feeding 14 yr.old mare in faol senior feed

[luvmymini2]

I was wondering if it would hurt to switch my 14 yr.old mare which is in foal to a senior feed

...don't want to cause any problem for her....I have a stallion that is also 14 and a 8 month old colt that I would like to switch too...would it be wise to do this?

Thanks ,any info would be appreciates....

 

[Sunraye Miniatures]

Is there a reason you want to switch there feeds? No problem with it. Just do it before the mare foals and gets use to the feed so she won't loose much wate.

 

[lyn_j]

[SIZE=14pt]My 16 year old broodmare Bailey is on a complete sr feed and that s all and she looks great![/SIZE]

The difference in Sr feed is that it is usually mysolized for more easy digestion and has a higher fat and fiber content. All my non show horses are on Legends Equine 12% Sr feed.

Lyn

 

[luvmymini2]

Thanks for the info everyone!!!

 

[Filipowicz Farm]

I have a 20 year old mare on Equine Senior and she does great. This mare has been on this feed for 5 years.

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

I use senior feed( MannaPro) for all my minis no matter how young or old. Pregnant or not. They all look great! It is recommended by New Bolten Center (U of Pa.)as it is easy to digest. My horses love it too.

 

[Charlotte]

Personally, I would have concerns about putting an 'in foal' mare or immature horses on a senior feed. Senior feeds are designed for 'senior horses'

not for young growing animals and may very well be lacking in the nutrients needed for optimum reproduction and growth.

As a personal experience, we have had a number of young horses come in here for show training that have been raised on senior feeds. These horses have been lacking in bone, muscle and over all condition and are way behind the young horses that have been fed something designed for their age.

If we feed our baby dogs puppy food until they are mature why wouldn't we feed our developing baby horses a feed designed for them?

Charlotte

RobinR, I have a question....Does New Bolton recommend senoir feed for all breeds of young horses or just minis? I really would like to know this.......So often we hear that vets recommend inadequate feed for minis because,apparently, they see a lot of founder in minis and don't see many minis that aren't sick in some way so the vets seem to assume that all minis are on the verge of founder......What is your take on this?

 

[Miniv]

My feeling regarding Senior Feed is that every brand is a little different. What I did was to take the ingredients tag from what we were feeding (which was Stratedgy) and compared it to a senior feed made by Blue Ribbon for this general region. It was almost identical except that the senior feed had even more things in it, such as Beet Pulp and Probios.

We have been feeding the Blue Ribbon Senior to our herd ever since.......

MA

 

[Jill]

I've used senior feeds in the past and may again in the future, but not for foals. The more I read and talk to people (had a long conversation w/ a professional equine nutritionalist this week as well as people I feel are in the know here), you need to be concerned w/ more than "just" the fiber / protein / fat content. The nutrient / vitamin / mineral balance is key for developing foals. If you look at a brand lineup on complete feeds, you will see that the balance of these things is significantly different for the Junior, Adult, and Senior line up. And, in my forming opinion, for an adult, non-senior horse, a good complete adult (not senior) pellet may be the best choice, vs. senior, if you are using it as a foundation to the diet as I am now. I have DunIT on Purina Equine Junior as his diet foundation, and am not going to be changing that for him.

 

[Jill]

Also, with how we do our halter class divisions, I have wondered if there is room for people to confuse our term "Senior" horse as in one 3yo or older for shows with "Senior" as in elderly when it comes to diet.

And, the fiber content on both Senior and Junior feeds is quite low compared to the regular adult versions and if you are using a complete feed to take the place of the majority of the hay part of the diet, in my opinion, that's something you should think hard about. They need fiber to help prevent impactions, right?

 

[Robin1]

I have been feeding the Equine products by Purina and they recommend switching a pregnant mare in the last trimester over to the Equine Senior.

Robin