A few weeks ago, I attended the Kentucky Equine Research (KER) Convention to cover presentations by a number of great veterinarians, researchers, and equine nutritionists. There were some interesting and informative lectures given this year, and I’m in the process of writing up articles as we speak.

During a presentation on feeding aged horses, Kathleen Crandell, PhD, who works as a nutritionist for KER, made a point to discuss something I found exceptionally interesting: What’s the “proper” term for the senior horse? In her opinion, “aged” is the best term to use when discussing old horses, and here’s why:

Crandell said that there are four common terms people and researchers, via the literature, use to describe this demographic of horses–old, senior, geriatric, and aged–and she discussed each term with the audience.

Old, she said, tends to have some negative connotations surrounding it. It also can give the impression that the being it describes is near the end of its life. Are all horses over the age of, say, 20 near the end of their life? Sure, they’re closer than when they were younger, but some animals are still healthy as a horse (no pun intended) and actively competing at 25 or 26 years of age