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As Irv mentioned, cost cutting is more than likely the reason
to let those horses be sold. Our retired mare is almost 30.
She got really thin this past spring coming out of winter. We
tried a diet change hoping this winter to spring would be easyer to go
through.
Then we had floods that put our normally better grass for this
horse off the clock, and she lost more weight. She was not doing
well on what we had at the time. So then we tried adding things to
compensate.
Well, that did not work. We had her on some cracked
corn. That did not do a thing for her, we tried alfalfa hay, all
that did was give her the runs and she lost more weight, she was
wormed etc etc etc..and nothing seemed to be helping getting her back on
course. Then when spring and the heat of summer hit, we had
dehydration issues, some runs and still now weight back. We used
the paste electrolytes and she had choice of red mineral block salt and
white. At here age, she is missing teeth.
We finally tried PROBIOS, after a few days on that, that cured
the runs, so we kept her on that for a few weeks and through it all
she was doing ok, just kept losing weight to the point of
amaciation. We thought this was going to be the end. Her
metabolizim changed and then a gal recommended to us try feeding Senior
horse feed. She said it was a soft pelleted feed, easier for the
old equine to digest. Well, I told her we had issues with
grain. We found a Senior feed that Nutena puts out that has beet
pulp, molasses, rice and non traditional grain. It is
working. She is gaining weight back, but ever so slowly. The
stuff costs $14mol. a 50 lb bag...this supplement, that, wormers,
vet bills, farrier... so you do the math on what maintenance of an
IDLE older steed could cost that department, then if the horse is
not usable and in chronic care for one issue or another. Its not
just the plopping of a feed into a bucket, at her age, its getting the
RIGHT STUFF. That can take some time and supervision.
Well, right now, all I can say for us, that mare is doing much
better. She has a pasture here for her remaining days... but as
someone else mentioned, they could not afford to keep retired
aging horses on their string. The cost of maintenance gets to
be rather tough to handle. It is also hard to watch them go down
hill and to try to figure out why (other than old age!). Things
seem to have a tendency to go not the way it used to.
As for SENIOR horse chows, not all companies are alike in what they
put in it. Some are grainless, others have grain. Seems the
main ingredient that is common is beet pulp and molasses...anything more
than that is depending on the company. So sometimes figureing out
the metabolizim issues can take time, the horse can look like hell until
you get it right, but there is hope for keeping an aged horse around a
little longer. The question is why? ANd that may just boil
down to the pocketbook of the department.
The one thing I resent about the Senior feed is the sticky fly
attracting molasses. I wish there was another additive that was
caloric in the same manner, but did not attract flies in the stool or in
the feed buckets. grrrrr. But as there is no other feed
substitute I know of, I am stuck with the flies.
One other thing we have found, older horses can tend to choke
on their grain.. so, my advise, do not leave them unattened while
graining them. Since a horse cannot regurgitate, they can get a
blockage from the choking. Hopefully not, but it takes a few
moments for the animal to work the particles out and occassionally it
can come through the nose in expulsion. That is if they can expell
it. Not so sure what can be done if the animal cant, other than..
well....have a place for the inevitable. Just our humble
opinion.
Also, it never ceases to amaze me, just when you think you know
alot about horse care, they get old and the program changes. You
learn more and more every day. For some reason, babies are much
easier to deal with!
Thin horses are not always unhealthy, just thin.. but fat horses,
they are not alway healthy either....Overly fat horses especially aged
ones can have a mirade of issues such as cushings, laminitis, arthritis
and the list goes on.
I am hoping that the old girl here will bloom again as she really
is a joy to have in our pasture, but I also know that one day, we will
be saying good bye to our old friend.
God bless and have a safe ride everyone!
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