# Best Senior Feed



## deineria (Mar 22, 2009)

Purnia Senior works well, but I'd have to recommend Triple Crown Senior because I love their complete feed so well, I can't imagine their senior not being awesome. It is a bit more than Purnia Senior, but the ingredients are better.​


----------



## Jordi (Nov 29, 2009)

We have had great luck with Purina Senior! Currently, we have 8 horses over 20 who are getting it and all look and feel fantastic!


----------



## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

I love the Equine Senior as well. As he continues to age, you might also want to consider adding beet pulp, dampened high qality pelleted feed or dampened alfalfa cubes. 

I kept a beloved old large pony with only three molars left in his mouth in good weight and healthy until 35 by feeding a combination of the Senior and the above. 

I'm sorry, I just re-read the original post and realized you're asking about supplements, not feeds. No one supplement will be perfect for every horse on your place. Supplements that I have used with good results on stiff or arthritic horses include: Cosequin, Synovi-G and MSM with chondrotin.


----------



## sillybunny11486 (Oct 2, 2009)

You can buy a hoof, coat and joint supplement in one. There are several brand out there. check out smartpakequine.com


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I started out with Purina's Equine Senior and switched about a year ago to Triple crown senior. I've seen huge improvements in the change of feed (his poop was too runny with the equine senior). I think any supplement with Glucosomine would be good.


----------



## deineria (Mar 22, 2009)

Oh, a senior supplement. . . I am not sure there. It might be if you do a high quality senior feed like the TCS, you would get anything he is needing that way, have better nutrition absorbtion, etc.


----------



## GoldRush (Dec 14, 2009)

Great advice, everyone! I also have a senior QH gelding, 15 yrs., and recently my vet suggested a senior feed supplement. I checked out the different types on-line, and Triple Crown looks like the best one for Sunny's needs. He still eats hay, but isn't getting the full nutritional value, so started dropping weight. I plan on feeding hay with the supplement, and the Triple Crown website ( Triple Crown Nutrition - Senior Formula ) has the suggested amounts to use as supplement, and a lot of info on their products, more so than other manufacturers.


----------



## Erin_And_Jasper (Jul 5, 2008)

i like Purina ES. i have my 19 almost 20 y/o mare and almost 18 y/o gelding on it. they have gained tons of weight and their coats are shiney and they gallop and buck around the pasture like yearlings


----------



## Production Acres (Aug 26, 2009)

Put a small amount of alfalfa hay in their diet - very high quality hay - something above 160rfv. Alfalfa pellets are very often very cheap "grinding hay" and will not do what you want. The high end alfalfa will digest very easily and help maintain their weight without all the snake oil and mystery powders.


----------



## qtrhrsecrazy (Aug 2, 2009)

*Nutrena Senior. *It's _totally _complete. It already has beet pulp added, flax added, and probiotics added, biotin and selenium added... I could go on. The vitamin/mineral content is excellent. I've seen this work as I've used it on an old pony I had with amazing results. 

Why waste money on another senior feed, when you have to buy extra stuff to supplement it with? Makes no sense to me...


----------



## heyycutter (Sep 26, 2009)

i like blue seal "Vintage senior" and "equine senior". both have worked great for horses i care for.
as for supps, several friends of mine love Smartpak "Smartflex senior"

I use CortaFlex with HA, devils claw, Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM for my horse. hes only 13 but he always been a eventing horse and he gets stiff easily.
ive heard "smartflex senior" is just as good but much cheaper


----------



## heyycutter (Sep 26, 2009)

oh and of course, look into Cosaquin. its supposed to be the best out there


----------



## sillybunny11486 (Oct 2, 2009)

> *Nutrena Senior. *It's _totally _complete. It already has beet pulp added, flax added, and probiotics added, biotin and selenium added... I could go on. The vitamin/mineral content is excellent. I've seen this work as I've used it on an old pony I had with amazing results.
> 
> Why waste money on another senior feed, when you have to buy extra stuff to supplement it with? Makes no sense to me...


But how much feed to you need to give per feeding/ or per day to make it complete? I bet a whole heck of alot.


----------



## qtrhrsecrazy (Aug 2, 2009)

sillybunny11486 said:


> But how much feed to you need to give per feeding/ or per day to make it complete? I bet a whole heck of alot.


