It's About The Horse

new2thejourney · Member Joined: 06 Mar 2009 Posts: 386

I figured while I had the brains, why not pick them and find out as much information as I can, so I really appreciate all your help.

I had a wonderful play day at my friends house with another friends horse. 4 women, 5 horses, 2 ponies and a lot of fun. But that is another story.

I finish my wonderful day, go and pick up the kids, and long story short, I find out that my horse, who I always thought was 11 years old - IS 21 this year!! Oh my GooDNEss.....I was blown away! I have had trouble with putting on weight, and now I know why! I had previously decided not to rug him, but this winter I definately will be. And I need to change what I am feeding him and I would love some input.

At the moment I am feeding him:

Lucene Chaffe
Oaten Chaffe
Bran
Barley
Lupins

I had all the amounts written down somewhere but I can't find them. It's about 500grams of the chaffe's, about 1kg of bran, 800grams of Barley and I haven't weighed the lupins yet, but he gets a 2 litre ice-cream container of un-soaked lupins, then of course when I soak them they swell massivly.

He gets that every night for tea.

During the day he has access to some ok - ordinary free choice hay, and at night and in the morning he gets a little premium hay.

He has shelter from the rain, wind and sun if he needs it.

His feet are in the process of being corrected, but his lameness has held off his last trim - yet to be rebooked.

I am not interested in feeding pellets as the quality of them here are poor.

I can't think of anything else you may need to know.

Oh - we have just finished week 5 of Hill Therapy so next week will be the last week, but I have to add another for the week he had off lame.

We play on-line and at liberty a little bit, but as the weather is getting colder here, the playing is less.

Thank you so much for any help you may come up with for me,
Sincerely,
Karen.
_________________
Love and light to all xx

HopeMissouri · Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 11:15 am Post subject:

Why do you need to change what you're feeding your 21 year old horse?

If he was doing fine with what you were feeding when you thought he was 11, he should continue to do OK.

Hope
w/21yo TWH and 28yo Spotted Saddle Horse

EDITED TO ADD: Oops! Read this too early in the morning, missed the weight problem. Unless I told someone that my TWH was 21, they could think he was 11 years old. So I assumed yours was doing as well.

My 28yo does drop weight if I don't stay vigilant. He does very well on Senior Pellets (Purina & Triple Crown) which include some pro-biotics and supposed to be highly digestable. He has very few teeth left, so I add water to his food to soften. The vet also suggested that I add vegetable oil to the older horse's food to keep things moving through his system.
_________________

oldmac_donald · Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 12:14 pm Post subject:

I can't go past Feedxl.com - really, it's worth the $15 for a day's use. Seriously!

My "kinda hard to keep" mare, who is 8 months preggers (like no one can tell with my garish Egg signature

), is now on a diet because the program worked too well!

I took her out today, and mistook her for a percheron. She's an appy, built like an arab. Nice and fine... and now apparently morphing into a draft horse. My feed bill went WAY down. She just gets... hay. Hay and supps in a handful of chaff. Speedibeet when she has done some work (which is great for safely getting weight on these hard keepers, btw)

The amount of feed I've thrown down her throat in the past, to no avail, is taunting me...

The program takes age, work, diet-related diseases (I highlighted laminitis to eliminate high sugar-based feeds), grass type (tropical, temperate), quality, hay, hay quality, chaff quality, every premixed feed available in Aus, and most supplements.

Anyway, its the cheapest way to get peace of mind, IMHO, because now I know what I'm feeding. Oh, and because you only get a day/week/month to play with it, do several diets in preparation for things like holidays (agistment center, check!), spelling, retirement, conditioning. In my case, I did one for every stage of pregnancy, lactation, weaning and spelling.

It's also an eye-opener in terms of finding out what your supps really DON'T cover. Eek!
_________________
The horse doesn't care what colour your Kool-Aid is - he will not drink it.

PasoBaby_CarolU · Site Admin Joined: 31 Jan 2009 Posts: 9031

I can't comment on his diet, since I am unfamiliar with some of it. What I have found with my older horses are that you need to first check their teeth well to make sure they are able to thoroughly chew their food. You can check a manure sample and see if there are long, undigested stems. This is a give-away that they aren't masticating the feed well enough. Soaking helps with this and gives them additional water.

