I’ve begun feeding Dawn 1lb of alfalfa cubes soaked. She rarely will even attempt to eat it all and leaves probably 1/-2-1/3 Of the portion in her feeder. I don’t think she likes the mush because she’ll happily munch on small pieces of the cubes dry. So my question is, do you HAVE to soak alfalfa cubes? How can I get her to eat them?
You don’t have to, no. Thousands of horses in California (and various other parts of the world) are fed dry cubes. It does greatly increase the risk of choke.
Personally, if I were to feed one or the other dry, I would go with pellets. I’d not feed cubes dry.
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I feed cubes exclusively, and my mare does not like a mush either. I soak the cubes in a 5 gallon bucket and add only enough warm water to cover the cubes. The cubes will absorb all of the water, and will probably be a little dry in the middle after about 20 minutes or so. It will take longer with cold water.
When I dump the bucket out for her the cubes are mostly fluffy and soft on the outside and a little dry in the middle. She loves it 
You can also try pellets or beet pulp depending on what you are trying to achieve by adding the cubes.
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I’d feed pellets dry. I would not feed cubes dry, myself.
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Sometimes I under-soak my cubes and they kind of turn into a moist forage that easily breaks apart… not mushy soup. Could you try that?
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I’ll definitely try that and see! Once I run out of cubes, I may try the pellets and see if that works any better. Picky mare problems! :lol:
Since choke has been brought up, I wanted to pass this on for what it’s worth.
I just attended a horse feed seminar hosted by a feed supplement company. A vet did part of the presentation focusing on how the horse’s digestive system works (with diagrams and discussion of each part of digestive system, starting with the mouth, chewing and saliva) and she talked about choke. She stressed the importance of head position and discussed various reasons it was important for horses to eat with their heads down (as opposed to eating out of a raised feeder); one of the reasons was that chewing almost doubles (she listed studies which had actual counts of chews for various head positions with various feeds) when the horse eats off the ground. Also, saliva production and ingestion is greatly increased. According to her, the incidence of choke is almost eliminated with the head down position due to increased chewing, increased saliva, and the fact that a horse eats slower with its head down. Oh, also, she was not recommending feeding on the BARE ground but in a ground-level feeder.
I have only seen alfalfa cubes fed dry and there were no problems, but the horses did not suffer from choke.
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Try adding sweet tea to her feed. Horses love sweet tea. If you get the crystals, start with enough tea for about 5 glasses of “people tea” into a semi dry mush. I would be very surprised if she does not slurp it down
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I mix soaked alf cubes with my horse’s feed. I use a big black feed pan. Mix everything - his ration balancer, rice bran and in the morning, his smartpak too. I don’t know if he would eat them plain but this has always worked.
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I’d also not discount choke with alfalfa pellets. My TB choked on dry alfalfa pellets. Thankfully it resolved quickly on its own, but I never fed them dry again. I didn’t soak them to mush, but just added enough water to wet them.
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I wouldn’t feed either dry. I always soak cubes or pellets. My mare prefers the pellets over cubes - some horses are just picky like that. I’ve seen too many chokes that I’m not willing to risk it.
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Wetting but not soaking pellets also increases the risk. You’re just making each pellet bigger and squishier and rougher without making it any less solid.
I would much rather soak everything to soup but some horses disagree. Pellets are an okay risk, imo, for a horse with no choke history who is not a greedy eater, who cannot be convinced to eat them soaked and needs the alfalfa in that manner. Cubes are outside of my comfort level.
Alfalfa hay is so much easier!
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My aged gelding will do the same if I try to soak his feed. I think it makes his jaw hurt to try and bite into the compacted feed. If I soak to a slurry he will drink the liquid or slosh it out to get to the “meat” of his meal and then be disappointed that he can’t get it.
I found if I fluffed his pellets or cubes he was happy. I used a super large feed pan and only added enough water to reach 1/4-1/2 up the feed that was placed in the feeder. He was feed at ground level. Added to the “fluffed” cubes/pellets were products that had not been exposed to water, but that were of varying textures. Beet pulp, ration balancer, fat supplement. He was fed in his stall and given ample time to finish without another horse pressing him.
Caveat: this is a 32 year old horse that has all of his teeth, just no longer has sufficient grinding surface. He can chomp hard things (cubes and pellets) but can’t grind hay into a useful size.
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I have one horse that generally prefers dry cubes and one that will choke on dry cubes.
The one that generally prefers dry cubes with eat lightly soake/steamed cubes sometimes. I put a single layer of cubes on the bottom of his feed pan, fairly snugly packed, and then pour very hot water over them until they are barely covered.
Brand of cubes has the biggest impact on how willing he is to eat them. I haven’t been able to get his prefered brand for a long time and he’s been leaving some of the barely acceptable ones. I got a new brand last week and he’s scarfing them down like they’re his prefered brand. Now I have two brands he likes! I bought one type that were so hard packed I needed a hammer to break them up. I didn’t even offer those to him, and my other horse who eats anything wouldn’t finish them. I know not to buy that brand again. Anyway, you might try another brand and see if they are more palatable.
Is there a particular reason that you want to feed alfalfa cubes? I have fed them before but honestly when a horse doesn’t like them soaked I find it easier and safer to feed the horse something it does like rather than risk a choke. Senior feed, BP, rice bran, etc.
Alfalfa hay is very hard to come by here and very expensive - $100+ for a 50lbs bale of low-quality. It’s ridiculous! I’m trying to feed alfalfa for ulcers because that seemed to help her last time she had an upset tummy and my vet recommended adding it into her diet regularly.
I am feeding a senior 38+ horse. His teeth are worn down and now a few missing. We make a mushy slurry that he sucks back. He enjoys it. He had difficulty with the hay cubes and wouldn’t eat them. This brand was like concrete and needed to be soaked with warm water. Since switching to alfalfa pellets and another hi fat hi fibre feed he has improved greatly.
i always feed the cubes dry. I never had an issue and my vet was the one who recommended it. I’ve known horses that hate the cubes no matter if they’re wet or dry but love the pellets. I also fed the pellets wet and dry and another horse choked when they were wet, vet believed he was eating too fast. The one thing I’d do before changing to pellets is that I think years ago my vet mentioned that the pellets weren’t as good because of the process they go through and that they didn’t help as much for a colicy horse in the barn. This was years ago and I barely remember it since it wasn’t for my horse so I’d suggest asking a vet on that one.
You can wet them enough that you can crumble them apart with your hands, but they are still not soupy.
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I feed the cubes as a supplement/treat a few times a week on top of normal hay ration in a Nose-It treat dispenser (http://www.nose-it.com/equine). They can’t be soaked or they won’t drop out of the ball, so I’ve always done them dry. I throw a half dozen handfuls in and it takes her hours to get through them all, so maybe the slow feed-style makes it a little better? I have read about choking issues with dry cubes but (knock on wood) have not had issues with them in the nose-it.
