Senior Horse Very Underweight - What to feed?

[quote=emnhorserider]

When I took these guys to the vet I tried talking about nutrition. He honestly wasn't that helpful. Feed him senior feed and hay..... well I wanted more. Like one feed versus another type deal but he didn't seem to know to much about getting weight on. So decided to do my own research.

In my experience there are a lot of vets who don't know much about nutrition.  I discovered this when I started feeding my dog homemade dog chow... I was trying to figure out how much protien, starch, veggies, dairy, vitamins, minerals etc... to feed.  Basically, I got looked at like a crazy person and no solid answers to my questions.  You're best bet IS do your own research, that information is out there.  I don't think vets get a whole ton of training on nutrition though. 
 
Like 2manyhorses said, alfalfa itself is not the problem it's people that don't really know how to feed alfalfa that make "crazy" horses.  Here, the winters are so cold almost everyone feeds some kind of alfalfa blend to their horses for the extra calories and warmth.  They don't act any differently because of it.

Here, the only kind of hay worth getting is alfalfa!  I really think it depends on what part of the country you're from.  I've never fed anything else, and am gobsmacked when people mention this!
Your horses are georgeous!  Yes...they need weight, but I can see the possibilities!

Well you do have to remember I live in Texas where is gets quite warm. Although here recently has been extremely cold! It snowed the other day! Crazy! Alfalfa is probably not the best choice it the hot months when fed to younger horses that don't need the extra somethin' alfalfa gives but I think in this case alfalfa would be a good addition.

Thanks! Yes! I am definitely excited to see them with all those bones covered up!

TEXAS!  I LUV Texas!!  My sis lived in SA for close to 40 years!  But my HEART belongs to the Austin area!

Well, it was nice over Thanksgiving!  (Texas) but temps dropped and they saw a little snow.  Where in Texas again?  I was in Harper-by-God.
 
Em, that Aztec has a little shine to his eyes yet.  I've seen hopeless (as in, the look in the horse's eye) and that isn't it.  Hang in.  Shoot a tube of probiotics in them.  Take it slow. 
 
I know in Harper they worry about blister beetle in alfalfa.  THAT's nothing to mess around with there!!!

Yes those nasty little things are a concern here as well, but I have access to good quality alfalfa.

Yes both of these guys have a desire to live. I just am too the point where I want so badly to see improvement with their weight, but it takes time.

I am a huge fan of Texas but getting real tired of this weather! I grew up in San Antonio! Now im kinda out in the country but still close to town!

Oh right. Sorry. Didn't see that part about the vet. Good deal
 
Wow, I must have been very lucky cause all the vets I ever used have been extremely knowledgeable about nutrition, feeds and supplements in certain locals.
 
I am leery of high protein in older mammals. Can cause damage to the kidneys. So protein is good, but in moderation even in underweight horses. Good groceries, all the excellent quality hay they can eat usually does the trick. Corn oil and cracked corn will add weight fast - but that's not muscle either.
 
I am a big fan of Alfie too -cubes, pellets, hays. However, it may be a bit much for an underfeed horse. A field mix hay maybe. Or a small addition of pellets, to be built up over a period of weeks.
 
Good luck, and keep the pics of your progress coming!
 

It just astounds me that someone would actually offer a horse in that poor of condition, for sale...... If it was someone down on their luck, they should've tried to sell them way back when they first fell on hard financial times......  How sad.
 
They look like they'll be very nice looking horses with a couple hundred pounds on them.  Poor Ranger, probably served people all his life and look what he got in return......  I'm so glad we live on property where I won't have to sell Spirit when Shay is ready for a more challenging horse.  I can be sure he'll never be hungry or abused.
 
Bless you for being willing to take these two in and spend money to bring them back to health.

I manage a horse rescue in FL.  We are always working on putting weight on something.  We had two horses come in that are in their 20s and were pretty much knocking on deaths door.  This is the program that they were put on:
 
1st week - 3 flakes grass hay/day, weaning over to alfalfa hay
2nd week - 3 flakes alfalfa/day (am, noon, pm)
3rd week thru 6th week - as much alfalfa as they will eat without wasting per feeding (3-4 flakes per horse)
7th week - start on half pound of senior feed 2 x per day, increase by half pound every 3 days.
 
They got their vaccinations on the second week eating
 
Worming also started after second week of eating -
 
1/2 dose panacur
2 days later - half dose panacur
3 days later - panacur power pac
1 week later - full dose strongid
1 week later - full dose equimax
 
The dates are a little off, but pretty close to accurate.  We bring them back to feed slowly, allowing them to adjust.  They do get alfalfa hay, not cubes or pellets (affects nutrition level during compression).  We did start mixing orchard in with the alfalfa.  Both horses gained a significant amount of weight in the first two months, but we are expecting about a year for them to be normal.  This is a program given to us by our vet. 
 
As far as alfalfa goes, I do feed pellets to my personal horses along with an alfalfa balancer mineral and BOSS.  They get grass hay.  I agree that it isn't the alfalfa that makes horses change, but the amounts given if the horse isn't doing anything.  Most of my horses only get enough pellets to mix supplements in with.  I have also found it very helpful for horses that have had ulcer/appetite problems, leading to weight problems. 
 
This is something to be patient with, and I also agree with taking pictures to track progress.  Good luck with them.

