Senior feed advice

[EmilyCob]

Hello,
I'm just asking for some advice from anyone who's had experience in feeding a senior pony. Currently he's being fed half a scoop happy hoof molasses free, a quarter of a scoop high fibre cubes and a small scoop of Codlivine complete supplement once a day. I'm looking to move him onto a senior feed but every thing I've found so far is a mix and he's never had that sort of feed before, he's always had chaff. Is there any feeds out there that include chaff and are aimed at the seniors or is a change from a chaff base to a muesli base nothing to worry about. I just don't want him to colic as he's always been used to chaff and I woundered of the change would upset him. Obviously I know that I would need to slowly introduce the new feed into his diet anyway but was just thinking what other people suggest to do, and what they feed their seniors. Thank you

 

[Griffin]

I think the first thing you need to ask yourself is: does he need a senior feed? If he seems well and happy on what he is getting, I would be inclined to leave him be.

In terms of senior feeds, most senior feeds will have a slightly different spec of vitamins/minerals/protein to meet the needs of an older horse/pony and some will include joint supplements and probiotics too. You can always include your own choice of chaff to any feed (I use Thunderbrooks Healthy Herbal Chaff because my mare likes it but my friend's elderly TB has Alfa A with Oil because they need to keep condition). A balancer (I quite like the Spillers one) with chaff may for you and your pony or you could try senior mixes.

However, as I said at the start, if your pony is well and happy on what you have got them on, I would stick with it.