Caring for Your Senior Horse

At what age is a horse considered geriatric or senior? Does owning a senior horse mean that he must eat a feed labeled as a “senior” feed? As always, the answer is, it depends. Our horses are living longer lives than ever, thanks to an evolving understanding of the needs of geriatric horses and our ability to provide high quality care. There is no set age cutoff as to when a horse is considered geriatric, but most experts agree this can be around age 20. However, age is just a number, and many horses are still active and competing into their twenties, while others are happily retired. The main issues we see in our older horse population include dental disease, altered dietary needs, metabolic disease/PPID (Cushings), and arthritis.

 

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Dental Changes

The ideal time to begin focusing on your horse’s regular preventative veterinary care is when he is young. Horses receiving regular preventative care, especially veterinary dentistry, preserve their teeth longer and can age more gracefully. Waiting until signs of dental disease or difficulty chewing are observed often indicates advanced disease and more limited treatment options. Most horses benefit from yearly dentistry, which includes a thorough sedated oral exam with a dental speculum, light source, and mirror. A thorough oral exam is vital to accurately assess, document, and treat any issues.

Horses suffering from abnormal dental wear, cracked or missing teeth, or severe periodontal disease may require more frequent care. Even though horse teeth are described as “long rooted,” they do eventually wear out, so proper care ensures the longest possible life of the tooth. Common dental issues in older horses include fracture of cheek teeth, complete expiration or wearing out of cheek teeth, loose/painful teeth, and periodontal disease. The incisors can also be affected by similar conditions.

Staying on top of your senior horse’s dental care helps ensure that he gets what is needed from his diet. Sometimes severe dental disease and impaired chewing ability necessitates eliminating hay from the diet entirely. Complete feeds are formulated specifically for horses that can no longer chew hay effectively. These diets have greatly improved the quality and length of life for senior horses with compromised teeth.

Nutritional Changes

Nutrition recommendations for the geriatric horse are formulated around maintaining an ideal body condition. In the geriatric horse, this can be complicated by difficulty chewing, poor teeth, metabolic disease, and decreased ability to digest fiber and protein. For older horses in good weight and with adequate dentition, little dietary change may be required. For older horses who have difficulty maintaining weight and/or compromised teeth, complete feeds as mentioned above can help. These feeds are high in easily digestible fat, fiber, and protein, and are designed as easy-to-chew. They are formulated to replace hay entirely for those horses that can no longer adequately chew hay.
Adding water to soften the feed can reduce the risk of choke and ensure additional water intake. Feeding recommendations are often listed as pounds of feed per day depending on whether the horse is also eating hay, so it is important to weigh out your horse’s portion so that any necessary adjustments can be made more accurately.

Metabolic Changes

A curly haircoat and muscle loss over the back aren’t just signs of aging- They can indicate a common underlying condition: equine pars pituitary intermedia dysfunction, more commonly known as PPID or Cushings disease. This is a treatable (but not cureable) condition that is very common in geriatric horses, resulting in hormonal imbalances and symptoms such as delayed shedding, curly hair coat, muscle loss over topline, increased drinking and urinating, personality changes, and increased susceptibility to infections and laminitis. Diagnosis is made by a blood test as well as by history and clinical signs. Management involves daily administration of pergolide (Prascend) tablets, which help restore normal hormone levels and alleviate the clinical signs of the disease.

Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) is a separate metabolic condition, but it sometimes occurs in conjunction with PPID. EMS horses typically show signs of being an “easy keeper”- cresty neck, regional fat deposits behind the shoulders and at the tail head. Horses with EMS are more susceptible to laminitis and usually have a higher baseline insulin level than normal. EMS horses are managed with strict attention to diet (minimizing sugar and starch) and exercise to help them maintain a lean body weight.

Joint and Muscle Changes

Just like us, aging horses suffer from daily aches and pains. An examination with your vet can help identify major and minor issues and

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determine what treatment plan works best for you and your horse. Many options are available to keep our old horses comfortable.
Nutraceuticals (supplements) are very popular, although many of these products lack proof of efficacy and ingredients. More researched options include medications such as adequan (administered intramuscularly) and Legend (administered intravenously). These medications help provide the components necessary to keep joints healthy.

Joint injections target individual joints to reduce pain and inflammation and improve mobility. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories such as Equioxx are also helpful, along with acupuncture and chiropractic care. Stable management is equally important- maximum turn out time allows horses to move at will, and monitoring herd dynamics ensures that older horses are not prevented from accessing food and water. In addition to these considerations, regular veterinary and farrier care will help your senior horse enjoy his golden years with you.

As always, if you have any questions about caring for your senior horse, please contact your veterinarian who can offer a personalized plan to help keep your geriatric horse happy, healthy, and comfortable well into their senior years.

How do I know my horse needs a float?

Spring is the time of year in Colorado that many horse owners look forward to. Large mats of shedding hair wafting about in the breeze, sticking to every square inch of fleece that might be exposed. Getting your tack cleaned up for riding season now that you have hours (plural HOURS!) of daylight after you get out of work or school to ride. Working on some refresher training sessions before the show season, in case there is a little bit of rust.

