Older horse question!

[Racing_Gal]

What supplements do you give your old guys? Tazz is 23 now and I've really seen a change in her the last year or so, she got very stiff last winter and lost more wieght than normal. She is stil in work 3-4 times a week. just wanted to pick your brain for some advice really..

What supplement?
which feed?
should I have blood tests done?

 

[AmyMay]

I gave Freddy Spillers Senior conditioning mix plus cortaflex. He did really well on both.

 

[coscoroba]

My old boy does really well on Calm and condition and sugar beet with some pasture mix, he has 4 small feeds a day, I think the 'soaked' feeds are easier to digest, he can't really eat much hay any more, not many teeth at 36, but is looking really good at the mo, he also has garlic, max-vit and max-flex from horse health as we us it on all our competition horses with great results.

 

[Hippona]

Mine has Topline conditioning cubes, Molli veteran chaff, speedibeet and Feelgood30 15+ supplement - plus ad-lib hay - he's around 20, teeth are ok - very stressy and can lose weight easily. I always keep him warm/dry - he hates the rain - he is worked 3-4 times per week - hacking/jumping/showing ...I found the feelgood30 really helped with stiffness and general condition.

 

[oofadoofa]

I have a 22 year old TB and he has Top Spec comprehensive, alfa A and sugarbeet. He has msm and glucosamine during the summer as he seems to be stiffer in the summer when the ground is hard rather than when it's cold. I would just keep an eye on her weight, i wouldn't worry too much about blood tests unless she drops weight really quickly.

 

[Racing_Gal]

thanks for your advice everyone xx

 

[GinaB]

Misty is 28/29 and she gets half a scoop of pony nuts and cortaflex. She;s out 24/7 during summer and in at night during winter and she gets a full haynet in the evenings she's in. She is a good doer

 

[Pink_Pampas]

In the winter at night my 27 year old gets a snack ball full of high fibre cubes, a section of hay, a bucket of happy hoof, sugarbeet and alfa-a with carrots, garlic, cortaflex HA, devils claw, biotin and cod liver oil. Over the summer he lives out and only had a couple of mugs of high fibre cubes and half a scoop of alfa-a to give him his supplements.

He keeps his weight on with all of that, and is still ridden 2-3 times a week.

He is always well rugged and I dont let him get cold or wet these days, and now have a some leg wraps to wear in the stable at night to hopefully help his morning stiffness.

 

[billy2]

my chap has Equiflex and devils claw for stiffness, plus he wears magnetic wraps in the stable at night. Like Pink_Pampas, I don't let him get wet or cold - but he is out for about 12 hours a day all year round, 'cos I do think exercise is important.

 

[ickelshadow]

i kept shadow on flexijoint which was brilliant. also had her on codlivine feed balancer, topline conditioning cubes and fibre pencils, enough water to soften it, plenty of hay and grass. sugar beet in winter. carrots and apples all year round

if she ever felt a little lacking i would give her a spurt of propel plus.

she was worked all year round from 2 - 5 days a week, they need ticking over

 

[Kallibear]

If you think she's painfull get the vet to prescribe painkillers.

Feed and supplements will only help her from getting worse quickly - they won't kill any discomfort. As for feeding 'herbal' painkillers (i.e buteless) - it seems odd that owners are so unwilling to give drug (that's well extensively researched and proven safe) but more than happy to pump untested, very powerful herbs into the animal!

Our old lady, Kim, is on Dannilon permenatly. The long terms effects are minor (she'll be long gone by the time it kicks in!) and it really helps her. Intially she was on just 1/4 of a packet every other day - it made a huge different to her and made us realise quite how uncomfortable she must have been before.

 

[Chex]

Chex is about 26 now. He's on Newmarket Joint Supplement for his arthritis, but thats it. If it gets really bad then I give him Danilon for a wee while. He doesn't need anything else special. He did lose more weight than normal last winter which I think is a sign of things to come

, but he's always overweight coming out of winter so its not a huge issue yet.

 

[kellyeaton]

you need a senoir food and a senior vit and min supplement and get teeth checked and a glucosiumin joint supplement!