Feeding the Athletic Senior Horse - Madeline Boast, MsC
Many horses are living longer thanks to advances in optimal care over the past few decades. Today horses considered seniors that once would have needed to retire often remain active and healthy. As horses age, their care needs to change, particularly when it comes to nutrition. Feeding your active horse appropriately as he ages supports his longevity and well-being.
When Is a Horse Considered Senior?
“There’s nothing official that says horses that are 20 years old are called senior, or 15, or 18, or 25, etc.,” says Carey Williams, PhD, extension specialist and professor at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “It just means an older horse and, depending on who you ask, answers are going to differ.”
“Some consider 15 or 16 years of age as a senior horse benchmark, but I believe that age is just part of the equation,” says Kelly Vineyard, MS, PhD, equine nutritionist and owner of EquiVine PhD Nutrition, an independent equine nutrition consulting company based in Gainesville, Florida, noting the many factors affecting how a horse ages. “The other parts are genetics, veterinary care, and nutrition over a horse’s lifetime. When horses experience changes due to age such as decreased digestive efficiency, poor dentition, muscle loss, and arthritis that necessitate adjustments in feed, management, and medical care, that signals the ‘senior transition’ is occurring.”
People also use the term geriatric to describe horses with clear age-related health issues. “I have seen some 15-year-old horses that look worse than some 25-year-old horses,” says Williams. “If there’s an older horse that has a health issue—it could be arthritis, pituitary dysfunction, dental issues, etc.—we start calling that horse a geriatric horse.”
Rather than fixating on a number, focus on noticing changes in your horse and adapting nutrition and management to support them.
Nutritional Considerations With Aging
When designing a nutrition program for an athletic senior horse, you must consider a variety of aspects, track body condition, and schedule regular veterinary exams. Even with diligent care, age-related changes will still occur.
“As horses age, fiber, protein, and phosphorus digestibility declines, so it becomes more important to provide good quality sources of these in a senior horse’s diet,” says Vineyard.
Additionally, “tissues start to break down, which changes (horses’) ability to digest and metabolize feed the way that they did when they were younger,” notes Williams.
Vineyard says she commonly sees poor dentition and quidding in aged horses, which can lead to difficulty chewing and swallowing long-stem forage. In these cases the horse might benefit from hay alternatives such as soaked hay cubes or pellets. “Senior horses also experience a decline in immune function, known as immunosenescence, making them more susceptible to infections,” she says. “In addition, a chronic, low-grade inflammatory state known as ‘inflammaging’ often comes with aging. Supplemental antioxidants and proven immune-modulating additives can help support optimal immune function in aging horses.”
Athletic Senior Horses
“Horses do not know how old they are,” says Vineyard. “If they are healthy and sound, they will benefit from regular exercise.” Again, reaching a certain age does not mean a horse must be retired, but his body needs thoughtful support.
“Quality protein becomes even more critical for senior performance horses, as they are simultaneously challenged with post-exercise muscle repair and age-related declines in muscle mass and performance,” she adds. “Adequate vitamin E intake for antioxidant support also becomes important, due to the added oxidative stress of exercise paired with the aging process.” Providing such nutritional support to reduce exercise-induced inflammation also helps keep the older athlete comfortable.
Senior horses rely on ample energy, too. “These horses do not just need higher energy to help them maintain weight because they are older, they are also exercising, so need that additional caloric support,” says Williams. “The best way to keep their energy up is with fat sources. Rice bran is my favorite because you also get that added fiber. Oils are also an option, whether it is just vegetable oil, soy oil, rice bran oil, or something higher in omega-3s.”
Senior Horse Feeds
Horse owners have many commercial feed options to meet their aging horses’ needs. “Traditionally, senior horse feeds are ‘complete feeds,’ meaning that forage is built into the formula,” says Vineyard. “These senior feeds are made specifically for horses with a reduced ability to chew or digest hay, and they are fed at a higher feeding rate because they are intended to replace all or a portion of forage in the diet.”
Vineyard says manufacturers also offer senior feeds that don’t replace forage. “They are formulated to meet the specific needs of senior horses (better quality protein, added antioxidants, specialized additives to support immune function) that can still chew and digest hay,” she adds.
Processing can also affect the digestibility of senior horse feeds. “A lot of these senior feeds are not just pelleted; they might be what’s called extruded,” says Williams. “Sometimes pellets can be firm and hard to digest; the extrusion process involves heat and pressure, which makes the pellets ‘puff up’ a little bit and in turn, makes them easier to digest.”
She stresses the importance of feeding the recommended amount of a product to ensure your horse receives complete nutrition from it. “If you’re only feeding half as much as the bag recommends, you’re not only potentially feeding too few calories, but you’re also feeding too few vitamins, minerals, and all the other nutrients that have been formulated in that bag at that level,” she says.
If you’re feeding less than the manufacturer’s recommended rate, a ration balancer or vitamin-mineral premix can help. But if your senior horse needs to gain weight, nutritionists recommend following the feed tag instructions to ensure adequate nutrient intake.
Take-Home Message
“Senior horses have the distinct benefit of having years of training behind them, and these are the best years to experience the joys of riding a well-trained horse,” says Vineyard. “You know your horse best, and they will tell you when they are ready to slow down.” Monitor health and body condition closely, and adjust feed program changes as needed to support your athletic senior horse.