No more than any other senior


----------



## sillybunny11486 (Oct 2, 2009)

> Originally Posted by *sillybunny11486*
> _But how much feed to you need to give per feeding/ or per day to make it complete? I bet a whole heck of alot._
> No more than any other senior


I am not a fan of complete feeds like that. You have to give alot of feed to get results and its not efficient when your on a budget. While senior horses need calories, they dont need huge amounts of "processed calories", especially if they are retired. If I gave my mare the suggested serving of grain on her bag she'd probably founder or just be really fat. Its cheeper for me to give less grain and buy my own flax and multi vitamin/ mineral supplement, and add according to my horses individual needs.


----------



## qtrhrsecrazy (Aug 2, 2009)

sillybunny11486 said:


> I am not a fan of complete feeds like that. *You have to give alot of feed to get results and its not efficient when your on a budget*. While senior horses need calories, they dont need huge amounts of "processed calories", especially if they are retired. If I gave my mare the suggested serving of grain on her bag she'd probably founder or just be really fat. *Its cheeper for me to give less grain and buy my own flax and multi vitamin/ mineral supplement, and add according to my horses individual needs.[/*quote]
> 
> All senior feeds are complete.. just Nutrena has more. You still hay horses that are on senior feed typically. In my old pony's case, with severe dental issues, his senior was mush, and I fed him chopped hay.
> 
> You don't have to overload them with senior and over feed... do your homework


----------



## sillybunny11486 (Oct 2, 2009)

I dont feed senior, I never said that I do. I dont feed senior because its cheeper for me not to. 



> You don't have to overload them with senior and over feed... do your homework


Sorry but if I want my horse to get the adequate amount of "everything in senior" I would need to over feed my horse. 

All senior feeds arent complete, just the good brands. There are probably feed mills all over the place slapping a senior label on the feeds that are just higher in calories. 

I didnt say anything about hay... but Complete feed, at least where I buy feed from, means it is completely balanced meaning you dont need to add hay to it if you follow the feeding guide.


----------



## qtrhrsecrazy (Aug 2, 2009)

Thats correct, you don't have to hay if for whatever reason you can't ie; horsey heath issues. The guideline however doesn't insist that you feed a mega large amount of senior for a daily ration.

One bag of Nutrena Senior, depending on where you buy it, runs approx 15-17 $. By the time you buy a bag of crap feed for $7, buy a bag of beet pulp for $10, flax for whatever amount (it's not that cheap), probiotics, etc etc, you'd been cheaper in the first place to buy the more costly 50# of senior, is my point.


----------



## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

We feed Nutrena Senior. Good quality - plentiful hay and fresh water.

Our seniors and brood mares look great.


----------



## Padrona (Apr 13, 2009)

qtrhrsecrazy said:


> Thats correct, you don't have to hay if for whatever reason you can't ie; horsey heath issues. The guideline however doesn't insist that you feed a mega large amount of senior for a daily ration.
> 
> One bag of Nutrena Senior, depending on where you buy it, runs approx 15-17 $. By the time you buy a bag of crap feed for $7, buy a bag of beet pulp for $10, flax for whatever amount (it's not that cheap), probiotics, etc etc, you'd been cheaper in the first place to buy the more costly 50# of senior, is my point.


Nutrena Senior is definitely not complete.

I don't like senior feeds as a sole source of nutrition. Even if the horse has no teeth and has to drink all his feed, I would still give a vitamin/mineral supplement along with beet pulp, alfalfa pellets or other form of process forage, flax seed and rice bran and some Senior thrown in.

Here's what I buy and the costs:

40 lb. Manna Pro Rice Bran: $22.95
40 lb. Beet Pulp Crumbles: $16.99
50 lb. Flax seed (that I grind myself) $32
50 lb. Alfalfa pellets $16.99

*That is 180 lb. of product for $88.93.*

Nutrena Senior is about $17 for a 50 lb. bag. 
*So 180 lbs. of Senior would be $61.20.*

But you still have to balance the vitamins and minerals that are missing from both plans. So say you buy SmartVite EZ Keeper and give the recommended 50 grams per day, which comes out to about $16 a month. 

Recommended feeding of Senior would be 13 lbs. per day for a 1,000 lb. horse for Maintenance - no work. This comes out to about $130 a month if feeding Senior. Add the vit/min supplement and it is *$146* a month.

