Do Older Horses need a Special Feeding Program?

The answer is definitely a Yes. As horses age they develop problems with digesting and absorbing nutrients from their feed. This can be due to the normal aging process, from intestinal damage due to worm infestation during their life and intestinal inflammation from molds, mycotoxins and infections.

I have discussed the importance of hay in horse’s diets in that it is the most important feed source besides pasture. The reason for the hay or pasture is that the horses need the roughage for digestion in the cecum and colon. The cecum and colon have many bacteria that help with the digestion of the roughage and are 69% of the total digestive tract. Therefore the horse needs roughage for normal digestion of nutrients.

It was with this in mind that Stamina Plus developed Equine Senior Plus Supplement to be fed with hay and pasture and not a concentrated feed. As I have discussed in other articles Oats being the perfect grain for horses, with hay and Equine Senior Plus provides the Senior Horse with the correct micronutrients and probiotics for proper digestion of normal feed stuffs. And another benefit of the Senior Plus is you only have to feed 2.5 ounces per day. In the research facility in Cody, Wyoming and with clients horses I have had the opportunity to us the Senior Plus on horses of different ages with diarrhea from intestinal infections and or intestinal lining damage. In all cases the diarrhea stopped in a few days.

Now at what age do we consider a horse in the class of older horse. This depends on how and where the horse was raised, the work load and how the horse was feed and cared for. So a older horse may actually be as young as 12 years to have benefit from a Senior Horse diet.