I have a 29 year old OTTB gelding with PPID. I have realistic expectations about his body condition. I had an overall wellness appt with my vet yesterday. We did bloodwork so I’m waiting for that. He is still lightly ridden. So we talked about his body condition and specifically muscle. We talked about his diet and she suggested increasing his protein by adding Purina Supersport. I was curious if anyone has any success with this with a senior? Obviously building muscle is challenging at this age especially with PPID.
I used SS on my late older gelding. He was definitely metabolic though his cushings levels were always “normal”. It helped with his topline, but as you said you’re never going to fully regain the body condition of a younger horse. It’s a good product, currently using it on younger one. I prefer that it’s a pellet vs powder.
Thanks! I agree that he’ll never look like a young guy. But I think there is room for improvement in his condition. I just wanna be realistic and not throw away money. I’ve read good reviews on this product but not specifically senior related.
What else does your guy get for feed? Being able to keep him moving helps. The last 4-5 months I was not able to ride my boy due to on/off lameness from his R front coffin bone.
I have had great luck with supersport in my own horses and recommend it to my clients with older or developing horses.
With a few of them I eventually switched them to tri-amino after they’ve bulked up just to save money.
He gets 8 lbs of Tribute Resolve a day. I have been giving him alfalfa hay as my barn feeds only grass hay. Plus 1.5 lbs of Alafalfa pellets a day. He is in a grass pasture turnout, though not high quality honestly.
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Do you supply feed or does the barn? You could drop the Resolve down a bit and add Essential K for extra protein too if they happen to supply Tribute. Otherwise if you have to buy it either way the Super Sport is probably a better option as it will add extra protein and the amino acids.
So lucky to still be riding your older horse! I’ve only gotten mine to 21 and 24 so far. I still have 14 yr and 6 yr old so 
The barn supplies the grain. Honestly I’m not sure I’m a fan of Tribute. I didn’t think about adding something else. My barn has Resolve, Kalm Ultra and Essential K. I think of Essential K as a ration balancer though. Which he shouldn’t need with Resolve I wouldn’t think?
YES, I have my coming 33-year-old on Supersport and am very happy with it. She also is on Prascend and I supplement her grazing and in-stall hay with soaked timothy pellets twice a day. She looks good for a horse of that “vintage.” I’d guess she’s been on the Supersport for 3 years or so. Her topline improved slowly but obviously.
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Thank you so much for the feedback. Can I ask how much you are feeding her?
EK is a ration balancer but it has a much higher protein concentration than Resolve. I fed my guy 4 cups of EK and then added SS. Your horse may need the higher fat though- mine did not. He tended to be overweight.
Yes I need to keep the fat high as well. I feed about 4 ounces of Buckeye Ultimate Finish 40 but I think I should increase that. I think I will add the SS, as I think that’s probably the best option for me. I just got to find it.
I am also re-thinking my senior’s diet and was considering adding either SuperSport or moving him to the Ultium feed. He’s still in work, but just diagnosed with PPID and his muscle gain has been really slow, so was wondering if this might be a good option for him.
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If you were asking me about the quantity, she gets a level 1/2 cup twice a day with her grain. As I recall, that’s the label recommendation for her size. (She’s a 14:3 hand Connemara.)
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Is there any feedback on palatability? For the super picky hard keeping horse.
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Yes, palatability is critical for me, too. I made the mistake of adding in jiaogulan (sp) into the boy’s weekly supplements and now he just cannot choke it down, even though it’s mixed into three lbs of triple crown senior.
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Well I guess I’ll find out this week. My boy has been picky his entire life. I’m hoping to find a bag of this today.
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No issues with my two picking around SS. And they definitely will if they don’t like something.
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Good luck. Let us know how it goes. 
I feel ya. Any changes in texture, taste, whatev, he goes on strike. He’s even picky about treats. Only wants carrots, apples or peppermints. 
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