Veteran Horse - is this feed amount enough?

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still standing

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I would like some advice please on whether my old boy is getting enough feed or if he should get more, as there is not much information available in general about caring for very old horses. For example, at that age, how much can their stomachs hold per feed?
My old boy is now 29 years and doing well physically, though no longer ridden, but came out of the winter looking quite a bit lighter than I would like and it's been difficult to get the weight back on. I would estimate a condition score of about 2 out of 5 and I would not like him to go into the next winter, as light at that so I'm desperate to get him into better condition. He has always been quite finely built as there is a lot of TB in his breeding (warmblood cross) and he loves his food, so until now it hasn't been hard to get weight back on after winter.

He's been tested negative for Cushings and indeed his coat is gleaming, his teeth (always done regularly) were done recently and beyond a couple of sharp edges, are very good for his age according to the dentist. He is in full livery, turned out onto grass every day for as long as he will stay out there and has ad lib haylage otherwise. So, in consultation with my livery owner and my feed store, we have gradually altered his feed a bit over the last two weeks, giving his gut a chance to get used to the change.
(He was getting 1 scoop of Dodson and Horrell 16+ Mix, with 1 scoop of Speedibeet and Oil, twice a day, with an extra scoop of 16+ when he comes in from the paddock).

This is what he is now getting - is it sufficient? The advice on each food bag is to give more of each of their own feed but to reduce it, if in conjuction with any other feed, so it is hard to work out!

BOTH Morning and evening: 1 scoop of Dodson and Horrell Sixteen Plus, with one scoop of Dengie Alfa-A oil chaff, with 1 scoop of Bluegrass Turmash
Middle of the day (or when he comes in): 1 scoop of Sixteen Plus.
Ad lib haylage at all times but he is inclined to pick at this despite teeth being OK.
Plenty of grass in his turnout paddock although sometimes he will only stay out for a couple of hours.

He is well cared for at his livery yard and I can't think of anything else we can do to get his weight up a bit, so I would appreciate any feedback or comments on the feed mixture and amounts, thanks.
 
If you're worried about his weight then I would get a nutritionist out to see him. They will make sure that what you're feeding him is properly balanced.
 
Chianti said:
If you're worried about his weight then I would get a nutritionist out to see him. They will make sure that what you're feeding him is properly balanced.
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I thought about doing that, but it's not easy to find one who knows specifically about older horses, that's the problem. Obviously there are fewer that live to that age, of course! Plus many are ponies who live longer in general and many of them seem to be easier to keep weight on. My chap is a 16.1 fine built type, so I thought I would ask on here.
 
still standing said:
I thought about doing that, but it's not easy to find one who knows specifically about older horses, that's the problem. Obviously there are fewer that live to that age, of course! Plus many are ponies who live longer in general and many of them seem to be easier to keep weight on. My chap is a 16.1 fine built type, so I thought I would ask on here.
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Have you tried Claire MacLeod? She has quite a strong presence on Facebook and seems to cover all aspects?
 
I'm not surprised he's only picking at his haylege when he's having that much bucket feed! If we're talking Stubbs bowl scoops, that's quite a lot of volume, I fed that sort of volume when I was hunting regularly and with good grazing, my horse would only eat about two slices of hay over night. Maybe look for something with more concentrated calories, I feed my oldie A&P Muscle & Focus with some micronised linseed on top, the feed volume is not huge and she eats plenty of hay & haylege.
 
HaffiesRock said:
I’d second linseed for adding weight.

What size scoops are we talking?
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The scoops are just the average normal sized, round base ones you can buy in any tack shop. A couple of people have also now mentioned micronised linseed for weight gain. I now remember that being mentioned on the forum in general a good few times, as being good.
Having just altered my boy's feed mix and amounts, I will now wait a couple of weeks but will them try out (Slowly) adding in a little of the linseed. I can reduce the chaff a bit, to reduce the bulk, so that he isn't getting too much to digest.
 
I found with the v old one I had here that multiple high oil mashes were the best for his weight - his teeth weren't great though.

From memory am and pm were rowan & barberry (smelled lovely) then a bucket of soaked grass pellets with veg oil.
 
Similar scenario with coming out of winter a bit lighter than usual for my oldie and a tougher summer weight gain has been harder than normal. I'm having good success with switching him completely to Allen and page soothe and gain and micronised linseed. He definitely finds the soaked feed easier despite his teeth indicating he'd be fine on a cube feed.
 
28yr old TB here.

At the moment he's out 19hrs a day with ok grass.

Comes in during evening.
Gets grass nuts and condition mash, plus gain opticare balancer, all soaked. Then a scoop of alfalfa chop.
He also has a trug tub with some DH health mash and dengie original WiFi in it to chew on instead of hay.

In the winter the amount of grass nuts and mash is increased, and linseed added, and is spilt between two feeds 5pm and 10pm.
He gets double the amount of chaff to chew on, again at 5pm and 10pm.
He has hay and haylage in a large hole net as well. He's in over night in the winter.
 
I was told a rugby ball is about the size they can manage in one feed. It's different for fibre feeds that they can 'graze'. It also gets to a point when they might be able to eat hay, but they can't get the goodness from it anymore. I'd add a fibre feed, such as grass nuts or sugarbeet and linseed, as has already been mentioned.
 
Britestar said:
28yr old TB here.

At the moment he's out 19hrs a day with ok grass.

Comes in during evening.
Gets grass nuts and condition mash, plus gain opticare balancer, all soaked. Then a scoop of alfalfa chop.
He also has a trug tub with some DH health mash and dengie original WiFi in it to chew on instead of hay.

In the winter the amount of grass nuts and mash is increased, and linseed added, and is spilt between two feeds 5pm and 10pm.
He gets double the amount of chaff to chew on, again at 5pm and 10pm.
He has hay and haylage in a large hole net as well. He's in over night in the winter.
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Ideally, I would like mine to also have a late feed as I can see the benefit from that, but it's a livery yard and they finish feeding by 6p.m and the horses then just get haylage overnight.
 
meleeka said:
I was told a rugby ball is about the size they can manage in one feed. It's different for fibre feeds that they can 'graze'. It also gets to a point when they might be able to eat hay, but they can't get the goodness from it anymore. I'd add a fibre feed, such as grass nuts or sugarbeet and linseed, as has already been mentioned.
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I think that may be part of the problem, he is just not able to absorb the goodness from the haylage like he used to. But then my concern is, as stated above, how much alternative feed can he take at any one time. I like the rugby ball image!

But the good news is...I had a thorough look at him and long grooming session at the weekend, and I believe he is beginning to pick up weight again, just slightly so far but a little difference. I deliberately kept his fly rug on since last weekend so that I didn't 'see' his body, so I might spot any improvement and I am cautiously optimistic there is a little change for the better especially over his loin area, where he looked particularly poor.
But I think that adding micronised Linseed in a couple of week's time might also give him a further boost.

Thanks everyone, for all the helpful advice.
 
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