Putting weight on a senior horse

[Cabaret_SK]

Looking for some COTH wisdom.

I recently got my senior Morgan (23 years) back from the family who had him for the last 3 years. They couldn’t keep him anymore and were looking to re-home. I needed to know he would be safe, so he is back with my family.

He was always a very easy keeper, even when he was in full time work at age 19-20. He came back very skinny (for him). Probably about a 3 on the scale. He lives out 24/7 on pasture, as he hates to be stalled (also not an option at the farm he is now at).

I’m looking for safe ways to get some weight on him before winter. Right now he is getting beet pulp and grain (a 12% protein/8% fat pellet) on the days we go out to see him (3-4 times a week). About half a bucketful of beet pulp (once soaked), and 1 cup of grain).

He gets oats and hay daily with the herd. He is the most dominant, so does not get chased away from his oats, and the beet pulp/grain is fed in the barn away from the others. In the winter more hay will be supplemented.

Would oil be a good idea to add? I am open to changing feed, but would prefer something from Masterfeeds (easy for my family to get while I am at school in a different city).

Thanks!

ETA: Vet has been out for a check. He has been wormed, vet said teeth are fine.

[Altermyne]

I would add soaked alfalfa cubes to the beep

[Sansena]

What did you worm him with/ for? I’d, which parasites did you target? What did his FEC reveal?

What is the volume of ‘a bucket’?

Is there a way he can be fed more consistently?

Had a geriatric mare who lived on sparse, lousy pasture prior to my intervention. I started by adding Source SR, a glug of corn oil top dressing her grain meal twice daily, then gradually switching her over to a 10% fat senior grain.

Next I added( worked up to) 1/2 lb. of dry, no molasses added beet pulp, and soaked it an hour. This would be given am &pm. I also gave her T & a cubes soaked, introduced about a month after she started the best pulp. AgIn, twice - and sometimes 3x daily.

But before all this I dewormed her with Equimax, targeting tape worms, about 3 weeks apart.

The way to get weight on the old ones is to proceed slowly, a few handfuls at a time. I’m not sure giving grain 3 - 5x a week is going to be consistent enough given your time constraints.

[cloudyandcallie]

I am so glad that you took your old horse back.

If Buckeye still makes “Ultimate Finish” buy a big bag of it. It puts weight on horses. Of course I’ve always owned easy keepers, but I had to give my Buckeye Ultimate Finish away in 2 weeks as C&C gained weight immediately. I’d bought it for the omega 3s, not for weight gain.

[spacytracy]

I love Ultimate Finish!!!^^^ Fantastic way to get high calories without a TON of feed.

I would go back and examine your grain.12% protein/ 8% fat is not high at all - its great for a normal horse in work, but for a senior horse, not enough.

I would buy a feed specifically for seniors. They have higher fat/protein/fiber. I personally love Triple Crown, I’ve brought any elderly or skinny horse back from the brink with this feed. If you search on Horse Care, “Triple Crown” you’ll see that many others feel the same.

I would feed that and the Ultimate Finish (or Purina makes a nugget now too). Then I would leave the soaked beet pulp in another bucket for all day munching (maybe mix some senior in with it, but not just enough to entice). I think sometimes oldies get sick of eating the beet pulp so if you mix the feed and beet pulp, they might get tired of eating it before they’ve gotten the really important stuff - the feed.

[wotan]

Optizyme supplement, soaked alfalfa and beet pulp…

I had good results adding beet pulp and soaked alfalfa, either the cubes or pellets, in combination with the supplement Optizyme, which contains probiotics and enzymes to aid digestion. We use a 12% pellet similar to Safe Choice by Nutrena, but from the local coop. 16 hand horse gets up to 4 quarts a day, plus up to 4 quarts of soaked beet pulp/alfalfa cubes mixed. Feeding twice a day, especially in cool weather, also made a big difference. We tried adding fat in the form of Cool Calories, but too much triggered diarrhea in this particular horse.

[Crockpot]

add rice bran

and deworming important

Also for older horse- check the teeth

[Dani]

Rice Bran, Oil, alfalfa cubes/pellets, cool calories, calf manna. I’ve used all of these with varying levels of success. Calf Manna, Oil, and Rice Bran all worked really well for me. Calf Manna I find works better with horses you need muscle built on, but it will put fat on them too.

[Hermein]

Have you had your mare tested for Cushings? (That causes muscle wasting, weight loss & depression; but if your mare is alpha at feeding time, Cushings might be a long shot, which is a blessing.)

Don’t know what’s available in Ontario. Can you get Ultium by Purena? It is 15% fat content. I also like Triple Crown Sr, which is 10% fat content–it’s also a safe choice for Cushings and IR horses because of its NSC (11%).

I’m fighting (and losing) the battle of putting weight back on my 29-yr-old, who has been diagnosed with both Cushings and IR. His teeth are fine, too, but the vet says that his hind gut isn’t doing its job. I’m feeding him a porridge of hard feed and cubes mixed with water enough to make a oatmeal consistency porridge, along with his hay. On this, at least he’s not getting any worse.

