Understanding senior nutrition

Text: Hannah Botha, MSc Equine Nutrition

Just like humans, horses age at different rates according to their lifestyle, diet, exercise and genetics. In today’s times, horses are living longer as research improves our understanding, enabling horses to lead active lives late into their twenties and even thirties.

Just because a horse has reached a certain age doesn’t mean you necessarily need to change their food; the main thing to remember is to treat each horse as an individual.

Older horses’ daily nutrient requirements are no different from those of adult horses. Technically, you can therefore feed your older horse just as you would have done when they were younger, meaning a special food is not necessarily required.

However, as a horse gets older, his digestive system becomes less efficient, so he may no longer obtain the full nutritional benefit from the feed or hay he gets, which may lead to changes in weight or condition. If this is the case for your horse, then it’s worth assessing the diet. However, before changing anything, you need to consider the impact of your horse’s dentition on the picture you are seeing. If teeth are a problem or haven’t been checked recently, start with this before changing the food. Loss of teeth or poor tooth condition is a common problem in older horses. This can affect their ability to consume and chew, resulting in partially digested food causing blockages in the gut or food not being utilised as fully. As with any horse, be sure to have your horse’s teeth checked regularly (every six months) to identify any problems. The most common sign of dental issues is quidding, where food is dropped/spat out.

Always start with forage

The most overlooked component of the diet is forage (hay, grazing and forage products such as chaffs, cubes, and beet pulp). As horses get older, they may find it harder to digest fibre, as the fibre-digesting micro-organisms in the hindgut can become less efficient. This means it is important to make sure your older horse or pony has plenty of fibre in the diet to help them maintain digestive health and efficiently utilise nutrients.

Every horse should get at least 1.5% of body weight in forage per day, but for older horses, this may need to increase to at least 2-2.5%, depending on the horse. It may also be worth considering the type and cut of hay. For example, it is probably a good idea to avoid mature cuts that can be stemmy and hard to chew in favour of immature cuttings. Immature cuttings also have the advantage of containing higher levels of nutrients which is ideal for the older horse. Using lucerne, for example, is also another good option as lucerne is generally higher in calories (energy), protein and amino acids, which means more of these are supplied to your horse for the same ‘amount’ of forage. NOTE: For those with dental issues such as diastemas (gaps between the teeth), thicker roughage like lucerne could be an issue.

If the horse has difficulty chewing forage, you will need to replace or partially supplement your horse’s hay amount with a forage alternative. If you don’t support this intake, then it won’t matter what concentrate feed you use; the horse will still lose condition due to simply not consuming enough roughage.

For horses with fairly good teeth, higher quantities of shorter fibres in the diet can be used. These include chaff products, for example. When using chaffs, check the ingredient profile as some may contain added molasses that may not be suitable for all. For horses with very few teeth left, chaffs can be tricky, so hay cubes may be an ideal form of roughage as they can be soaked and therefore require minimal chewing. Fibre is particularly crucial during the winter months as it can add calories and aid in heat production for warmth.

Concentrates

Once the correct amount of forage has been provided, we can take a closer look at concentrates, whether that concentrate is a veteran feed or simply a traditional concentrate. Some veteran feeds are designed to be higher in fibre, which may help further support your older horses; however, that may not be the case for all feeds, so it’s important to discuss options with your chosen feed brand.

It is important that an older horse’s diet matches his energy requirements, whether that’s providing simply enough for maintenance or providing more fuel for work, just as we would do for younger horses.

When choosing a concentrate for an older horse, be sure to look at the energy/calories source as well as the amount. Feeds that are high in cereal grains can have higher energy values, and so for some, this may be an advantage as they can consume more calories per kg, meaning that the amount fed per day could be kept down and still lead to weight gain. However, they may not be the most ideal for older horses with digestive issues and so looking for a feed that is high in fat and fibre will be more gut-friendly and also has the benefit of providing “calm” energy should your older horse be more highly strung.

Older horses often have their workloads reduced, leading to some reduction in muscle tone. Muscle cannot be built with feed alone and must go hand in hand with correct work. Therefore, if physically possible, consider some work for your older horse in order to maintain condition.

In terms of protein, it’s tempting to think that simply adding more will help maintain muscle tone. However, remember that the quality of the protein is more important than quantity. Feeds rich in essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein) will be far more beneficial in conjunction with exercise in maintaining top-line than high protein feeds with inadequate amino acids. Look for commercial horse feeds with the amino acids lysine, threonine, and methionine.

Not all older horses struggle with maintaining weight, and in fact, some need to have their feed reduced when the workload decreases in order to avoid obesity issues. One of the most common feeding strategies for overweight horses and ponies is to make significant reductions to the diet, but it’s important to make sure that the horse still receives a balanced diet and the essential vitamins and minerals they require. Therefore, balancers are a great way to provide optimum nutrients in a low intake, low-calorie ration.

If your older horse or pony has a history of problems such as laminitis, Cushing’s (PPID) or tying-up, this can limit available feeding options. When looking for a suitable concentrate for these horses, look for those low in starch and sugar, with a total NSC of under 15%. Do note that even though a feed may be labelled ‘Low/No sugar’, it may still be high in starch, making it unsuitable for these types of horses. For example, a product with 18% starch and 0% sugar will have an NSC of roughly 18%; however, a feed with 4% sugar and 10% starch will only have an NSC of 14%, making it suitable, so be careful to get the relevant information. Concentrates low in NSC but high in fibre and fat will be the best option for these horses, although you should consult with a feed adviser before changing as each horse is an individual. Also, note that it’s not just the concentrate that we need to consider carefully for these horses; even their roughage needs to be low in NSC as, after all, this is the most significant part of the diet. If you cannot get your hay tested for NSC levels, soaking can help reduce NSC levels. Soaking for 30 minutes fully submerged in water will help reduce sugar levels without reducing nutrient value. However, keep in mind that it’s unlikely that soaking alone would reduce the levels enough in hays that are naturally high in NSC, such as oat hay, so these types may need to be avoided, and alternatives found.

Supplements

A horse susceptible to diarrhoea or colic may benefit from a digestive support supplement to assist the beneficial bacteria in the gut and aid overall digestive health.

Other things to consider

• Older horses and ponies are more susceptible to disruptions to the digestive tract so avoid any sudden changes to either the forage or concentrate ration, as well as sudden increases or decreases in turnout time.

• If your veteran does start to lose weight, it is important to ascertain the reason why and not just to put it down to ‘old age’. Run through a checklist including dental health, veterinary issues and worming considerations to identify any problems.
• If softening the feed, use warm water to aid palatability.
• Feeding small meals at frequent intervals to keep the horse interested and support digestive efficiency can be beneficial.
• Monitor any changes in your horse’s droppings. For example, large fibre strands in the droppings could indicate a reduction in digestive efficiency.
• Veteran feeds can be useful as some will contain higher levels of fibre and often are higher in calories; however, this doesn’t apply to all feeds so check with your chosen brand to ensure it is suitable for your horse. It is also important to note that veteran feeds are not vital for the maintenance of older horses as long as products are chosen for their digestibility and quality of ingredients. Older horses can continue using a normal feed matched to their current workload, provided the digestibility and quality of ingredients are adequate to meet their needs.