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From: RALSTON@zodiac.rutgers.edu
Subject: Re: Equine Senior
(Note: this is aboout Purina's Equine Senior horse feed - Ron)
First of all the comments about beet pulp needing to be soaked are
absolutely true - 12 hrs is good. You can also sometimes find beet
pulp pellets that don't need soaking.
Equine Senior was designed for the FAILING older horse - the one
over 20 years old that has a hard time maintaining weight, especially
in winter and has a hard time chewing due to worn or missing teeth.
Research I did at Colorado State on geriatric horses showed that unlike
aged dogs and cats, old horses need more protein, lower calcium, higher
phosphorus and theorectically more vitamin C and more digestible feed
than younger horses. Equine Senior has 14% protein, carefully balanced
lower levels of calcium and phosphorus, moderate calories per pound
(1 lb Senior has as many calories as about 3/4 lb Omolene 100) and is
formulated to be a highly digestible, complete feed. It should be
introduced slowly to the aged horses' diet (increase amounts fed by
about 1 lb per day until you reach the target amount). It is designed
to REDUCE the chance of founder in older horses if fed appropriately.
It Should NOT be fed without hay unless, as was the case in the one
horse, hay absolutely is not tolerated. We are currently doing a
trial comparing it to Omolene 100 in our aged mares at Rutgers and
are providing 50% of their total calories in hay, the rest in grain.
Feeding this way the horses are getting (based on body size) 8 to
10 lbs of hay and only 6 to 7 lbs grain per day. They are all fat,
shiny and doing well on this limited amount!! I think some of the
problems I've heard about people having with SEnior has come from
feeding too much too quickly. Yes the bag says to feed up to 14 lbs
a day but that is only for the rare horse that cannot eat anything
else!! (Don't forget, the company wants to sell feed!). The high
levels of vitamin C and increased digestibility have done womders
in the old horses that were failing that I've dealt with. We have
not evaluated it in otherwise healthy younger horses or horses that
are still being used heavily (except one 24 yr old thoroughbred still
used for foxhunting that is doing very well on it).
The two other main problems we've seen are that it SHOULD NOT be
fed to horses with liver failure (protein too high for them) and in
some horses constipation may be a problem (It does wonders, however,
for horses with chronic diarrhea!). If the feces start to get dry,
moisten the feed (The pellets break down into a wonder mashlike
consistency very quickly - really good for the old guys with no teeth
left) and try to encourage water intake. In really old horses I
would suggest getting a blood test for liver enzymes to check liver
function before feeding it.
I'm not sure what all the ingredients are. I do know there is
some Athlete - a high fat, high protein supplement made by Purina.
Equine Senior to date and to my knowledge is performing very
well in the horses for which it was designed - the "old grey mare
(or gelding or stallion!) who ain't what she used to be! If your
horse doesn't fall into this category, why go to the expense and
feed it when there are so many other appropriate feeds out there!
I am assuming that the "heavy" horses in the message you sent me were
horses with heaves or chronic allergic respiratory disease. The
Respond or Complete Advantage or other high fiber beet pulp based
diets would be MUCH more apprpriate for them since the fiber in the
Senior IS limited due to the population in which it was designed
to be fed.
A bit long winded but since I helped design the product and
have done a lot of the testing of it (it was planned for years -
only tested in horses for the past 18 months) I fell pretty
strongly about it! I appreciate any input- Purina is working
closely with me and will change the formula if a real problem
is perceived ( though as I stated above, for the most part the
problems I've heard about were surmountable or due to feeding
too much too soon).
Sarah Ralston
Ralston@Zodiac.Rutgers.EDU (I can't seem to find my way back on
the Network so rely on Wendy to relay messages to me!!)
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