Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] Alfalfa as Feed - Evelyn Allen

We normally did not feed alfalfa to our horses, however, this winter we felt their condition was not what it should be and we had an extremely cold spell that lasted close to a month (with temperatures and wind combined for windchills of -48).  We do not stall our horses indoors unless the weather is really bad (ie: wet and freezing at the same time), as they have loose housing and other wind protection.  We normally feed them a grass/hay mix and feed it in large quantity when the temps warrant it, but still did not feel it was doing the job.  We started to add some alfalfa hay to their regular feed thinking to ensure their warmth and well-being and noticed a huge improvement in their condition and weight.  We are still feeding some alfalfa to them, although we do not feed it in large quantities - perhaps 1/4  bale per horse a day (not sure what that would be weight-wise), along with free-choice mixed grass hay. 
 
We are planning to compete in the 50 milers this summer, and while our winter temps are very low, the opposite is routinely true of our summer temps; they do climb quite high.  We can easily switch to beet pulp mix for the summer, but I'll tell you that trying to feed beet pulp to horses in -40 weather really doesn't work for us. 
 
Does anyone else feed at least some alfalfa to their endurance horses during competition?  They just look so much better coming off winter this year than last year when we fed them only a grass mix hay and some horse pellets.  But if it should be cut out for the summer, then so be it.