Dec 2007

One day you walk out to your horse and you think “wow, where did those gray hairs on my horse's face come from and is he looking a little more sway back than I remember. You start to think about what you can do to keep him active and useful for a few more years and then healthy into his retirement.  However, ideally, you would have started thinking of these things from the day you acquired him.
Yearly dental exams, good foot care and proper nutrition help extend the usefulness and happiness of your horse well into his twenties.  Poor teeth and the resulting loss of body condition and possible colic are the primary cause of early euthanasia that I see in my practice. Although equine senior foods have gone a long way in prolonging the life of the older horse, the facts are that these feeds are a lot more expensive and often require that the horse be separated from the herd in order to finish the required amount of feed. This sometimes leads owners to opt for euthanasia earlier than they would have had the horse kept a more acceptable body weight.  Also poor chewing can lead to less digestible feed reaching the gut and causing colic, sometimes severe.  Regular, proper deworming prevent gut wall damage caused by wandering parasites.
Inadequate foot care throughout the life of the horse leads to major problems as they age. This includes founder, navicular problems and arthritis.  Some owners may be tempted to lengthen the time between trimming when the horse is older and used less. This is the worst thing that you can do as it is hard on their tendons, ligaments, joints and navicular bone when they have a longer toe.  Also, hoof cracks from infrequent trimmings leads to abscesses and it may be difficult to resolve the wall cracks once they start. 
Nutrition is also important in the health and longevity of your horse. It is not just a matter of feeding quality feed and hay.  Actually, the problem that I see most is the horses are feed too well.  They are grossly overweight and overfed for the limited amount of exercise that they get each week.  Long term obesity causes the same problems that it causes for us humans. Metabolic problems can occur such as Cushings disease and insulin resistance.  This can also lead to founder, a common cause of expensive vet bills and euthanasia.  Joint problems can be more pronounced with the extra weight.  Breeding overweight older mares can be more difficult as well as making the foaling process harder.
So, what to do now?  Well, its not too late to follow the above recommendations.  Schedule a dental examination with your veterinarian and ask their opinion on your horse's body condition.  Your veterinarian can provide some good advice on nutrition for now and for the future of your animal.
If your horse seems a little on the thin side despite giving him more than the recommended amount of feed and hay and you have already had his teeth floated, consider adding a probiotic feed supplement to his grain to improve digestion. My favorite is Fastrack although there are others.  Most feed stores carry this product.  This product helps improve the way the gut breaks down and digest the grain.   Older horses do break down their grain as well as the younger horses do and this is the basis for the senior feeds.  Consider switching to a senior feed if adding the probiotic supplement does not help put on weight within one month.  Just be sure to switch the feed over slowly by adding to the regular feed while reducing the amount of the regular feed over one week. Also, check the bag for the recommended poundage of feed for your size horse and then weigh the feed to insure giving the correct amount.  Do this because senior feeds are not as dense as regular feed and you will be giving a greater amount than you are used to giving.  Two scoops of your regular feed do not equal two scoops of the senior feed. Your horse will lose weight if you are not mindful of this fact.   Offer good quality hay but if your horse cannot chew the hay and spits it back out, then the senior feed will take the place of the hay as it has added roughage.  Make sure that your older horse is finished with his feed before turning out as it may take him longer to eat all of it.  Accommodations may need to be made to separate this horse from others while eating if he is not the dominate horse in the pasture. If your horse is overweight, immediately take steps to reduce his grain intake and remove weight. If pastured and not fed grain, then you may have to move him or section off a smaller pasture.
Routine vaccinations become even more important when your horse gets older because their immune system is not as good as when they were young. Consult with your veterinarian regarding any changes that need to be made such as more frequent Strangles and flu/rhino vaccinations if you are in a boarding situation.  Observe your horse more closely for injuries and illnesses as the older horse may not heal as well or as quickly.