advice wanted about friend's oldie pony....

Firehorse

Firehorse

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she must be 25+. they've had her about 6 yrs or so, believing her to be younger until my EDT told them otherwise last yr. she is the sweetest old girl. so gentle and will stand for hours being groomed. i've known her for the last 2 yrs and in that time she seems to hve gone downhill, more so recently. i gave her winter coat a good raking a few weeks ago and was shocked as to how bony and thin she actually is now. she's not been ridden for yrs, is a pet pony. in the winter she looses a lot of condition, despite being fed correctly and rugged up to the eyeballs. she does not seem to like the hay they are given in winter and waits by the gate for her food. anyway, that aside, she's looking worse than ever now. the horses hve jst moved into their summer grazing and all the others, including a ridden 29 yr old, are looking fantastic.

the owner thinks she is being bullied by one of the other horses, but i hve never seen it happen. i hve a feeling the owner has taken a dislike to this horse. if anything, my boy is bossier than this one, as is higher ranking. so the owner thinks maybe she is thin because she is constantly stressed. now the 2 oldies spent a lot of time in a separate paddock during the day, to give them some peace from the others...but they cant stay in it permanently as there is no shelter, its a riding paddock.

i dont think the pony is stressed, i think it might be a digestive system thing, due to age. her teeth were done in oct and the vet gave her a once over when she had her jabs not long ago. i dont like to get into herd/owner discussions, as the owner is thinking about moving her to a new yard. but i think that will cause her unnecessary stress. i suggested to her to try Pink Powder. having been looking into it recently for my boy's loose tummy, i think it could be worth a try.

any other suggestions would be appreciated. i'd hate to see her move yards without the owner trying other solutions. she is usually open to suggestions, as she did change her feed after she asked me about it last yr.
 
we had exactly this situation with our 35 year old pony last year. Milk powder did help his weight along with topspec and readigrass instead of hay. With our boy we decided to have him pts at the end of summer as we felt he was too thin to be comfortable in the winter weather and the vet said all his systems were gradually packing up. So hard to make a decision when its a slow decline rather than a sudden illness but you have to remain objective. We found it helped to keep a photo diary to compare his weight and condition each month.
 
We supplement our old lady's grass with grass nut mash and molases as we feel that she does not absorb the calories she needs anymore. I think the only thing your friend can do is to offer some form of 'hard' feed, which may help her to keep her weight on.
 
You can also feed oil to help with weight gain. I've just started feeding Lucy corn oil (if she ever starts eating her hard feed again).
 
Hello, I agree that a move will be stressful, although I have to say that I've witnessed older horses be bullied in a herd environment, so that could possibly be an issue. Presumably though it could face the same issues at another yard?

The first concern would be that the horse wasn't eating hay over the winter, even though the teeth have been done, if there are any missing/loose then it could cause problems. If no hay is being eaten in winter then alternative means of getting fibre into the horse need to be looked into, there are some great feeds that you can soak to a mash to help oldies eat - Fast Fibre, Calm and Condition, Speedibeet, soaked Fibre cubes and chaffs will all be easier to eat than hay. Adding a good supplement specifically for oldies or a balancer can help too, and also adding oil or micronised linseed can help. The horse needs a regular supply of fibre, so going without is going to have an impact, sorry if you've already done that ;)

Presumably worming is up to date?

Would fencing off a separate area in the larger field with just a few companions be something she could do? Sounds as if this might be the best option if it's do-able.

Other than that maybe getting the vet to check her over to make sure that there isn't something underlying causing her weight loss.

Hope she manages to get her right. Good luck!
 
Pink Powder is fantastic and when my old pony stopped eating hay, I had to supplement this by giving her a hay replacer. I was advised to feed 2% of her body weight.

I have her a huge tub trug of:

Grass chaff
Hi Fi
Fast Fibre
Sugar beet

and I added pink powder to this.

If the pony isnt eating much hay then she will lose weight. Fibre intake must be upkept. As horse get older, they can not digest and utilise the feed as well as they used too. Especially protein.

Fibre and protein intake can be upped by either a soft grass chop or soaked grass nuts. Adding a probiotic and vit/min supplement such as Pink Pwder will also help no end and I recommend this highly.

Just remember that if the horse is not eating atleast 1.5% of its body weight then its condition is going to be comprimised.
 
Pink Powder is fantastic for older horses.

When my old pony stopped eating hay, I had to supplement this by giving her a hay replacer. I was advised to feed 2% of her body weight.

I gave her a huge tub trug of:

Grass chaff
Hi Fi
Fast Fibre
Sugar beet

and I added pink powder to this.

If the pony isnt eating much hay then she will lose weight. Fibre intake must be upkept. As horses get older, they can not digest and utilise the feed as well as they used too. Especially protein.

Fibre and protein intake can be upped by either a soft grass chop or soaked grass nuts. Adding a probiotic and vit/min supplement such as Pink Pwder will also help no end and I recommend this highly.

Just remember that if the horse is not eating atleast 1.5% of its body weight then its condition is going to be comprimised. A hay replacer is a great way of dealing with this if the pony will not eat hay or can not graze as well as it used too.

If grazing isnt a problem, then I would perhaps feed 3 smaller versions of the above. Adding cooked linseed (which is very cost effective) can also help. Its high in calories and will help with skin and coat condition. It is also an anti inflammatory so will help the pony if it is stiff.

Good Luck :)
 
a pony i looked after was the same
unfortunately old ponies can suffer as they get older and different ponies are different..
i'm sure he hasn't if he's being looked after well, however when a pony gets older they are more suseptiable (sorry can't spell :) ) to worms or worm damage. i would reccomend a worm count as even if the pony is wormed regulary and has a clean field etc, worms are not visible and the older a pony gets the more immune they become to wormers and can catch them easier than others etc. a worm count is only around £8 and is well worth a try.

my old mare also didn't seem to like the hay or eating and when we had her regular dentist appointment he said as she was getting older through no fault of anyone but eating was becoming harder, a check up from a dentist may solve a few problems or having an appointment more frequent

i would also reccomend trying different forage feeds for example moli chaff in differnt flavours or haylage which some ponie sprefer to bland hay, their tastes become finer as they age :)

we also did what we called a ' old well womans check up' which was basically the vet coming up just doing a general vetran check up checking heart joints etc and anything else you may be worried about even if your not.
hope this helps
 
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