Good luck.

[Cabaret_SK]

Thanks everyone.

Most of the information I have is secondhand, as he lives in a different province from me (near my mother). The vet who did the exam wormed him, so not sure what was used. They didn’t test for Cushings. I don’t think the weight loss is a sudden thing - I think it had been going on at the previous home. Teeth were checked by the vet in September.

It looks like I can get Buckeye feed locally. I can’t find a dealer for Triple Crown or Purina. (Horse is in Manitoba, near Winnipeg). I will get some Ultimate Finish, and look at switching his grain to something designed for Seniors. Masterfeeds has a Senior pellet which is 14% protein/6% fat. They don’t seem to have anything with much higher fat, so I may need to see what other brands are available in the area.

[JB]

It would be helpful to know the weights of the feedstuffs you’re feeding. And, specifically what the feed is.

You want something that’s lower in sugars, meaning you don’t want cereal grains in the first 2-3 ingredients.

The older they get, the harder time they have properly digesting nutrients, so you need quality as much as quantity. Adding alfalfa to his diet, either in hay if he’s able to chew well, or pellets if he’s not, is a good idea.

He needs to be fed daily, not just 3-4 times a week, so hopefull you can set up a system such that someone else can give him his food on the days you can’t get out there.

[clanter]

[QUOTE=Cabaret SK;8882317]

I’m looking for safe ways to get some weight on him before winter…[/QUOTE]

You do realize this is October and winter is nearly here? We have Morgans, I would expect about six months to safely adjust a 23 year old’s weight and it sounds like you are wanting to put about 150 pounds on him

Have you used a weight tape on him to get a base line? We found the weight tapes to be accurate to within 25 pounds of actual weight. Near us was a place that sold rock, they had a drive on platform scale, we would pay them a dollar per horse to weigh our guys, so we know the tapes are pretty darn close to the actual

[AKB]

I would buy a senior feed for him and also supplement his diet with a 2 1/2 gallon bucket of soaked alfalfa cubes twice daily. If you provide extra feed, will the barn help feed it when you are not present? Frequent, consistent, feedings are a secret to success when putting weight on a horse.

[JB]

At a BCS 3, assuming the horse is otherwise healthy, and they aren’t a 3 coming up from a 2, it shouldn’t take anywhere near 6 months to safely get 2 BCSs onto a horse.

In the end it doesn’t matter how much weight the horse needs. And IME, weight tapes can be off by 200lb under-weighing :(, but it does depend on the horse. My TB-but-looked-QH was pretty accurately weighed with a new weight tape, verified with a scale weight. But it’s under-weighing the horses I have now.

What matters is there’s a healthy weight, and the tape is a decent enough judge of weight change, even if it’s not that accurate in weighing.

[Cabaret_SK]

Thanks everyone.

I would love to be able to feed him daily, or twice daily, but I am currently putting myself through law school in a different province. To put the distance into perspective, I live 2 hours east of Detroit. The horse is a few hours north of Fargo, North Dakota. It would cost $1000-$1500 to ship him to where I live, and the board options are more limited/more geared to showing.

He lives on pasture, so there is not an option to have “staff” feed him. The staff is the property owner who feeds hay and oats daily. There is not an option to have my gelding fed additional grain daily or twice daily. The horse will not tolerate being in a stall, and that would be the only local boarding option that would allow twice-daily feedings by staff.

Thank you clanter, I am aware winter will be here soon. I was only able to get the horse back in my possession in mid-September, and have been doing what I can from where I live. My mother goes out as often as she can (3-4 times a week), and this is the only option I can see for getting him grain. I figure being in our care, living on pasture, and being grained 3-4 times a week is better than his previous situation - living in a dirt pen, no grain, farrier care a few times a year (if that), and no vet care for 3 years.

Thanks everyone for the food ideas. He is currently eating this: http://masterfeeds.com/equine/podium-cool-energy-pellet. This was not my choice, as I had asked for a senior grain to be purchased. I am planning to purchase a different grain, I just need to find something that will work based on the information I am getting here, and on what is available from the stores here.

[sdlbredfan]

Is he going to be wearing a waterproof, breathable blanket, if he is not already? Preventing him from burning calories shivering is a factor to consider. I agree with those who said Senior feed, increase protein (via alfalfa or via a different feed), and remember that digestive efficiency in equines does decrease with age.

[fordtraktor]

Did I miss something? Shivering is not acceptable as a calorie burning method and is not acceptable care IMO. A shivering horse is not getting what it needs.

But horses don’t need blankets to avoid shivering, they need shelter with hay in it to stay warm (and to be permitted to grow a coat and move around outside). Eating keeps them warmed does movement.

horses evolved in the steppes. Winter in the steppes in brutal. They didn’t evolve to wear blankets.

[JB]

If he’s getting fed oats daily, and is not chased away from his food, why can’t he have additional feed given? How much oats? Can he not get a suitable amount of a fortified feed, instead of the oats?