I recently read an article from www.TheHorse.com, where it mentioned that the drawback to feeding your horse hay pellets was a higher feed utilization. While this may be a drawback for an easy keeper, it is a major plus for a senior horse who is a hard keeper.
With my senior horse coming out of winter slightly underweight on quality hay and pasture alone for the first time in 33 years, I knew he needed some help. As horses age it’s not uncommon for them to not be as efficient with chewing hay, which can also affect digestion and feed utilization.
While my horse was not quidding hay and could still chew hay, the mere fact that he was slightly underweight coming out of winter told me that he needed a little extra help. I also knew that to gain weight, he needed more than the maintenance amount of forage every day.
Since hay pellets have a high feed utilization, I decided to give them a try and added them to his diet. I added 3 lbs. of soaked hay pellets twice per day to his usual hay and pasture. (I soak hay pellets for senior horses because I have had two different seniors choke on non-soaked hay pellets probably due to aging teeth).
My horse enjoyed his soaked pellets. Within one month his ribs had more fat cover, and he was looking much better.
While there are many grain-based feeds on the market for senior horses, sometimes just soaked plain hay pellets are all that’s needed to give a horse the forage they need, in a format they can easily digest, to gain weight.
Please note: If your horse is severely underweight, consult your veterinarian for a specialized re-feeding program. Emaciated horses have special medical needs that a veterinarian can address.
Like people, horses are living, breathing, dynamic creatures. Occasional stress is a part of being alive. We will never be rid of it. Nor do we want to be. It keeps us functioning optimally. But when does stress cross over into being too much and becoming detrimental to our health or our horse‘s health? How do you know? When does it first begin to be a problem?
When I take in a senior horse to rehab, I usually have no idea what their initial training was like, and how young they were ridden. Many things can be improved or reversed in older horses, but what if the damage was never done in the first place? How much longer would our horses be able to do work if we waited to ride them until they were skeletally mature?
In my ideal world there would be no need for God’s Window Senior Horse Rehab. All horses that spent their lifetime serving humans would get to retire in full health and continue to thrive until they died a natural death.
Unfortunately, this is not the case for many senior horses. By the time they come to God’s Window, they are typically run down emotionally and physically. All the decisions, whether good or bad, that were made about their care earlier in their life usually catch up with them, either to help them thrive or to bring about their demise.
The good news is that good nutrition and a natural living environment will do wonders for stopping and reversing the downward spiral. As long as the body is alive, it wants to heal. The question, however, for a run down senior horse is, “Will they live long enough to see full health restored?”
With my first senior horse, yes, he is still going and in good health. When he first came several years ago at the age of 26, everything fell apart in his first year of rehab. The second year he put his body back together. The third year he thrived. He continues to thrive today, and he is 33 years old.
With my second senior horse, no, he died before his full health was restored. While we resolved his chronic diarrhea immediately, it took 3½ years for his coat to no longer be sticky. Arthritis set in in his last 1-2 years of life. Thankfully we found a joint supplement that made a difference, and we saw steady improvement over six months. However, we ran out of time. He died before we saw his complete return to full health.
No matter how old your horses are, or what purpose they serve for you, take a moment and consider how you want their senior years to be. Decisions you make today about their living environment, exercise, hay quality, nutrition, dentistry, chiropractic and any other healing modalities will have a profound impact on their quality of life in their senior years.
The good news is that given the right environment, senior horses can thrive in their golden years. You have the power to make a difference in your senior horse’s life today. If you need help with your senior horse, please contact us.
I have never been a fan of euthanasia. While death is a reality of this world we live in, I do not want to be a part of ending a life. However, with horses being such large animals, and the kinds of accidents and things that can happen, euthanasia is an unfortunate reality in some circumstances.
Yet, I didn’t want to touch euthanasia with a ten-foot pole, so I never owned my own horse. I enjoyed other people’s horses, and I would let them deal with euthanasia if it ever came up. But not me. My reasoning was, if I never owned a horse, then I’d never have to do it.
That all changed several years ago with a 26 year-old gelding named Chaco who was in deteriorating health. There was talk of “putting him down”. That’s the nice phrase for “kill him”. When I heard that talk, my stomach churned. I took one look at him and saw a horse in chronic pain who could no longer cope with his environment. Off the top of my head I could list five things I would do differently if I owned him. I decided that for this horse only, I would deal with euthanasia if I had to. I took him into my care.
A few years later, another senior horse in deteriorating health showed up named Thunder. With him too I knew five things I would do differently so he could thrive in his golden years. For him as well I would deal with euthanasia if I had to.
I told both of these horses regarding their death at the end of their life, “It’s ok if one day I just find you in the field. We don’t need to do chronic illness, nor deteriorating health, nor euthanasia. When your time is up, it’s up. It will be a sad day, but you can go peacefully on your own.”
