My horse who has been a member of our family for 35 of her 36 years is losing muscle and weight very rapidly. She has been eating equine senior and alfalfa (most of the hay she balls up and spits out). My vet says she is getting very old and her teeth are bad but don't need floating. I give her a daily dose of butte smashed up with bran and fruit (she does not care to eat at all if I leave the fruit out). She has been eating pretty much normal but her cheeks and rear show major loss of muscle. Is there any kind of supplement to help get the muscle back....she is so much family it hurts to see her getting old. Thanks for the input.

-- Pam Geil (bloomington@bigfoot.com), August 28, 2001

Answers

Have you tried soaking alfalfa cubes in water until their soft and mushy? It's easier for the older ones to slurp up the mushy alfalfa than chew it. I've had good luck with beet pulp too. It adds bulk and extra calories, is very easy to chew, and gets extra water into their system. I've found that some older horses don't drink enough and they impact easier than younger horses.

Maintaining a routine bimonthly deworming schedule is important to keep the weight on also.

Good luck with your mare.

Stacy in NY

-- Stacy Rohan (KincoraFarm@aol.com), August 28, 2001.

Pam , I hate to say it but she is probally going to pass before winter .How hard it will be after 35 years .If there is nothing medically wrong with her she is showing classic signs of fading away .Try all you can to get her to eat and cherish the time you have left with her.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), August 28, 2001.

You could try feeding her some wheat bran as a mash. This requires no chewing. Also, some rolled oats that you steam might do some good, but just 1-3 pounds per day.

Besides the above advice I would feed more senior and maybe start adding a little corn oil, 1/3rd cup building up to 1 cup.

It sounds like she can't chew so getting food down her is the big challenge. The best vitamin supplement I can recommend is calf manna. They love the taste. Its good for building muscle.

-- Stacia n OK (OneClassyCowgirl@aol.com), August 28, 2001.

I can relate to your need to keep this wonderful horse alive and well. But I agree with Patty. I think her system is shutting down from old age. We were in the same situation many years ago. Our 35 year old mare was a member of our family. My brother and I would ride her to school (1/2 mile) with just a halter. When we got to school we would turn her loose and she would go home. Mom would watch for her and go open the gate when the horse got there. My dad plowed the watermellon patch with her pulling the plow. My little sister thought she wanted to be a rodeo trick rider and fell of and broke her arm. Hard to do without a saddle. So old Bonnie was a real member of our family. We were never told but I think Dad finally had to put her down but only after we nursed her off and on for a couple of years. Good luck with your mare. Been there.

-- Belle (gardenbelle@terraworld.net), August 29, 2001.

I've been that route with old horses.

Contact your vet and ask about getting her a shot of anabolic steroids. This not only increases appetite, but muscle mass as well, and figuring her age, the possible side effects are a minor risk at her age.

Also, what are you using Bute on her for? Long term use of Bute can cause stomach ulcers, and this could be seriously depressing her appetite. One of the old horses in my care had such bad joints that when she limped, her head dipped all the way to the ground and nearly smacked her teeth. Her appetite was poor as well,a nd I suspected that part of it was due to her discomfort. Barn manager wanted to put her on daily bute, but I had her affected joints injected by the vet instead, and did a course of Legend (given IM), and she went nearly pain free thereafter, with only the slightest head bob when she walked. Seeing her out of pain was well worth the price, and it improved the quality of her life for her last years.

It sounds like she has tooth loss going on if she is spitting out balls of wadded hay, or you may need to ask a vet who is more into equine dentistry -- it has changed a lot in recent years, so that slapping a rasp across the top and yanking back and forth a couple times doesn't do it. There are things to consider such as whether her mouth has acquired a 'shear' (side to side angulation), or a 'wave'(front to back undulation) that needs special care. However, at her age, tooth loss is not uncommon, the chewed hay gets hung up on the corners of the remaining teeth, the horse's senses tell her that there is something foreign in her mouth, and she spits the whole thing out.

