Hey, I have a 17h Thoroughbred, he currently gets 2 biscuits of lucerne hay a day, one morning and one night. My instructor has suggested that we put him on 1 biscuit of grass hay in the morning instead. Any suggestions?
Thanks 
We moved this topic here from the Hay forum to get some more eyeballs on it.
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What kind of suggestion are you looking for? Recommendations for a type of hay? What can you get in your area? Why does your trainer think you should switch?
I’ve never heard of the term “biscuit of hay” before.
It’s the Australian term for a flake.
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How much do those flakes weigh, and what else is he being fed? Is he on pasture? Why do you want to change his feed?
Generally 20 lbs of forage spread out over the day is a ballpark figure for most horses, adjust up or down according to weight loss or gain. I feed my easy keeper 15 lbs a day. Other folks with high metabolism TB feed 25 to 30 lbs.
Even with the bigger 3 string bales I’ve rarely had flakes over 5 or 6 lbs so your horse must be getting another forage source?
Lucerne/alfalfa has higher protein and calcium and sometimes higher calories than grass hay. And grass hay can vary a lot in nutrition depending on grass species, maturity, climate.
I have no idea what species of grass grow in countries where a flake is a biscuit but here in Canada I like a nice second cut Timothy.
A lot depends on what problem you are trying to solve. Why do you want him off lucerne?
You can always try it and see if your horse is happy and keeps the weight on. I tried feeding grass hay and my Thoroughbreds lost weight, even though they had hay available all day, and they are retired horses who aren’t burning a lot of calories.
Does your trainer think your horse is overweight or a bit too spunky? I think the context of why the trainer is suggesting the switch would make a difference.
And I learned something new. I was not familiar with the term “biscuit” for a flake of hay either. I was thinking hard, round, flat thing of compressed hay. 
Sorry I’m Australian that’s what we call it, my trainer thinks that sometimes he has a little two much energy and that the lucerne could be the reason. He also gets 4 scoops of lucerne chaff a day as part of his hard feed so he was thinking grass hay as an alternative so there would be less lucerne in his diet. He has around 5 acres of paddock to roam around in. He also gets copra and pollard in his hard feed.
Thnaks olivia
It’s worth trying. It also depends on how much chopped alfalfa is in the 4 scoops.
P.S. TIL what copra and pollard are!
I looked them up - Copra is a coconut byproduct from making coconut oil and pollard is like wheat bran.
Okay. so his whole diet is primarily lucerne (alfalfa). The grass hay is one way to go, though he may very well need more of it to maintain a healthy weight. Since you aren’t using any true “grain” (like a sweet feed or oats) in his diet, the bran pollard is really the only thing that you might consider removing (though if you are just top dressing with a small amount, that’s really not going to make a big difference).
Though I guess I would ask if the chaff has any additives or anything else in it, like molasses or any type of sugar? You could replace part of his chaff with another forage based chaff or pellet that is lower in protein (like timothy or orchard grass or whatever is available locally) or maybe beet pulp or another type of low energy feed. But then, you all are headed into spring and grass in your pastures, so you may very well cut back on feed altogether in spring/summer. So the issue may resolve itself with the weather.
I know that some horses do get “hot” on a lot of alfalfa, and some it has nothing to do with what they eat whatsoever. If replacing part of his hay and/or his feed don’t produce the desired effect, there is always lunging before riding!
It looked to me like pollard contains the wheat middlings as well? They are 18ish% protein and 5ish% fat. Still much higher in phosphorus than calcium (like bran) but the alfalfa in the diet takes care of that.
Do y’all do nutrition profiles of these things? Caloric content, total digestible nutrition, fiber content, etc.? Do these products come in “quality grades?” Since most of us are not familiar with these products it’s hard to make value judgments. It’s still a general rule that if you feed too much you might get some behavior issues. That suggests working down on both the caloric and quality scale some to see if that makes a difference.
Good luck in your program.
G.
I wonder if horse and such like all grasses equally much
or some like spinach and such. And others like coconut macaroons?
Thank you so much for all of the help
