Alfalfa and Heart rates

[Cheryl Newbanks <horsetrails@inficad.com>]

Ok,  in this hrm thread I read that alfalfa will effect a horse's heart 
rate and make his heart rate run higher then it normally would.  I would 
like to hear from people who USED to feed alfalfa and then stopped and 
noticed a lower heart rate after stopping.  I really do not want to start 
an anti-alflafla thread.  I feed 50/50 alfalfa and bermuda and the alfalfa 
doesn't effect my other horse's heart rates plus I really don't know what 
to substitute for the alfalfa so that they'd have a balanced diet.  But now 
that I am thinking about the alfalfa issue I seem to recall that Blue's 
rate was lower when I just feed grass hay but his energy level was 
horrible, null actually.  If I wanted to stop feeding alfalfa, AND THAT IS 
A BIG IF, what could I substitute for the nutrients they'd be loosing, 
especially for my yearling, and maintain the energy level that a 50 miler 
would need.  Our bermuda hay isn't always the best quality, the farmers 
over-grow their fields out here.  Would beet pulp be the thing to 
substitute?

                                  Cheryl Newbanks
~~~           ~~ ^ ^        SW Region
~~~\      _ ~~/ /\ /        Buckeye, AZ
       (   ) __    ) ' '        horsetrails@inficad.com
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