Best diet for 25yr old pony??

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Rochelle

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Has anyone got any tried and proven diet ideas for an oldie? He will be 26 this year, his front teeth are very worn (they have been checked in the last 2wk by the dentist) but he still manages soft hay. At the moment he is getting a scoop of Hi Fi Senior twice a day and ad lib hay in the evening. He is turned out daily for about 8 hours. Im not convinced he's getting enough from the Hi Fi so was wondering if anyone could recommend something? Thankyou!
 
HiFi Senior is not a supplemented feed, so you need to feed a broadspectrum vit/min supplement or a balancer alongside it to ensure he gets all the vitamins and minerals he needs.

What sort of condition is he in? If he is a good weight I would probably stick with the HiFi Senior plus vit/min supplement.

If he lacks just a little condition, then you could try the HiFi Senior alongside a balancer (ie TopSpec, Blue Chip etc).

Alternatively, you could try a veteran mix or cube - most of the main manufacturers produce one. If you contact the manufacturer helpline they will advise the correct amount to feed for your horse's size and workload.

If he is lacking condition and his hay consumption is reduced due to his poor teeth, you could try putting a tub off a short-chop fibre food in alongside his hay at night - I used to use Spiller's Happy Hoof for my old pony, but you could also try one of the dried grass products.
 
If he needs more weight you could try conditioning cubes (either Baileys No4 or Spillers). You can soak them down to a mush so they are easy to chew.
 
I have a 32yr old pony with very worn teeth, she doesn't hold a great deal of weight due to her joints being so old so she rests quite a lot so I feed Dengie Original, speedibeet & Veteran mix (not nuts as her teeth don't cope so well) all year round with haylage through the winter. She eats the same amount as my 16'3!!! and still double barrels the others if they annoy her so she must be thriving on her diet. I make it quite sloppy so she doesn't struggle with the crunchy bits!.
 
We used to soak a mixture of high fibre cubes and stud cubes for our oldie - he lived on that for years. Think we used ot put in a bit of sugar beet too. It looked like porridge and made a right mess when he tried to gum you if you went to near (nice pony!
grin.gif
) He had hardly any teeth (god knows how old he was, had him 15 years and an instructor said when we got him that she thought he was already knocking on thirty!)

He was skinny the whole time before we started feeding this and this really made him fill out and stop scouring (which he did a lot). Plus in winter you could make it warm with a little hot water. Think it trial and error though, and you'll just have to find what works best for yours
smile.gif
 
Elaine at EMW (www.emwuk.org.uk) has had experience of feeding numerous oldies, and currently has Tanna, who is about to be 43. Give her a shout, she is a mine of useful information, but I agree about a balancer, my two EMW geriatrics are on Blue Chip. Once you have that in place, then you just have to make sure they are getting enough fibre, any way you can - beet pulp, HiFi, haylage, fibre cubes, whatever they will eat. Palatability can be an issue - molasses was the key with 29 year old Sabria, picky arab mare, and I know it may not be the best diet in the world, but it beats malnourishment hands down!!
 
There is currently a 46 y/o called "Sultan" at my livery yard! yes 46 y/o! he eats high fibre nuts soaked in water (leave to soak for 5 mins or so) theese seem comfortable for him to eat and he seem's to enjoy them!

Stephen
 
I have a 27 and 22 year old both in work and they each get once a day half a scoop of bran, half a scoop of Hi-Fi Lite, a mug full of Lo-Cal, half a mug of Formulae Feet, half a mug of boiled Linseed, Cod Liver Oil and all dampened with water. They also get soaked hay at night in their stable. They are out in the day.
 
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