Senior feed for horses

[chickenzoo]

My old man gets Triple crown Senior feed and all the grass hay he can eat. He chokes on alfalfa hay or cubes, and I've tried beet pulp pellets and shreds and he doesn't like it for some reason. But he seems to be doing well on this.

 

[scbatz33]

I'm not going to spend time arguing my point. I too have read the articles in favor of and against. I have seen the discussions and so on and so forth.

Let me quote myself since there is a perpensity to argue a point til the cows come home.....

"Horses do choke on it. Although generally speaking, those horses are prone to gobble their food and can also be choked on other feed stuffs. The reason it's is more apt to happen on beet pulp is that beet pulp will clump easier than grains or pelleted feed."

Further I reiterated the point by saying: "BUT, THIS IS MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Plenty of people feed it and never have a problem."

This ain't my first rodeo. I'm not some fly by night moron who believes everything I read or everything that is told to me. I experienced a horse choking on beet pulp. I was there. I saw it first hand.

Didn't happen with his feed up to the point we tried adding it to feed, and it hasn't happened since we stopped feeding it. Plain and simple.

My experience with the product. You don't have to believe a single thing I say, but please do not patronize me or anyone else by telling me I didn't witness what I witnessed.

I'll bow out of this discussion now. OP, good luck with your horse.

 

[lockedhearts]

Quote:
I too have had horses have problems with Beet Pulp and I soaked mine for a long time (made am meal at night and night in am) I stopped using it, I went to Rice Bran, which I like, but the Amplify Supplement is by far superior. My Halter gelding is picky and will eat RB before Amplify. My 23 year old broodmare tends to drop about 2 months after foaling, she gives about 200% to her foals no matter how much she eats. This year she has a LARGE foal and she , while dropping a little weight has maintained much better on Amplify, Oats and alfalfa pellets than years previous when I poured high fat textured feeds down her.

 

[Sierra pachie bars]

I feed my old teddy bear purina senior. Its costly about 19.50 a bag. I also feed pellets. He does good on it and he loves it. He also gets treats of carrots , oranges and apples. I figure he's been neglected for who knows how long he deserves to be spoiled. I get rewarded with hugs, and kisses. He reaches to my cheeks and takes his nose and gives love. I think he and I just really click.
I watch him close to make sure he keeps weight on.

 

[babyblue]

I am very leery of feeding my particular horse beet pulp unsoaked. Early on when I got him I had him at a boarding barn where there where a hell of a lot of unsupervised 5-17 year olds. (my mother not only taught us herself but she came out daily with us till we were in our late teens and still came along if only one of us was ridding so we would never be alone) Somebody and we never found out who, walked around giving all the horses these massive 1.5 foot long carrots that the neighbor lady brought over to feed to the horses. Well old man ate a huge chunk and got it totally lodged. My arm was not long enough at the time to get to the back of his throat so one of my sisters had to run and find a barn hand for help. Choking type issues with this horse are now kinda a worry. And to this day some 14 years later he still wont eat treats, carrots apples sugar mints cookies nothing.


Ive been calling around and the feed stores around here have very little selection. Its either dumor or purena. Only one even has beat pulp and its in 5 pound bags, a lot of good that will do for a 1200+ pound horse.

 

[lockedhearts]

I just googled and this is the first place that popped up that you can order amplify online. http://www.jaxmercantile.com/product.php?productid=425598

Just to add, I had this conversation with my vet several years ago, I had a Senior QH Mare, vet said, if they are maintaining on what they are eating, no need to change to "senior" feed. My mare was not, and she dropped a lot of feed, at the time she was 27 , there was no floating her teeth, she had not lost teeth, they were just worn way down. I bought a really large (diameter wise) flat pan. She would drop feed, but it would fall back in the pan. It would take her a really long time to eat, but she did eat everything. She also got to where hay did her no good, I ended up soaking alfalfa pellets to a mush. I would give her a little hay, she would chew a bit and spit it out, she still like chewing it.

Nutrena also has a good feed out, Vitality Ultra, I use it as a "supplement" on my older broodmares. It has lower sugar, higher fat and is only a 12% protein. I still swear by the amplify though.

 

[welsummerchicks]

ditto on the if-it-ain't broke thing - if an older horse is doing well, no need to feed a senior feed.

scbatz, you got that right. You can read on every horse bb in the world that beet pulp is fine, can be fed dry, never soak it, it's great for all horses.....

That's the thing though, just because it's on a bb, even if a jillian posters insist so, even if they tell you you're wrong, doesn't mean its right for YOUR horse. Each horse has its feeding pattern, its teeth, its esophagus could be narrower than another horse's....

Ditto on the shallow wide pan for the older horse, that's what we settled on for our older guy too. They need a lot of time to eat, often, too.

 

[lockedhearts]

Quote:
The last 7 years of Dolly's life, she ran loose on our property, it was safer, our property is very sloping and if she was pastured she would often lay down, roll and her legs would end up,, uphill, she could not get up by herself from that position, her front legs would not bend well. So, she had all day to eat her meals by herself. At night I fed her in the barn aisle and she was fine with the arrangement. She was 32 when I put her down, physically she could have lived several more years, her mind was going, she began to get lost just standing still.

 

[P-Funk]

My 25 year old saddlebred is now getting AgLand Balancer 14. It's rather hard to find, but well worth it. This way he doesn't need beet pulp, which stinks to high heaven when properly soaked. He also gets 1 ounce of SuperSubstitute with his morning grain. Now he can almost keep up with the baby! There are some more pics in 'hobbies' under 'any horsey people out there?'

 

[arabianequine]

It seems the choke cases mentioned in this thread have been with soaking it. I wonder if anyone has had choking experiences without soaking it from members on BYC.

I had some when I got Star, it came with her. I tried soaking some and it looked like worms and a bunch of small little pieces. If not soaked it is awfully hard big pellets. I just don't think I will buy or use beet pulp.

@Babyblue since you mentioned Purina can you get all kinds of Purina?

I know you seen my thread with Star in it before.....but have you seen it since I updated pics on the 5th of May of Star and Daizy? I had not posted pics for 3 weeks. I am using Purina Strategy GX. Star is getting about 6lbs a day and Daizy is getting about 4 lbs a day. I split it up into 2 feedings. Pretty much also get all the hay they want.


Good luck!