Young Riders and Old Horses – A Great Combination
by Karen E. Davison, Ph.D., Land O’Lakes Purina Feed Manager-Equine Tech. Services
Nothing beats an experienced, older horse to help a young rider learn how to compete. A well trained, older horse will take care of an inexperienced rider, letting them have fun while learning. These senior performance horses are solid and tolerant of rider mistakes, whereas a younger horse usually won’t have the confidence or experience to handle pilot error by the rider. That can create frustrating experiences for a young rider.
Years ago, a horse in their mid to late teens was considered “old”, but improvements in health care, management and nutrition have helped extend the competitive life span of equine athletes. Even with the physical demands of many performance events, horses can remain healthy and competitive well into their teens and even some into their twenties. As these horses age, they may require more careful feeding and management, but they are well worth the extra effort and expense.
The old adage, “You are what you eat” applies to horses too. Younger horses may thrive on less than optimum nutrition and may even be very competitive for a time. But, as they age, the lack of nutritional support will catch up with them. Heart and talent can only go so far before proper nutrition and health care must be available to support the level of activity. While all horses age at different rates and in different ways, nutrition in the earlier years certainly seems to affect the rate of aging. Horses that were well cared for in their younger years will remain active and competitive longer than horses that were physically challenged without the proper levels of nutrition to support that stress.
The age at which horses become old enough to be concerned about their diet depends on the horse’s genetics, how well they are doing under current care, and the level of care they’ve had over their life time; especially important are dental care, deworming and nutrition. All horses reach a point in time when they no longer maintain body condition on the same feeding and management program they may have been on for years. It is usually best to be proactive and make changes in their diet before we see a noticeable decline.
As horses age, they don’t necessarily need more nutrition, but often just better nutrition due to reduced ability to chew and declining digestive function. This means they need higher quality, easier to digest ingredients in their diets. For horses that still have good teeth and can effectively chew hay, that may simply mean changing from a grain mix to an easier to digest pelleted feed like Purina’s Strategy® or Ultium® feed, fed with good quality hay. For those aging horses that are no longer able to chew hay well, Purina’s Equine Senior® feed is an excellent option. Formulated from research conducted on geriatric horses, Equine Senior® feed was the first feed developed to nutritionally support older horses that were having difficulty maintaining condition on conventional diets. The high quality ingredients manufactured in an easy to chew and digest process makes Equine Senior® feed a great diet for older horses. Purina Equine Senior® feed contains high quality hay and fiber sources built right in, so it can be fed with reduced amounts of hay or as the sole ration. In some regions of the country today, due to drought, hay is hard to find and good hay is a distant memory. Complete feeds with hay built in like Equine Senior® feed can be used to replace some or all of the hay in a horse’s diet.
Diet, regular dental care and a good health program including an effective deworming regimen are all very important considerations in managing an aging equine athlete. In addition, wear and tear on joints may present the need for support from joint supplements or medications. Consult with your veterinarian to outline a health care plan for your senior athlete and for recommendations on quality products to help maintain healthy joints.
For young riders, older horses are often the very best fit. Good, sound older horses are often hard to find, so when you have one, you want to take the best care possible to extend the active life of that horse. These solid senior show horses are often responsible for helping raise several great young hands and they are hard to replace.
Submit Your Question
|
