06/01/2025
OLD HORSES CAN DIE OF STARVATION IF NOT GIVEN FEED THEY CAN CHEW
Many owners see their elderly horses or ponies getting thinner and thinner despite some bucket concentrate feed, and might assume that 'it's just their age'. These owners often have no idea that all the horse needs is feed in a form that the horse can eat.
Most elderly horses lose weight because they cannot chew very well, and this might be despite good, regular dental care. Horses' teeth grow continuously throughout their lives and will eventually loosen and fall out. They literally 'run out' of teeth. Even those with teeth left can struggle to chew enough conserved forage (hay/haylage) to maintain condition, because the grinding surfaces of the teeth become smoother.
If these horses are fed just concentrates - especially low-fibre conditioning or veteran feeds - they will struggle, because they will be fibre-deficient.
Older horses who gradually get thinner must have their forage (hay, haylage and eventually grass) replaced with ground fibre sources, soaked to a mash, and eventually may need 100% of their feed from a bag.
It is ignorance, rather than cruelty to let a very old - but otherwise healthy - horse get very thin. But it is absolutely 100% avoidable with the knowledge of what to feed!
The grey horse reflects how older horses can end up looking if they don't have their long forage replaced with chewable alternatives.
The dun pony is how an older horse (late 30s) can look despite having lost most of their teeth, when fed 6kg forage-replacement feeds daily
You can claim a free article on feeding older horses and ponies (simply comment feeding oldies below) AND I'm delivering a webinar on this very subject next week. See the link in the comments for more details!
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