Does anyone out there feed Purina Equine Senior?

Question

If you do, how much do you feed your horse at each feeding, mine will not be worked hard just used for the kids and how much alfalfa? Thanks in advance...I'm a newcomer to the horse life, but eager to learn.

Answer 1

Bic, I personally don't care for Purina feeds, but I've toured their plants and seen their "quality control", and also know many people whose horses, drastically failed to thrive on Purina feeds. Mostly Purina seems to rely on the reputation of the "checkerboard", and gave up on quality, a long long time ago. I think I gave you the formula for feeding, by goal weight for the horse, and weight of the hay and grains, to be fed. I can re-post it, if you need it.

edit:Founder has nothing to do with tendons, it is as follows: Equine laminitis is a vascular disease associated with areas of ischemia or hemostasis within the laminae. The laminae secure the coffin bone/distal phalanx to the hoof wall. Inflammation associated with delamination interferes with the wall/bone bond. In advanced laminitis, the coffin bone becomes detached from the horny wall and may rotate or sink. In lay terms, this is known as “founder,” from the maritime term meaning to sink.

Answer 2

There have been 'incidences' of sheath swelling with Purina Equine Senior. It rare, heard about it 5 times now I think. My friends gelding did it. I don't have an answer as to 'why' it happens tho. My mule who was 5 at the time was on it for ayear while recovering from ulcers and never had problems. Nutrena is the only other one that I have used and its ok too. Purina equine is still my favorite and I like the little worry I have to have about cross contamination between horse feed and cattle feed from Purina. Nutrena may take precautions and not process in the same plants, but I know for a fact Purina doesn't so I always have stuck with them.

Answer 3

It depends on the size of the horse partially. For and average sized horse i would say 2 flakes of hay per feeding. ( be careful with this. Alfalfa is known to cause founder, a severe problem with the tendons in the legs if you feed too much) Alfalfa hay is stronger when it is 3rd or 4th cutting (you can find this out from the person you buy hay from) When the hay is that strong, feed less. As for the senior feed. My horse is on it. You have to carefully wean them onto it. Start with 1/2 cup, And each week increase by 1/4 of a cup until you get to 3-4 cups.

Answer 4

I mix it with my regular grain, or at least our horses tend to not really eat it.

I feed 2 lbs morning and night with free choice grassy hay and 2-3 flakes per feeding of alfalfa or wet alfalfa cubes.

As long as your horse is not too skinny, whatever you are doing now is fine. At an older age, I would like to see a horse a bit overweight, just because it is harder to put it on then to take it off.
For a perfect senior horse, you should be able to feel the ribs when you rub your hand down his side, pressing moderately hard, and you can not see them when he is moving. Note: this is slightly overweight for a normal horse- with a younger horse, you want to see the ribs when moving, but not standing still.

Answer 5

I bought a horse that was 24 years old from a horse auction he was a great horse but he had a hard time digesting the feed we use on our other horses so we contacted our Vet,he suggested we switch to Equine Senior because it is a roasted grain and is easier to digest for older horses we tried it and had to feed him separate of our other horses as he didn't care for it at first but as he adjusted to it he came to prefer it and he started to gain weight I have always feed my horse based on this method 1 pound of feed for every 100 pounds of body weight it works good as a base but due to differing metabolisms in horses you will have to adjust for your horse,we lost Buck to cancer 6 years later and to this day I think of him as one of the greatest horses I ever owned,and wish I had gotten to know him sooner,but maybe not with a name like Buck you never know.

Answer 6

I tried it once and the horses lost their shine, so I went back to M.F.A. Easykeeper. But at least Equine Senior is better then the discount feeds......

Answer 7

it says how much to feed on the bag.

or use this...

http://horse.purinamills.com/products/feedingcalculator.asp

good luck!!

I just wanted to point out for a 1200lb horse the should be getting almost 20lbs on light work per day, if this were being feed as a complete feed. So that person could be correct! ;)

Answer 8

i usully give a 1 1/2 scoops to my thinner horses (no age pref.) my olders mare is 38 shes gets 3 full ones to keep weight on, and my elder horses i usually just give 1 maybe 2.

Answer 9

i do and my horse is doing great she is 21 and jumping 2'3