Best veteran feed?

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stroppy

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My lad is 18 and although a very good doer, he is definietly starting to show his age a bit, through stiffnes in his hocks, and not being as sharp as he once was, i want to keep him in as healthy as possible and give him everything he needs so which veteran mix do you with oldies reccomend, also what supplement would you add to a horse that is eating muds diet?? my 11yo ish mare has started to do this in the last week
 
I love D & H 16+ mix. My 20 year old TB has been on it for twelve months and this is the first winter he has actually put on weight, not lost it! I also give him Aviform Suppleaze Gold and he's more supple now than he was at 12. Also a squirt of cod liver oil.
 
We use Allen and Page's Old Faithful for our old 26 yo TB and now my 19 yo as i wanted to keep a bit more weight on him too. It is very palatable for the oldies, smells lovely and does seem to keep the weight on well.
 
Weve put 2 of ours at work on D&H 16+ one is 20 one 18 and theyve been on it 2 weeks and already seeing results there not even on very much either and it seems to be helping. Also cod liver oil very good for joints coat and can help with weight too.:)
 
ive started using the new allen and page veteran vitality. pony loves it and im not having to feed much to maintain weight which is very unusual as at this time of year pony usually drops off. doesnt appear to affect temperment either.

it needs soaking for 3 mins before use but is quick and easy and seems palitable.
 
I find Topspec senior balancer works magic with my oldie. I also used to use & like the Spillers senior mixes for her (they have two, one for good doers, and one for poorer ones), until I changed her diet due to cushings. :)
 
I have my old feller on Baileys senior I think it is No15. He has 1 scoop am and pm with Just grass D&H and 1/2 sugar beet when not frozen!
 
What i find is you have to explore which feed works for each horse because Breeze is fab on calm and condition, get her on veteran mixes or build up mixes she loses it.

Have you had your horses teeth checked Breeze lost loads of weight 2 years ago when he teeth got bad (past owner left them for 3 years! :o)
 
Sorry when i said he is a very good doer i also should have said he has NOT lost any condition and doesn't need help maintianing weight, i just want something that will help his joints and give him his sparkle back
 
I have tried just about every veteran feed going with Teddy, and finally have found the best feed ever-Veteran Vitality. To say this feed has transformed Teddy is an understatement!

Teddy was doing well on Spillers maintenance mix from age 18-19, and then decided that he didn't like this food and stopped eating it all of a sudden, so we changed to Spillers senior balancer, pony nuts and fibre-beet. He looked very well on the balancer and had a mirror like shine to his coat, but then after a couple of months refused to eat it, and would pick out the pony nuts to eat! He has had his teeth checked and they are fine, he's just fussy! We also tried Badminton Veteran Nuggets and he didn't eat these.

Then we started the Veteran Vitality challenge and he is now a different horse spending all day turned out in mid winter, when for the previous 5 years of winters he has demanded to come in after 5 minutes and appeared very unhappy and distressed if not brought in. He would pace up and down, weaving at the gate, become sweated up and make horrible distressed calls until he came in! Since week two of the Veteran Vitality challenge he has stayed out from dusk till dawn, in the same field, with the same horse, turned out at the same time. Nothing else has changed, apart from his feed. The weather was foul today and he stayed out all day, previously he would have become very distressed and stayed in all day. I can't believe this change in him, we are all very confused by how a feed could cause such a change!

He also seems much less spooky/highly strung, is more affectionate and generally appears content and happy. He was always a bit of a grumpy old man, but now he's very happy! I never envisaged that a feed could have such a big impact on his behaviour and temperament, especially as he was previously on low energy veteran feeds, if he had previously been fed oats etc I could understand this change! We weren't even looking for a feed to change his 'sharp' behaviour as he is a tb and has always been a bit of a drama queen, so we never expected him to be any different, given his history and breeding.
 
I'm with puppy with the top spec senior balancer. It has the top spec 10:10 joint supplement in it. It is really good stuff, made a huge difference to my girl.
I use it with the top spec sool condition cubes and seems to work really well.
 
Unless they are underweight I don't see the need to feed anything different when they are veterans. My 20 year old welshie is out 24/7 on fair grazing and gets a handful of Fast Fibre and thats it! He hold his weight well, and until he tells me anything different I'll save my money :)
 
I don't think you need a specific veteran feed - either add a joint supplement to his existing feed or use a balancer with a joint supplement built in.
 
My 25 and 29 yr old TBs are doing brilliantly on D+H Build Up cubes and Spillers Senior Conditioning Mix, fed with Alpha A lite, a joint supplement (currently Supplease I think), some Saracen Equijewel in Winter or D+H Ultimate Balancer. They are both on one Danilon a day if stabled for any length of time so get a bit of pink powder too. Honestly they've never carried so much condition and look ready to hunt!
 
for veteran food you can't beat AP Veteran Vitality it is fantastic! however i agree with TGM and think you only need a joint supplement at this point, which i would recommend NAF superflex, which i am using with my lad at the moment and he is doing so well on it.
 
As they get older they need different nutrients, he doesn't get much turn out as the little sod jumps out and wonders off! therefore he is in hard work when the weather permits! he was going beautifully then the weather changed out school has been un useable and a have a wild pain in the bum on my hands!!! I'm thinking i shall put him on A&P's VV as he really like's their fast fibre and this will be better for him, can it be used as a part hay replacer like the Fast Fibre can????
 
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