Senior horses have specific nutritional requirements as dental function, digestive efficiency, and metabolic processes change with age. Tailored nutrition extends comfortable active lives.
Senior horse nutrition requires proactive adaptation as horses age rather than continuing with the same management that worked in younger years. Weight loss in older horses is often the first visible sign of inadequate nutrition due to dental decline — the horse is eating but no longer extracting adequate calories. Regular body condition scoring (monthly or more frequently) catches decline before it becomes severe and difficult to reverse. A range of senior-specific feeds including soaked hay, complete feeds, and high-fat balancers allow nutritional adequacy to be maintained as dental function declines. Twice-yearly dental assessment and appropriate floating by an equine dental technician or veterinarian maintains dental function for as long as possible and identifies when dietary adaptation is needed.