Alfalfa = crazy? Is it for real?

[smay]

Very interesting experience at my daughter’s first HT of the season this weekend. Our 20-year-old, very chill, very experienced BN horse, went bat-shit crazy in the stadium warm-up area and had to be withdrawn. He had put in a lackluster dressage test a few hours earlier, and had spent the afternoon in his stall eating hay with a front-seat view of the stadium arena. When she went to saddle him to warm up, he started squealing and spinning the stall, and when we took him out, she could barely mount him. He does get excited to jump, so she got on and proceeded to try to warm up but he became dangerous–rearing, spinning, throwing bucking fits as she circled the warm up jumps. He looked intent on throwing her in order to get away. There wasn’t enough time to get off and lunge the crap out of him. So she withdrew. Hmmm.

It WAS the first event of his season, and he hasn’t had a lot of outdoor schooling this spring due to our horrible weather in Ohio, but he won this one last year in similar circumstances. The only thing different in his regimen that I can identify is the hay he’s been getting–first world problems: I can only get a very nice 3rd cut alfalfa orchard mix. Is there anything to the idea that alfalfa can cause energy overload to thoroughbreds? Yikes.

[Donkaloosa]

There are some horses that just go nutty on alfalfa — and just as many others that it doesn’t affect. I’d suspect the alfalfa at this point just made him higher than a kite.

[yellowbritches]

I actually find horses that go completely nutty on alfalfa few and far between. I have been known to feed alfalfa to just about every horse in the barn (many full TB or very high in TB percentage) with no change in them.

If he hasn’t been a little nutty up to this point, I would be skeptical that the alfalfa is what caused this. I would expect him to be goofy long before this (maybe not this extreme, but I would think you would have noticed something different). I would venture to guess some other bug got up his butt yesterday.

[PhoenixFarm]

Some horses can’t handle it, definitely true, but I also would be a little confused by the timing. Has he been squirrelly before this? If he’s been completely fine, and only wigged at the show, I’d consider other possibilities.

[PoohLP]

Our big horse all get a flake or two of alfalfa or alfalfa orchard daily. It’s good for their stomachs and gives them a little extra protein. It does have more protein in it than regular has so if you took your horse from straight regular coastal hay to straight alfalfa with no transition period and you just did it right before or at the event, it’s possible that was the cause. Otherwise, maybe it just wasn’t his day.

[Flying_Hippotamus]

I’m going to teach an equine nutrition class in the fall and would love to know the scientific answer to this question. I have asked vets and get the answer “sometimes” alfalfa can make them hot. Anecdotally my horse who can be a real loon is not effected when I supplement him with alfalfa cubes in the winter.
I agree with yellowbritches in this case that is was most probably something else that caused this sudden change in behavior.

[RacetrackReject]

My dear Basco, who you know smay, has gone crazy like this twice in his life. Once when on Strategy and once when eating a certain alfalfa. He’s had alfalfa every day of his life for the past few years without incident, but I once had to use a different supplier for a week and B went completely nutso. It was like he couldn’t stand to be in his own skin. He would be standing around and boom, just explode into leaps and craziness, even throwing himself to the ground a few times. It was insane. When I switched him back, he returned to his nice sweet self. I even have video of it around somewhere.

[js]

I feed straight alfalfa to my horses (2 TBs, QH, Appy), none have ever been hot because of it, even my OTTB. Perhaps it is a combination of good conditioning and the spring time yahoo’s. I don’t think alfalfa/orchard grass alone would do it.

[smay]

Well, I tried to go through anything that may have caused it, and am leaning toward two things: The spring yahoos, combined with his proximity to the showjump arena and his very competitive nature (exracer), and/or his diet. He really does get worked up when he sees other horses on XC or showjumping. He always has done that. However, he never has been unmanageable under saddle once you get him out there and working. I’m going to switch him back over to some nice grass hay as soon as I can get my hands on some, and see if I see any difference. For what it’s worth, she brought him back on Sunday afternoon to school the XC course, and he jumped around like an old school horse - which he IS, actually, an old school horse dammit!

And Note to Self: Request stabling with NO VIEW of any jumping whatsoever!

[ponysize]

Alfalfa has more calories than grass hay. An excess of calories can mean too much energy, hence how some are “high as a kite”. Given the horse put in a “lackluster” dressage test earlier in the day though, I doubt it was the hay, or at least it wasn’t “just” the hay.

