I own a 27 year old appaloosa mare. I have had here since she was 4 years old and she is my world. As she has gotten older we have started having some difficulties with her. First she was diagnosed with Cushing's Disease, for those of you that do not know what that is, it it like diabetes for horses and she has an intolerance to sugar. Second this past year we noticed that she seemed unable to walk straight, her front end would go one way and her hind end would go another, and she was leaning constantly on things, including me. I called out the vet in a panic and he almost instantly new what the problem was. She had suffered a stroke. She is doing well, especially with seeing an equine acupuncturist every month.
One problem that seemed to develop was that she no longer liked to eat. She has always been picky so I assumed it was just a phase, as she seemed to be okay with her eating her hay. Weeks went bye and we still were not getting her to eat but a few nibbles out of each meal. I tried breaking down the meals so that she was getting fed multiple times a day instead of here usual two times. That seemed to work for a minute. Since she got fed three different types of grain I tried weeding out certain ones to see if that made a difference, again that worked for a very short time. I was trying everything I could think of I would add bran both dry and wet and hay cubes, dry and wet. Nothing worked for more than a day or sometime even just one meal.
While talking to my neighbor at the fence one day she told me she bought this feed to try with her horses, but upon reading the label more realized it was not for them, it had to high a fat content. She asked me if I wanted to try it for my horse since it was labeled to be good for older horses, had a low sugar content and a lot of other things that sounded just right for my girl. So I grabbed a bucket and walked with her down to her barn and filled it up. We walked back up to were all the horses were hanging out together and I put the bucket under my mares nose and she began to eat immediately. OH MY GOSH...I was so excited I could barley contain myself. I just kept praising my mare for eating. She ate quite a bit and then stopped but, would come back and nibble now and then. I was shocked. I continued to feed her this new grain for the next few days and her bucket was empty every morning and night.
It is a Blue Seal feed called Sentinel Senior.
So I did some more research and decided it was time to invest in a bag of my own. I have always fed Blue Seal Feeds so I trusted the quality. Here is the product information from the Blue Seal website:
"Sentinel™ Senior Formula - A Nutrient Release Formula Horse Feed. Sentinel™ Senior, a Nutrient Release Formula feed, is the new generation in equine nutrition formulated specifically for senior
horses, prematurely aging horses or horses with poor teeth. Sentinel™ Senior is a highly fortified balance of nutrients and an exclusive blend of natural additives to meet the increased nutritional demands of the senior horse due to less efficient digestive and metabolic systems.
This unique formulation of Sentinel™ Senior is also recommended for certain senior horses with challenged digestive and/or metabolic systems. A pressure cooked feed offers a safe and natural way to
provide essential nutrition and calories to senior horses, prematurely aging horses or horses with poor teeth and is easily digested for optimal nutrient utilization."
It is a lighter, softer pellet that does seem much easier to chew and it has a pleasant smell with out being a super sugary feed.
I don't usually like to do specific product posts but this feed has been a life saver and I wanted to share it.
One problem that seemed to develop was that she no longer liked to eat. She has always been picky so I assumed it was just a phase, as she seemed to be okay with her eating her hay. Weeks went bye and we still were not getting her to eat but a few nibbles out of each meal. I tried breaking down the meals so that she was getting fed multiple times a day instead of here usual two times. That seemed to work for a minute. Since she got fed three different types of grain I tried weeding out certain ones to see if that made a difference, again that worked for a very short time. I was trying everything I could think of I would add bran both dry and wet and hay cubes, dry and wet. Nothing worked for more than a day or sometime even just one meal.
While talking to my neighbor at the fence one day she told me she bought this feed to try with her horses, but upon reading the label more realized it was not for them, it had to high a fat content. She asked me if I wanted to try it for my horse since it was labeled to be good for older horses, had a low sugar content and a lot of other things that sounded just right for my girl. So I grabbed a bucket and walked with her down to her barn and filled it up. We walked back up to were all the horses were hanging out together and I put the bucket under my mares nose and she began to eat immediately. OH MY GOSH...I was so excited I could barley contain myself. I just kept praising my mare for eating. She ate quite a bit and then stopped but, would come back and nibble now and then. I was shocked. I continued to feed her this new grain for the next few days and her bucket was empty every morning and night.
It is a Blue Seal feed called Sentinel Senior.
So I did some more research and decided it was time to invest in a bag of my own. I have always fed Blue Seal Feeds so I trusted the quality. Here is the product information from the Blue Seal website:
"Sentinel™ Senior Formula - A Nutrient Release Formula Horse Feed. Sentinel™ Senior, a Nutrient Release Formula feed, is the new generation in equine nutrition formulated specifically for senior
horses, prematurely aging horses or horses with poor teeth. Sentinel™ Senior is a highly fortified balance of nutrients and an exclusive blend of natural additives to meet the increased nutritional demands of the senior horse due to less efficient digestive and metabolic systems.
This unique formulation of Sentinel™ Senior is also recommended for certain senior horses with challenged digestive and/or metabolic systems. A pressure cooked feed offers a safe and natural way to
provide essential nutrition and calories to senior horses, prematurely aging horses or horses with poor teeth and is easily digested for optimal nutrient utilization."
It is a lighter, softer pellet that does seem much easier to chew and it has a pleasant smell with out being a super sugary feed.
I don't usually like to do specific product posts but this feed has been a life saver and I wanted to share it.