Old Aged Friends
At Hanley we love our old equine friends. Aged horses and ponies are to be treasured. They exert a wise calm atmosphere and are great for younger horses and ourselves. Old horses should be nurtured and retire gracefully.
We consider an older horse to be 15 years plus. Although your equine friend my act much younger in years or seem older in body or personality. For this reason please treat each horse individually for nutritional and care requirements.
Many horses and ponies compete well into their twenties and even thirties. You will notice at Olympic and advanced competitions most of the horses are in their teens and many in their late teens. This is due to experience and the calmer nature they have gained in their older years.
Older horses and ponies can be separated into working / competing and retired. Working /competing need higher amounts of all their feed to compensate for extra energy needs, along with muscular breakdown, as well as their age.
The Hanley formula is ultra- filtered into very digestible amino acids and peptides ( 50 or less amino acids joined together ) this is very easy for your old horse to digest in fact it is absorbed straight into his blood stream with no work from him to break it down.
With all equine feeds it’s the quality we should stay focussed on not the quantity or price. This is most important when feeding old and young horses.
The tables below are for maintenance purposes. If your horse is in lighter condition move slowly up to double the amount in the table and stay on this for 6 – 8 weeks. This is a loading period and ensures your horse is saturated with amino acids. After this period take amount back to the maintenance dose in the table.
For handy feeding tips see Feeding Information page
Feeding the older horse/pony in retirement ( not working )
| Type of horse/pony | Amount to feed per day |
| Mini | 1 x teaspoon ( 5 grams ) |
| Small pony ( 9 - 12hh ) | 2 x teaspoon ( 10 grams ) |
| Medium - large pony ( 13 - 14.2hh ) | 1 x tablespoon or scoop in Hanley (20 x grams ) |
| Small - medium hack | 2 x scoops ( 50 grams ) |
| Large horse (16hh or solid build) | 3 x scoops ( 75 grams ) |
| Giant horse | 4 x scoops ( 100 grams ) |
Please note: This is a guide only you will not poison your horse feeding 50 grams extra or less. Please feed as required or call Philippa Hanley 021943282 for a talk
Feeding the older horse/pony in work
| Type of horse/pony | Amount to feed per day |
| Mini | 1.5 x teaspoons ( 7 grams ) |
| Small pony ( 9 - 12hh ) | 3 x teaspoons ( 15 grams ) |
| Medium - large pony 9 13 - 14.2hh ) | 1 x heaped scoop ( 30 grams ) |
| Small - medium hack |
3 x scoops ( 75 grams ) |
| Large horse ( 16hh or solid build ) | 4 x scoops ( 100 grams ) |
| Giant horse | 4 x scoops ( 100 grams ) |
Please note: This is a guide only you will not poison your horse feeding 50 grams extra or less. Please feed as required or call Philippa Hanley 021943282 for a talk
Additional recommendations for older horses
- Choose highly digestible feeds for older horses and keep feeds damp and soft.
- Give them a good look and touch over once or twice a month. They love a good brush on their old tired muscles. This is a good chance to thoroughly check out covers in winter and any issues like skin rashes / lesions, scouring, rubbing halters or covers.
- Keep your vet involved with yearly checks and an old horse appropriate worming programme.
- Teeth at least every year.
- Feet every 6 - 12 weeks for a trim, don’t make walking difficult by leaving for years between trims they spend all day on their feet.
- Extra roughage in winter to keep them warm. The breakdown or fermentation of roughage ( chaff/ hay/ fibre ) produces heat in the hind gut so helps to keep them warmer in winter.
- Shelter in summer is important to keep them comfortable. Some shade in the heat of the day. We hose our horses and dogs off on the hottest summer days they object at first then love it and run around kicking their feet up.
- Check troughs aren’t frozen over if you live in the colder parts, these require breaking free everyday.
- Enjoy your older horse they won’t be around forever and they love every minute you spend with them.
Testimonials
I have been using it now for about 2 months. My 29 yr old pony was wasting away a little on her rump and honestly within a week I had noticed a huge difference, she looks 10 years younger, has muscled up over her back and rump area and has the most amazing shine to her coat even though she is not covered at the moment. I have also been giving it to my 14yrs 16.2hh station bred mare, she was a little lacking in forward movement! She is noticeably happier when I ride her and the biggest thing I have noticed, whether it is meant to help with this or not, is that she is hugely more tolerant off the grass. Normally she gets quite toxic on the grass especially in this humid, wet weather we are having at the moment and she has been amazing.
I have been using The Hanley Formula as a supplement to my feed since September 2007 at which time Rangataua Ray and G Boss arrived to be trained , G Boss went on to win 1 race . Rangataua was broken in at the end of September and was continued with to Qualify and then race in his first prep for 9 starts - 3 wins 2 seconds and 3 thirds his only unplaced run being his first. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be possible but at no stage has he had a problem in keeping condition on. I also use The Hanley Formula in with their feed even when spelling and I am very pleased with the results and the amount of muscle mass they tend to put on. I highly recommend this product as an easy to use supplement to add to feeds for both racing and spelling horses.
Shard Farm has been using The Hanley Formula for the past nine months and in this time we have prepared yearlings for the Standardbred Sales in Christchurch. This year we have found the yearlings to have gained and maintained weight easily. They all had fine summer coats and that were rich in colour, despite poor weather during preparation. Our yearlings recuperated from travel quicker than previous years. A feature of this formula is its palatability; we have experienced problems in the past with protein pellets and horses refusing to eat them. I would recommend this formula to anyone who wants a complete protein mix. We have started the weanlings on it and they have not dropped weight, they seemed to recover from the stress of weaning quicker than previously.