Horse can't tolerate Alfalfa pellets?

[SkipHiLad4me]

Just out of curiosity - has anyone had a horse who couldn’t tolerate alfalfa pellets for some reason?

I started adding soaked alfalfa pellets to my 28yr old geldings meals at the end of January. He was starting to not finish all of his bermudagrass hay and I wanted to be sure he was getting enough forage/calories to offset this. We worked our way up so that he was getting about 1lb of alfalfa pellets (2.5 cups dry) with roughly 2lbs of Triple Crown senior 2x daily. Alfalfa pellets were soaked ahead of time and we were adding some water to the entire Senior/pellets meal and mixing it together. Around the 1st of Feb, within 10 days of starting the pellets, he had a mild colic with a couple of dry hard poops and then he was back to normal. We have had some crazy weather swings here so I chalked it up to him not drinking well enough and we started making his meals extra soupy.

About 6 weeks later (this past weekend) he had another mild colic almost identical to the first. This is literally the first that this horse has ever colicked in the 21 years I’ve owned him so naturally I’m thinking “what am I doing wrong here!?”. We switched to the TC Senior in November with no issues but nothing else has recently changed in his diet except the addition of the alfalfa pellets in January. I fed him alfalfa hay a couple of winters ago – one flake of hay each day over the course of several months – and although he never had issues with colic he did have some issues with poop water, which may or may not have been at all related to the alfalfa. To be safe – I have taken him off of the pellets with the hope that this issue resolves itself. My vet didn’t feel that the alfalfa pellets were the problem but it seems to be such a coincidence between the two that I’m uncomfortable with continuing them. Has anyone had a horse that just couldn’t do alfalfa?

[Simkie]

Yup. Some horses just can’t do alfalfa. It’s not terribly common, but absolutely out there!

[PeteyPie]

First, to address your question, I have personally not seen problems with feeding alfalfa pellets. It really could have nothing to do with the alfalfa pellets but could be the beginnings of new problems as he ages, starting with the signal that his appetite is diminished. Or it could be that he is eating too much too fast with the soaked pellets and if you feed him smaller portions more frequently he will be more comfortable. When a horse eats too fast, he doesn’t introduce enough saliva into the food. I’m sure that’s why you soak it, but hey, maybe that’s the problem still (or do you soak it because his teeth are bad?).

Have you tried feeding the pellets without soaking them? They make a smaller pellet which is easier for older horses. Also, oil is a good way to add weight, starting with 1/4 to 1/2 a cup per day and working up to a max of 2 cups of oil per day.

Kudos to you for keeping your old guy healthy to this age.

[SkipHiLad4me]

Thank you! I’ve been fortunate that he’s been pretty healthy to this point! We did consider the idea that the portion size was too much for him. For the first couple of days after this most recent colic episode we tried feeding 1/2 of his morning alfalfa pellet portion about an hour after his breakfast and the other half around lunch time. (skipping the dinner portion completely). He would eventually eat it all but seemed a bit put off by it? It was odd considering he would clean it up with no issue as part of the big mix. So I’m not sure what to think of all of that. I have considered too that this change could be stemming from other age related issues because he does have some dental issues, which is why I was trying to soak the pellets pretty well – but I’m hoping it’s just something easy like stopping the alfalfa. fingers crossed

My vet did suggest that it could be ulcers and offered to treat for those as a precaution. I’m considering doing that… He had some minor changes in his world this fall – we went to individual turnout at the barn so his pasturemate is now in his own turnout next door instead of sharing a pasture. I know he’d prefer to have a pasture companion (as long as they keep their distance!) but he’s pretty stoic so it’s hard to gauge if that’s been super stressful to him.

[Jungle_Monkey]

Yes, my gelding has issues with alfalfa everything, but he doesn’t colic from it.

[NancyM]

I have two who “don’t do alfalfa”. It took me a while to figure it out, because I haven’t had one of these in 50 years of owning and feeding horses, and now I have two. One gets symptoms like ulcers… sensitive belly and sides and uncomfortable and irritable when being ridden. The other one colics. So kinda different symptoms, but the same cause. Once I figured that out, they now live together and eat low protein hay (meadow grass), and occasionally high fat, low protein (10%) kibble. All problems solved.