Mounted search and rescue

[Sabine Shurter <ranch@tektrail.com>]

We found beet pulp (well soaked to avoid colic or choking) useful to 
help old (and younger) horses maintain their weight. Additional senior 
feed or a general supplemental feed like Empower from Nutrena (pricey 
but very little needs to be fed ... it contains a lot of rice bran) and 
good hay (such as a mix of good grasses and some alfalfa to keep the 
digestive system in good order) should be fed as beet pulp is lacking 
some nutrients.  Beet pulp (which is a main ingredient in many senior 
feeds) is comparably cheap and had a good yield (one scoop of dry pulp 
makes about 4 scoops of wet/moist pulp after 1/2 hr.+ of soaking) and 
the water in the soaked pulp helps hydration. A thin horse may also 
suffer from Cushings disease which causes weight loss, shedding problems 
and a decreased immune response. There is medication available although 
our vet thinks it does not always work and some horses do even better 
without. The horse will have to be treated till the end of his life (a 
cost factor). As you say, thin is not necessarily bad (unless emaciated) 
and a thinner horse maybe better off than a fat horse. The problems 
start when essential nutrients are lacking or not internalized anymore 
especially in older animals which affect the responsiveness of the 
immune system and can cause other problems. Sabine



Karen Nesbitt wrote:
> 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!
>         Karen
>  
>  
>
>
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