What Reverdy feed for my elderly horse?

SOMMAIRE

1️⃣ My elderly horse is in good health.

2️⃣ My elderly horse is in good health, but has trouble maintaining condition.

3️⃣ My elderly horse has trouble maintaining condition due to dental problems.

4️⃣ My elderly horse in good health but overweight.

5️⃣ My elderly horse suffers from arthrosis...

1️⃣ My elderly horse is in good health.

If your horse is in good health, that is to say he keeps in good condition, and does not have any dental, hepatic (liver) or renal (kidney) problems.

HAY
We advise feeding between 1.5 and 2.5% of dry matter of the horse’s bodyweight in hay daily, so between 8 and 14kg for a 500 kg horse.

CONCENTRATE FEEED OR VITAMIN AND MINERAL SUPPLEMENT
If you wish to give a concentrate feed, we advise ADULT.
If you prefer a food that does not contain cereals then we suggest CEREAL FREE.
If you wish to simply give a vitamin and mineral supplement in addition to hay, we advise OLIGOVIT MINERAL.

Remember, it is advisable to fraction the feeding of a concentrate food into a number of small meals, and to not exceed 340g/100kg of live-weight (bodyweight) of food per meal, which corresponds to a maximum of 1/2 L of ADULT per 100kg live-weight per meal. So for a horse weighing 500kg, a maximum of 2.5L per meal.

⏩ Refer to our documentation about Starch.

SUPPLEMENTS
✅ To boost the horse’s immune defences in winter, a course of IMMUNE supplement can be administered. We also recommend providing increased vitamin E and selenium with nutritional supplements.

2️⃣ My elderly horse is in good health, but has trouble maintaining condition.

If your horse is in good health, that is to say he does not have any dental, hepatic or renal problems, but has trouble maintaining condition (is a poor doer),

HAY
We advise increasing the quantity of hay in the ration, so 2.5% of dry matter of the horse’s bodyweight in hay daily, which corresponds to 14kg for a horse weighing 500kg. This quantity should normally correspond to feeding hay “ad-lib”.

⚠️ It is important to increase the quantity of hay before the quantity of concentrate feed.

CONCENTRATE FEED OR VITAMIN AND MINERAL SUPPLEMENT 
If you wish to feed a concentrate feed we recommend BREEDING. This feed rich in high quality proteins (lysine), vitamins and trace elements.

Remember, it is advisable to fraction the feeding of a concentrate food into a number of small meals, and to not exceed 350g/100kg of live-weight (bodyweight) of food per meal, which corresponds to a maximum of 0.5L of BREEDING per 100kg live-weight per meal. So for a horse weighing 500kg, a maximum of 2.5L per meal.

SUPPLEMENT
✅ To support the intestinal microbiota, we advise giving FLORA supplement (1 measure a day).
✅ To increase the energy value of the ration, we also advise adding 50ml/100kg live-weight of OMEGA OIL, daily.
✅ To boost the horse’s immune defences in winter, a course of IMMUNE supplement can be administered.
We also recommend providing increased amounts of vitamin E and selenium with nutritional supplements.

3️⃣ My elderly horse has trouble maintaining condition, due to dental problems.

If your horse has trouble maintaining condition due to dental problems (despite veterinary care),

HAY
If the horse does not suffer from a metabolic disorder nor has any problems with his incisors, we suggest letting him graze, in account of grass being easier to chew than hay.

✅ We also advise feeding a source of forage that is easier to chew than ordinary hay : a leafy hay, wrapped hay (haylage) or even chopped hay. Soaking hay before feeding makes it easier for the horse to ingest.

The horse must be provided with at least 1.5% (dry matter) of his bodyweight in forage daily. Adding water to the forage means it will take up more space in the stomach, so fractioning its distribution into 4 or 5 meals is recommended.

CONCENTRATE FEED OR VITAMIN AND MINERAL SUPPLEMENT
If you wish to feed a concentrate feed we recommend ADULT FIBRE ENERGY. This feed based on a digestible starch (oats), provides more fibre than a standard feed.

✅ If the horse has difficulty chewing, soak it before feeding to make a soup.

Remember, it is advisable to fraction the feeding of a concentrate food into a number of small meals, and to not exceed 400g/100kg of live-weight (bodyweight) of food per meal, which corresponds to a maximum of 0.6 L of ADULT FIBRE ENERGY per 100kg live-weight per meal. So for a horse weighing 500kg, a maximum of 3L per meal.

SUPPLEMENT
✅ To support the intestinal microbiota, we advise giving FLORA supplement (1 measure a day).
✅ To increase the energy value of the ration, we also advise adding 50ml/100kg live-weight of OMEGA OIL daily.
✅To boost the horse’s immune defences in winter, a course of IMMUNE supplement can be administered.
We also recommend providing increased amounts of vitamin E and selenium with nutritional supplements.
In the case where the horse needs extra protein, it is also possible to complement the diet with MYOSTIMYL, this supplement is particularly rich in quality protein (lysine).

4️⃣ The elderly horse is in good health but overweight.

If your horse is in good health, that is to say he has no dental, hepatic or renal problems, but is overweight or even obese,

HAY
We advise feeding a maximum of 1.5% of dry matter of the horse’s bodyweight in hay. It is recommended to choose hay low in soluble sugars (ideally less than 10-12 %), and/or to soak it for at least 2 hours before feeding to limit its sugar level.
With the aim of increasing the time the horse spends eating, we also suggest feeding the hay from a small-holed haynet.

CONCENTRATE FEED OR VITAMIN AND MINERAL SUPPLEMENT
We suggest feeding CEREAL FREE, which is low in starch and soluble sugars (as the name indicates it is free from cereals) but which provides the necessary quantities of vitamins and minerals to meet the horse’s requirements.
Alternatively, if your hay is of sufficient quality, you can just give OLIGOVIT MINERAL, vitamin and mineral supplement.

SUPPLEMENT
✅ To boost the horse’s immune defences in winter, a course of IMMUNE supplement can be administered.
We also recommend providing increased amounts of vitamin E and selenium with nutritional supplements.

5️⃣ My elderly horse suffers from arthrosis...

The horse suffering from osteoarthritis can lose his appetite through pain, especially if he has to adapt positions that hurt in order to eat.

Thus we advise not feeding him from the ground, but to raise his feed bowl. Likewise, it is not recommended to feed hay from a highly strung haynet, in this case it is better to use a rack which does not require horse to stretch his neck too much in order to feed.

We equally advise giving eitherFLEXY ou SUPER FLEXY nutritional supplements, which are made up from chondroprotective agents which contribute to slowing the progression of arthritis and improving joint lubrication and cartilage elasticity. We advise giving 1 dose daily over periods of up to 6 months.

If your horse suffers from renal or hepatic problems or a metabolic disease, we recommend seeking advice from your vet.

Synthesys