Basic HTML Version
T H E MAT U R E HO R S E
SPRING 2011 ISSUE
EQUINE MATTERS
12
Don’t know if you had time to see the BBC
programme on the ‘Young Ones’
?
It followed
humans in their 70’s and 80’s and showed
how by taking a positive attitude, moving
more, being independent, having to think for
oneself and not be mollycoddled, improved
their cognitive and fitness levels within just
one week!!
So to keep me sprightly, please treat me like
a younger horse, whilst keeping an eagle eye
for me getting too fat or stiff...
It’s not complicated being old really, (middle
aged)…just keep us warm and give us shelter,
loads of low calorie forage and a decent
feed balancer. If we are unable to eat forage
then get us onto a hay replacer and an old
horse diet. In light of that new survey, then
please get my teeth and feet done regularly
by a professional; also get the vet to do me
an MOT every year, even if there appears
to be nothing wrong; prevention is better
than cure.
Let us keep moving around and
please don’t make us fat; it
shortens our life. And me? Well
I’ve loads of rosettes yet to win
and a filly or two to meet!
When are we old?
The researcher who found that we need
more and different nutrients back in the 80s,
(Professor Sarah Ralston) has done more
work; she now knows that because we are
looked after so much better that the different
nutrient requirements don’t exist. Really we
only need a special feed like 16+ when we
show signs of aging such as weight loss,
problems chewing and stiffness.
Guess the most significant effect on us in
terms of what makes us old, is when the
old teeth wear out. Then we can’t eat hay
anymore and it doesn’t really matter what
fancy feed they give us; it is VITAL that they
sort out a fibre replacer first.
I’ve a stablemate, who’s 30, and I have to
keep an eye out for the old chap, he’s started
quidding and his muscle tone is going, well
his owner doesn’t ride him anymore and you
know what they say,; ‘if you don’t use it,
you’ll lose it’. I’m hoping my ‘Mistress’ gets
her Mum to call the D&H helpline to chat
about hay replacers.
The best one I know about is...
l
High Fibre Nuts (damped just to make
them soft)
l
Kwick Beet or unmolassed sugar
beet shreds
l
Alfalfa chaff or Just Grass (no straw chaffs,
can’t chew them well enough)
l
Start with a small handful of each in a
feed bucket and gradually increase over
14 days
l
Probably will need 600g/100kg body
weight of each product, so you are eating
1.8% of your bodyweight as forage
l
Remind your mum that this is the equivalent
of half a bale of hay a day, so there will
be loads, but we need that amount!
l
If you’ve got diastemas (and the latest
work from Liverpool University found that
43% of us do) then you can’t eat short or
long fibre - it just gets stuck!!
WHENWE ARE OLD?
Work carried out by a team at Liverpool
University Vet School, Leahurst (supported
by The Horses Trust) was presented by Jo
Ireland at BEVA. She researched a group
of old horses to characterise what being
old in horse terms means.....humph
Did you know?
l
96% of old horses had dental
abnormalities (average age = 20yrs
but varied between 15-40yrs)
l
26% of us are overweight, with only
4.5% being underweight
l
Scarily 49% of us were lame in trot...
and our owners often didn’t realise
l
18% of us had curly coats (hirustism)
l
80% of us had hoof abnormalities
The Mature Horse...