What aging metabolic horses need now
As more horses live longer, veterinarians and nutritionists are seeing a familiar challenge take on new complexity: the senior horse that’s both aging and metabolically fragile. In a recent The Horse report, equine nutritionist Kathleen Macon said these cases often involve overlapping problems such as pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction, or PPID, insulin dysregulation, sarcopenia, and reduced ability to chew or maintain weight. The practical message is that “senior” and “metabolic” can’t be managed as separate categories anymore. For many horses, forage still anchors the diet, but it may need to be low in non-structural carbohydrates, soaked to reduce sugar content, or physically modified when dental disease limits intake. The Horse’s earlier coverage of equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis, or EOTRH, adds another layer: older horses with painful incisor disease may need major diet changes before or after extractions, even when their metabolic risk remains high. (thehorse.com)
Why it matters: For equine practitioners, the takeaway is that nutritional plans for older horses need to be more individualized and more tightly linked to diagnostics. UC Davis notes that insulin dysregulation is the hallmark of equine metabolic syndrome and that affected horses face elevated laminitis risk, especially with pasture or high-carbohydrate feeds. At the same time, older horses with PPID may lose muscle and body condition, creating tension between calorie restriction and the need to preserve topline and function. Extension guidance and AAEP-linked resources also point to routine dental assessment, low-glycemic feeding strategies, ration balancers, and management changes around forage form and access as key tools, particularly when PPID, EMS, and dental disease overlap. (ceh.vetmed.ucdavis.edu)
What to watch: Expect more emphasis on combined endocrine, dental, and nutrition workups for senior horses, especially as clinicians refine how to balance low-NSC feeding with muscle maintenance and practical management after dental decline or EOTRH treatment. (thehorse.com)