[Appsolute]

I had fed all of my horses alfalfa, from 25% of their diet to 80% of their diet. Alfalfa is very commonly fed out here in CA (we didn’t even have grass hay at our regular dealers back in the 80’s - could get very expensive timothy from the track dealers - but that was it!)

Have worked in show barns with 25+ horses all getting alfalfa. I have never had one go crazy.

Alfalfa has more protein than grass hay - I don’t know why that would equal crazy.

[cindywilson]

Another Californian chiming in with all 4 horses (all TBs except one 1/2 TB) living on alfalfa and alfalfa pellets. None have ever had this reaction.

[4Martini]

My crazy TB is much calmer with alfalfa. I read articles that the higher calcium can help neutralize stomach acid and help ulcer prone horses. Sure seemed to work with him. It took a ton of effort to convince one BM including links to articles though. She told me it would make him crazy. I’m also interested in where that comes from.

[bathsheba8542]

Another vote against alfalfa as the likely, primary cause…like other posters, my horses are so much more chill on straight alfalfa, which is what they get daily (along with alfalfa pellets)…

[Dance_To_Oblivion]

I see you’re in Ohio? If you were at Greater Dayton this weekend, the weather and warm up footing were very difficult (not organizers fault, just a ton of rain made things sloppy!) The temperatures dropping 40 degrees in less than a week may have been a factor. The rain, hail, and wind were all quite atrocious. My horse was absolutely not normal this weekend and he is an experienced guy as well.

I wouldn’t look to alfalfa as the issue here.

[scubed]

I have had many TBs, including some hot ones that alfalfa did not effect. My current guy, very quite and he goes bonkers on alfalfa (really). I’ve done controlled experiments with him. It is definitely the alfalfa in his case. I don’t think it is routinely true, but I’ve known a few for whom it is.

[PNWjumper]

I have had one horse (out of dozens over the years) that went absolutely batty on alfalfa. And it was one that I never would have suspected - my young full Holsteiner gelding who’s a bit on the dead side of the spectrum. I likened it to a serious drug addict where he got super paranoid (a branch snapping in the woods a hundred yards away would prompt him to try to climb on top of me while trying to halter him) and just jumpy in general. All of my upper level horses have always gotten a flake of alfalfa a day in addition to their grass hay (if not at home, always at shows), and I haven’t ever had an issue until this one. He also got stud-like (mounting the mares and such). I pulled the alfalfa out of his diet and he was back to normal.

So I would throw my vote to “yes” the alfalfa could have been the issue - especially with a seasoned horse who’s been around the block a few times. I think it would be much stranger to have the weather or environment affect a seasoned horse than a diet change. But I’d also wonder if it’s possible that there was something under the saddle pad that was pinching or hurting him (unless the squealing and spinning started prior to saddling him). It seems odd that he was lackluster earlier and then went ballistic later. Seems like pain could be something else to consider?

[Flying_Hippotamus]

This has no scientific basis. They eat grass and grain which has a lot more calories than hay and they don’t get high. Not trying to be snotty, just scientific.

[QUOTE=ponysize;7583767]
Alfalfa has more calories than grass hay. An excess of calories can mean too much energy, hence how some are “high as a kite”. Given the horse put in a “lackluster” dressage test earlier in the day though, I doubt it was the hay, or at least it wasn’t “just” the hay.[/QUOTE]

[ponysize]

[QUOTE=Flying Hippotamus;7584014]
This has no scientific basis. They eat grass and grain which has a lot more calories than hay and they don’t get high. Not trying to be snotty, just scientific.[/QUOTE]

In general, alfalfa does have more calories than grass hays. It also depends on the content and the amounts fed, you’d have to test the hay and analyze the complete diet. You are also making assumptions on the grass and grain–you have no idea what this horse is getting and in what amounts–all we know is that he was getting 3rd cutting alfalfa. Many variables. Each horse is different, they react to different things. Some horses don’t do well on a high alfalfa diet. Given that this horses had been eating this hay for a while, and this attitude didn’t occur earlier in the day, I don’t think it is diet related at all.

[independentlyawesome]

Is it difficult for you to purchase a different type of hay?

That seems like a really easy trial for you to see if his attitude changes.

I don’t think there’s been a scientific study on this… so trial & error it is