Mostly, about two-thirds of them, are very easy keepers. We feed a very high-quality coastal hay and one of two pelleted grains produced in Lockhart— a complete senior or a pellet for most of the rest of the horses. I also do my best to keep a good loose mineral at ready access, in addition to cheap white salt licks.
Working for a non-profit, and being the only horse employee in the city-wide organization, means (obviously) funds are not always easy to come by. My supervisors really do put a lot of faith and funding into the horses, but it sure isn't like running a high-dollar breeding operation or fancy HJ stable. There are simply some choices that have to be made, and a few of our residents (four, specifically) are very old and have lead very full, possibly very stressful lives, and their bodies show it.
What is hard to explain to any non-equestrian is that those aging, creaky-boned "nags" are actually some of our most important assets. I cannot completely trust 25 out of 27 horses to deal with a terrified, screaming 5 year-old on a pony ride, but I can sure trust Charlie Brown or Dixie. Puzzle and Dolly are not far behind them in being bombproof and gentle while still having enough energy to tote kids around for half a day— we have other horses about the same age and with slightly better body condition scores that don't have the energy and vigor of the Old Guys. I certainly do a lot of reading about horse rescues, equine nutrition, and other lesson barns (among other things) and constantly I come up against the opinion from private horse owners that there is no excuse in the world for even the oldest horse to not be as fat and fleshy as a healthy 6 year old. I'm not sure exactly how things would change if we had unlimited funds— I know I could afford even better feeds from farther-away dealers, and alfalfa bales year-round— but even then, I am pretty damn sure these guys wouldn't suddenly revert back to their prime condition. The way a horse is kept from their earliest days, just as with people, certainly affects how they age, and I know for a fact that at least a couple of these guys have had relatively stressful lives.
So, I do as many things as I can to keep weight on them— multiple (normally two) feedings a day of fully soaked senior feed with several pounds of alfalfa and beet pulp mixed in. Supplements. Very light but directed exercise so they don't just waste away. Yearly dental care. (For what teeth some of them have left!) They are still in turn out and still share hay bales with the youngsters. I had put in for electrical fencing materials for spring of 2011, so I could put up an "Old Folks Pen" in the middle of the pasture and put them on One N' Only free-choice pelleted feed. The cost of the feed was going to be at least as high as what they eat now (which is a LOT) and probably higher, but I have witnessed the good that feed can do for skinnies and thought I'd be able to find it at a local dealer.
Couple things went wrong with that plan. The electric fencing got cut from the final budget (more important things took priority; I was the one who made the final decision and I know it was the right one) and the feed was jacked up in price over two bucks a bag within a month. I don't even know what it is now or what it would've cost in January, when I was planning to start making the switch.
So.. As the days get colder, I start putting blankets on three of the four Old Folks. (Puzzle seems to detest blankets, can't see terribly well, and is already extremely fluffy. She gets a pass.) I decided to keep them in the corral where we grain the rest of the herd for a night so I could more easily unblanket them in the morning. I gave them an extra evening soaked mash, and then it occurred to me that we have the facilities right there to separate out the horses. Yes, it would (and does) take some fanangling to feed the entire herd, and yes, there is a LOT more manure for me to scoop, but.. a week later, and I really think it's working. Normal feed, plus a little bit extra alfalfa pellet, soaked and split into three or four meals. A round bale just for them in the arena, no competing with the whippersnappers.
I swear I see more flesh on Charlie than there was a week ago. And he is a STRANGE looking horse.. Huge QH butt, big shoulders, decent neck.. and a long, very swayed back with sprung ribs and spinous processes showing a bit. But he looks deeper in the chest and showing a bit more cover over the ribs. The other three aren't as noticeable but I am sure there's a difference— I can see it, if it isn't obvious.
