From my limited knowledge (I’m just an owner):
Alfalfa is better for IR horses than grass hay if you’re only
considering sugar content. Don’t know if the sugar content
decreases, but alfalfa is much lower in overall sugar content (generally) than
grass hays anyway. But, it is usually higher protein than horses need and
can thus be harder on the kidneys for a horse that is already somewhat
debilitated. Combine that with most of the nutritional content being depleted
and I don’t know that I’d want to feed it to an IR horse. My
understanding (and experience as I had an IR horse for 3 years) is that you
really want to pay particular attention to balancing vit/mins of an IR
horse. So, personally, I would want a better balanced food source than 3
year old alfalfa.
Maybe Dr. Kellon will chime in since she’s had quite a lot
of experience helping with IR horses.
Karen
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