We believe all senior horses and ponies deserve to be completely cared for which is why we are pleased to launch our flexible range of senior and senior friendly feeds; all of which have been independently approved by Nicola Jarvis, head vet at Redwings Horse Sanctuary. We have also introduced a new ‘Senior Friendly’ logo to help you identify the most suitable feed for your horse or pony.

Combining nutritional expertise & consumer insight

Almost twenty years of scientific research into senior horse nutrition has helped to develop our expertise in feeding horses and ponies as they age. However ageing is a very individual process and no-one knows your senior horse better than you do. For this reason, we combined our nutritional expertise with in depth consumer research to ensure we truly understand the challenges faced by senior horse owners. Over the course of 5 months we heard from over 1,300 horse owners through a series of surveys, face to face interviews and an interactive online community. This enabled to us to explore every aspect of ownership from the bond shared between senior horses and their owners through to current feed choices and feeding practices.

The new line up

After 12 months of research and product development we are now excited to introduce two new feeds to our core senior range:

SPILLERS Senior Complete Care Mix which provides complete nutritional care for senior horses including added joint, digestive and immune support. It’s also higher in fibre and lower in starch than traditional mixes, helping to support digestive health and reduce the risk of excitability. Finally, with a blend of real herbs, your horse is certain to find it pretty tasty too.

SPILLERS Senior Super Mash is a blend of highly digestible fibre and oil alongside pro and prebiotics making it the ultimate senior mash for condition and gut health. It’s suitable for feeding as a replacement for compound feed and as hay replacing making it ideal for horses and ponies with poor teeth. It’s also suitable for laminitics as it’s whole cereal and molasses free and low in sugar and starch. Finally, with an appetising apple aroma it smells and tastes good too (taste test based on lots of empty feed bowls during our palatability trials!)

Tried & tested

Our new product development journey ends with consumer testing so you can be re-assured that both SPILLERS Senior Complete Care Mix and SPILLERS Senior Super-Mash have been independently trialled by senior horses and ponies throughout the country. This is what one of our triallists had to say about SPILLERS Senior Super-Mash;

"Very impressed, my oldies love it. They have been fed all year round on your Speedy-Mash Fibre, but I had to reduce the quantity as they were looking too well on the new Senior Super-Mash.  'Rescue' pony has also gained weight more rapidly than on Speedy-Mash, seems much brighter in himself and although very food orientated he is less hungry and agitated at feeding time - I can see no reason why it would not work for him too, even though he is not a senior. They are all going to be very disappointed when I run out of trial product!" Julie Maude.

Julie's horse Toby at the end of the SPILLERS Senior Super-Mash trial.

The new ‘Senior Friendly’ logo

Whilst some senior horses may thrive on their normal feed, others may benefit from more specialist support whether that be a mash to replace compound feed or forage, additional calories and quality protein to maintain condition or increased immune support. The senior friendly logo identifies feeds which although may not be part of our core senior range, are suitable for meeting the individual requirements of senior horses and ponies.

For more advice on feeding your senior horse or pony contact the SPILLERS Care-Line