Feeding an older mare

Question
I own a 29 year old Peruvian mare.  She is healthy except in the past 9 months her manure has been very wet sometimes even just watery.  Her teeth have been good except this past fall the dentist said that her teeth were getting loose.  She appears to eat okay and only occasionally has little wads of hay near her feed.  I feed Tripe Crown Lite and timothy or orchard grass hay.  My vet suggested feeding a handful of bran.  It worked at first, but then she was loose again.  We increased it to two handfuls with the same results.  I then tried adding probiotics (double dose).  She is still very wet, but hasn't been watery in the past few days.  We checked her manure for sand and worms but found nothing.  We did a power pack wormer just as a precaution, but haven't noticed any change.  She is a little sway backed but still energetic and only a slight loss of muscle tone.  I would like to know if there is anything I should be doing or if I am doing something I shouldn't?  Thanks Ann Nobles

Answer
Dear Ann,

Sorry for the delayed response.  Chronic loose manure can be hard to fix.  I think you have taken a good approach.  You might want to try different probiotics as they are all slightly different.  Forco, Ration Plus and Equine Generator by Bio-vet are all good.  Some people find that psyllium works well when fed daily.  However if you ever need to use it to clear sand then you can not feed it daily as it looses its ability to clear sand.  However it doesn't sound like sand is an issue for you.  One thing to keep in mind is hydration status.  You should add some iodized table salt to your mares feed to insure that she drinks adequate water and has enough sodium in her diet.  Also a good  mineral supplement would do her good to balance out the deficiencies in the diet.  Triple Crown 12% does a great job of this.  The only other things I would add would be 4-6oz of ground stabilized flax a day.

I would be happy to do a phone consult with you if you would like to discuss this further.

Best Regards,

Clair Thunes, PhD.
Independent Equine Nutritionist,
Equilibrate Equine Consulting,
www.equilibrateequine.com
clair@equilibrateequine.com