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zobambo

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My anglo arab is 31 & starting to look his age. Last year I retired him as he was slowing up & thought it was time for him to enjoy the rest of his days in the field with his friends but I am begining to wonder if this was a mistake.

Since retirement he has become to thin for my liking (see his ribs / hip bones) He is reguarly wormed, given 2 buckets of hard feed a day (sugar beet / veteran mollichaf / veteran mix & veteran supplement), rugged up / teeth checked.

Although he seems bright enough in his self, I am worrying how he'll do through the winter.

I have spoken to my vet & they suggest coming out to asses him & make 'The Decision' Which obviously I find really upsetting.

Does any one have any suggestions / advice?
 
My pony was pts this morning after agonising about it since last Christmas. She lost a lot of weight over the winter as her arthritis progressed, and we made the decision to give her a last summer. I posted on here a few times for advice and everyone was really supportive and helpful. HHO members even helped me make the decision to have her shot instead of injected, and it really was the right decision for her.

However, the main thing I learnt was that we know our horses better than anyone, including the vet. I made the very final call myself, as I knew her time had come. Apart from the fact she was growing stiffer by the day, and upping the bute wasn't helping, there were some days when the life seemed to have faded in her eyes and she looked unhappy.

Once you make the decision, either way, you will feel better. If he is still bright then maybe he will still have a decent quality of life for some time yet. On the other hand, I would rather know my horse had gone peacefully a little early, than even a day too late. But only you will know. I wish you both the best, and know exactly how you feel. PM me if you want to talk, or if I can help at all x
 
zobambo i know how you are feeling. i put my horse to sleep on friday and it was one of the most difficult things you sometimes need to do my horse was only 16years old but had been retired due to herhaving arthritis inher hocks 3 years ago. she had started to look realy stiff and sore with this and was a struggle to keep weight on her. myself and the vet both think she had cancer as he had an internal melonoma at her dock area. anyway she is gone but sometimes you have just got to do whats right for them and not let your heart rule your head. only you know this horse and will now when the time is right. the vet can advise you but you will know whats right for your horse and good ,luck whatever you deciede thinking of you at this difficult time as i know how you feel
 
Have you tried giving him a conditioning cube instead of the mix for weight gain? If he's still happy, but a bit underweight there are lots of feeds you can give him to encourage weight gain. Or you can change the molichaff for alfalfa as that may help up his calorie intake.

I feed my 17yro ex racer (ie body of a 25yro, mind of a 4yro!) Baileys No4, Alfalfa Oil, sugarbeet and, when he needs extra weight, Baileys Outshine. He does very well with this and is the best weight he's been for years. The good thing is that the cubes can be well wetted to make them easier for old teeth to chew. You can also feed brewers yeast to aid digestion. Oh and he's also on NoBute to manage the pain from his arthritis.

Depends on how much pain he's in really. If he's bright and cheerful then changing his feed has to be worth a try?

Edited to say: why not speak to a feed company about what they'd recommend?
 
Hi there

I have a 31 year old part arab mare who last year lost a LOT of weight and we did talk about having her put to sleep. She has very poor teeth (under regular vetinary attention but the grinding surface is worn away and they are a bit wobbly) and cushings disease. She cant manage hay and I don’t see her grazing much. She is now managing extremely well on Alpha-Beet, micronised linseed and fibre cubes. I offer her at least 2.5 percent of her bodyweight as a "haynet in a bucket" feed. I also offer her a big tub trug of Hi-Fi senior in case she finishes all of that and gets hungry, she does not eat much of it but it makes me feel better! Shes well rugged up and stabled at night now. Its very expensive and takes a lot of effort to keep condition on an old horse like this but in this mare's case Im willing to do it whilst shes happy as she was my childhood pony
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If your horse does not have cushings or insulin resistance how about conditioning cubes? I have used the dodson and horrell barley rings with linseed in the past with success - they have the added bonus of soaking down nicely.

Cassandra
 
I phoned the D&H helpline because my part bred arab was fading away in front of my eyes despite conditioning cubes, cooked cereal meal etc.

They changed his diet completely to substantial amounts of soaked high fibre cubes/sugar beet/chaff. This would pass through his system very slowly and not overtax his liver proteinwise. I weigh the amount every time as it is amazing how much 'a scoop' of nuts can vary in weight!

I thought he would surely die, but he put back all his lost weight and now going very perkily into his 33rd winter bang on his optimum weight.

He also has 6 squirts of soya oil and 50ml super codlivine joint oil a day.

I also have a 28 year old pure bred but he has conditioning cubes instead of high fibre cubes as he was not such a good doer as the other one when younger, so needs a bit of help.

I also rug the part bred at night in the summer if there is any chance of rain as he just can't seem to tolerate it like he used to.

Best of luck with your horse - the calls to the helpline are free, My OH cannot believe my Pony has a nutrionist on call
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CassandraRose - mine is my childhood Pony too! Well worth the effort.
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My arab x turned 30 this year and looks really well, but the winter before last he lost lots of weight and nothing would put it on. I found a mix of Alfabeet and Senior Mix (16+ or Spillers) kept him with a rounded tummy all winter. I think he just had trouble chewing chaff and not digesting his food properly, so I decided to soak it all so it's almost like it's been "pre-chewed"!!!

This is him at the very beginning of spring this year..

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm195/stacywest1982/Image084.jpg
 
don't forget when you stop riding you loose muscle mass, and so the condition changes, my pony know has fat in different areas and yes you can see the ribs but the change we saw was the underlying muscle changing basically everything has sagged what i would say is swop the chaff to alfa a with oil that might help
 
Alfa A Oil is a good conditioning feed but I would say if your oldie has dental problems get a sample of it first to check they can manage to eat it - I bought a sack of it for Solitaire and she was unable to eat it - the blades of Alfa are really hard, thick and she could not chew them. It also smelt like chips
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I look after a 43 year old pony (about 12hh) who lives out 24/7, all year round (not my choice that!) She only has her front teeth so I soak everything to a mush. She is on 3lbs Bailey's economy nuts and a big scoop of soaked sugar beet with a handful of HiFi twice a day, plus she is out on excellent grazing for 10 hours a day. I use a weigh tape on her every weekend. She did lose quite alot of weight in late May, but I think this was due to the way everything was growing in the field (there is alot of tall clover which nothing will eat) and my own mare at 25 lost weight at the same time. It has been harder to get the weight back on her this time, but she is perfectly well in herself and has gained quite a bit, so I'm not concerned about her for this winter. She shows no sign of arthritis, and in fact, although our oldest resident, is probably the healthiest!!
 
Thankyou everyone so far who has replied. I am really grateful for all the advice & support. Like many of you he is my childhood pony & have had him for 18 years.

I will certainly look into changing his feed & contact the veteran horse society / feed companies.

I am so sorry to hear some have had to have their beloved friends pts recently. I am dreading that decision.

A friend has advise me to lunge him as gentle exercise to increase muscle even though he is not ridden. What do you think?
 
Ditto everything these wonderful oldie experts have said. If he's happy, then help him - if he's not, then it's help to send him to horse heaven.

Re the exercise I'd avoid circles because of joint strain, but long reining or leading out on a hack from a steady horse is what I did for my old girl.

Good luck and keep us posted
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I agree with brighteyes, lunging may be a bit much at 31. I long-rein mine and he loves it. I am usually the one bent double with a stitch and he is pawing to get a move on!

I found after starting on the joint oil the increased mobility led to better muscle tone (albeit slowly).
 
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