I have various recommendations on which brand of senior feed to use for my 30 year old gelding. It seems to be either Triple Crown, Purina or Nutrena. I would like to hear what you folks on the forum recommend. Basically he still has pretty good teeth and is on pasture 24/7 but in the winter of course he receives hay. And for the 3rd winter now when I put him on hay he develops diarrhea and loses weight, quite a bit this year. Right now I have him on about 4lbs nutrena senior with rice bran, alfalfa pellets and soaked beet pulp divided into am and pm feedings. He has good mixed grass hay 24/7.
Seniors sometimes need far more calories in winter vs. summer. 4 pounds of senior isn’t a full daily serving (well, unless he’s a pony). Nutrena is fairly high in NSC (starch and sugar). TC would be a better choice - or ProElite if it is available in your area. Both are higher fat and lower NSC than the Nutrena.
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Senior feeds are already very complete, other than maybe fiber, which any kind of hay would be good for that.
Ask your vet, but all those supplements may not be necessary and may be causing the diarrhea if they add way more than his system needs and can process?
Our vets consider any kind of diarrhea in horses a red flag that needs attention right away, can turn badly in a hurry with horses.
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I would pick your favorite brand in a price range that you feel comfortable with. I like Purina but switched from Equine Senior to Impact Professional Senior. It’s a better quality feed.
People always have brand preferences and reps on this BB will push their brand.
4lbs is not a lot of feed. Our seniors always got 6lbs a day and they were Arabs. If he’s eating hay and in good weight it might be fine, although I’d up his grain before adding the rice bran and beet pulp.
Thank you everyone. I should have mentioned that he is a 14.2h half Haflinger, half quarter horse weighing about 800 lbs when he was young. All of your advice sounds good!
I’m a big TC Senior fan. Low NSC, pretty palatable, high fat and beet pulp based. It’s also a fixed formula (I don’t believe that Nutrena and Purina are, correct me if I’m wrong). You could probably drop the additional beet pulp, too. 6lbs is the full recommended serving for a 1000lb horse. Do you know what his current weight is?
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I had good luck with Triple Crown senior with my now deceased senior pony. For him, the lower NSC was very important since he also had Cushings. I have not tried senior feeds from Purina or Nutrena.
I am liking the Tribute Senior Sport. It is a lot like TC Senior in appearance and ingredients, a bit higher in sugar
Any commercial ration is already balanced for all your average horse it is made for needs.
Senior feed is already what your average senior horse should thrive on.
We need to be careful not to add any supplements that unbalance those carefully formulated feeds, unless we are sure the horse needs those specific supplements, which most don’t.
I would cut back to a basic ration only and see how the horse does first.
That alone may clear his diarrhea.
Then if it still needs more, consult with your vet what to supplement next and why, not just add more without a good reason.
If it still has diarrhea, your vet should help with that.
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Rice Bran, Beet pulp and alfalfa pellets are not considered supplements, FYI 
They’re considered different types of feed, fat or grain.
I don’t like Nutrena or Blue Seal products. Personally, I’d stick with TC Sr if you have the option.Higher fat, lower NSC rating and as others have mentioned guaranteed ingredients. IOW, they don’t adjust ingredients to meet the minimum analysis on the bag based upon whatever commodity is cheapest at the time of production. TC keeps the ingredients consistent, and the price will fluctuate because of it.
What is this horse’s deworming program? Active ingredient at what interval please? He may have encysted strongyles and/ or tape worms. And long stemmed fibers will be difficult for a horse to digest if they have had issues with their colon (surgery, injury from impaction/ parasites, previous case of colitis).
When was his last visit with a dentist?
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When some nutrients are used as supplements to a specific ration they too can alter what a ration is supposed to do.
Adding one more source of fat alone can cause diarrhea, while adding soluble fiber could help bringing some causes of diarrhea under control.
I think a vet would know best and if not sure, know where to go find credible information about what to recommend there.
Important to note the advice of re-checking deworming protocol for that horse and for any dental issues.
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Of those 3 brands, the quality of TC in general is better than the other 2, IMHO. They list all actual ingredients, they balance the amino acids to the ratios found in muscles, they have a hind gut support nutrient package, and they’re just nice feeds.
I like anything that Buckeye or Blue Seal makes, in general, MUCH better than TC, or Purina. Purina being the low end of the spectrum.
If he has his teeth, is on pasture and eats hay, why does he need a complete Sr feed that not only contains lots of fiber but requires you feed multiple pounds/day (check the back of the bag…)? My old gal (30+) did not like eating all that feed, and consequently would not finish and lost weight int he winter. So, I moved her to the same as my other horses (at the time, Seminole herb blend) with a supplement meant for Sr horse’s nutritional needs.
I don’t know where you’re located, but I like the Integrity Senior feed made by Star Milling, but they are located in California and I don’t know how easy it is to get elsewhere.
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One of my horses is a hard keeper. This solved that problem:
https://www.nutrenaworld.com/product/proforce-senior-horse-feed
I tried everything else with this horse, but this is the only one that maintains the weight with this horse.
I’d maybe try pro elite senior along with a serving of alfalfa and 24/7 good quality grass hay and if he starts having loose stool add in platinum performance.
I take care of a friend’s senior mare who was drastically underweight and a hard keeper. She’s put on a few hundred pounds while I’ve had her in my care(about four months now), and our vet helped us come up with a feeding plan. Personally in my experience I’ve noticed much better results with pro elite senior than with triple crown. She’s a 17 hand appendix quarter horse so she’ll definitely need a lot more feed than your guy, but she gets 7 lbs pro elite senior, 7 lbs pro elite performance, 2 lbs rice bran, and a flake of alfalfa daily (the rest of her forage being 24/7 grass hay or pasture). We also have an 18 year old quarter horse who isn’t a hard keeper(2 lbs pro elite senior daily) but does have bad diarrhea often and we put him on Platinum Performance and it manages it 100%, his manure is always solid now. Best of luck!
The vet believes it is a hay issue. He said very often seniors have a hard time digesting hay. Also while he has all his teeth he does have a wave issue which can makes it more difficult to properly chew the hay. I have always been concerned about too much grain but it seems like I need to consider it now. It’s hard not knowing what to do! This horse has been with me since a 2 yrs old and means the world to me.
If he is having trouble chewing normal hay, you could try chopped hay or soaked hay cubes. You could also add rice bran (or other oil), but may not be a good idea if he already has diarrhea issues.
My 33 yo (16 h) gets about 12 lb of Pro-Elite Senior per day, plus rice bran oil, chopped hay, and hay cubes, as well as pasture. But she quids both pasture and normal hay.
