Question

I have a 23-year-old Paint gelding. He has a lot of grass and timothy/alfalfa (lucerne) hay, and I feed him 1 lb (0.45 kg) of a ration balancer. I think I should put him on a senior feed, but he also has ulcers and I want to be sure the feed is low in sugar and starch. I don’t know what feed to use, though. He is not currently underweight at 14.2 hands and 920 lb (418 kg). He is also on supplements for gastric ulcers, hoof and coat health, and joint protection. I ride him three or four days a week for 30 to 60 minutes. He looks good except he is just now showing a little rib along with sinking around the hips.

Answer

What you are experiencing with your gelding is not uncommon as a horse ages. There comes a point when the calories provided by the normal ration are not enough to meet the needs of the horse anymore because of changes in the ability to derive nutrition from the feed. It sounds like your horse was an easy keeper most of his life but perhaps now he may be in need of more calories to maintain his weight and musculature.

The first option is to increase the amount of forage fed. The grass in the southeastern part of the U.S. is not known for being highly nutritious, so one approach is offering more of the timothy/alfalfa hay with each feeding to see if you can get more calories into him with forage. If he has issues with ulcers, this is by far the best option, particularly if it will give him less time during the day when he has nothing in his stomach.

A senior feed is another good option. Senior feeds by design tend to be lower in starch because they usually provide more fiber than traditional feeds. (If you increase one energy source, such as fiber, feed formulation experts usually remove another energy source, like starch.)

There are some senior feeds that have been specially formulated with low starch to address the glycemic issues that occur with Cushing’s disease, which is very common in aged horses. Senior feeds also are formulated with a little extra protein for horses that have lost some of their ability to digest protein, another common occurrence with aged horses. If you find a senior feed that fits your feeding program, pay particular attention to the recommended feeding rate minimum. Your gelding may not need as much as the feed manufacturer recommends, which can be 8 lb (3.6 kg) minimum for some feeds, so you may need to top-off the senior feed with a little of the ration balancer to keep nutrient content of the diet optimal.

This article will provide more information about feeding senior horses.