having issues with my oldie!

[papershoes]

Hi all,

thankyou for the replies. He looks like a charity case and I'm almost embarassed to take his rugs off when people are around

He is getting 500g (750g when i can fit an extra feed in) of base mix, a scoop and a half of graze on and oats. I have just changed him from haylage to hay to see if that will help him at all, as he has been on haylage for a while but isn't putting on any weight. He gets forage in the field too.

He is doing very well on thunderbrook regarding his tummy issues but isnt putting any weight on

[madmare1]

I can recommend the Winergy Equilibrium as well.......either Senior or Condition...great (and Non heating) Fibre based so encourages them to chew and really does work...this is a pic of my 25 yr old last winter having been on the feed for 2 weeks:

under saddle:


and no tack on:


that was last winter....this winter she's rather rotund...still fit though!

Emma xx

[kidsmum]

I feed rolled barley to my two, an apaloosa and a mix up pony, both 19, it seems to keep weight on, and doesn't cause any heating problems, also loads and loads of hay. (In France!). I got confused with all the choices availbale so have gone back to basics really, can always throw in a few supplements if necessary, anyway seems to work for us!!

[Amanda (S Yorks)]

I had similar problems with my mare a couple of winters ago - she lost tons of topline, weight, and had to be rugged with several layers to keep warm. She also had problems with becoming footsore if she had certain feeds or too much grass. I struggled to get her back to decent weight that year, Winergy Equilibrium did the trick in the end, and I managed to get her on one of their feed trials so it was free too, which was a real bonus. It was a good feed, she had Growth as it was high energy and low starch.

I had similar problems last winter, and ended up insisting on a cushings test, which came back positive. It took about 3 months of giving her Pergolide (started very low and she's now on 2mg per day after repeat testing) and she's like a different horse. She's living out happily, the footyness I saw at certain times seems to have disappeared, her coat is more normal and despite her being out of work for a year due to other reasons, she's kept her topline for the most part and looks really well.

I would definitely recommend the blood test for any older horse showing these sorts of symptoms. Most of them don't present with the classic cushings problems until the disease is quite pronounced, and the earlier you catch it the better really.