Thanks to improvements in veterinary care, nutrition and management, horses today live longer than ever. Your favorite equine might easily celebrate birthdays into his 20s or even 30s. Still, most horses start showing some signs of aging in their mid to late teens. And, unfortunately, some studies report that 70 percent of horses 20 years old or older have some type of health problem requiring veterinary care or changes in management.
Maybe that’s not surprising, since a 15-year-old horse is roughly equivalent to a 50-year-old human. At age 20, your horse is like a 60-year-old and at 25, like a 70-year-old.
But senior horse health problems don’t have to mean the end of your horse’s happy days. The key is early detection, says Lisa Kivett, DVM, MS, DACVIM, of Foundation…