Supplements for elder horses?
I have an appaloosa gelding who the vet placed at 28-35 years old. He is sound most days and still LOVES to budge on short w/t rides. What can I do to help him stay sounds? Also is there anything I can give him to save him for going blind?
Also me and m friend have owned him for about 10 years so he has adjectives the medical help he can have and is on equitums.
Corta-Flex is awesome. I highly recommend it. It really worked on my old horse. And you should feed him Sr. nurture. Be sure he has good shipment. Having his teeth checked is a good idea, especially whether he is not keeping weight on. Also, feeding beet pulp helps next to weight gain.
I think blindness and appaloosa's just dance hand and hand.
I good senior feed is probably your first column of defense, but since he seems to be in good shape, so I will assume his diet is honest. You could potentially put him on a joint supplement, but you might want to run it by your vet since he is such a senior citizen.
As for the blindness, is he in danger of going blind? Does he enjoy an eye condition of some type? If so treat it. If not, he's probably okay.
Answers: If I were you I would not be looking for supplements, but would acquire him on a well-formulated senior feed instead. They generally have a honest balance of the kind of things supplements might have contained by them, and they are carefully researched to ensure the best mix. They're also much easier to chew for a horse whose teeth might not be so great anymore.
To help keep him nouns, make sure he gets regular, muted exercise - the best thing would be as much turnout as possible so he can just walk around and preserve his joints from stiffening up. Don't overdo it on your rides, even if he feels similar to he wants do more.
I would keep him busy as I find it is when you retire old horses that they go down hill prompt. I feed my oldies bran, molasses & steamed barley mash daily along beside their normal feeds. Seaweed is great & garlic helps their immune system. And a suitable massage helps those tired old muscles & joint as dose hosing his joints,
