Question
What should I feed a 25-year-old horse whose withers are caving in?
Answer
Muscles, tendons, and ligaments that support the spine lose firmness as horses age, causing the back to sink and sometimes resulting in a pronounced swayback. Little can be done to completely prevent this, though keeping the horse active and employing specific exercises to strengthen abdominal muscles will help maintain a topline. Gravity will, however, usually win out, and the weight of gut fill will tug down on the back and abdominal muscles, and the topline will suffer.
Before revamping an aged horse’s diet, a thorough examination by a veterinarian is suggested. The horse may have a health issue that could dictate the way it is nourished. Horses with Cushing’s disease or liver dysfunction, for example, should be fed differently than those that are just feeling the more usual effects of old age. With this is mind, I will present some general weight-gain guidelines for senior horses.
How you should feed this horse depends on the state of the horse’s teeth and whether the horse is holding its weight. If molars are missing or ineffective in chewing forage, alternative forage sources should be offered to the horse, such as hay cubes, hay pellets, chopped forage, or beet pulp (preferably served dampened or wet like a mash). Some seniors do well on fresh green grass but will not hold their weight on hay. If this is the case, alternative forages should be offered when fresh grass is not available.
If the horse is having problems maintaining weight, alternative forages are important but other sources of calories may be added to the diet to help with body condition. Making sure the horse is getting 2-2.5% of its body weight in forage/feed will assure that you are feeding an appropriate amount. In addition to forage or forage alternatives, a concentrate feed can be given to bump up the calories in the diet.
Aged horses often thrive on senior feeds because they are typically fashioned to include some type of forage or roughage, and are made for horses with potential dental issues. By providing forage that is more digestible, it may cut down on gut fill, and you may notice a change in the distension of the horse’s abdomen.
Using a feed with a higher fat content or adding additional fat in the form of vegetable oil or rice bran can be a real boost to calorie consumption.
For more information on feeding senior horses, read Taking Care of the Senior Horse.
