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Nutrition: Our golden oldies
NUTRITION
Our golden oldies
Caring for our golden oldies as they enjoy a wellearned rest requires attention to several factors, writes DR CLARISSA BROWN-DOUGLAS.
While some older horses remain in excellent body condition and health, others deteriorate over time. Because of the physiological changes associated with aging, seniors may require special adaptations in health care, environment and diet, especially during the cold winter months. To ensure older horses stay healthy and maintain proper body condition, there are four main factors to consider: reduced gut health, poor teeth, environmental stress, and disease.
Gut health
Poor gut health can cause weight loss in older horses. It’s affected by many factors including feed type and quality, age, and parasite load or damage. Intestinal worms can scar and cause chronic intestinal mucosal damage, which affects nutrient absorption. And because parasites compete for nutrients, they also cause decreased nutrient absorption. Your older horse requires a targeted program, with routine faecal egg counts and deworming an integral part of overall health care.
Besides parasite damage, other factors are responsible for decreased nutrient absorption, particularly of phosphorus, vitamins and protein. Protein digestion is a particular problem in older horses (especially for those with parasitic damage) with muscle wasting a common occurrence. If insufficient protein is absorbed, the body breaks down its own muscle tissue to provide protein for important body functions. With a decreased ability to absorb protein, senior horses should be offered feed higher in protein. Not all protein sources are created equal though, so quality is important. Soybean meal is an excellent option because of its high quality amino acid composition.
Another factor affecting nutrient availability is the particle size of foodstuff when it reaches the intestinal tract. If the teeth fail to chew feed sufficiently, food particles will be too large for the digestive enzymes and microbes to effectively digest. The decreased efficiency of the digestive tract due to aging cannot be stopped but offering more nutrients in highly available forms and in small particles are ways to improve overall digestion and health.
Dental Problems
Problems occurring with normal wear and tear are tooth loss and deterioration of the biting surface. During normal tooth growth, the biting surface wears down and the tooth continually erupts from the jaw bone; resulting in shorter roots over time. In older horses, the root can become so short that the tooth is easily displaced, so care should be taken not to float teeth too aggressively.
Inevitably, some teeth will fall out or have to be pulled out because of decay or infection. Also, without careful attention to the molar surface throughout the years, some irregularities can become severe enough to interfere with proper chewing. The biting surface may become wavy, especially if there is tooth loss on one part of the mouth but not on
FACING PAGE: Older horses can stay healthy and maintain proper body condition with the appropriate care. ABOVE: Rugging during colder weather is advisable.
the opposing surface. Horses that lose incisors will have trouble tearing grass blades away from the root, so pasture may be too difficult to eat. However, pasture is fine for older horses with molar problems because grass is fairly easy on the digestive tract even if it’s not masticated well. Dental exams twice a year are appropriate for senior horses.
Tooth problems may be the reason older horses tend to be more susceptible to choke. A horse can choke on any kind of feed if it does not take the time or have the ability to chew food properly before swallowing. Some older horses chew less because of dental problems, and saliva production is relative to the amount of chewing. With decreased saliva, there is less lubricant to aid the passage of feed to the stomach. The result of either problem is choke, which can resolve itself fairly rapidly or can become a grave problem. Making sure an older horse has food prepared appropriately for the state of its dentition will result in less stressful mealtimes.
Environmental Stress
Dental exams twice a year are appropriate for senior horses.
weather. Sensitivity to cold may be from reduced body fat, which normally acts as insulation, or to changes in hormone production, which regulates the body’s ability to adjust to external heat and cold. Also, because fibre digestion in the hindgut produces heat which helps horses stay warm, any reduction in fibre intake will reduce internal heat. Adequate shelter from the elements and rugging would be advisable.
During cold weather, a horse often drinks less, because water lowers internal temperature resulting in cold stress. It is not uncommon for these horses to colic due to self-induced dehydration and subsequent impaction. Carefully monitoring water intake can help to avoid disastrous consequences. Feeding meals soaked in warm water and/or adding salt to the meal might entice a finicky horse to increase water intake. cause of pain in the older horse is arthritis. Keeping them out so they can move freely will help, provided there is adequate shelter. Other ways to make them more comfortable is giving a joint supplement and/or some mild painkillers. Attention to proper trimming or shoeing may help avoid unnecessary stresses on joints.
Senior horse nutrition
Sufficient roughage is a vital part of the equine diet, without which digestive issues can occur. Dental problems or anorexia can make intake of sufficient forage challenging. Older horses appear to do better on fresh green grass even if they have lost some molars because grass is easily chewed and digested. Many older horses pick up weight during spring, summer and autumn when the grass is growing, and lose weight in winter when grass is dormant. Problems tend to occur when an older horse gets its roughage from hay only. When teeth are not in good condition, they may not be able to properly grind forage so it can be adequately digested.
Signs that eating hay is a problem are low intakes, or rolling and wadding of hay in the mouth. If this is the case, there are many alternative fibre sources available including chaff, hay cubes, beet pulp and soy hulls.
Although senior horses do not require vastly different feeds, it is a good idea to balance your oldie’s diet using a well formulated feed with good amounts of fibre and quality protein. This does not have to be a commercially labelled ‘senior feed’. Most senior feeds are fibre based, and incorporate lucerne, soy hulls, beet pulp, or a combination of these. But well balanced ‘normal’ feeds are perfectly fine for old horses too.
Oldies will often struggle to maintain weight and condition during the winter months and a fantastic way of increasing calories in the diet is with fats and oils, such as soybean, canola, linseed, or rice bran. Stabilised rice bran is a great source of fat and fibre. Unlike wheat bran, it has 20 per cent fat and highly digestible fibre. It also contains the antioxidant gamma-oryzanol.
With increased intakes, feeding smaller, more frequent meals may be desirable so as not to overload the stomach. To promote gastrointestinal health and improve fibre digestion in older horses, probiotics or digestive aids (yeasts, bacteria and enzymes) can be beneficial, as can pelleted or cubed feed, or a properly formulated mash.
Strong emotional ties motivate many owners to take extra steps to maintain their friends in health and comfort. Changes in routine care, environment and dietary management can help to achieve this goal.
