I was talking to a guy who runs a small boarding farm and he told me that the horses he keeps outside 24/7 (8 horses on 25.000 square meters, there is some grass but not a real pasture) have always alfa alfa. He told me that in US this is common and that he didn’t have any issue with horses. Here (in Italy) we usually keep “normal” hay available and we give alfa alfa for extra energy but this is the first time I meet someone who keeps it available 24/7. Is it true that in US this is common? I would think that horses would eat too much alfa alfa in this way
I feed only alfalfa–the best quality I can find. My 4 geldings are sleek and shiny. They eat a handful of concentrate ADM feed. There is little to no waste of hay. My vet has 60 horses and feeds exactly what I feed. Rather, I feed what he recommends. My 4 are out 25/7 on lush pasture.
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Depends on the horse. One of mine is on an all you can eat buffet of free choice alfalfa, the fatties get grass hay in nets to slow them down.
Just different calorie needs.
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Free choice alfalfa was hugely beneficial for my hard keeper Thoroughbred. It put condition on him like nothing else. It also allowed us to drastically reduce his grain intake (14lbs to just 3), and helped him weather our bitter cold winters better.
It’s not the right solution for every horse, but mine thrives on it.
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I imagine it depends on availability and type of horse. I know some barns that feed alfalfa, but not free choice - and the horses eat their portions quickly. I prefer to feed timothy as they eat it slower, and alfalfa can irritate some horse’s breathing.
I wonder if the person you were talking to had thoroughbreds or another hard keeper breed that isn’t prone to over eating?
Alfalfa can be quite expensive where I live, and it is mostly bought by dairy farmers are race horse trainers.
Common enough in CA, although most people do limit access to alfalfa as they get pretty fat on it. Lots of barns only feed alfalfa there as the grass hay tends to be of questionable quality and very expensive.
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Mine would explode. It is all I can do to keep their weight under control with grass pasture and grass hay. Alfalfa is a great feed but it is not for horses with slow metabolisms that don’t get much work.
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“common” entirely depends on what region you live in. It’s very common in the SW for horses to be on straight alfalfa, because that’s what grows best, and is usually cheaper than grass hay.
It’s VERY uncommon in most of the US for horses to be on straight alfalfa, because it’s usually more $$ than grass hay in most places.
It’s a terrible idea for a lot of reasons, but can be made to work in most. Alfalfa grown in the SW makes it more likely to cause enteroliths due to its mineral makeup. Some breeds, like Arabians, are also more prone to enteroliths.
100% alfalfa diets that aren’t properly balanced for the Ca/P/Mg ratios can be detrimental to growth and cause permanent damage.
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Mine does great on 24/7 alfalfa.
Hi CHT, his horses are of various breeds, Quarter Horses, arabians, mixed ones. They are all on the fatty side (a bit too much in my opinion)
Thank you all for your opinions. Well, so I understand they won’t colic on straight alfalfa and that it is really more used in US than in Italy. I used to add a few flakes of alfalfa during winter for my horses but the appendix is in some way intollerant, his legs get very swollen also with a small quantity so I stopped. But I understand that hard keepers could be on free choice alfalfa without problems
Whether it is “common” depends on what part of the US you are talking about.
In the Mid Atlantic and Northeast, alfalfa (not “alfa alfa”, though my mother always called it that) is much more expensive than grass hays, and is generally reserved for race horses and horses with health problems… It also has a reputation for causing founder in horses that are not in hard work.
On the other hand, in the West and Southwest, alfalfa is much less expensive than grass hays, and is the most common hay fed to horses there. It does not seem to have the same reputation for causing founder. I do not know if the nutritional content is different because of the different growing conditions.
They can colic on straight alfalfa. It’s just that it won’t inherently cause colic.
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It’s really not although people always say that when they are not used to it. But the vast majority of horses in the SW including CA are on straight alfalfa and do just fine. Many more are on alfalfa / oat and also do just fine. I know many many horses in their late 20s and 30s who have never eaten grain- just alfalfa and a ration balancer and maybe some A&M or beet or similar and if anything they seem to hold up longer, often staying ridably sound for ever. My friend has a 42 year old WB at her house who’s fat as a tick, was ridden 5 days a week and went to horse shows into this 30s (!) and could still be ridden if he wasn’t so wild. He lives with a 29 yo and a 27yo who are both still ridden 4 + days per week. That’s not uncommon at all in CA. I’m in my mid 40s and half the people I know have horses they bought as juniors / YR age and they’re still riding a lot of them or just stopped. They seem to live forever. I personally think grains cause far more problems.
Some are allergic to it though, I think maybe that’s what OPs horse has.
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The rest of my comment matters
“It’s a terrible idea for a lot of reasons, but can be made to work in most.” And I went on to say why it’s not a great idea.
adding oats (high in phosphorous) to alfalfa is a great way to address the high to sometimes very high ca:phos ratio, which is one of the problems with high alfalfa diets that has to be managed at least reasonably well.
And I know too many horses who were fed unbalanced high alfalfa diets who had DOD issues that haunted them their entire lives.
Exceptions shouldn’t be used to justify something. Fat as a tick isn’t healthy.
Yes, it can be made to work, and yes, it’s the only forage available in a lot of places
It’s GREAT for Winter because alfalfa raises internal body temp, which makes it problematic in hot climates, and for horses doing really hard work, like Endurance.
Too many people feed it without considering the issues it brings, and therefore don’t address them. For the average adult horse, they can get away with those issues. Most of the time.
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