senior horses---

I used to sell Purina feed at a feed store. I also own a senior horse and feed Equine Senior. you are supposed to feed 2% of the horses body weight. So if you have a 7-800 lb horse, you need to feed that horse 7-8 pounds of grain per day. that is for maintenance only. If your horse is underweight, you will need to up that amount. Also, its a good idea to split that amount up into 2 feedings. 4lbs in the morning and 4 in the evening.
I have a 24 year old Arab gelding that is used lightly as a lesson horse. He weighs about 1000 pounds (thick boned Arab) He dropped weight a few months ago. So instead of feeding him 10 lbs per day, i fed him 12 pounds per day plus extra hay
*Always up the amount of grain gradually
*I also use 'Cool Calories 100' as a weight gain aid

I sure hope this info helps you with your horse

Is the 7-8lbs of grain in reference to feeding two flakes of hay in the morning and at night? Or is it saying grain by itself? I am a new horse owner so my instructor and the barn owner are taking care of the grain/beet pulp/hay for my horse but I am curious to how you know how much you feed with the grain to hay ratio?
 
Thank you

I know when your feeding your supposed to go by whats on the back of the bag...as for me i dont do that for my mare per my vet she is at a wonderful weight and doesnt need to be feed 7-8lbs a day thats  crazy.....go by what your horses need and  talk to your vet before you feed that much.......if i feed my mare that she would be sooooo over weight it wouldnt be funny. Adding weight there is a product out there not sure if its in your area its call Maxe-Glo Rice bran that stuff does wonders.....Hope this help...

[quote=mm07_meg]

I feed purina seinor....I have a T/walk-Q horse.. She is about 700-800 pounds... Its telling to me to feed her 7-8 pounds a day is that right... seems like alot.....and any thing i can add to  help build/w......Feed a bale of hay a day to two horses....





  Senior is formulated to be a complete feed to be fed in lieu of hay for horses who can no longer chew hay.    And those high amounts are for seniors who are not able to eat hay at all and are only getting the feed.   Usually there is a table to show how to reduce the feed if the horse is also on hay/pasture.  If the horse is able to eat a full ration of hay I would reduce the feed by at least half, less or more depending on the horse's condition.

I feed SeniorGlo and the rations vary by horse.  My biggest two need to gain and are gradually doing so, I'm so happy to say.  My Zag gets HALF of what the other two get and he's fat like a pig!  Danica (2yr old) gets it cuz it's nearly the same as the JuniorGlo. She gets the same as Zag.  ADM is a Forage First advocate so all it's feed is formulated with the idea that horses are to get free choice hay. 
I want to feed free choice minerals, too, if I can ever get my money and my truck to TSC at the same time.

[quote=WashingtonBay]

[quote=mm07_meg]
 Its telling to me to feed her 7-8 pounds a day is that right...


 If the horse is able to eat a full ration of hay I would reduce the feed by at least half, less or more depending on the horse's condition.

 
It says not to feed less than 6 pounds a day if the horse is getting hay.  If you go by&nbspurina's recommendation.  You could probably go less if you provide extra minerals to make up for the allowance you're taking away by not feeding the full recommended amount. 
 
I don't see the exact ingredients anywhere, though.  I don't like that.

I have been feeding the senior feed for about 4 months now.. She is still loss weight!!!! THe purina people told me to feed about 16 pounds a day cause it was a complet feed.. But she has free of choice hay. With all the hay in the feed she is not getting what she needs from the feed(pro-fat-ect).. Cause i was feeding her 6lbs.. I am going to start her on purina stratgy ...Cause she does not need the complet feed. Now she will get what she needs out of  6 lbs of feed.

Do you worm her regularly?  There might be another reason for the weight issue.  I hope the new feed solves the problem!  Bravo for being a good horse mom!   Keep us updated!!!

I posted this in another thread but thought it would fit well here []

Well, i did a little experiment with what i was feeding my senior horse. a short while after i posted here, i realized that i could no longer give lessons due a worsening back injury. well, that meant less cash flow and not enough to buy my Equine Senior as often as i wanted to. What i decided to try was the best decision i have made so far and it requires much less Equine Senior []

I do this in the morning after i feed breakfast:

Put a couple cups of Beet Pulp Pellets in the bottom of a 20qt bucket and fill half way up with HOT water and let sit for a couple hours or until the beet pulp has soaked up the water (i do this in my shower...haha). I then add a one quart scoop of the Equine Senior and mix. i also add a scoop of Cool Calories 100 and Silver Lining: Joint. I also give him a scoop of Hoof and Hair Guard. I feed him this mash for lunch with a small flake of hay.

(my mare gets a scoop of Stategy GX with Hoof and Hair Guard. She is only 11 and a very easy keeper [])

My main point is that all he gets is one scoop of Senior feed a day and he looks fantastic!!!!!!!! The warm mash mix is also very inviting for the cold days we are having. 

update!  ok i got my new feed tuesday. i slowly started her on it over 4 days!  the only thing is  She now has diarria..... I should have waited over a few more days for the full 3lbs in morning @ 3lbs @night... Is this normal for swiching feeds for a horse th have is... please help is it some what normal??? And i did worm her about 1 1/2 weeks ago! could this have a part?

If i were you i would go to Tractor Supply Company and get e 4$ wieght tape it will tell you your horse's wieght, then go online and find a wieght:feed caculator at a horse feed website...... it will give you the best cauculations i have a nine hundred pound horse she needed 4.7 lbs of grain and 14.2 lbs of forage but she doesn't do much....... so this is a good way of factoring in your animal's workload and such....

update- Its been about two 1/2 weeks. She has got over to runs.. How long dose it take to see her start to put back on some weight?

I was having trouble keeping weight on my mare at  the beginning of winter when it started raining and blowing. She needed her teeth floated, chokes on hay (she wolfs it, probably because she's needed her teeth floated for so long, prior to when I got her, so now it's become a habit with her, though I had her teeth done).
 
In the winter, I feed cracked corn. Right now I'm feeding 3-5 quarts of equus senior, 3-5 quarts of alfalfa pellets, and two quarts of cracked corn twice a day. It's a lot of feed, I don't recommend it for horses that are stalled, but my horses are not stalled, it's cold and windy, and she loses weight like crazy when it's cold and wet out...plus I had to put weight on her after she lost weight over a few days before the equine dentist was able to get to her.
 
When the weather is warmer, of course the corn goes bye-bye (I don't recommend riding a horse that is getting a gallon of corn a day...for one thing they'll overheat, and for another it makes them quite squirrelly) and the rations get reduced pretty drastically...2 quarts of each, equus & alfalfa. If I'm worried she isn't getting enough bulk, I'll cut the equus down to one quart, and give more alfalfa. 
 
But if you're having trouble getting weight on her, I'd try corn. Don't start out with what I'm feeding, introduce it gradually. And use cracked corn, it's easy for them to consume and it isn't prone to the fatal fungus that rolled corn can get. I stir their feed up so they don't get big mouthfulls of cracked corn, it's kind of powdery and having had her go down twice choking on hay, I'm pretty careful to make sure she can't get big mouthfuls of anything that might get sucked up either into the back of her sinuses or clog up in her throat. Mixing it means each mouthful has different textures, so she doesn't get wads of food.
 
Have you checked the teeth, btw?
 
 

I have not had her teeth checked.. But she dose drop alot of feed. i am going to get her t-floated.. do you think that could be cause for the weight loss?