hello my husband bought a older roping horse, age "OLD" very poor in shape been feeding him sweet feed 14% and has a round bale. I've sence had him tubled wormed, teeth floated. He still has trouble eatting hay wads up and he slobbers when he eats his grain. He's put on alittle weight but has trouble eatting Need help been thinking of making a mash of his feed and adding corn oil, he's a real sweet horse also thinking of giving him inter muscle 10cc's of b complex daily for 100 cc's Please help asap thanks Patti

Where are you from? very south texas

How did you locate this forum? search

Hello Patti,

Senior horses are not able to eat grain effectively, generally because of problems with their teeth. Plus, sweet feed is not the best for him. And, feeding corn oil can lead to inflammation in his aging joints. So, I have a better suggestion for you.

I would recommend that you give him a diet that is designed for seniors and is low in starch and sugar. I highly recommend Senior Glo by Alliance Nutrition. Here is their website: http://www.admani.com/AllianceEquine/SENIORGLOHorseFeed.htm It is high in stabilized rice bran, which will also help him gain weight.

You can offer him some moistened hay or hay replacer to help him meet his roughage needs. Continue with the B complex, but IM administration is somewhat risky. Instead, give him B-complex in his feed. And, boost his own ability to produce B vitamins by giving him Ration Plus each day. This will make a significant improvement in his ability to gain weight, as well.

Please keep me posted. I hope this is helpful.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

If the float was very recent and the horse needed aggressive work to correct his bite, it wouldn't be unusual for him to slobber and for the hay to roll up then fall out of his mouth. I noticed the same thing after my three teenagers had major floats. In fact, the equine DDS told me to expect some temporary difficulty. They had trouble for about a week, then they were fine. They were able to eat pellets fairly well and two of them dunked their hay in their water. Maybe some of your horse's eating problem will improve when he accomodates to his new bite. Then he'll get the most out of the feed program Dr. Getty recommends.

Where are you from? Weatherford TX

How did you locate this forum? Equine DDS gave me TAEDAP website