I just plugged the following into FeedXL to create a balanced diet for a 1,000 lb. aged horse not in work:

Nutena Senior 2 lbs.
Ground Flax 1 lb.
Manna Pro Rice Bran 1 lb.
Beet Pulp 5 lbs.
Alfalfa Pellets 6 lbs.

Given the individual costs on the above listed items, plus the 1 ounce of SmartVite supplement, that would come out to *$184.28*

*Even with the Senior and the vit/min supplement, I was unable to get the diet to balance in all categories. *

So yes, you could say that feeding ONLY Senior is cheaper but it is also not supplying EVERYTHING the horse needs. And everything would include variety also to keep the horse from getting bored and sour. The Horse recently published a study showing that if horses are given a variety of foods, even if they are stalled, they did not develop the vices and stereotypies that horses do when only fed a single type of feed.

In the wild habitat, horses forage on many different things all day - grasses, weeds, bark, berries, seeds, tree leaves, even brambles and dirt enriched with minerals. It's not natural for them to stand in one spot and eat one type of feed round the clock. 

With the variety offered by the more expansive diet, you could soak senior in the morning for a meal, then pellets for lunch and beet pulp for dinner. I do this a lot with my horses and I have never had an upset stomach or diarehea. They'll get flax at one meal then rice bran at the other. I think it's much more of a problem when you're feeding large quantities of sweet feeds or rich grain like corn or oats that you have to worry a lot more about making changes.

Also I buy 4 types of hay from 4 different suppliers and each day my horses get rotated between the types. This is more natural, they're healthier and happier, and always kept interested in what they're eating.

So anyway, yeah you could make the argument that feeding only Senior is cheaper, but cheap isn't always best.


----------



## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

Here is the information on Nutrena Senior:

*Life Design® Senior Horse Feed*​*Features*
· Highly palatable nugget with vegetable oil delivers optimum feed consumption with high nutrient intake. 
· Highly digestible fiber that allows this product to be fed as a sole ration. 
· An increased phosphorus level with a precisely formulated calcium-to-phosphorus level, to meet nutritional requirements while avoiding the effects of stress caused by excess mineral intake. 
· Optimum vitamin E and selenium levels to support immune response. 
· Enhanced trace mineral level that maintains bloom and physical condition. 
· Highly digestible sources of protein that provide a superior combination of essential amino acids.
*Guaranteed Analysis* (min. amounts except where noted)

Crude Protein
14%​Lysine
0.65%​Methionine
0.25%​Crude Fat
5%​Crude Fiber
max. 16%​Calcium
min. 0.84%-max. 1.00%​Phosphorus
0.7%​Copper
40 ppm​Zinc
140 ppm​Selenium
0.3 ppm​Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)
75 mg/lb​Vitamin A
6,000 IU/lb​Vitamin D3
450 IU/lb​Vitamin E
75 IU/lb​Biotin
0.45 mg/lb​ 
*Feeding Directions*
· The following feeding directions are guidelines to maintain desired body condition and performance. Feeding rates need to be adjusted according to the horse's condition and training or competition schedule. Split the recommended level into two or more feedings each day.
*Weight Of Horse *
*Maintenance*
*Light Work*
800lb
10-12lb
12-14lb
1000lb
12-14lb
14-16lb
1200lb
14-16lb
16-18lb​ 
· Start feeding at the lower level and adjust to maintain the desired body condition. Feed requirements to maintain body condition may vary considerably due to individual differences. Use a weight tape and regular body condition scoring to make sure the horse is maintaining the desired condition. Pay close attention to actual body conditions when horses have longer hair coats. 
· If hay is used, the amount of feed may be reduced by 1 lb. for each 1.5 to 2.0 lb. of hay fed. Reduce feeding rate if pasture is available. 
· If your horse has severe dental problems, Nutrena Life Design Senior® horse feed may be soaked with warm water to form a mash. The mixture should soak for five to eight minutes until it reaches the consistency your horse prefers. 
· Provide plenty of fresh, clean water at all times. Salt should be available free-choice.​


----------



## sillybunny11486 (Oct 2, 2009)

Flax is probably the *cheepest* part of my horses diet, and great for any horse. I pay $30 for a 50lb bag. I got the bag in october, and I still have more then half a bag left.


----------

