What do you feed your seniors.........

Heidi1

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Just thought I would as the above question, thinking of changing my old boys feed, he's not blooming as much as I really would like to see..........He's 19, but been retired 11 years............ So any replies would be much appreciated.......
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My old girl (who is 7/8 TB and prone to weight loss) is on lots of haylage, AlfaA, veg oil and micronized barley - and she looks great!
 
My oldies get 1 handfull slim/healthy mix, 2 handfulls hi fi lite, veteran vitamins, cider vinigar, carrotts and swede. They get around 4 sections of hay depending on weather. Both laminitic so have to be careful. They are looking very healthy at the moment with shiny coats.
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My 24yo cob is in full work and is on
1 scoop of competition mix, 1 scoop of dengie hi-fi, veg oil, and salt.

I've previously had her on boiled barley, sugarbeet and veg oil, which wonders especially for putting on condition, but it is time consuming.

I'm actually going to put mine on the soaked oats diet, i've heard so many good things about it and it will be a lot cheaper. PM me if you want a fact sheet.
 
My TB is 28 years old, still doing light work and the odd very small (2') showjumping class.

She is fed Fibremix Extra in winter and Easy in summer with Alfa A, Sugarbeet, Pink Powder and NAF veteran suppliment. First year i've not seen her ribs. Plus haylage, but she only manages to get through 10lbs each night.

I've tried the specific Veteran feeds and they are no good for her. She lost weight and didn't look good.

She looks and behaves very much like a youngster (no-one has told her yet, she's supposed to slow down and get sensible with age).
 
My 20yr old cob x is on TopSpec feed balancer and TopSpec Super Conditioning Flakes with Alfa A and some sugar beet and plenty of good quality hay.
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And he is looking really good on it, even though the fields are bare!
 
The oldies (aged between 28-39) at the RS where pickle is kept and I work have

Hi-Fi
carrot/parsnip peelings
Barley
sugarbeet
 
Bertie is 26 and is happily on Spillers Senior Condidtioning Mix with Baileys No 1 and Alfa Speedibeet plus Coligone and veg oil. I did have him on supa barley rings but hes gone off them even when they are soft.
 
My 22year old poor doer mare who shows no signs of wanting to retire is fed 1 Scoop of calm and condition, 3/4 scoop Veteran Cool mix, Speedi beet, big handful Alfa A Original, Garlic Granuels, A veteran Supplement and a good drizzle of oil. Shes incredably fussy and always has been so this is the happy meduim with her as she hates molasses and chaff and simply will not eat it.
 
mine is 21, but doesn't look or act his age so i dont treat him any differently. he gets a scoop of chaff, an equivite size bucket of speedibeet and 500grams of topspec antilam twice a day, plus Linseed oil and loads of hay.
 
My TBxNative mare is 34 & still thinks she's 5. I think the most important thing is to get their teeth checked regularly. Jenny still behaves like a young horse, & is holding her weight fine, so I haven't bothered changing her to an 'oldies' diet.
 
my pony is on hifi and spillers fibre cubes (all mushy) being an old man, he has problems with this teeth, and finds it difficult to eat the hay sometimes (although he's managing fine this year), so he has a bucket full of hifi as a hay replacer, then another bucket with the hifi and the cubes- with a haynet and is polishing off the lot! He's also having a helping of oil and red cell. This year he's keeping his weight better than ever!
 
my old mare has been up and down recently but she has 4 feeds a day all soaked consisting of grass cubes, condit cubes, alpha beet, mint, garlic, supplement, tiny bit of chaff and just trying allen and page old faithfull blend. bear in mind these are pretty small feeds as spread out. she is not at grass at moment and goes out in the sand school.
 
My 30 something cob who wouldnt consider retiring for one minute is on 1 scoop oats, 1 scoop bran, 1 scoop Alfa A and a dollop of cooked linseed. oh and morbifor for his joints.
Looks great. !!
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Before we lost little Misty, i was feeding her Build Up cubes, Hi Fibre cubes, Safe & sound, and D&H 16+ mix all split into 3 feeds along with her supplements. She loved it, and looked really well on it. She was 20.
 
Whispa is fed hi-fi (2 big scoops), sugar beet (1/2 big scoop) and Allen&Page Herbal Quiet Mix (1 big scoop) twice a day, along with carrots, and unlimited hay. She's out all day (with hay and carrots in the field as there's not much grass at the mo) and in at night. She's 30 this year and retired - New Forest cross - although looks and acts about 15!!.

I did look at some of the senior mixes, but they all had a bit too much barley in them to be suitable for Whispa as she can get a bit fat in the sping and summer!! She's had this mix of feed (have used other mixes in the past) since she had to be retired in 1990 (just alter the volume depending on time of year and how she looks. She has always done well on it - sometimes rather too well!!
 
We used to feed our old donkey Feel Good Fibre stuff... its a mix of chaff, mix, vits, mins etc etc and on its own its an all round meal (I think) but we supplemented it a bit. Fussy donkey liked it and it put weight on him!
 
Add something high oil? Like change to Alfa A Oil etc. or just add some soya oil to his feed? Make sure he's getting lots of fibre and all his vits & mins. Or you could just move onto a feed made specifically for veterans?

My veterans are doing great on a purely fibre diet (a mixture of fibre nuts, grass nuts and chaff).
 
TopSpec balancer, Alfa A Oil with speedibeet and topspec conditioning flakes added in winter. He's 20, here he is:

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B is 26 this year, he gets a scoop happy hoof, a scoop spillers senior maintanance mix, two mugs speedi beet and a glug of cod liver oil.
(and ad lib haylage)
 
Cairo is 21 this year but we treat him as 24 due to all the chemo he has had.

He does very well on Simple Systems lucie stalks, greengold (alfa), total eclipse supplement and extra linseed from then. He also has black sunflower seeds and carrots. In the winter he is getting a little speedibeet and 1/2 - 3/4 bale of hay a day - he is on a high fibre, low calorie diet.
 
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