Years went by, and they thrived. Then one day a few months ago, it happened. We found Thunder dead in the field: peacefully and on his own, at home, in his herd, in his favorite napping spot. My wish for him had come true.
Thriving in their golden years, and dying a natural death at home. That is what I want for the senior horses at God’s Window. Euthanasia? If it ever comes up, I will deal with it. For now, I just enjoy what is, and it doesn’t get any better than that.
Thunder enjoying the sun a few weeks before he died. (1985 – 2015)
My seven year-old niece visited recently and really wanted to take my horse, Chaco, for a walk. After finishing the barn chores, we took a grooming bucket and halter out into the field and went looking for Chaco. We found him taking a nap enjoying the dry afternoon of no rain.
He was caked in dried mud from the day before, and we began the process of brushing all of it off of him. Yes, we could just halter him and take him for the walk, but the day was dry. His hair was dry, and the mud was dry enough to brush it out. Since it could rain at any moment, we decided to go with brushing him out first.
There was so much dried mud that plooms of dust encircled him as we brushed. You had to keep your mouth shut, lest a mouthful of grit and dirt got in. Soon we cleaned him up, and he was still enjoying his quiet time napping.
I showed my niece how to gently place the palm of her hand on his coat and just breathe and relax. As she did this, I instructed her to watch his eyes. If they blinked or started to close, then he liked how and where she was touching him. If they stayed wide open, then he didn’t like it. In that case, I told her to lighten her touch, or move her hand over a millimeter or just breathe and relax more herself.
This became an ongoing dance with Chaco. At times, he closed his eyes completely. Other times he held his eyes open. At one point we decided to give him some space, so we stepped away from him.
She then asked, “Can we take him for the walk?”
I responded, “Yes, we could, however, when you look at Chaco right now, what is he really enjoying?”
“His nap,” she acquiesced.
I explained further, “With horses, you may come with a plan to do a particular thing, but if they present a different opportunity to you, then I’d take what they offer. You never know when that offer will come again.”
Despite really wanting to go on the walk, my niece understood, but was disappointed.
Seeing how I might be able to cheer her up, I asked, “Have you ever kissed a horse at the base of their ear? It is the most heavenly spot.”
She never had, so I picked her up and stood a few feet away from Chaco in front of him off to one side. As I held her, and before we approached, I explained the details of being around the head of a horse, where it could move suddenly, and how to keep herself safe, if he were to move.
No sooner had I finished the safety talk, that Chaco lifted his head up out of his nap and stretched his neck out toward us, putting his whiskers and muzzle ever so gently against her cheek and breathing on her. His eyes were soft, and he was curious about who this little girl was, checking her out and taking her all in. We stayed there, not moving an inch, and just savoring this gift Chaco was imparting to her.
When Chaco was done my niece said, “He gave me horse kisses.”
“Have you ever experienced that before?” I asked.
“No,” she replied.
“If you had to pick between horse kisses and a walk, which one would you pick?”
Without hesitation, she said, “Horse kisses.”
“Aren’t you glad we didn’t go for the walk earlier?”
“Yes.”
“It is because we honored his nap and went along with what he was already doing, that the opportunity came for him to give you the gift of horse kisses.”
Those horse kisses became the highlight of her visit. To be fully acknowledged and accepted by a 1000 lb. animal just out of their own curiosity is a magical experience. It is what keeps me coming back to them. It’s why I shovel manure in the rain, why I get up early to feed them, and why I spend hours researching how to improve their health.
You never know when the magic will happen, but if you spend time just being with them with no agenda or expectations, they will surprise you over and over. That is the world they live in, and when I get a glimpse of it, it makes the commitment to them all worthwhile.
Here at God’s Window, we keep our horses in a herd on acreage year-round. They come and go as they please. The more natural their living environment, the healthier they are. Having space to move day and night, and the companionship of other horses is vital to them thriving.
Living in a herd 24/7.
When I go out into the field to visit, it’s not uncommon for them to come over to me. It usually starts with Thunder. He sees me from afar and looks right at me. I head in his direction, and then walk right past him just to confirm if he really wants to be with me. I find a tree to sit under, and he inevitably comes over and puts his hips in my hands. He wants to be scratched.
After several minutes the rest of the herd begins to meander our way. Chaco, the herd leader, picks up a walk with his head low, ears forward, and soft eyes, (a submissive posture), coming straight for me. I know he wants me to put my hands on him, but my hands are already full with Thunder. If he keeps coming, Thunder will move away out of respect, so I square up my shoulders to Chaco to stop him in his tracks about 20 feet away. He defers to my request, but I know he wants me to leave Thunder and come over to him. After a few minutes of scratching Thunder, I give Thunder some final pats before heading to Chaco who has been waiting patiently.
In this scenario there’s no ear pinning, tail swishing, eye glaring, nor a high head, all of which are stress signals. Instead, eyes are soft, ears are forward, tails are quiet and heads are low. This is the body language of a horse at ease in its environment, and in this case, the environment includes a person.
