Re: Feeding starved horses

["jsalas" <jsalas@tampabay.rr.com>]

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ceh/tip16-3a.html Thank you fellow ridecamper!

 On this site you will find that UCDavis is also using or promoting this way of feeding. I am going to guess the reason they use alfalfa is because a severely starved horse has muscle atrophy and the protein in alfalfa helps rebuild muscle tissue. It is also higher in energy than grass hay. I guess peanut hay would work as well, but I don't know.  I have been feeding strait alfalfa for 8 years. First of all, the quality is not always there so neither is the protein. I have my hay analyzed and sometimes it is only 10-12 % protein. That is the same as a bag of sweet feed. The protein numbers vary according to which cutting it is, and, or where it is from. The price is always the same, expensive. So, if you don't want that "rich" alfalfa, find some that is the  2nd or 3rd cutting. Let me offer this observation on feeding alfalfa and horses getting the runs. If I change from alfalfa to coastal, my horses get the runs. If I change from coastal to T&A, they can get the runs. It's the change, not the hay.  My horses also can have loose stools at races. Is it the hay? I know runners who get the "trots" at races and they don't even eat alfalfa. This past year, alfalfa in our area went up to $13 a bale. So I feed alfalfa twice a day in the stall and throw coastal hay out in the pasture for them to much all day. (We have had no rain for 4 months.) No runs, no trots, no problems. My theory is that horses in the wild have to be eating different types of grass all day, everyday. They have to be able to utilize and digest all kinds of grass/hay. Works for me. Lisa Salas, The Odd FArm