Rich hay = grumpy, aggressive horse?

[BeeHoney]

My cures for a crabby mare: free choice hay, adequate turnout with a more dominant friend or a worshipful underling, and regumate. Nothing wrong with slow girthing or even feeding a small snack while girthing to help with the girthiness. Obviously treat any ulcers, and obviously check closely for back soreness or chest/girth area musculoskeletal soreness related to your type of girth or a too tight girth. Also be sure there isn’t a dental issue.

Also, I think that sifting through hay is a soothing pastime. And using hay nets can cause horses to eat at an awkward angle of their head/neck. If I have a cranky horse, I make sure to give the hay on the ground to sift through at their leisure. Also, feeding a snack before riding can help a grumpy horse be more cheerful and relaxed.

[Maude]

The only problem with that is dosage. Some mares require a higher dose than recommended.

[Maude]

It they didn’t introduce the alfalfa slowly it may be hind gut distress that set him off. Grass hay and legume (alfalfa) hay is different. The horse needs to be introduced slowly so the gut bacteria (good) can have time to develop. The manure takes on a certain odor with hind gut acidosis. You’ll never forget it once you smell it.

[CindyCRNA]

I just posted a thread about changing my guy over to an alfalfa heavy diet and it actually made him calmer. Off all grain and 7-8 flakes alfalfa per day on top of a round bale if he wants.

[zelle]

Good morning, just in case anyone is following this thread or stumbles upon it later, I wanted to say that knocking the feed way down changed this horse’s entire demeanor. She’s back on the high nutrition timothy alfalfa that I feed (she has free choice access). And she gets a 1/2 pound of balancer twice a day along with other supplements for nutrition (liquid vitamin e, and liquid magnesium). She’s still a very hot horse but she isn’t grumpy or nutty anymore. I’ll definitely have to figure something else out to keep her fed enough when the workload is higher but this is working well at the moment.

[CindyCRNA]

I too got my guy off grain and it seemed to help. The high alfalfa diet did not contribute to him being more or less of asshat but he looks better.