for the feed pan is dependent upon your horses general health at the present:)
3.1.3. I also buy HorseTech’s pre-probiotic “Gutwerks”. IMHO once a horse hits their late teens/early 20’s they should be on a probiotic. Your fella is 30, he would benefit from a quality probiotic without useless fillers:)
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I feed a quality, locally grown, WEED-FREE grass/mix hay. Paying more money for weed-free hay is really a savings as there is no waste. I prefer first cut from a known grower, as it usually is not as stemmy as 2nd & 3rd cut hay. Plus when a horse is 30 his teeth aren’t what they used to be, so feeding him “the fluffies” is better for him.
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My other horse is 26 and also an easy keeper, so he eats the same base diet, minus the Cosequin:)
I hope this is helpful.
Above is all great advice.
I can only add - let the horse tell you what he needs.
My 27yo RB was maintained on 1gm of Bute daily. He was on this for the last 2yrs of his life & showed no sign of ulcer problems. Xray done in his mid-twenties showed no arthritic changes.
Otherwise he ate the same as his 15yo stablemate:
1st cut grass hay fed by weight & eyeballing how much he made use of from the amount fed.
Whole oats the only grain, fed in small (~4#/day) amounts 2X daily.
“Supplement” was BOSS - black oil sunflower seed - about 2Tbsp topping grain. Fed for coat condition & additional Omega-3 fatty acids.
I have become a big fan of Perchies since owning a half-bred these last 5 years. She just turned 20 and still a pretty spry eventer! I’ll definitely buy another in future.
I’m a long time fan of ground or milled flaxseed for the skin and its anti-inflammatory properties. Otherwise just making sure all vitamins/minerals are met and calorie intake is sufficient is my priority. I’ve tried numerous supplements for joints over the years with my 2 different horses and never noticed enough of a difference on any of them to become “a believer”. That being said, I’m not afraid to try something if it, as you said, “does no harm” and could possibly help.
Powdered MSM has science behind it as being a good maintenance joint support and is usually pretty cheap.
Recently I’ve been feeding Acti-Flex Senior by Cox Veterinary but won’t be purchasing more once the bucket is done. It has lots of good stuff in there (I bought it for the green lipped mussel) but again, didn’t see a difference so no point in pouring my money into it.
Thank You, One and All. Hmmmm, I take a good probiotic, never even thought about it for King, will do. Knew about hooves, the Boss was huge on hoof care. Luckily I have found an excellent young lady that while only weighing in at about King’s front leg, she is very knowledgeable and great with getting him to do her bidding to get a good trimming done. She also uses an aloe and moisturizer based hoof paint that has him now with zero chipping. His paddock area is firm and clean, I make sure on that. Totally forgot the salt, fixed that today. Out where we are it’s alfalfa country and he has been on that from his first days to present, I do have a first rate weed-free grower that does a nice grass mix but he does have access to seasonal pasture grass now and I have noticed a marked improvement in his processing of his diet for the better because of that access. Once again mine and King’s sincere appreciation for all your wisdom and help. I am lucky in that while I did not agree with his living and working conditions over the last 9 yrs of ownership, he must be one hell of an animal because he has managed to thrive on minimums and is in pretty damn good shape. With you all’s words I am hopeful of quite some time to love this ole boy. Again from my heart, Thank YOU.
I highly recommend Equithrive, it’s the only joint supplement that I’ve seen make a big difference. I also feed ground flax, Vitamin E, a ration balancer, and Triple Crown Senior, with supplemental canola oil as needed. Often draft horses do well on a low NSC high fat diet, but obviously it can vary.
Others have offered good advice. You might ask your vet about testing him for PPID and insulin resistance as it may alter how you feed him. That said, CONGRATULATIONS!!! What a wonderful thing you’ve done. Thank you for sharing it.
