Today we took in Jazz and Jackie to have their teeth checked out. Ally was supposed to go with but didn't want to load and fighting that fight during the start of a storm and on a time frame is just not worth it. So, personal horse Annie went along instead.
So ... Jazz, the pinto, has a broken tooth! She wasn't in bad shape, we could just see that she wasn't quite her normal self, and at nearly 19 years old figured it wasn't a bad idea to get her teeth checked. Take care of the broken tooth, float the rest, and she should be good to go again.
Jackie, who is nearly 25 now, also has showed some loss of condition but not enough that those who didn't know her would notice... but enough that we wanted her teeth checked. At this point, though, her teeth have worn down to nubs and there was nothing left to float. She already comes in twice a day for senior feed, but was not on a full senior diet, so we will increase her feed since her teeth won't let her eat hay anymore. That makes five horses on full senior diets - Tommy, Nelly, Chip, and Maggie, and now Jazz - with various other seniors on modified versions of them.
A full senior diet to us is:
6 qts (2 scoops) senior feed 2x per day 1/2-1 scoop sweet feed 2x per day 8-16 cups soaked beet pulp (we received a large donation, otherwise we use alfalfa pellets) 1x per day Renew Gold/Rice Bran if needed for weight Any supplements
We go through more than a full bag of senior feed per day right now!
If you want to help with either today's vet bill or our senior feed fund, you can find donation options here: http://gentlespirithorses.org/...
OR don't forget our #GivingTrees at Tractor Supply in Sioux Falls and Flandreau, and the Iowa one at Bomgaar's. You can pick up senior feed there (we feed Nutrena Safechoice senior and Purina senior both)