Feeding the veteran horse: How to provide a balanced diet and maintain forage intake with advancing years

As our horses are living longer than ever before, more owners are finding themselves caring for a veteran horse or pony. While advancing age brings its own challenges, growing older does not automatically mean a horse will become unhealthy, lose weight, or retire from enjoying work. With the right feeding and management approach, many veteran horses remain happy, active, and comfortable well into their twenties and beyond.  

This guest blog from our SEIB Classic Horse Insurance rewards partner, Dengie, explores how to support your veteran horse with a balanced diet as they get older. From changes in chewing ability and dental health to maintaining a healthy intake, the Dengie team shares expert advice to help owners navigate the challenges that can come with feeding an older horse.

As specialists in Veteran Horse Insurance, we understand how important it is to support your horse’s health and wellbeing throughout their later years. That’s why we work with trusted experts such as Dengie to help give our clients access to useful, specialist knowledge alongside their cover.

When does a horse become a veteran? 

There is no exact age at which a horse becomes a veteran. Some horses begin showing signs of ageing in their mid-teens, while others remain fit and active into their late twenties. The most important thing is to know what is normal for your horse, including how much forage they usually consume, and to continue to provide a balanced ration that is appropriate for their bodyweight and condition, even if they are no longer in work.  

Choosing the right feed for older horses at rest or in light work 

For veterans in light work that maintain their weight well, a balanced ration can be provided by combining Dengie Hi-Fi Senior with a broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement or balancer. Hi-Fi Senior combines chopped grasses and alfalfa with a light molasses and oil coating and supplies 8.5MJ/kg Digestible Energy. The quality protein supplied by alfalfa can help to support topline in the working veteran. The inclusion of grasses and molasses also produces a very palatable chopped fibre feed, which can be particularly useful for fussier feeders. 

For veterans that need a lower-sugar diet, Dengie Healthy Hooves Molasses Free is a useful all-in-one option. It combines chopped and pelleted alfalfa and straw with a light rapeseed oil coating, plus added vitamins, minerals, MSM and garlic. Providing 8.5MJ/kg Digestible Energy, it is a low-calorie fibre feed suited to horses in light work that maintain their weight well, as well as those prone to laminitis. When fed at the recommended amount of 500g — around one Stubbs scoop — per 100kg of bodyweight, no additional vitamin and mineral supplement is needed. It also supplies biotin to support hoof quality, while MSM helps support hoof, skin, coat and joint health. 

Long in the tooth: Why the ability to chew matters 

One of the most significant factors affecting veteran horses that requires a change to the physical format of their diet is their dental condition. Old, smooth, wobbly or missing teeth making it more challenging for the veteran to chew their usual long stem forage ration which can in turn result in weight loss. For this reason, regular checks by a veterinarian or qualified equine dental technician are essential throughout a horse’s life, but they become particularly important in the veteran years.  

Why weighing forage can help to spot problems early 

Many horse owners admit that they don’t weigh how much forage they give their horse. Even if you feed your horse to-appetite or ad-lib, weighing how much you offer and how much is left over is a good habit to get in to as a reduction in intake over time may help to alert you to the fact that your horse is starting to struggle to chew their forage and can then be addressed sooner rather than later.  

What to feed when hay or haylage becomes difficult to chew 

It can feel very daunting if you’ve been told by your vet or equine dentist that your horse can no longer have long stem hay or haylage as they are struggling to chew. Be guided by them regarding what’s suitable to feed. For those starting to struggle with their long stem forage, they may still initially manage to chew a short chop fibre feed such as Dengie Hi-Fi Senior as a total forage replacer, as some of the work has been done for them. 

For those that can no longer manage to chew even a short chop fibre feed like Hi-Fi Senior, an entirely soaked fibre ration will be required. Generally, grass is easy to chew but keep an eye out for any grass that has been quidded, which is a term used to describe partly chewed feed that has been dropped from the mouth, as this will indicate that your horse has been struggling to chew grass as well. 

Ideally a forage replacer should be nutritionally comparable to hay or haylage with high levels of fibre (20%+) and low starch levels. Not all pelleted fibres are suitable for use as a forage replacement as they may over-supply certain nutrients, so check whether a feed can partially or totally replace the forage ration. 

Using soaked fibre mashes  

For veteran horses that can no longer comfortably chew hay, haylage or even a short-chop fibre feed, soaked fibre mashes can provide a useful alternative source of highly digestible fibre in a softer, easier-to-manage form. 

Soaking Dengie’s Alfa-Beet or Pure Grass Pellets creates a high fibre mash for horses that struggle to chew. Alfa-Beet combines alfalfa with unmolassed sugar beet and can be used as a partial forage replacer, up to 1kg per 100kg of bodyweight daily. Pure Grass Pellets contain 100% grass with nothing else added and can be used as a total forage replacer if required. 

Soaking times can vary slightly because pellet density naturally varies. For convenience, it is usually easiest to soak morning feeds overnight, and evening feeds during the day. If you are short of time, or have forgotten to soak them in advance, hot water from the kettle can soften the pellets much more quickly — usually in around 15 minutes. Always allow the mash to cool before feeding, although many horses appreciate a warm mash, particularly in winter. 

As a guide, soak Alfa-Beet at a ratio of 1 part product to 3 parts water, and Pure Grass Pellets at 1 part product to 4 parts water. If the mash looks a little dry at feeding time, simply add more water to reach the consistency your horse prefers. 

How much forage replacer does your horse need 

Forage plays a vital role in maintaining digestive health, particularly for stabled horses. If your veteran horse can no longer manage hay or haylage, it is important to offer enough suitable forage replacer to meet their fibre needs. 

As a minimum, horses should receive 1.5% of their bodyweight each day as forage or forage replacer on a dry matter basis. For a 500kg horse, this equates to 7.5kg of dry matter daily, or approximately 8.8kg dry weight of most forage replacers before soaking. 

If hay is your usual forage source, the simplest approach is to gradually replace it weight for weight with a suitable forage replacer. If you usually feed haylage, remember that more of its weight is water, so you will generally need around 1.5 times less dry forage replacer by weight. Always make changes gradually and monitor your horse’s condition, appetite and droppings as the new ration is introduced. 

Practical tips on how to feed a forage replacer 

• Divide forage replacers into smaller meals to increase feeding time, leaving a larger quantity for overnight when you are unable to feed 

• Feed forage replacers in a large trug, or preferably several trugs, to encourage foraging behaviour – to slow the rate of eating, use a large football or some very large smooth pebbles on top of the feed  

• Adjust the amount of forage replacer given according to the amount of grazing available and your horse’s bodyweight 

• Use soaked products within 24 hours (or less in warmer weather) to avoid it spoiling and putting your horse off eating  

• If your horse can still chew, offer some chopped fibre as it will take longer to eat than a fibre mash, helping to keep your horse occupied for longer 

• Any dietary changes should ideally be made gradually, increasing the quantity of new feed used over the period of at least a couple of weeks 

If you would like individual feeding advice for your veteran horse or pony, please don’t hesitate to contact the Dengie Feedline on 01621 841188 option 1 or visit www.dengie.com and complete our Feed Advice Form. 

About SEIB

SEIB offers a range of horse insurance options, including policies such as their Core, Classic, Sport Horse and Veteran Horse cover, each with different levels of cover depending on the needs of the horse and owner. Our experienced team of horse owners can help provide you with advice on what cover you might need.