I feed my seniors (I have two) additional fat to maintain weight and probios to help in digestion. There are many feeds with fat in them, or you can add vegetable or corn oil to their feed.
_________________
Carol Nudell
Corazon de Oro Paso Finos

"The path to your horse's heart lies through your own."

Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots. - Words of Wisdom - Mhar

‎"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss activities; Small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt

new2thejourney · Member Joined: 06 Mar 2009 Posts: 386

thanks all for your replies. I will check out that web site for sure. And I like the sound of the vegetable oil. His poos are fine and his teeth were done last year - dentist pulled out a wolf tooth! and I will get his teeth seen to again soon.

Karen
_________________
Love and light to all xx

Horse Gypsy · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 2:07 pm Post subject:

I personally think that the best diet for weight gain- and what has worked for me is free choice hay, and soaked beet pulp/oats 50/50, at least 4 ounces of ground flax seeds or flax oil and a half cup of vegetable oil a day. Plus probiotics-made a big difference for my older TB. And make sure they have access to salt. IT also turns out that that diet at least here is cheaper than feeding a commercial premixed feed- I know what is in it- and there is no sugar or fillers. And it is a safe diet if you run into metobolic issues.

whisperingwindfarms · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 2:09 pm Post subject:

Most vegetable oil is rancid by the time it reaches your grocer's shelf. Just FYI . . .
_________________
Erin

Visit my Blog! http://havesavvy.wordpress.com/

Horse Gypsy · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 2:29 pm Post subject:

I think we have been through this before--That may be true but it is the only thing that puts weight on a bunch of older skinny horses. I have tried a lot of things. SO you do not use any vegetable oil in your house? What you don't have salad dressing? I admit I usually use Olive oil in mine-- but you would have to be a nut to feed horses fancy organic olive oil.
I have heard that Cocosoya is better- but not easily available. I would love to be able to afford to feed them cold pressed oils- but it is just not happening.

whisperingwindfarms · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 2:40 pm Post subject:

Horse Gypsy · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 3:07 pm Post subject:

Erin, I have asked Dr Kellon about this, and it is not true. Horses can digest oil and it doesn't do any damage. It does not damage the liver-- and the gall bladder thing is just some old myth according to her. They can and do digest fat in the stomach and small intestine. That is why adding fat puts fat onto horses. It is not a good energy source however-- so if you are looking to add calories don't feed more fat- add more digestible carbs.

It all depends on what kind of horse you have-- If I didn't have any TBs I would think people were crazy for feeding oil also-- For QHs and Drafties it would be insane to feed them oil. But When you have horses that have been so bred for speed- somewhere along the line the bodies ability to maintain fat has just been bred out-- and in this climate with these breeds you need to add fat. I have talked to Dr Kellon about this and she agrees with me. After having my Hano on oil for a year -- and he finally got the 5.5 condition score-- I took him off and tried just flax and other things- and he lost weight- back to being ribby-- so This is something that works everytime for skinny horses. And this is a horse that is on free choice hay/pasture that I have just mineral balanced.

whisperingwindfarms · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 3:14 pm Post subject:

You have your sources and I have mine. You trust yours and I'll trust mine.
_________________
Erin

Visit my Blog! http://havesavvy.wordpress.com/

HopeMissouri · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 3:36 pm Post subject:

RANCID! Vegetable oil! Gross!!!

Now I'm going to have to taste test

At least it doesn't reek, the horses like it, and the dogs can hardly wait to lick the bottom of the horse buckets to get the residual.

My vet suggested the vegetable oil to help prevent blockage since my old guy is bereft of teeth. He never mentioned the addition of oil to add weight, but possibly would have if my horse had appeared to be underweight.
_________________

Leah · Member Joined: 02 Feb 2009 Posts: 1476

whisperingwindfarms · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 4:21 pm Post subject:

Leah,

You and I have had this conversation before and did not change each other's opinions. I do not expect any different result this time. I do not advocate feeding a top dressing of any kind of oil and most definitely not store bought vegetable oil.

Erin
_________________
Erin

Visit my Blog! http://havesavvy.wordpress.com/

carefreegirl · Member Joined: 01 Feb 2009 Posts: 822