Triple Crown makes a shredded hay product that comes in bags, with the particles already small enough for swallowing straight, no long fibers to get stuck on her tooth corners, and sprayed with molasses to stimulate appetite and to both cut any possible dust, and seal in nutrition. They have two formulations on that, one is higher protein with alfalfa included (I think that is it, I haven't had to look into it in a few years). I think that Triple Crown is also making a geriatric formula now, that includes beet pulp for bulk, already in small particles so that chewing isn't really neccessary and no long strands. Both that diet and Equine Senior are designed to be able to be fed by themselves, no hay, if this gets to be a real problem, altho I also provided my old horses with the softest grass hay I could find, simply to give them something to do.

I have also heard of people using rabbit pelleted feed for old and toothless horses. Soak the pellets in warm water just prior to feeding so that it becomes a soft slurry. You can add wheat bran in moderation as well, and with old and debilitated horses, I have had luck enticing them by adding a dollop of molasses and some ground carrots to improve the overall appeal. Throw out any uneaten food, it spoils quickly (or feed it to some other horse for economy's sake, or the chickens)

Picking fresh tender green grass and putting it into an old blender with water and adding that to their ration is a great and inexpensive way to tempt the appetite.

Additionally, you can try her on Cocosoya, a high fat (soybean and coconut, I think, hence the name) and vitamin/mineral supplement that has been getting good reviews across the board from the owners of hard keepers for putting weight on horses. I think that Valley Vet stocks it (mailorder), or you could do an online search (Google) to see who does. I also have used a product called Pounds Plus that is similar, slightly sweetened, high fat content, vitamin/mineral, most my horses accepted it quickly (they didn't like corn oil).

It's very hard when they start to go downhill, but if your family is committed to making her twilight years comfortable, hopefully some of these will help her out.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), August 29, 2001.

Pam, If you decide to stop giving her butte, there is an herbal product called Devil's Claw that is an excellent replacement with none of the side effects. My friend just switched her geriatric donkey from Butte to the devils claw and he's doing wonderfully. I hopw you enjoy many more years with your friend,

-- Julie (julieamc@eagleslair.net), August 29, 2001.

I would but your old mare on a pour on there food glucosamine/ chondroitin suppelment because as julie said butte causes ulcers long term which will make the mare eat less because of pain .we use the supplement on the 23 year old stallion on the ranch I work on, and he went from lame to breedable again and his attitude is much better as he isnt in pain anymore.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), August 30, 2001.

How is she doing ?

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), September 03, 2001.

Yes. How is she doing, and what did you do? Did anything work for you. That is a ripe old age. It is nice to learn new things. I hope something worked for you.

-- the pooles (mpoole@link2000.net), September 03, 2001.

Thank all of you for your input on helping to make Stormy's retirement years better. Today you would think she was only 25 instead of 36 she even kicked up her heals a few inches. She had gotten down and skinned herself up pretty bad the other day. She has one bad side and on that side she can't get up without a lot of manuvering. I would like to find a sling or make one that I could lift her with the forklift we have it sure be alot easier on us all. What we do now is roll her over and bring a small tractor with a piece of plywood so she can prop herself up on. She uses this to get her hind legs under her once she does that she can pop right up and actually walks herself to get the kinks out. We used to tell her she had to get up, now we just call for pizza get her on the good side and make sure she does not get hurt. Unfortunately she wanted to roll while we were not home and were not able to help her get up. I know the day will come she will not feel like getting up but it's not here yet. I have made several changes in the diet and they all seem to agree with her still looking for the devils root and not to sure she likes the beet pulp....vet has not gotten back to me on the steriods for muscle think they may of gone for the weekend. And am looking for the equine dentist to check about the missing teeth.....got the blender out but she is not to keen on mussy stuff yet. Also installed a camera in her stall to watch from the house in case she was to lay down agian.... Any suggestions are appreciated and god bless you all

-- pam (bloomington@bigfoot.com), September 03, 2001.

Pam, You mentioned that your mare doesn't seem to enjoy the beet pulp? My three horses LOVE beet pulp. I mix it with an equal amount (not an equal WEIGHT) of red flake wheat bran and moisten it with water until it's soft. Are you using water to moisten it? G.R.

-- G.R. Winter (petcop42@hotmail.com), April 09, 2002.