What To Feed When You Have An Older Horse
Changes in the digestive efficiency of the older horses require specific nutritional needs. As the digestive system ages, the ability to digest and absorb nutrients is more of a challenge than in earlier years--plus it's even harder for older horses to chew their food, which is step one in the digestive process for most mammals.
Most feed stores will have a wide range of options for older horses, so let's brush up on a couple mainstays that you need to be aware of when making your initial selection. Check out this extensive piece we did on selecting feed here.
When you have an older horse, mare or gelding, there are some key factors you want to look at when making your selection of feeds: probiotics/prebiotics, fiber and more complex nutrients like amino acids/vitamins. Hoof care, while not immediately tied to selecting a feed, could go a long way to helping your older horse access adequate forage.
The Importance of Probiotics and Prebiotics in Senior Horses' Diet
Microflora in horses, like the "good bugs" in the human's digestive tracts, are a necessary aspect of overall health; this becomes especially true in older horses as they lose the fluorescence of these bugs later in life due in part to natural, age-related cellular breakdown- but also because these horses may not have the same ability to forage through roughage as they did in their younger years.
Probiotics Are Not New: The term probiotic comes from Greek words "for" and "life" to describe the "good" microbes within the gut. The concept of consuming beneficial bacteria first arose in the early 1900s, according to Kyle Newman, PhD, a microbiologist and lab director at Venture Laboratories in Lexington, Ky., but he says the popularity of probiotic use has gone through ups and downs since that time. Courtesy Heather Smith Thomas
Most of the action happens in the horse's hindgut where roughage and fibrous materials are broken down into short-chain fatty acids which are converted into energy for the horse. Feeding a high-grain, high-concentrate, low-fiber diet (imagine a show diet, or "hot" food) will disrupt the natural balance in the horse's digestive tract, and, in older horses, you will need to supplement diets with these pro-prebiotics. So when looking for feed, make sure you make a selection that contains a good level of these "good bugs" so your horse can process the food he eats.
The Role of Fiber in Senior Horse's Diets
Ahhhh fiber. Fiber for older horses is as important as it is to older humans - if you don't know what fiber is, here's a quick refresher: fiber is the measure of how much of a plant's cell wall, or structural portions of the plant (stem, etc.) are present in feed; it's composed of digestible cellulose and hemicellulose- and the indigestible lignin.
So that's what fiber is, but why is fiber important? Well let me put it like this, if you don't eat fiber, then going to the bathroom is going to be a lot more difficult and straining, and over time, can become a serious issue for your horse. Fiber helps soften, which helps waste move through the digestive tract, which leads to fewer digestive issues, which leads to a healthier digestive system in general.
Most hay has decent levels of fiber present, the earlier the cut, the more fiber (and the higher the cost).
Now, for older horses, access to roughage (hay/forage) may remain constant, but due to their decreased ability to actually digest and break down food, the bioavailability from eating that roughage becomes less and less.
How important is choosing the right feed for your horse in the grand scheme of things?
Pair this with weaker, worn teeth and you have a breakdown in your horse's dietary regiment. So, when you are selecting a horse feed, you need to get a feed with higher fiber content, and if your horse is much older, you may want to soak their feed and turn it into a mash to help with digestion.
How do you know if you should mash your horse feed? Watch them eat hay if they quid a lot, more than you think they should, this is an indication that they are having a hard time chewing. Might want to get a float or try mash for your horse. (Quidding is when wads of grass/hay fall out of their mouth while chewing.)
Other Nutrients need in Senior Horse Diets
Some other things you can keep an eye out for when selecting senior feed is going to be other vitamins and nutrients the horse may be lacking from their roughage/break down of food in the digestive tract.
These are going to be vitamins and minerals like, iron, calcium, phosphorus- so check the label for those, but there is one you should definitely ask about, and that is amino-acids.
In older, working horses, some have a hard time mainlining muscle mass, and this is where the amino acid comes in these will help that muscle stick to your horse, so make sure this is present in their diets. There are also these things you should remember when looking at a year of your horse's health.
Takeaways for the Dietary Needs of Senior Horses
Think of an older horse like a complex puzzle. If any of the integral parts break down, the teeth, the "good bugs" then there is going to be a corresponding breakdown in your horse's health. And if both of those things remain strong and healthy, you still have to contend with the natural breakdown at the cellular level that comes with age.
So when purchasing your horse feed, you need to look at probiotic & prebiotic levels, high fiber and additional vitamins and nutrients. If you have any more questions, contact us in the comments, or come in to the store and we will help you out.