So Music is over 17 hands. He’s in a field with Dunkin, my ancient but amazing mini horse, donk donk the mini donkey, and Oo we Oo who’s a Shetland from University of Pennsylvania 's herd (they breed them and then use them for teaching purposes for the vet students to practice on).
They follow him everywhere wnd worship him like the god his is. :lol:
I’m not sure he’d ever been around a donkey before, he was quite shook the first night he met her, but they are bffs now !
My old guy had to be ridden at least three days per week with lots of long and low to get his back up and lots of suppling or else he would be stiff. I prefer pentosan over anything else, towards the end he was getting it almost once a week.
If I may semi-hijack this very helpful thread, what are everyone’s favorite feeds for their senior eventers? My guy is 17 and has been eating BS Sentimental Performance LS but I’m thinking of switching him to a senior feed. What do people recommend for the active, avg keeper senior? For helping keep on weight and topline. He gets free choice hay 24/7.
I put my 19 yo on Tri Amino for the first time this fall and have been very pleased with the results. Noticeable difference in his topline and coat.
To echo what others have said, mine needs a longggg warm up at the walk, then lots of long and low. I find that he is never very bendy OR forward at the beginning, so I don’t ask for much until he starts to feel more “self propelled”. Basically, I let him tell me when he’s ready to go to work. That first walk-trot transition of the day is always pretty shabby. lol. but it gets better.
hijack away!
I feed Farmer’s Co-Op feeds so right now he’s on Fiberize. He lost some weight when he first came (he’s stressed easily) and I also don’t have access to as good quality hay as he had before. He gets basically unlimited pasture hay and then I got this amazing pure alfalfa that I supplement him with at least once a day.
He came with Smart Pak brand ulcer supplement but he hasn’t seemed ulcery since I put him on 24/7 turn out with his minions. He also came with a Smart Pak joint supplement, I’m going to keep him on that until maybe March then switch to Adequan.
In addition to adding the alfalfa my nutritionist said I could try Ground Roasted Soybeans. I haven’t gotten a bag yet because I won 10 bags of Amplify Supplement so I’m using that first!
You guys look so HAPPY! His ears are perked looking for the next fence, and then flick back and forth to you between. I LOVE IT.
I agree with what everyone has said–out 24/7, constant work, maybe injections, preventative.
I’m going to agree, too, with the BOT mesh sheet (alone or under a blanket)–I’m a big fan, and I think they help keep long backs more flexible.
The only thing I’ll add is that I have all my horses on Probios and/or one of the smartpak digestive aids. I think they can all benefit from a happy gut.
HAVE ALL THE FUN!!
In addition to hay, my horse gets Triple Crown Senior, Triple Crown 30 (ration balancer), bran, Platinum Performance CJ, & Probios. I’m slowly phasing out the TC30 as I’m not sure how much it’s doing, and because the PP CJ is expensive and I think it makes more of a difference. At any rate, this seems to be a good combo for my guy!
Thank you!!! That’s literally all I want in life is for he and I to be happy no matter what we do. We were doing gymnastics at my trainer’s the other day and I was sooo nervous and after the second time I swear to god he side eyed me and was like “look human, hold on to the grab strap and let me handle this!” and he just trucked me through it. :lol:
It really has been perfect, he’s super quirky and I can tell how a normal boarding barn would be driven crazy by him… but at home I can manage all his crazy and appreciate him for how well he takes care of me.
There is so much good advice here. I have had 2 eventers that both did intermediate, I got them at age 16. They knew so much more then I did. They reminded me just how much I liked to ride. I learned a lot even though I go at a snails pace. The long and low works miracles on the older guys… Good food and lots of turnout. My horse gets a bit of maintenance as he is 23 and now appears to have sustained a stifle injury. Not age related…
Enjoy him and have fun even if it is walking for an hour.
My retired horse (also long/swaybacked and had trouble maintaining topline) used to get 6 pounds of a Moorglo rice bran / Purina Senior mix daily plus hay, corn oil, and a variety of Smartpaks when he was in work. He was a pretty hard keeper which is what the rice bran and corn oil were for, but I would definitely recommend Purina Senior.
Also, to OP, if you’re limited by arenas, just getting him moving as often as possible will make a huge difference! Long hacks if possible are great, and it’s good that he’s already living in a pasture so he can move around throughout the day.
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