Nutrition for the older horse

[Nik90]

After a fairly good winter of my gelding holding his weight & being mud fever free, this has now changed in the last couple of weeks. After being tested for a few things & coming back negative the vet feels that he needs better nutrition.
Currently he has about 800g of veteran vitality, 200g readi grass & 1 cup of copra split into 2 feeds. He is given protexin & flexi joint in his dinner, has haylage at night & out on grass during the day, from about 7:30am to 8 or 9pm. I was planning on getting micronised linseed again, I never replaced it when it ran out in October.
Feeds must be easy to chew & digest due to the combined effect of an aging mouth & digestive system, he's 20 & also has arthritis. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to improve this? Would I be better changing to grass nuts & a multi vit?
Thanks for taking the time to read.

 

[Goldenstar]

I would feed speedibeet readigrass and or grass cubes and micronised linseed .
Linseed is one of my must feeds for the older horse full of omega 6 a natural anti inflammatory and high calorie full of oil and protein it's a great feed for oldies .
I would feed a good general supplement as well .

 

[Morgan123]

Hello,
I've found a combination of Veteran Vitality and linseed have made an amazing difference to my mare - she used to really struggle every winter, but she is now 33 and sometimes I even have to cut her feed down a bit! never thought I'd ever see her fat. I'd definitely recommend the linseed - I also use pink powder and find this helps too.

Can yours chew hay ok? Mine can't swallow it (though loves chewing it and spitting it out) so if she's in at night, she has a big fibre bucket of sugar beet and fibre cubes ets alongside her haynet.

 

[Nik90]

Thank you both for taking the time to reply. He can thankfully still eat hay or haylage & doesn't quid, however he finds the grass far more interesting (over 30 acres for 2 horses so last quite a bit into the winter). The veteran vitality has helped with his weight but it seems it's not quite enough as he is still having skin issues. If I was to feed a vit & min supplement are forage plus, progressive earth & advanced complete worth the money or would there be something else better?

 

[HashRouge]

My retired 23 year old winters out and can struggle with weight and condition, but is looking very well this year. She has just under half a large round scoop of copra (measured when dry), a mug of linseed and formula 4 feet. She is a very fussy eater. Initially she was just on the copra meal but I added the linseed and formula 4 feet when she had quite bad thrush that wouldn't clear. It has improved dramatically since the feed change, and a lingering small amount of mud rash has also cleared up. She is a very fussy eater, so I'm relieved to have found a combination of things that she will eat!

 

[Goldenstar]

Thank you both for taking the time to reply. He can thankfully still eat hay or haylage & doesn't quid, however he finds the grass far more interesting (over 30 acres for 2 horses so last quite a bit into the winter). The veteran vitality has helped with his weight but it seems it's not quite enough as he is still having skin issues. If I was to feed a vit & min supplement are forage plus, progressive earth & advanced complete worth the money or would there be something else better?

I feed mine on the forage plus performance balancers and they look extremely well on it but the price is ekkk for five large horses .
I used a general supp called 365 complete at one time and you know they all looked great on that as well and it was much cheaper .