Nothing is more worrying than watching your horse slowly lose weight day after day and not knowing why. Despite making sure they have enough access to good quality food and mineral and vitamin supplements, they continue to lose weight. Here are 5 tips that can get you started on the right path to address unexpected weight loss in your horse.

Veterinary Evaluation

First of all, ALWAYS have your horse evaluated by your vet if you come across any type of health problem! I can’t stress that enough. There are so many things that may be affecting your horse’s ability to absorb nutrients, from parasites to cancer. Your vet can rule things out for you and make a proper diagnosis if there is a serious medical condition that is contributing to your horse’s weight loss problem. I have seen too many times people take a wait and see attitude to the detriment of the horse.

Intestinal parasites

A very common reason for horses to lose weight is due to a heavy parasite load. As parasites develop resistance to many of the commercially available dewormers, your deworming protocols may no longer be effective. Your veterinary clinic can do a fecal egg count for you and tell you what types of intestinal parasites (if any) your horse may harbor. From this information, you can make more specific decisions about which deworming protocols might be most effective for your situation.

There are also alternative protocols that are becoming increasingly popular with horse handlers. Many of these are safe to use alongside traditional dewormers and can help increase the effectiveness of your deworming program.

Some of these include:

• Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth: Diatomaceous earth is believed to work similarly as it moves through the animal’s digestive tract as it does when applied externally to insects. The microscopic silica-based diatom fossils that make up the fine dust penetrate the insects’ exoskeleton, causing them to dehydrate and die.
• Essential Oils: Animals in the wild will hunt for and eat certain types of plants that are not normally in their daily diet to help cleanse their bodies of parasites. Certain medicinal grade essential oils are believed to help eliminate internal parasites from the body based on the historical use of these plants by both ancient cultures and wild animals. It is not clear if these help stimulate the host’s natural immune system or if they act directly against the parasite. The oils that can help the most are: Tarragon, Ocotea, Di-Gize and Longevity.
• Immune system supplementation: An organism that has a compromised immune system will be more susceptible to all kinds of infections, including those from internal and external parasites. Adding supplements high in antioxidants can help your horse’s ability to deal with these attacks naturally. Immune support is very important for the maintenance of the geriatric horse.

Equine Dentistry

I have been amazed at how many people I have come across over the years who do not know that horses need routine dentistry. There are many factors that go into the function of the horse’s jaw and how the horse’s teeth continually break in and wear down. The way a horse moves, the position in which it eats, what it eats, etc. all contribute to a horse developing a dental imbalance. If the teeth are out of balance and the horse is unable to chew his food effectively, he is less likely to be able to absorb the necessary nutrients from that food. Older horses may have worn out the lifespan of their teeth or are missing teeth, which also contributes to problems with proper processing of their feed. Getting your horse seen by a reputable equine dentist at least once or twice a year can save your horse some complaints down the road.

add calories

Your horse’s weight loss may simply be a matter of math…they are burning more calories than they are consuming. It may be necessary to increase your horse’s hay and/or feed, particularly for horses in heavy training or working horses. However, adding a high-quality, calorie-dense source of fat may be all it takes to get by. Traditionally, people have added corn oil to their horse’s feed as a top dressing. However, since corn oil is not completely digestible, you must feed large amounts to be effective, and many horses do not find as much oil in their feed palatable. The most popular oils that are highly digestible, palatable, and provide additional skin and coat benefits are: flax seed, soybean, and wheat germ oils.

alternative wells

When it comes to geriatric horses, the ability to chew becomes increasingly problematic, not to mention the aging digestive tract becomes less efficient and able to extract necessary nutrients from what they can chew. Adding some easier to chew and digest roughage may help. However, you will want to be sure and consult with your vet before changing your horse’s diet. Certain conditions, such as liver and kidney dysfunction, require special dietary consideration.

Alfalfa – For all my older mares, we provide soggy alfalfa buckets once a day, as well as having access to lightly grazed, free-choice coastal hay. Cube-shaped, the alfalfa is already chopped, and soaking helps soften the roughage for easier chewing. It is also higher in protein and calcium which helps support aging muscles and bones.

beet pulp – Soaked beet pulp is also a very popular feed alternative. It is very high in calcium and very easy to digest. Most horses find it quite tasty and easy to eat, even horses without teeth!

Complete feeds for seniors – There are a number of high-quality senior complete foods available on the market these days. Many of these can even be soaked to aid digestion for horses that have no teeth or have trouble chewing. When looking for a food for seniors, I generally try to avoid those that have a lot of sugars (usually molasses). I prefer alfalfa meal based feeds so I know exactly what my horse is getting. I avoid the ones that have "hay byproduct" as the first ingredient listed. Feed consistency cannot be guaranteed when they can use almost anything that is considered hay. If they list alfalfa flour on the label, then I know they MUST use alfalfa, nothing else.