Best Senior Horse Feed for a Good Doer

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diamondrockharvey

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Hi,

I am looking for recommendations for a Senior Horse Feed for a good doer.
We currently feed TopSpec Senior Lite which seems to be a good feed and our 21 year old mare has been on it for 18 months now.
She looks good, however despite being a good doer she lacks shine and top line.
Any suggestions on something else we could try?
She is in good health, ridden 5 days a week, she has mild arthiritis in one front fetlock for which she is on 1 bute a day and is sound.
She lives out in a small herd with ad lib hay and access to a salt block.
Think that's about everything I can add.

Thanks in advance.
 
I'd add some micronised linseed and if you need to mix it in to something some plain unmolassed chaff or unmolassed sugar beet.
 
My good doer can get a mug of micro linseed a day without weight gain. - Note it doesn't last forever particularly in hot (haha!) weather so if yours has been hanging around a while you may need to check it.

I don't think they generally need a senior feed though. I'm not a fan of topspec feeds, and the senior lite wouldn't fit what I want. Mine gets equimins adv. complete pellets (you have to feed very little, small blue scoop), linseed and boswellia for his arthritis (as he isn't and can't have bute).
 
My 22 year old in a similar workload to yours has the Top Spec Comprehensive balancer (or the Baileys performance balancer if funds are low). She has always been a good doer but from about 20 years old she has started to struggle to maintain her topline and I find she looks and feels better on either of these balancers. She does also get linseed and that hasn't put on much weight at all.
 
I'd stick with what you're on and feed a Topspec Lo cal balancer and micronized linseed, you only need to add a small amount of linseed for a nice shine
 
Have you thought about testing for cushings? My old boys coat is the only symptom he displayed related to cushings and since getting his level of prascend correct his coat has got a nice shine to it again. He used to be on Spillers Senior but I've recently changed to Topspec Senior Lite and really like it.
 
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