How often do you see horses giving stress signals in their interaction with people? How often do you see the opposite, horses so comfortable in their environment that they want to interact with people? Horses and people are living, dynamic creatures and stress here and there is a part of being alive. However, how can we cultivate a relaxed state in ourselves and in our horses?
We were out enjoying the day. Standing in the sun brought enough warmth to not notice the winter chill. Chaco settled into a nap, and I found just the spot to lay my hands on his warm winter coat and relax too. Without a care in the world, time seemed to stand still. I couldn’t get enough of the moment, so why cut it short? We savored it for quite a while.
After some time had passed, the faint sound of an approaching car interrupted our oasis. Seeing that we were slightly in the road, I asked Chaco to back up into the adjacent driveway. No sooner had I done that, that I realized it was the mail lady coming, and we were right next to the mailbox. As she pulled up to deliver the mail, the bumper of her car came within a few feet of us. Chaco just stood there non-chalantly, happy not to be exerting any unnecessary energy.
It was a new mail lady that day, and she asked me the name of my horse. I told her, and she said it had been a really long time since she had been around horses.
“His eyes, oh those eyes are so big and inviting,” she said. She couldn’t get over him and the softness in his eyes. I concurred with her. “Yes, they are. That’s why I could stand here all day.”
In that brief moment, Chaco’s presence brought her back to some long lost memories as I saw the verge of tears and emotion begin to well up inside her.
The task at hand, delivering mail, kept her from staying any longer. As she drove away, I marveled at how a stranger saw in Chaco what I saw. The eyes tell the story. Soft, gentle and relaxed. That is a content horse.
As horses age, so do their needs. What once worked well, may not work anymore. You may be feeding the same as you always have, but suddenly your senior horse isn’t maintaining his weight. Winter is coming and you don’t know if he’ll make it through. Assuming nothing is medically wrong, what can you do?
Horses can consume 1 ½ % – 2% of their body weight per day in forage. For a 1000 lb. horse that’s 15-20 pounds of hay/pasture per day. If your horse is underweight, weigh his hay and make sure he is consuming enough. Sometimes an underweight horse is just not eating enough hay.
If your horse lives in a herd, you may need to separate him at feeding time so you can monitor how much hay he is eating.
In addition, consider high quality hay for your senior horse. As they age, they don’t have the same wiggle room they had when they were younger.
One senior horse I have came to me with his ribs beginning to show. I took him off all grain, and put him on 20 pounds of high quality hay per day. (He is 1100 lbs.) It’s been several years now, and he has been able to maintain his weight on hay and pasture alone.
Another senior horse I have can no longer chew hay, so he gets soaked hay pellets. Again, I feed him 15 pounds of pellets per day. (He is 1000 lbs.). He also maintains his weight well.
While there are other ways to help a horse put on weight, I prefer to start with high quality forage at 1 ½ – 2 % of their body weight. Once this need is met, it’s amazing to see how senior horses respond. Sometimes that’s all they needed.
A riding instructor once told me, “If a horse looks right at you, they are asking you a question.”
These are the eyes of a horse asking you a question.
I hadn’t ever thought of it like that before, but from that moment forward every time a horse looked right at me, I stopped and paused in myself to see what they wanted. I just started assuming they wanted something from me, and I set out to figure out what it was.
One afternoon, after visiting my horse, I prepared to leave while he was eating his hay like he always did. I said goodbye to him and walked to my car, taking off my boots and putting my barn coat in the trunk. As I got into my car, I looked over at him and was surprised to find him staring right at me. He had left his food, which he never did, and pointed himself in my direction looking straight at me.
Since this was out of the ordinary, I knew he wanted something. I went back over to him and asked out loud what he wanted while I practiced relaxing and breathing. I checked for gut sounds. They were o.k. (No gut sounds means colic). I then put my hands on him and slowly searched for the spot where he would relax and close his eyes. Sure enough I found it on his right hip. Just barely touching with my hands, his closed eyes told the story. That was the spot. (This was also the spot he had fallen on several weeks earlier).
A chunk of time passed, and when he was done with me resting my hands on him, he licked and chewed, threw in a few yawns and went back to eating his hay. He had successfully communicated and got what he needed.
When your horse looks right at you, take a moment to see what they might be asking you. Allowing time to slow down, breath and observe your horses does wonders for communication. They just might surprise you. I’d love to hear what you learn.
Nutrition is the cornerstone of a healthy horse of any age. This is particularly true of senior horses. Without good nutrition, senior horses simply don’t live as long nor as vibrantly. Here at God’s Window we want senior horses to thrive in their golden years. It all begins with the best forage and nutrition.
Veterinarian, Dr. Doug Herthal also sees the relationship between nutrition and healing in horses and developed Platinum Performance to address the nutritional needs of horses.
Click here to read an interview with Platinum Performance founder, Dr. Doug Herthal.
