Feeding a veteran

[abbijay]

I'm looking ahead to next winter and thinking about the old man/love of my life.
He's 21 now and during the winters is starting to lose his condition. He has been retired for 5 years (tendon injury) and has been field kept on 8 acres with haylage added through the colder months. He has dental issues as well as being a bit creaky. I won't feed anything with alfalfa in it as it used to make him itchier.
Before he retired he was on grass chaff/nuts, linseed, oats and sugar beet plus a balancer powder. I'm looking at this as more of a top dressing, he gets plenty of forage with 24/7 access and I'd rather not have to feed huge quantities of anything. Last year he was on a scoop of generic veteran mix but it had alfalfa in it. What might be a good (and cost effective) feed to give him?

 

[humblepie]

Not a top dressing but my 20 year old thoroughbred lost a lot of weight last autumn and Cushcare worked brilliantly. He doesn’t have Cushings but I wanted low starch. I didn’t feed in the quantities they state but really got him back then I reduced it down to just a handful with chaff. Equijewel worked really well on another horse years ago.

 

[abbijay]

Not a top dressing but my 20 year old thoroughbred lost a lot of weight last autumn and Cushcare worked brilliantly. He doesn’t have Cushings but I wanted low starch. I didn’t feed in the quantities they state but really got him back then I reduced it down to just a handful with chaff. Equijewel worked really well on another horse years ago.

That looks like it could be ideal! Although I definitely couldn't afford to feed at the recommended quanitities (3.2-8kg per day ). I imagine a scoop a day could have a noticeable impact at 13.5mJ.

 

[meleeka]

That looks like it could be ideal! Although I definitely couldn't afford to feed at the recommended quanitities (3.2-8kg per day ). I imagine a scoop a day could have a noticeable impact at 13.5mJ.

You probably wouldn't need to feed anything like the recommended amount. My 12hh pony was only on half a small scoop and looked a bit porky in the end so I took her off it.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Equijewel you don't need to feed loads but it is brilliant for keeping weight on.

 

[Zoeypxo]

I like allen and page care and gain, i had to stop feeding it because my horse got too fat!

 

[I'm Dun]

Equijewel you don't need to feed loads but it is brilliant for keeping weight on.

Or some similar thing, its basically rice bran and linseed and designed to be fed in really small quantities as a top dressing, so ideal for what you want and you could probably drop the linseed to cover some of the cost.

 

[blodwyn1]

A mug of cush care soaked plus honey chop light and healthy and linseed kept my Cushing's section D well covered but she was only 14hh. You really don't need to feed much of it.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Or some similar thing, its basically rice bran and linseed and designed to be fed in really small quantities as a top dressing, so ideal for what you want and you could probably drop the linseed to cover some of the cost.

It's weird I've fed Equijewel and linseed to a variety of horses some do better on one or the other normally, it's just a bit of trial and error I find and they roughly cost the same.

 

[humblepie]

That looks like it could be ideal! Although I definitely couldn't afford to feed at the recommended quanitities (3.2-8kg per day ). I imagine a scoop a day could have a noticeable impact at 13.5mJ.

Yes I didn't feed that much and once he started putting weight back on, reduced it down.

 

[Orangehorse]

Mine didn't like the Allen and Page feeds. A local vet says the Top Spec Senior balancer is the best for geriatrics. I got that for mine (don't look at the price!) and it definitely improved him, certainly in his coat. It didn't save him in the end. I changed my little old pony to the Top Spec Lamicare this summer and he looks much, much better now.

 

[abbijay]

Mine didn't like the Allen and Page feeds. A local vet says the Top Spec Senior balancer is the best for geriatrics. I got that for mine (don't look at the price!) and it definitely improved him, certainly in his coat. It didn't save him in the end. I changed my little old pony to the Top Spec Lamicare this summer and he looks much, much better now.

I think I'll try D&H first as my local feed store is owned by the same company that produces D&H feed.
Topspec I will avoid unless I have to, I know one of their (former) nutritionists and she wouldn't recommend me their products when she was there.

 

[abbijay]

Thought I would pop back with a little update; a few things have changed this year and my best mate moved home to be with us 5 weeks ago. I took the chance to get ahead of the curve and started him on hard feed a few days after he arrived.
I opted for the cushcare and have been giving him 1 Stubbs scoop a day with a mug of balancer (gain opticare). While that might sound a lot he is an 800kg Clydesdale so I’m feeding about half the recommended amount of both feeds.
This morning I took his rug off (crazy weather was -4C 3 days ago and now it’s 14C!) and couldn’t get over how much more weight he is carrying. The top photo is the day he arrived and the bottom one is this morning. He is carrying so much more muscle and his coat hanger backside is filling out. Yesterday I watched him jump the drainage ditch and canter the full length of the field (about 400 yards) so he’s definitely feeling well on it too!
Thank you to those who recommended the Cushcare. It has been a game changer.

 

[humblepie]

Good news. Mine loves the taste of Cushcare.