My 22-year-old gelding is in moderate body weight now on a summer diet of pasture, 4 lb (1.8 kg) of senior feed, and 2 lb (0.9 kg) of timothy hay pellets, divided into two meals. He has two health problems that make formulating a diet difficult: hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP) and poor dentition. His teeth are in such rough shape that he’s not able to chew long-stem hay. On top of this, he’s prone to laminitis. I have added soaked beet pulp pellets to his ration in previous winters, but he still must go long periods of time during the day without forage or feed. What can I do?

I own a yearling Clydesdale/Paint colt that stands 15 hands and weighs 1,050 lb (477 kg). I am pleased with his weight (moderate, a body condition score of 5). He is turned out a few hours in the pasture each day, and then spends the remainder of the day in a stall with an attached paddock. When in the paddock, he has free-choice access to grass hay. He is given 5 lb (2.3 kg) of senior feed daily with no supplements. Does his current diet satisfy his nutritional requirements? Should he be fed less senior feed with the addition of a ration balancer? Should I feed concentrate with a ration balancer until he’s done growing? Once he’s done growing, will just a ration balancer work if he’s only worked lightly?

I own a yearling Warmblood gelding that I hope to use for dressage and low-level eventing. I’d like to begin an exercise program to ready his musculoskeletal system for the years of consistent, mindful work that lie in his future. I have an aquatic treadmill available to me. Is this type of exercise more appropriate than traditional ones, such as longeing, ponying, or working in long-lines? How will aquatic exercise carry over to traditional exercise? Will it sufficiently prepare my horse’s skeleton for harder work? What are your thoughts on the nutrition of yearling sport horses?

I show my 10-year-old Paint mare in Western pleasure and horsemanship classes. I am pleased with her body condition (moderate), coat, and hooves on a diet consisting of alfalfa hay (3-4 flakes multiple times a day) and 2 cups of a low-NSC performance pellet. I ride her 30-60 minutes six days a week. To improve her muscle soreness, overall body stiffness, and quietness, I am wondering if supplemental vitamin E would be beneficial.

My 30-year-old Quarter Horse mare is a smidgen shorter than 14 hands (142 cm). She weighs about 800 lb (364 kg), and she’s moderately thin (BCS of 4). She’s stalled the majority of the day (18 hr) but is in the paddock the rest of the time. Once a day I give Sally two flakes of hay, a scoop of senior feed, a scoop of generic sweet feed, and a scoop of cracked corn. She’s always been a good eater, though she tends to leave some of her hay now. She was once an easy keeper. As to her health, Sally has foundered slightly on two occasions and split a tooth, so she gets regular hoof and dental care. Why is she not holding weight?

I own a Paint gelding (13 years old; 1,200 lb [545 kg]) that is a bit overweight (body condition score of 7). He is fed a diet of three flakes of alfalfa hay, 1.5 lb (0.7 kg) all-purpose feed, 1.5 lb (0.7 kg) oats, powdered vitamin/mineral supplement, and scant pasture grass. While his weight is fine with me, my primary concern is whether he has gastric ulcers. Though he has sound hooves and a glossy coat, he is sometimes unpredictable when I ride him—tossing his head, jigging, attempting airs above the ground. I ride once or twice a week on trails. I can afford to manipulate his diet if you think that’ll help, but I cannot justify the expense of gastric endoscopy. Your thoughts?

My mare rejected her foal. No amount of persuasion or persistence on our part induced any sense of maternity or kindness into this mare. I am left with an orphan foal. No nurse mares or commercial milk replacers are available in this part of South America. How can I keep the colt healthy in face of this adversity? Is there a formula for milk replacer that will work?

My 18-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding was idle for seven years until about a year ago when I started reconditioning him slowly. Now his exercise schedule consists of flatwork and some jumping exercises over cavaletti four or five days a week. He is primarily stalled but does get several hours of turnout each day on fair-to-middling pasture. His diet consists of hay (3-4 flakes orchardgrass and 1 flake compressed alfalfa), 8 lb (3.6 kg) of a high-fat, high-fiber competition feed, 2 lb (0.9 kg) ration balancer, and some supplemental antioxidants (vitamin E and selenium). With this diet, he’s still moderately thin, a body condition score of 4, and he obviously needs muscle development from poll to dock. He has low-quality hooves that are prone to chipping, and his coat, while soft, is dull and dry. It is noteworthy to add that when he was lazing about for seven years, he was easy to keep weight on, often requiring a grazing muzzle during the majority of the year. Can you have a look at his diet and offer suggestions, please?

Maguire is my 18-year-old Miniature Horse gelding. I would guess he weighs about 260 lb (118 kg) based on his height of 33 inches. He is in moderately fleshy body condition and needs to lose weight, as he is recovering from laminitis. Maguire is still not completely sound. His diet consists of teff hay. I am trying to determine what I can feed to bump up protein. His coat is not as shiny as it once was, and I suspect that it has something to do with his borderline Cushing’s test results, so I am also looking for a product for his coat and hooves. His insulin levels were off the charts before I discontinued grazing two hours daily. He doesn’t exercise currently.

I enjoyed the webinar Kathleen Crandell, Ph.D., presented that provided nutritional tips for travel and competition. When she was ticking off some stomach soothers, she listed kaolin-pectin, something I've never heard of in my many years of horse ownership. What is it and where do I get it?