Feeding The Veteran Horse
By Sophie Edwards MSc, BSc(Hons), Allen & Page Nutritionist
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| Feeding The Veteran Horse |
Just like their human owners, as horses get older they tend to reach a stage where they start to look their age and lose weight more easily than they used to. Such is life! For some horses that may be aged fourteen, whilst for others it may be twenty-two! There is no set age at which their nutritional needs change, and once again, just like their human counterparts, some age better than others!
Generally speaking, older horses require careful attention, as their nutritional demands do differ from younger horses, affected as they are by a number of conditions that develop with age and have an impact on their diet.
A number of factors can start to have an effect on the older horse's diet, such as a reduced ability to digest and absorb feeds, loss of weight and body condition, deterioration and loss of teeth, changing angle of the incisors, stiffness and loss of joint mobility.
If you start to notice some of the effects of older age creeping up on your horse, then this may be the ideal time to consider action. So how can you tell whether your horse needs a change in his diet? There are a number of things you should be looking out for.
A loss of weight, particularly during the winter, when the grass stops growing, or when not much grass is available, is one telltale sign that something may be wrong.
In the spring and summer when grass is highly nutritious, soft and succulent, the older horse, whose teeth aren't what they used to be, finds it easy to eat and put weight on. In these circumstances, some form of assistance is essential to help ensure good condition throughout the year, and not just when the weather is fine.
On a simple level, any loss of condition over the hips and withers will indicate a problem. Equally, stiffness will frequently be more apparent when your horse first comes out of the stable in the morning, and often it is just a matter of recognising little things like this that help you to act.
It is not uncommon for a horse to have difficulty eating hay, or not eat as much hay as he used to. Sometimes the horse is being offered as much hay as it will eat, as well as getting a concentrate feed, and yet is stilling losing weight. But stop and ask yourself 'How much hay is he actually eating?'
Poor, worn or missing teeth are an all-too-common problem of the ageing horse, and because of this, fibre will not be physically broken down as efficiently, with the veteran unable to chew the hay stems as effectively.
One potentially serious knock-on effect is that enzymes and bacteria in the stomach and small intestine won't be able to digest the contents of the fibre. The bacteria in the large intestine will find it more difficult to break down large pieces of fibre, which makes older horses more prone to impaction colics, particularly if they aren't drinking much water because it is icy or frozen.
Always make sure that horses have access to water, and in winter it is a good idea to feed plenty of succulents such as carrots, turnips, swedes or sugar beet to supplement fluid intake.
Older horses may well suffer from bouts of diarrhoea, or their droppings may be consistently loose. If fibre intake is reduced, then normal gut function will be disrupted. If your horse is unable to eat much hay therefore, it is important to boost his fibre intake from other sources.
Allowing the horse to have as much grass as possible, even in the winter, will help, whilst sometimes steaming hay overnight softens it enough to allow older horses to chew the stalks.
Haylage is one alternative, as this is usually softer and sometimes more nutritious than hay, making it easier for older horses to eat, and helping to keep their weight on.
If even haylage is difficult, then a low-molasses short chop fibre, either oat straw chaff or hay chaff, can be fed as a hay replacer, or in addition to hay, to 'top-up' low intakes. Alfalfa chaff is particularly useful for horses that are losing weight.
In addition, high fibre feeds such as Allen & Page's Fibre Pencils, soaked for half an hour will form a soft palatable mash which can be fed in quite large quantities, depending on the quantity of long fibre that the horse is managing to consume. Soaked sugar beet is a further useful source of digestible fibre.
If chewing is a problem then look for a mix without pellets, as these tend to be harder to chew. Specific feeds for older horses are available which take their differing nutritional requirements into consideration. These contain high quality protein, which is particularly important for older horses, as their metabolism is sometimes less effective at absorbing it.
Such feeds also tend to have higher levels of digestible energy, essential for maintaining body condition. Vitamins and minerals will also be carefully balanced to suit older horses.
Research done in the 1980s reported that older horses had a reduced ability to digest protein, phosphorous and fibre, compared with younger horses fed a similar diet. However, more recent research indicates that there is no significant difference in the ability of healthy older horses to digest feed.
The difference in these findings may be explained by the fact that reduced ability to digest feed, often combined with diarrhoea or weight loss in older horses, should not be attributed to age alone. It is perhaps more likely to reflect chronic parasite damage over the years.
Regularly 'MOT' your older horse, by using the following routine checks.
Keep a close eye on condition, by using a weightape weekly, which will allow you to pick up changes sooner. At the very least you should take time to run your hand across his ribcage. Ideally you should be able to feel his ribs but not see them.
Worm your horse regularly. Parasite control through a strategic worming programme is particularly important for older horses, many of whom may have residual worm damage which has built up over the years, or which they may already have had before you bought them. This can often have an impact on the efficiency of nutrient absorption.
Check fields regularly and pick up droppings. Also make sure that there is adequate shelter from rain, wind, sun and flies.
Get your horse's teeth checked at least every six months. Your vet or dentist will then be able to pick up any problems that need attention.
If he is stiff or arthritic, then it won't do him any good to be standing around in cold wet weather, so make sure he is adequately rugged, and that his stable or shelter has a good deep bed to encourage him to lie down.
Hopefully, this article can help you recognise a problem and deal with it effectively and sympathetically. Old age need not represent the sad and irrevocable downward slide it once was, with many veteran horses now enjoying happy and productive lives well into their late teens and early twenties, which has to be good news for them, and good news for you too!
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