When aged horses get anorexic like that one is, it can take a long time to get the weight put on them. I have nothing to add really to the diet recommendations....I've heard pros & cons for beet pulp, senior feed is always good. Intense alfalfa can be a little much for them sometimes. I brought two aged horses who were starved almost to death (the mare was so weak the farrier had to let her rest every few seconds while trimming her because she couldn't hold herself up on three feet for any period of time), they were actually in worse condition than that. It took about a year to get them back to normal.
 
We took them to a barn where they had lovely stalls with outside runs, free choice grass hay, alfalfa 2 x daily, also dry cob 2 x daily, and turn out in a pasture for a couple of  hours a day. We also supplemented them with MSM and something else, I can't remember. The mare was very arthritic in the shoulders and could barely walk and had trouble getting up. But lots of time and they put all their weight back on, and her arthritis improved to the point where it was no longer a concern as far as her going down and not getting up.
 
I cannot say how important it is to stimulate horses in that condition. Gentle exercise (pasture turn out or hand walking) and lots of grooming/massaging to stimulate circulation and muscle tone. Just like people who are starving, their appetites have to be stimulated...and if they are stimulated too suddenly, their hearts can give out (you're probably already past that point, it generally happens when you feed them really rich feed when they aren't used to having any).
 
Both of my horses came back completely. The mare was born in 79 so is coming 31 this year. She's in a retirement home, we pay $75 a month and she is on beautiful pasture with other aged horses and is the favorite of the owners, who still occasionally put children on her and lead them around.
 
The gelding, who was even in worse condition and who I believe was within days if not hours of death, recovered completely to become his old quirky self and we sold him to a woman who had horses and wanted a gentle horse for children who weren't accustomed to riding, to give lessons on, or to be the horse that an inexperienced rider could ride on trail rides. (This was Pee Wee. We put a 7 y.o. girl who had never ridden on him and rode out and he'd trail behind, and we'd call him and he'd meander back to us at a leisurely pace). We guaranteed him sound and said we'd buy him back if they ever wanted to sell him or weren't happy with him. We received one update on him, the family who bought him was thrilled with him and never contacted us to take him back. He was also trained to pull a cart, they were going to use him for that as well, I would have loved to have seen it.
 
These horses were our horses, and my had mother placed them with someone who took the feed we purchased for them, and fed it to his own  horses, and put our horses on a lot they grazed down to nothing, and left them there. When I saw them I was aghast and moved them pronto to the aforesaid barn. We paid $250 a month for them there, but they received EXCELLENT care and I was able to see them almost daily..so they got lots of attention and grooming, not just from me but from the owners of the stable. It took a year for them to come back and there were times when I was afraid it wasn't going to happen. But it did.

This is tough.  I can't remember what exactly I fed my senior horse, but I think it was something like 1 part oats to 2 parts grain in addition to hay.  The added oats helped get her back into show condition (I remember reading some great material about adding oats for senior horses).  Unfortunately, she did become "anorexic" and turned to skin and bone.  Turns out it was because she was going in heart failure and we couldn't do anything for her.  That was a very sad time for me.

Wow.  []  Lots of sad stories.

My current take on oats..as usual, conditional upon learning something new.
 
Unless oats are ROLLED, or your horse is very good at masticating, they essentially pass through as roughage only. So for elderly horses with issues chewing and/or digesting, chances are, the oats are acting only as roughage.
 
A friend of mine, who has young horses, was appalled when I told her I feed a gallon of dry cob (rolled corn, oats, and whatever else is in it. Maybe a little barley) to my horses. She was like, "they'll founder."
 
I see their crap. The oats go through whole. The birds eat it. The corn puts weight on. I haven't foundered a horse yet on oats. But I adjust the feed to the weather, and their ability to process it.
 
When I lived in Los Alamos, NM, at 7500 altitude, we fed either cracked or rolled corn during the winter. It generates heat. It can make them hot...horses who don't buck can and will buck when you feed them corn and they aren't being worked hard every day. But our horses were ridden every day, even in the winter, in 3 feet of snow. But corn generates heat and will put on weight. With older horses, rolled corn is great for putting on weight...when our horses were starved, we were buying cracked corn (the kind you feed to chickens) and that, among other things, was what was being withheld from them and led to their hideous weight loss.
 
Oats can founder them, if overfed. But if it's not rolled and they aren't great at chewing, it goes through whole. I probably wouldn't feed a gallon of dry cob to younger  horses with good teeth and good tone. I might feed them  half a cup a feeding, and some alfalfa, and possibly free choice grass hay.
 
I have yet to see a horse put on weight with oats. Corn will put weight on them, and increase their ability to generate heat.
 
Unfortunately, rolled corn isn't guaranteed safe when it leaves the processing center, as my feed store ppl told me (which is why they don't sell it). When stored in warm areas, it can generate (ergot?) and be deadly.
 
But since we didn't feed it in the summer, that was never an issue for us.
 
Slow and easy is the way to take extremely underweight horses. Don't overtax their hearts too quickly with too rich of feed right away. Stimulate their circulation. If you're stimulating circulation by grooming and easy exercise, you are also stimulating the circulation of their digestive tract. But too sudden will result in heart failure, because if they are in very poor shape, their hearts are weak and taxed already.
 
Honestly, I love corn. It will make their hearts race. You have to carefully gauge how much to use, but if you are able to do that (start with a handfull twice a day) they will put on weight and shine.