Old Horse

[I luv herfrds]

Was given an old mare. She is for my daughter to help her learn to ride and be more confident around horses.

Well she saw the vet today. Other then being pretty thin, she is in good health.
One big concern for all of us is her loss of 5 teeth. They are all out of the bottom. 3 on one side 2 on the other.

Any suggestions on feeding her?
Already got Equine Senior feed, she is in the corral with my gelding and is on crested wheat grass hay. will be starting her on the feed tomorrow slowly, because she is so thin. Age is mid 20's.
Was also suggested to get her a protien tub.

 

[msscamp]

Soaked beet pulp. It will take a day or two for her to get used to the idea, but after that it will go a long ways towards putting some weight on her.

 

[jonbri55]

We have an old horse who's missing lots of teeth. We give him about 3 pounds of senior (LMF-because it has glucosimine) twice a day. He also gets alfalfa hay. He only eats the leaves and the stems if they are fine but that really puts the weight on him. He leaves a lot of food wads laying around.

Beet pulp WELL SOAKED and wheat bran are great-you can add molasses or brown sugar to entice her to eat it. (If you don't soak the beet pulp the horse could colic or choke-it will use a bunch of water, about 3x it's weight) Another thing you can do is put about a cup of corn oil on the feed. Just make sure the mare is getting plenty of roughage to move the food through the gut.

I LOVE old horses-I hope she becomes your daughter's best buddy.

 

[bward]

We put out a "Smartlick" tub for our 30 year old. it was the one with 20% natural protein and non urea based. He loved it and it supplemented his pasture and hay with the added vitamins and minerals and protein an old horse has trouble getting enough of. He really bloomed with it.

 

[kerley]

It is good to know that folks take care of their old equine friends. Kathy and I are retired and now live in Alabama. We trailered our two horses cross country from Nevada. Our daughter Kelly now thirty two years old use to ride with us. One of our mares is twenty seven and was Kellys first horse. Shadow was always a faithful horse to our family. Today Shadow and our other horse Toby enjoy their retirement in our pasture. They always come running when we call them. They are tons of memories of our children and their horses. Soon it will be our grand daughters turn. Tom :cboy:

 

[Nesikep]

I know of an old stud "Samik" who is mostly "toofless", I think he gets a mash of beet pulp, as well as a fair bit of linseed and seasame seeds in there.. I think he's 33, and has a nice glossy coat

 

[VtMapleGal]

If it were my horse i would feed a good senior food (purina or poulin in my area), 3 times a day if possible, a hay streacher type product, beet pulp (without mollases) well soaked, cocosoya oil, and a good vitamin and mineral block. You could feed dengie hay instead of regular hay also to help with weight.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I got to ask what is "dengie" hay

 

[Bez+]

Nothing like an old horse on the place.

Look after it and life is always better on the farm.

You got some good advice here - but they can still eat hay and pull a little grass - just make sure this old gal is not grazing on short grass.

Bez+

 

[I luv herfrds]

She along with our other 3 are in a pasture that had not been grazed at all this summer. She has a blanket on her to help keep her warm. A shed to go in for shelter.
Filled the feed bunk with hay, but they never touched it. Crested wheat and blue grass.
She's doing pretty good right now.
Found out that she is about 25 years old.

 

[V_Key]

Most Horse Owners Don't Know
The Myths and Reality of Beet Pulp :shock:

http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/beetpulp.shtml

 

[V_Key]

Dengie Hay
http://www.dengie.com/pages/posts/poor- ... lage47.php

 

[V_Key]

I know of an old stud "Samik" who is mostly "toofless", I think he gets a mash of beet pulp, as well as a fair bit of linseed and seasame seeds in there.. I think he's 33, and has a nice glossy coat

That sounds like my Dad and he's only 70

 

[VtMapleGal]

I guess we should also ask if a fecal check was done on this horse, and possibly some blood work to make sure she is "healthy" other than being thin

 

[I luv herfrds]

Vet gave her every shot needed and wormed her as well. He's biggest (the vet) concern was possible skin cancer since she is a white horse. He checked her all over and found no problems.

 

[VtMapleGal]

Just because he wormed her doesnt mean she isnt loaded with worms. I would have a sample checked about 3-4 weeks after the worming. Around here i can bring a sample to my vet, its like 10 bucks, and he looks under the micrscope for eggs. youd be surprised after worming every 6-8 weeks how many eggs he can find sometimes...

 

[jonbri55]

There's some great advice in these posts. Beet pulp, senior feed, alfalfa hay. You can put corn oil-about a cup-on her feed. We also blanket our old horse when the temps get in the low 20's and the weather turns foul. Excercise her too-that keeps them young! Good luck-old horses can be a real gold mine.

 

[TexasBred]

Dengie Hay
http://www.dengie.com/pages/posts/poor- ... lage47.php

Very good link....hope everyone reads it. Beet Pulp is one of the safest ingredients you can feed a horse and it does not cause colic and they won't choke on it even if feed "as is" from the bag. Has a tremendous "fill factor" which holds down consumption some, highly digestible and just a great ingredient.

http://WWW.tdihorsefeeds.com makes a great senior feed based using a protein pellet, a little corn, some soybean hulls and about 25% beet pulp along with molasses. Your horses will love it.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Mare went down a few days ago. The other horses were able to get her up.
Went out yesterday morning and she was laying down in the bottom of the coulee behind our house. Went out to check her and found her dead. :cry2:
It just seemed like she had just given up. Just about broke my daughters heart. I sure hated having to tell her when she got home.
Not a good day.

 

[MistyMorning]

Mare went down a few days ago. The other horses were able to get her up.
Went out yesterday morning and she was laying down in the bottom of the coulee behind our house. Went out to check her and found her dead. :cry2:
It just seemed like she had just given up. Just about broke my daughters heart. I sure hated having to tell her when she got home.
Not a good day.

No, not a good day at all ILH, sorry for the loss.