With any horse, and certainly your older mare with less-than-optimal teeth and digestion capacity, it makes sense to keep her on a familiar and successful feeding regimen. Many horses are naturally picky eaters, and causing them to go off feed or providing less digestible feed than she is accustomed to could lead to loss of body condition that may be difficult to recover. An older horse like your mare may eventually require a more processed senior feed to maintain desirable body condition, one that is finely ground and pelleted that also has a combination of grain and forage products, along with higher fats and oils and supplemental vitamins and minerals. This type of feed is pretty safe because there is significant fiber present, which can help to partially compensate for lack of fiber elsewhere in her diet. In other words, not much additional hay is required, and many of these complete pelleted senior feeds can be used as the sole source of feed when quality hay is not available. Read label directions for specific products before using.

Browse related Faqs by tag: horses, nutrition, rescue, geriatric