I was told that feeding it is bad for their kidneys?
Yet alot of people and vets say to feed it to older horses that need more forage to help with weight gain.
[QUOTE=Mktvm;8309757]
I was told that feeding it is bad for their kidneys?
Yet alot of people and vets say to feed it to older horses that need more forage to help with weight gain.[/QUOTE]
That is an old wives tale.
Alfalfa is one of the better hays, for the right horse, full of nutrition, more than most hays out there.
If a horse has some health problem that requires other than alfalfa, then you don’t want to feed that, of course.
Those are very few horses.
For most every horse out there, alfalfa is a great hay.
Young stock, up to two years of age, if you feed alfalfa, you have to compensate for the extra calcium and less phosphorus in it, maybe feed oats along with alfalfa.
That mineral imbalance is not important once the horse is older.
For horse in competition and old horses, alfalfa is the best kind of hay for most of them.
Alfalfa is what is used in the U of Davis re-feeding protocol for starving horses.
The only downfall to alfalfa is that, when it comes to hays, it is the one that is harder to put up properly and more apt to mold.
I expect those that fed some questionable alfalfa with mold in it then blamed sick horses on the hay itself, not that it was not put or kept properly and that is where the wives tale started that alfalfa was bad for horses.
We trained and ran and bred and raised horses here for over 100 years on alfalfa hay and oats, with nothing else but our native prairie short grasses, green in season, mature when dormant.
Our horses grew up and performed very well and lived healthy to old age.
Hi OP,
If it were me, I would get a baseline CBC done to check that my horse was otherwise healthy and normal. My vet had explained that if there was some sort of pre-existing kidney issue, which they can develop due to age, alfalfa would not be recommened.
In the case of my old Appy gelding (he lived to be 30ish), the vet was comfortable with some alfalfa but actually prefered that I use a good quality 2nd cut grass hay for the bulk of his forage. He did get some alfalfa based chopped forage as well though. In addition, he was getting 5 pounds of a good quality senior grain split over 2 to 3 meals a day (started with 2 and split into 3 in about his last year to encourage more water intake). I soaked his grain because as he got older, he got to be a bit of a stinker about drinking enough. In his last year, his ‘night snack’ was a pound of his senior grain added to about two gallons of water to make his, “sweet water”. He’d slurp on that while I did the night check on the other horses.
He held his weight beautifully on that diet until his very last day.
My old guy is 23. He has poor teeth and can not have them done due to other health issues. He is on senior feed and hay stretcher right now and I would like to add the alfalfa cubes. He can not eat much hay and will not eat beat pulp. My vet suggested the alfalfa cubes last week when he had his check up.
I feed my old guy alfalfa cubes and pellets. At 29, he looks great. If your senior does have difficulty chewing, you might think about soaking them at least a little so he can chew more ably. Although once they get wet they turn fairly disgusting in a few hours.
Ditto Bluey, with emphasis on your supplier.
The only reason I can see would be if the horse had underlying kidney issues. Alfalfa is usually higher in protein than grass hays and protein is usually fed in lower amounts to animals with kidney issues.
Be prepared to buy more bedding; makes some of 'em pee like crazy. Otherwise, it’s about as good a food for oldies as you can get. I recently got a sweet old fella to 35+ on leafy, green “racetrack” alfalfa. He wouldn’t eat the cubes, wanted the real thing, fortunately he still had enough teeth to work it.
If your vet says it’s OK for him, I wouldn’t worry further. Tons of people these days overthink everything. 
It’s really important that if you have a special needs horse, you work closely with your vet and not necessarily rely on interwebz recommendations.
That said, I had a 30Yo gelding who could not eat forage and he was on a senior complete feed plus alfalfa cubes for his last few years and did great.
You CAN run into issues with Ca:P inversion feeding certain combinations. So again, work with your vet and school yourself on that.
But generally speaking, unless he has kidney issues of concern right now, the protein levels in the soaked alfalfa are probably fine.
BUt I’m not your vet. And FWIW…even if his teeth are not sufficient to chew, they may still need addressing to avoid giving him sores and abscesses.
Good luck OP. That’s so young to be having such big issues with teeth. I’m sorry!!!
Adding oil–cool calories–can often be good too. Some people swear by corn oil…worked for me. But others have issue with that. Again, just make sure you’re educating yourself and working with your vet.
Alfalfa is what we feed here, but not always what we want to feed. It is relatively cheap, as well. It is the most calorie dense hay available in the US I believe.
Thanks everyone. I do work closely with my vet. BuddyRoo, He can not be sedated as it could kill him due to other health issues:( So I am working hard to do what I can for him, He is doing really well and looks good. My vet was surprised at what an old mouth he has?? Thanks again for the input
There are good dentists that will do them without sedation if he’ll allow it, have you tried that?
[QUOTE=Mosey_2003;8311437]
There are good dentists that will do them without sedation if he’ll allow it, have you tried that?[/QUOTE]
Right, we didn’t have sedation years ago and all our horses were floated regularly.
You pull the tongue out one way and work with the hand float on the other side, then change hands.
We did back the horse into something, so he would not walk backwards on us, but they would not fight, if you did it right.
We looked in there with a flashlight and could feel with your hand in there what was needed and when it was right.
We never had a horse we could not float properly without any kind of restrain, chemical or other.
Floating was what barn managers did, not vets, unless it involved real dental work, more than mere floating.
That may be what your vet meant, why he didn’t want to go there.
My vet did bloodwork on my older guy to check kidneys, etc., before recommending alfalfa. Once he came back all healthy, I’ve fed him as much as he likes. It is good for them on so many levels.
[QUOTE=Bluey;8311468]
That may be what your vet meant, why he didn’t want to go there.[/QUOTE]
depends upon state laws who can or cannot float teeth
https://www.avma.org/Advocacy/StateAndLocal/Pages/sr-dental-procedures.aspx
[QUOTE=clanter;8311488]
depends upon state laws who can or cannot float teeth
https://www.avma.org/Advocacy/StateAndLocal/Pages/sr-dental-procedures.aspx[/QUOTE]
My point was, you don’t need sedation to float teeth.
Says under New York that they may provide services under the supervision of a veterinarian, so it’s entirely possible the OP could find (or her vet could find) a dentist willing to try it by hand with a vet present.
Nope can’t do it without sedation. He fights it, and with his heart condition I will not put him through it. He is healthy and happy, The diet I have him on is working so far. He could just use a little more weight on him. My farrier was here and noticed he has gained some weight .
