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I have three older horses, one of whom is a hard keeper...and I give him a half 3# coffee can twice a day of Gro Strong by ADM. It is rice bran based and keeps weight on him. His main feed is alfalfa-bermuda pellets. Hope this helps! PlayerMom

Hey ya'll. I have a 30 year old stud horse, about5-6 years ago he started losing weight, a lot of weight, he had lost all of his jaw teeth. I tried all the senior feeds, and supplements, nothing worked(and lots of it. An old vet was in the feed store one day when I was discussing this problem, he said,"girlie, put him on creep feed, ya won't have any more problem" I did, and he looks great. I feed him 3 times a day, also give him a scoop of ground up alfalfa. Costs less too. I do give him a horse mineral. He still runs to the feed bowl.

Didn't read through the entire post but I had a toothless wonder that did really well on alfamaize....cubes of alfalfa and corn mixed together....soak them to soften and add beet pulp. I would feed as much as he could eat. Old horses often can't chew hay...they roll it around in their mouths and spit it out.

2horse~~ senior isnt low in fat.

Be certian when adding fat to a horses diet that you use VEGATABLE OIL and NOT corn oil.........there is something about the corn oil that is difficult on the horse. I have found over the years that there is nothing like alfalfa hay to put weight on a horse. However they must be able to eat hay and sometimes the older horse has difficulty with this. One time a neighbor had an own daughter of Jackie Bee they gave me because they could not keep weight on her and she was litterally staving to death. They had her checked,wormed, and teeth floated etc.I fed her a full bale of alfalfa a day plus just regular grain ration. Interestingly,they had been feeding her cattle cake with 20 percent protien. The vet told me horses can starve on too much protein. After that lesson, I feed my horses a 10 percent protein ration,pelleted form that is high roughage. Now if I was working them exceptionally hard I might increase that protein. But people do feed way too much protein. They now know it is the fat and roughage a horse needs in his diet. And I personally dislike anything with High fructose corn surup,just because it causes too much fermentation. I also try to stay away from "sweet" feeds. We usually have a free choice good quality mineral available.Raising cattle, I am a huge mineral believer. I have a number of older horses who do well in the summer just on pasture actually.One is 28 and another 24 and on down with 2 or 3 in their 20's. But then our grass is good in the Texas Panhandle. Patsy

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions... My horse is now a little on the plump side... The rice bran and getting off senior really helped. Safe & Sound has 7% fat compared to low fat in senior. That and rice bran worked wonders. I gave the rest of the rice bran away to a nearby stable that had some skinny horses...

My morgan mare is pushing 30 and last winter I just couldn't keep weight on her anymore. My vet suggested a supplement made by Poulin called Cool Cal. it's all fat. It worked great I only give her 1/3 of her recommended dose and she put the weight back on and has maintained well ever since.

Interesting read,BOB, I have used Rice Brand and it's cheap here and it works wonders. They make two kinds, a unstabilized which is great in cooler weather and a stabilized that won't go ransid in hot weather but is more expencive. If cost is a issue you might look at it.

All excellent suggestions for feed, just go with what is in your area, high fat, low protein & good roughage. I have found the most impt. additive is the pro-biotics. SOURCE (micronutrients) makes one called FOCUS for weight-gain, in a topdress powder. Pro-biotics add much needed beneficial bacteria to break down the grain and hay, otherwise it just goes thru them. If you don't already take a pro-biotic yourself, you should try one. Constipation becomes a thing of the past. It is really needed by the geriatic population or anyone who has digestive problems. -- and I don' mean BeanO!!! LOL ...Source also makes something for people, but I use one that I order on-line. Good luck!