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Discussion on Can senior horses rebuild muscle?
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 2, 2013 - 4:54 am:
DrO,
My horse is now 25 - 26 years old, and doing pretty well for her age, although several lameness issues over the last 18 months have meant that she has had frequent periods of only handwalking, and has lost quite a bit of muscle, especially topline.
Now she is back in gentle work but my vet says that at this age horses are unable to rebuild
muscle - do you agree with this DrO?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 2, 2013 - 6:16 pm:
It depends on why it was lost LL. If this represents underdeveloped muscle do to lack of use it can be recovered. If this loss is do to age related loss of metabolic efficiencies including chronic diseases like PPID, rebuilding will be tough and incomplete. As horses differ in the onset of old age related problems no one knows what your particular horse is possible of so you should always try to optimize diet and exercise to achieve the best condition possible.
DrO
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 3, 2013 - 4:03 am:
Thank you very much DrO for the sound advice, as always.
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