30-ish grade mare

 

Lucy's story perfectly illustrates the need to ensure that elder horses are able to get the nutrition they need when in a large group. 

 

In her previous home, Lucy was kept with a herd of very young, more dominant, horses and could not compete with them for the hay provided.  A large number of horses forced to push toward a single food source is a very unnatural way for these amimals to forage.  Timid horses do especially poorly in this stress laden situation.   In both photos below, Lucy is the farthest horse on the left.

 

 

October 2005.  Lucy was always on the outside of the group, unwilling to push her way into the crowd for food.

 

 

  

November 6, 2005.  Lucy's arrival at Traveller's Rest. 

    

 

 

 

 

In addition to being underweight, Lucy suffered infections in both ears, her right ear developing a hematoma that required surgical intervention.  Within two days, it was also determined that Lucy had been dealing with a double whammy in terms of acquiring food.  Not only was she too timid to push into a large group to compete for food, but her very worn teeth meant she would not have been able to live soley on hay or dry grains that required a lot of chewing. 

 

Lucy was started on small portions of well soaked senior feed, four times a day.  Later, soaked alfalfa cubes were added for roughage.  Once she was at a heathy weight, the size of her meals was gradually decreased, and she now does well on only two meals a day.  As portion size was decreased, the senior feed part of the mix was lessened, leaving a more forage-based diet intact.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At TREES, all horses are separated at mealtimes. Even though she is still a very submissive herd member, Lucy can finish her senior/alfalfa mash with no competition from other herd members.  When hay is offered, it is divided into piles so every horse has access to forage regardless of rank (#piles = approximately # horses + 1/3, so six horses would be provided 8-9 piles of hay)