Re: RC: Re: hydration and hay type

[Dbeverly4@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/8/01 8:02:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
suendavid@worldnet.att.net writes:


> So does prime rib and melted butter, but I wouldn't recommend that as a 
> steady diet for an athlete, either.
>  
> I >would definitely like to see the research that supports >more urine out 
> put on horses fed strait alfalfa.
>  
> Lisa, if you want to see the numbers, by all means go to your nearest 
> university, use their search engines for AGRICOLA or MEDLINE and put in 
> alfalfa and horse as keywords.  You can spend the next six months reading 
> the clinical work.  Me, I did all that years ago and don't need to read it 
> all again.
>
>  


Around here (Santa Ynez, California) its pretty much a given that you don't 
want to feed alfalfa (let alone straight).  Entroliths are very prevalent in 
this area and alfalfa is suspected as the main culprit.  I've found that 
since I almost eliminated alfalfa from my horses' diets their pulses are 
lower, mental attitudes are better (less psycho behavior :), and everything 
just works better.  I think alfalfa is a "people" hay, not a horse hay.  It 
DOES look good and smell good to US, it just really isn't the best thing for 
a horse.  Feels good to feed it to 'em though.

Sylvia, Harca, Star, Chance & Fargo (Let them eat grass)