All of these things are rites of spring for horse owners here in Colorado. But spring is also time to schedule your spring checkup visit with your friendly, neighborhood veterinarian! Vaccine boosters, deworming, an annual checkup, and even discussion on Body Condition Scoring are great reasons to make an appointment for your horse. Spring is also a great time to find out if your horse is due for some dental work.

Just like us, regular maintenance dental work is an important part of your horses’ overall health. Horses have teeth that continue to erupt throughout their lives, and this leads to bad malocclusions, fractured teeth, periodontal disease and even a loss of condition in horses that never have a dental procedure done. Most of us have heard of horses needing a dental “float” before (routine filing of the teeth to correct malocclusions and remove overly sharp enamel points from the horses’ cheek teeth), but do you know what the signs are that your horse may be overdue for a dental procedure? What type of things should trigger the thought that your horse could benefit from a dental equilibration or “floating”? At what age should your horse have their first dentistry performed?

Most horses benefit from having their first dental exam and float between 2 and 3 years of age. While there are some reasons to check them out earlier than this age, horses at 2 to 3 years are often beginning to go into training. Making sure that their “baby teeth” are coming in correctly as well as removing any sharp uncomfortable points can really help a young horse to focus on the training that they are receiving. Young horses have teeth that are softer, and erupt faster, than older horses. This means that they can quickly develop sharp points that cause behavioral problems.

In any horses, odd chewing motions, or problems eating are two signs that we see that could indicate the need for a dental exam. If your horse is a “sloppy eater” with grains and pelleted feeds, and they drop more feed than they eat, they could be having problems with uncomfortable bucchal ulcers (sores on the inside of the cheeks) caused by overly sharp enamel points on the cheek teeth.

Also, problems with the bit or bridle, and head shaking or resisting the rider during training can indicate that a horse is due for a float. Most pieces of tack cross the face at the exact place where horses are most likely to develop these painful bucchal ulcers. So reports of a horse “not liking” a bit or bridle, or reports of changing through different types of bridles or bits can be associated with dental or oral discomfort.

Always touch base with your equine veterinary dental expert and ask questions if it has been more than 2 years since the last procedure was performed. By taking care of this important component of preventative maintenance care, you can make sure that your equine partner has a long, healthy, and comfortable life.

Why do I need to float my horse’s teeth?

floating_teethQUESTION:
Over the past couple of months, I have been having some trouble with my 5 year old gelding tossing his head while I am riding. He takes the bit normally, and then shortly after we begin working, he starts throwing his head around, and gets quite agitated. We can usually work through it, but it is troublesome. I don’t remember him doing anything like this last summer, could there be a medical issue?

ANSWER:
There are a number of possible reasons for the head tossing. The most common reason that we find here at MVS for head tossing, is dental issues.
One of the most important lines of communication with our horses can be through the mouth. Halters, bridles and bits are all a means of communicating our intentions when riding and also when leading our horses. An often overlooked reason for this line of communication to break down can be due to problems with the horse’s mouth.
Dental work in horses has progressed quite a bit in the past 10 years. Gone are the days of simply running a float up in a horse’s mouth with no sedation or restraint. To perform a full dental exam, we will most likely want to sedate your horse and use a full mouth speculum. This allows us to examine the entire mouth, all the way to the teeth in the very back of the mouth. Routine exams of the mouth usually find sharp points on the outside surfaces of the upper teeth, next to the cheeks. These sharp points can cause painful oral ulcers, which can be exacerbated when bridles/headstalls place pressure over the area of the ulcer with their cheek bands. A common complaint from a horse that is in need of dental work is that the horse has been “throwing his head” or “fighting the bit”. This is a result of these painful oral ulcers being aggravated with the bridle. We will be able to assess this type of problem with a full mouth speculum exam.
A good time to think of getting your horse’s first dental exam is around the time that your horse begins training/riding lessons. This corresponds with the first time that we ask our horses’ to take a bit as well. A common misconception is that only older horses need dentistry performed. Young horses actually get much more out of routine dentistry than their older counterparts. Young horse teeth are softer than older horse teeth and as a result can change more quickly than old horse teeth. This means that the edges of your young horse’s teeth can develop points on them that are as sharp as puppy teeth! Imagine trying to learn about a bit and bridle with those needle sharp points digging into your cheek or tongue. With a complaint of training difficulties in a young horse, one of the first things to is his mouth.

Horses that receive dental work on a regular basis are able to avoid some of these uncomfortable conditions. Regular dental work will also give us the opportunity to detect other abnormalities in the mouth as well. Malocclusions, or disruptions to the normal chewing surface of the tooth, can lead to fractures, tooth root infections, and a decrease in feed efficiency. Timely diagnosis and treatment of these problems will help to keep your horse healthy and making the most of his feed for years to come. We recently were able to work on a horse that just celebrated his 30th birthday. Since he has had regular dental work done for over 20 years, he still has a VERY healthy set of teeth left with which to chew. In contrast, I have seen 30 year old horses without regular dental care have very few healthy teeth left with which to chew hay. This can lead to weight loss, and a host of other health problems.

Communication with our equine friends is always an important aspect of enjoying our time riding. Doing everything that we can to eliminate distractions to the horse will only ensure that we have the most open lines of communication, leading to the optimum performance from our trusted mounts. When your horse clearly understands what it is that you are asking him to do, then he is much more likely to respond well to your request. With proper dental care, you can make the most of this season riding, and communicating, with your horse.