|
As horses get older, it is harder for them to chew and eat their food, especially tough hay, so it will take an old horse much longer to finish their food than it does a younger horse. Also, the older horse can be injured by an aggressive younger horse; so they will stand back waiting for their turn to be able to eat safely.
So, even if the boys were putting enough food out for all of the horses, the older mare would not get enough, since she was the last one to eat, plus it took her a lot longer to eat what she did get.
When I was trying to rehabilitate an older horse like this, I would always separate them, and feed them where they could take as long as they needed to eat their food, and no other horses could get their food or chase them away.
Also, it helps to get processed food that is easier to digest, such as alfalfa pellets rather than just h alfalfa hay, which is much harder to chew.
| 
