Howdy,
One of my quarter horses is quite old.. hitting 33 here shortly.
Overall.. good health.. still got good hooves, will still gallop and run witht he rest of the herd, water intake is steady as it has always been about 10g.. I've always fed pelleted dry with a small mix if sweet feed..in the winter I've always upped the feed accordingly and increased the % sweet in the mix to prevent weight loss. I keep the same feed as i know how sensitive equine digestive tracks are... etc.
This winter, he stopepd tolerating the sweet feed.. took us a week to figure out what was bothering his stomach. A weight loss also happened this winter and he thinned out in the rear a bit. his withers are still fine and all. He gets routine care from the farrier every 6 weeks and I have a mobile vet come out so he doesn't have to deal with being trailered. He lost an eye a few years ago which required some equine hospital time..e tc. he recovered well.. has cataracts in his remaining eye.. but he CAN see, and he's in the same pasture and turn out he's know for the last 15ys on our farm.. he's also with the same pasture mates.. most of them have been with him 8-10ys.. so he does get around good.. and many of them will lead him around the fences too.. I'm actually pretty surprised that no one is bullying him or stealing feed.. everyone seems to be taking care of the old man.
Here's the deal.. he started loosing weight... this is what we've done so far.
First. testing. and well... he's not sick and doesn't 'have' anything as far as we can tell.
We modified his feed.. so far this is the mix he gets 2x per day.
1 quart 11% pelleted
1 pint peleted rice supplement ( 5% prot / 20% fat )
1 pint peleted supplement with anise ( 35% prot / 5% fat )
1 pint soybean oil mixed in with feed , for fat content
1 pint red cell supplement with yucca, mixed in feed.
1 quart textured corn/oat/peanut hull/alfalfa feed that is semi-sweet ( this is the only level of sweet he can now tolerate we have found )
We tried that for a few weeks and he stopped loosing weight ( GREAT! ) but he's not gaining on it.
Starting today we are adding some mods to the diet.
We are going to add in a pint of rice bran ( 14% prot, , high fiber, bulk )
Also, adding in 1 pint low sugar beet pulp shred 4/4
and a textured un sweetened ground 100% alfalfa pellet ( unsure of % content.. think it is 8/4 )
we will cut back a bit on the 11% dry pellet to accomodate the adds, but not removing 1 for 1.. we are leaving the extra bulk of the rice bran and beet shreds as the vet says they should throw weight on him.
I've talked to most of the other horse people around includingthe local race track and breeder lot. No one else has any ideas and think thats about all that can be done.
Any other horse people out there have any other gimmicks or tricks for weight?
I have not considered putting him down as he is 100% mobile and doesn't even have arthritis. His teeth are good ( flotated somewhat recently ), mouth passed inspection and no bad teeth either.
He is eating full load, does have apatite and energy, maneuer balls 'look' normal now that we got him off the wet sweet he used to eat that gave him the scours for a couple days.
oh yeah.. not diabetic either.
makes good urine too.
Best we can tell.. he's just plain old...
oh yeah.. no signs of colic.. he's not sanded.. and we monitor him daily for signs lof laminitis/founder as we tweak his diet. we are being carefull of overall protien content with reguard to bulk of feed.. etc.
One of my quarter horses is quite old.. hitting 33 here shortly.
Overall.. good health.. still got good hooves, will still gallop and run witht he rest of the herd, water intake is steady as it has always been about 10g.. I've always fed pelleted dry with a small mix if sweet feed..in the winter I've always upped the feed accordingly and increased the % sweet in the mix to prevent weight loss. I keep the same feed as i know how sensitive equine digestive tracks are... etc.
This winter, he stopepd tolerating the sweet feed.. took us a week to figure out what was bothering his stomach. A weight loss also happened this winter and he thinned out in the rear a bit. his withers are still fine and all. He gets routine care from the farrier every 6 weeks and I have a mobile vet come out so he doesn't have to deal with being trailered. He lost an eye a few years ago which required some equine hospital time..e tc. he recovered well.. has cataracts in his remaining eye.. but he CAN see, and he's in the same pasture and turn out he's know for the last 15ys on our farm.. he's also with the same pasture mates.. most of them have been with him 8-10ys.. so he does get around good.. and many of them will lead him around the fences too.. I'm actually pretty surprised that no one is bullying him or stealing feed.. everyone seems to be taking care of the old man.
Here's the deal.. he started loosing weight... this is what we've done so far.
First. testing. and well... he's not sick and doesn't 'have' anything as far as we can tell.
We modified his feed.. so far this is the mix he gets 2x per day.
1 quart 11% pelleted
1 pint peleted rice supplement ( 5% prot / 20% fat )
1 pint peleted supplement with anise ( 35% prot / 5% fat )
1 pint soybean oil mixed in with feed , for fat content
1 pint red cell supplement with yucca, mixed in feed.
1 quart textured corn/oat/peanut hull/alfalfa feed that is semi-sweet ( this is the only level of sweet he can now tolerate we have found )
We tried that for a few weeks and he stopped loosing weight ( GREAT! ) but he's not gaining on it.
Starting today we are adding some mods to the diet.
We are going to add in a pint of rice bran ( 14% prot, , high fiber, bulk )
Also, adding in 1 pint low sugar beet pulp shred 4/4
and a textured un sweetened ground 100% alfalfa pellet ( unsure of % content.. think it is 8/4 )
we will cut back a bit on the 11% dry pellet to accomodate the adds, but not removing 1 for 1.. we are leaving the extra bulk of the rice bran and beet shreds as the vet says they should throw weight on him.
I've talked to most of the other horse people around includingthe local race track and breeder lot. No one else has any ideas and think thats about all that can be done.
Any other horse people out there have any other gimmicks or tricks for weight?
I have not considered putting him down as he is 100% mobile and doesn't even have arthritis. His teeth are good ( flotated somewhat recently ), mouth passed inspection and no bad teeth either.
He is eating full load, does have apatite and energy, maneuer balls 'look' normal now that we got him off the wet sweet he used to eat that gave him the scours for a couple days.
oh yeah.. not diabetic either.
makes good urine too.
Best we can tell.. he's just plain old...
oh yeah.. no signs of colic.. he's not sanded.. and we monitor him daily for signs lof laminitis/founder as we tweak his diet. we are being carefull of overall protien content with reguard to bulk of feed.. etc.